What Plant Would You Be?

Many years ago, journalist Barbara Walters was widely mocked for asking the actress Katherine Hepburn what kind of tree she would be.  She asked that question in response to Hepburn stating that she would like to be a tree.  Hepburn chose oak, because they are strong and pretty.

I've been working on a book lately, and the process of writing leads my mind in a lot of unusual directions.  Last night that meant considering what kind of plant I would be.  Lots of my friends talk about what sort of animal they would be, often based on the Animal Tarot, or totem animals, yet even though so many of us work with plants day in and day out, I can't recall talking the plants we feel we are most like.

My own first thought last night was of thick, dense moss growing by a creek.  Soft and lush, close to the earth, that seems familiar.

A couple of years ago I took a workshop at The Rosemary House with Pam Montgomery that involved sitting with plants and really observing them. While I was looking forward to it, at no point did I actually think that I'd "get it."  We all want to connect with the plants, but seem to think that they only talk to others.  Being compelled to sit there with a hops vine, it wasn't long before I was observing how strong it was, and how the tendrils reached ever higher, letting nothing stop its progress.  I remember looking at the flowers and noting how hard it worked to procreate.  15 minutes in, I realized that I was relating to the growth of the vine, the struggles, and her appearance that while not particularly showy, was stunning when looked at on more than a superficial level.

Since then, I think of plants differently.  For example...

Wild Ginger, with such hidden, unassuming blossoms, spicy roots, and glossy leaves.

Blueberry - dainty blooms, vibrant fruits.  Grow in bunches.  Vivid tough leaves.

The ultimate trumpet - but remains hidden, building strength underground for 10 months each year.

Toadflax - beautiful, under appreciated, little dragons

Motherwort - prickly, layers, flowers nearly invisible, up, up, up.

Plantain - lush rosette, ribbed leaves, close to the ground with inconspicuous bloom stalk.  Whip like.

Poppy - stunning, papery, soft, swelling ovary, waving in the wind above cut leaves.

So you see, there's a start.  A very rudimentary beginning to thinking about the personalities of plants.  So often we name them after people, and vice versa.  Rose, Sage, and Jasmine, for instance.  I know some people who are Stinging Nettles.  They are lush and nourishing, but take an awful lot of work to stay on their good side.  I know mighty white pine people, with soft needles, pliable arms, and a notable weakness when piled too high with heavy snow.  I know beautiful echinaceas that offer creatures shelter in storms and seeds for birds in winter, and appear strong in the spring, ready to do it again.  Many times when I get to know a plant these days, I can align it with a human acquaintance.

So what plant would you be?  Have you thought about it at all?  I think we're all several plants, depending on our moods and circumstances, but it's fun to consider.

March April '14 Issue - The Essential Herbal Magazine

 We're going to just go ahead and think of spring, even if we're sitting in a house that is looking more and more like an igloo with each passing day.
This issue is absolutely stunning.  Full of information and herbal love.  I know that sounds a little cheesy, but can't really think of a better way to put it.  Our writers are simply in love with herbs, and they aim to take you down that primrose path too.

Take a look at the table of contents (below) and I think you'll see what I mean.
Subscribe today on our website:  www.essentialherbal.com

Field Notes   
Exciting times at TEH, and for the herbal community, turning lemons into lemonade.

About the Cover
Linda Kneeland (lindakneeland.com) provided this luscious taste of spring.

Elders & Herbs - Valuing Our Elders, Janice Masters
Janice begins a touching series about how herbs fit into the lives of our elders.

Chickens Love Herbs!  Michele Brown
Ready to start your own flock?  Combine your love of herbs with these fine feathered friends.   

Four Thieves, Amber Sheehan   
Many uses for this age-old traditional remedy that you might not have considered.

Spring Cleaning your Garden, Heddy Johannesen
Ready?  Set?  Time to get some dirt under our fingernails!   

Lunar Gardening, Aubree Sanders   
Planting in harmony with Nature's rhythms.

Herbs for Helping and Healing Coughs and Colds, Marita Orr
We're not quite done with the coughs, colds, and sore throats, but here are some good helps.

The Language of Herbs, Rita Richardson   
Let the plants speak for you.

Ground Cover Herbs. Suzan T. Scholl
Some fabulous ideas for herbal ground covers that are as useful as they are lovely.

Poultice and Compress Making, Stephany Hoffelt   
Granny medicine or modern medicine?  Stephany makes the case to keep them in the 22nd century.

Song of the Archangel, April Coburn   
An ode to a favorite herb with hand-drawn illustration.

Pizza Party in the Garden, Kathy Rohrbaugh
You'll love this pizza shaped garden that contains all the toppings you can grow.

Tincturing for Beginners, Jackie Johnson ND
Choose your booze wisely!   

Design Your Own Gardener’s Hand Soap, Marci Tsohonis   
Marci leads us through the creative process of another spectacular soapmaking adventure.

Herbalism in Iowa, Adrian White   
Do you think "corn" when you hear Iowa?  Learn of unique and entrancing herbal diversity that we haven't heard so much about.

Upcycling to Make Garden Accessories, ?Marcy Lautanen-Raleigh
Make some gardening tools from household items.

Yarrow, Jamie Jackson
Dainty and unassuming, yarrow packs a wallop and belongs in your herb cabinet.

Wildcrafting and Processing Herbs, Sandy Michelsen
Some ideas on getting started.

Who or what is the herbal community?

In the last couple of weeks, I've heard tales of several "takes" where what can only be considered vultures, swoop in and seeing the glimmer of gold, take it from someone else.  Just tonight I read about the brutal Candy Swipe trademark take away.  This morning it was an article about a quilt pattern being trademarked.  There are also tales about trademarks on terms like "soap loaf", "lotion bar" and "tub tea".  Of course the one that is really on my mind right now is the very old remedy made with vinegar and honey blended with lots of hot roots, etc that herbalists have been making for decades, and Rosemary Gladstar wrote about (and named) in her books and class texts.  Chances are, if you know an herbalist, they make this firey cider brew.

The hardest part for me to watch is that herbalists, who have every right to be outraged by this action, are being portrayed as backwoods hippies and  hicks who are supposedly jealous because they didn't make this selfish move first.  Yes, that's it. Thousands of people who have peacefully and generously shared, taught, and sold this brew for all these years are just jealous.  Because that's how we roll, right?  

Well let me tell you a little about herb folks - just in case you might actually believe that bilge.

Nearly everyone I know in herbs gives back more than they take.  Always.  Let's not even bother talking about all the work they do to rebuild habitat for plants and wildlife all around them.  Nor the urban FREE gardens they build for inner city people.  Instead, I'd like to say that any time you see a natural disaster or a country that needs help, you can be sure that herbalists have worked to get help into the area.
A good example is Samara Botane, whose website states, "We also directly support a variety of nonprofit organizations that go into the field and provide valuable services such as midwifery education and aromatherapy help for our troops and emergency disaster workers across the globe."  I've personally been involved in several group efforts, beginning with Hurricane Katrina, and most recently with Hurricane Sandy.  Soapmakers are to me a sort of subset of herbalists, and members of a forum I've frequented challenge each other to make donations to Kiva Loans, an organization that helps people start their own micro businesses all over the world.  They continually reinvest the money they loan as they are paid back.  As a group, I imagine these soapers have loaned 100's of 1000's of dollars to help make life better for others.

But that's really the tip of the iceberg.  There are free clinics, street medics, people who feel called to help wherever they can.  Others disseminate information, teaching others through blogs, informal gatherings, books, writing for magazines like The Essential Herbal, and on and on.  This is one generous community, and herbalists have heart.  Yes, they are trying to make a living, but it's pretty hard to find someone who would stand by and not help someone who couldn't afford to pay for a remedy.  Many times we squeak by financially, but usually happily cheer each other on when success comes to one of our cohorts.  What's good for one of us is good for all of us.  I can't say herbalists never step on each other.  We're human.  But that isn't the typical behavior

Who are they?  The others?.

In something like 1993 or 1994, The Natural Product Expo arrived on the East Coast for the first time.  Somehow, my sister and I found it and attended that first year, thrilled to have found exactly the wholesale show we needed for the herb shops we had at the time.  Almost every booth was staffed by the people making the products.  Blue jeans, long hair, and happy people selling their wares, proud of the things they'd made.

THE VERY NEXT YEAR we attended again, and were mortified to see that "the suits" had arrived.  Gone were the tidy little booths.  There was glass and steel, booth bunnies, and track lighting.  Every thing gleamed.  A couple aisles in, we were stopped by a big sweaty dude (I can only assume he'd been guzzling the all natural energy drinks) in a suit who wanted to tell us about the pills he had that cured genital herpes.  "Cure?" I said, "Reeeeally.  What's in it?"  He had to stop and look at the label on the box, and I suppose due to an inability to pronounce the ingredients, he said, "Oh, it's all natural.  A bunch of herbs!"  I asked if I might take a look.  There was a list of vitamins, some other stuff, and NO herbs at all.  When I told him there were no herbs, he said, "herbs... vitamins... whatever."

And THAT, my friends, is what happens when people who haven't the heart or the soul to understand herbs or the herbal community decide they can make big bucks from them.

It is a total lack of respect for the incredible abilities of herbs, a lack of respect for herbalists, and a complete and utter disregard for the customer.  They see dollar signs.  They think that if we don't play it that way, it's because we have no business savvy.  They themselves don't think the product has any real value, but that the packaging and marketing and the "snake oil biz" is what it's all about.  They get all bent out of shape when the government won't let them make medical claims, because they are alllllll about the medical claims.  They bring scrutiny to the industry because they want alllll those dollars.

So back to the firey cider brew.
Is it any wonder that we want to protect our tradition, community, and old remedies from that?  This kind of disregard is more than insulting.  For weeks, people have been trying to explain these concepts to the people who appropriated the name of this formula, forcing others who have been using it for decades to remove it from their on-line shops, but it has fallen on deaf ears.  Instead, they mock the herbalists, making fun of the qualities and sensibilities that make us who we are.  It's no wonder, really.  It's two different worlds, two different languages.  Unfortunately, I'd hoped that they would be able to hear, but they have chosen to force a legal battle.  Please sign the petition to help make that happen.
The Petition and watch the video in which Rosemary Gladstar teaches it (again) and gives the recipe!

about starting on a (broken) shoestring

We're working on getting a few of our small books ready for reprints.  When I say "we", it really means Maryanne, who thankfully does all the lay-out work these days.  I am terrible at that.  It used to bring me to tears before she offered to do it.
Right now she's working on Making and Using Herb Vinegars.  It will soon have a color cover and have a better (!!!) layout.  There are only about 50 copies of the old one left, so we're thinking ahead. 

But...
Working on this really took me back.  In discussion, we talked about how adding a recipe or two would require adding pages.  In printing, you can't just add one page.  It must be in multiples of 4.

It took me back, that discussion.  The vinegar book was one of the first.  Probably 11 or 12 years old now.
The maroon cover was chosen not because it is a cool color that stands out.  No.  It was chosen because it was leftover from another job at the printing company where I worked, and I rescued it from the trash.
The table of contents was assigned to the inside front and back cover - not because it was cool and unique - but because adding pages to that first printing would have added $10 or $15 dollars to the overall cost of printing, and I seriously didn't have it to invest.

I will be sure to hold on to a couple copies of the first edition before they are gone.  There are so many of us working with herbs, getting the word out, struggling with that torn or broken shoe-string.

So if you find yourself at an herb festival or gathering sometime and see a great product with less than spectacular packaging, give it a second look.  Not always, but sometimes there is someone with a good product struggling to find a way to share it with the community.

Starting from Scratch with Seeds

Starting from Scratch with Seeds

Kathy Musser, Cloverleaf Herb Farm

The Essential Herbal Mar/Apr ’10

Even though there are plenty of potted herbs and flowers ready for purchase, starting plants from seed can be both economical and satisfying.  The cost of a pack of seeds is generally less than the price of a single potted plant.  Seed catalogs provide a huge variety of choices.  New cultivars, interesting colors or forms, and hard to find varieties are in abundance in catalogs.  If you’re unsure of a plant’s color or form or how it will grow in your garden environment, the economical nature of seeds allows you to try a new plant without a large investment.  Lastly, there’s the satisfaction of the process.  Seed starting gives a hint of spring to come in dreary months.  I love the process of starting seeds, transplanting the seedlings, planting out in the garden and harvesting and using these plants.  It completes the cycle and provides satisfaction all along the way.

Kathy giving a tour of her display gardens.

Materials aren’t expensive and are easily found.  In addition to seeds, you’ll need lightweight soil-less mix.  Try to get one labeled for seedlings, as it will be lightweight and drain well.  Assemble your containers – plastic cell-packs, small pots or egg cartons.  Make sure there are drainage holes in the bottom of containers or poke holes to provide drainage.  Trays to hold your containers and a plastic covering to hold in humidity are helpful.  Plastic dome lids are made to fit right over flats or you can use clear plastic wrap stretched over the containers and attached with masking tape.

Place some mix in a bucket, etc. and apply water.  Mix thoroughly so soil-less mix is uniformly moist.  Fill your containers.  Place seed in containers, press lightly into the mix.  Label containers with variety name and date sown, using popsicle sticks or plastic stakes.  Cover containers.

There is much helpful information on the back of the seed packet.  The pack will tell you how many weeks (often 6-8) before setting out to start your seeds.  Count back that number from the last frost date in your zone.  For example, here in zone 6, our last frost date is usually mid-May.  If the packet lists 6-8 weeks, start your seeds between mid-March and the beginning of April.  Annuals (those you plant every year) generally grow easily from seed.  Since they only grow one year, they must reproduce easily and fairly quickly.  Perennials (which survive multiple seasons) often take longer to germinate and do so more sporadically.  You may notice perennials often have a longer lead up time than annual seeds.

All the little baby plants, growing strong.

Seed packets often indicate a variety of needs, light or dark for germination.  Seeds requiring light should be pressed into the soil, but not covered.  Those requiring dark should be pressed into the mix and covered with more moistened mix.  Larger seeds should be pressed into the mix and covered.  If light vs. dark is not indicated, I follow a general rule:  do not cover very small seeds and do cover larger ones.

Seeds have an outer coating that must break down before germination can occur.  Seeds must be kept moist in order to germinate.  For many varieties, bottom heat promotes germination.  Heat mats are available from garden catalogs.  You can also place seed trays on top of the refrigerator, which will provide sufficient, although not constant, bottom heat.

When seeds have germinated, remove plastic cover or wrap.  Now the seedlings need sun for growth.  Place seedlings in a sunny spot, preferably south-facing.  Heat is not important now.  In fact, seedlings grown in the lower range of normal household temperatures tend to be sturdier.  If you’re growing a large number of seedlings, it’s worth investing in supplemental lighting.  If you can set up a table with over-head fluorescent lighting, you don’t need to worry about finding enough space on sunny windowsills.  Regular fluorescent tubes are fine.  They should be hung on chains so the lights can be raised as the seedlings grow.

After germinating, seedlings need to be watered when they dry out.  Overwatering at this point can lead to damping off, a fungal disease, which attacks at the base of the seedling, turning the stem gray and fuzzy and causing the plant to fall over.  It can occur fairly quickly and there’s no reviving the plant once it happens.  I find that even as seedlings, it’s better to let them dry out between waterings.  This virtually eliminates damping off as a problem.  Many sources recommend bottom watering.  This is fine to do, but the necessary close monitoring of your seedlings for water is the most important factor.  It’s easy to tell when soil-less mix is dry as the color lightens considerably.

Seedlings can be transplanted when they develop a second set of leaves.  The first set are the same on almost all plants.  The second set are actually the first set of “true leaves” and will vary according to the specific plant.  Fill pots or peat pots with soil-less mix.  Use a small spoon or seedling lifter (available in garden catalogs) to gently lift seedlings from container.  Make a hole in the transplanting soil with your fingers and gently place seedling in soil.  Don’t handle the seedlings by the leaves.  Handle by the stem or better yet, by the root ball.  Firm soil around seedling and water.  Put seedlings back in sunny window or under lights.  As the seedlings develop, you can begin the hardening off process leading up to planting in the garden or containers.  Put potted plants outside in a protected spot, out of direct sun and shielded from wind.  Bring them back inside at night.  Each day, move them so they are more exposed to the elements.  Watch watering carefully, as they will dry out more quickly as they’re exposed to more sun and wind.  Follow this procedure for 10-14 days.  At the end of this time, they can be transplanted to their final location once the last frost date has passed.

Me, getting a late winter, early spring dose of green.

 Some seeds require special treatment to help break down the protective coating.  Very hard seeds can be soaked in warm water for an hour before planting or nicked with sandpaper or a nail file.  Some perennial seeds should be sown, then placed in the refrigerator to simulate a cold dormancy period.

Whether it’s to stretch your plant buying budget, grow the perfect variety, or simply enjoy the process, get a jump start on spring by starting some plants from seed.

Back on the Ranch

Our neck of the woods has been a little hectic despite the ice and snow. So I’ll be writing the latest blog post. My name is Molly and I have been working for my mother for the past few weeks.

Lately things have been a busier than usual. After returning home from a wholesale show, my mother and aunt had more soap orders than soap, I started learning the ropes, and mom had a book to well, write.

But we’ve managed to keep everything going.

Mom was able to find some pretty neat stuff at the show.  Bags, incense, head bands, among other things showed up at our door a few days ago.

http://www.essentialherbal.com/category/Trinkets-Jewels--Accessories-26

http://www.essentialherbal.com/category/Incense--Herb-Bead-Fixins-13

And we were able to start up a Pinterest and an Instagram. That way whenever we have something new to show off, like our fire cider.

We can post it and find out what you guys think!

As the snow continues to fall, we’ve sent the Mar/Apr issue off to the printer and it will be hitting the mail in about a week, and Mom's crankin' away on the book that will be sent off to the publisher in about a month (first half due Monday!).  We're so ready for spring to get here, but in the meantime we'll be curling up with some tea and hope you will be doing the same.

Oops, that isn't yours.

There is something brewing in the herbal community, and it isn't a cup of tea.
Once again one of our cherished old remedies is being usurped.
This time, it is coming not from big pharma or some large corporation, but seemingly from within.  A small family business.  I'm not going to name the remedy because that is unnecessary for this ramble.

For as long as I can remember (and I've only been involved for a couple decades), most herbalists lead very modest lives.  It's not easy to make a living working with herbs for a lot of reasons, much of that being our dedication to each other and the community at large, and an equal amount having to do with various rulings, restrictions, and laws.  There are exceptions of course, but generally speaking we live simply and happily among the plants.  Herb folks work hard.  They struggle with their products, working late into the night to prepare for events, lug tables across several states to set up in the rain, and turn the soil, plant the seeds, stake out their wildcrafting areas, lovingly harvest, painstakingly prepare... it's work folks.  Hard work.  For everyone.

This is compounded by the all too common occurrence of having the rug routinely pulled out from under the community.  It seems that every time there is an opportunity to make a profit that would improve our lot, either some upstart arrives out of nowhere and scoops up what we've worked for years building, or a corporation takes it for their own.
The best example of that I can think of to illustrate it would be when we had our herb shop and spent part of every single week teaching, speaking publicly, and writing how to use herbs for health.  Shortly after opening, a pharmacist came in to make fun of our product line - which quickly appeared on their shelves and has become the largest section in their very large store.  A chain drugstore took up residence in our small town, and also started carrying all the hip, new herbs.  When a "60 Minutes" segment came out extolling the virtues of St John's wort, our customers thanked us for teaching them about it, and bought it cheaper down the street at the drugstore.

Now the current issue has to do with the trademarking of a NAME of very common concoction that has been made, used, and sold for as long as I can remember.  The party in question is shocked that the herbal community is so upset, because THEY are new to the scene and THEY didn't know it existed before they showed up.  This is something that happens to everyone new to herbalism, except this is the first time something so audacious has been the result.  They say they were unable to find any reference to this product before they started (variously stated as 2010 and 2011) but a simple Google search using the term with the year 2005 (chosen arbitrarily) turned up many listings that were posted at that time, long before they ever sold their first item.

So why is this a big deal?  Because this is a very sad precedent that could tear apart the fabric that has been carefully woven by generations of herbalists from around the globe.
Consider what would happen if the following terms were trademarked:
All-Purpose Salve
Chest Rub
Lip Balm
Herbal Tincture
Elderberry Syrup
Rose Elixir
Herb Tea
Bone Broth
Kombucha
Lavender Soap
... and on and on.

These are terms that belong to all of us.  They describe what we do.

There are many terms that are unique to different fields of work of which I have no understanding.  I don't know much about computers if it happens behind the keyboard (see?) and if I'm talking to a mechanic about the car, my eyes glaze over.  That doesn't mean that the words they use to describe their work can be stolen.
We aren't being mean or (hah) jealous because we weren't the first to consider ripping off an entire community.  We are protecting the traditions and heritage that we all know belong to everyone.

Our New Apprentice

This month we've been getting lots of great help around here.  Here's a brief introduction to the newest staff:

Hi all!

So I know many of you have already heard about me (or worse, seen baby pictures of me) but I thought a proper introduction was in order since I will be working on the magazine.

Before I started working with my mother and my aunt I went to Kutztown University for professional writing. During that time I realized I knew more about herbs than I expected, having spent my entire life surrounded by them, but never really being completely involved. When my friends would catch a cold or have a huge presentation that was stressing them out, I would be able to give them tinctures or suggest an herbal tea for them to try. It was a happy surprise how many times we were able to see a real difference.  While I didn’t become the campus apothecary, I was happy to know some of my mother’s teachings stuck with me.

When my mother's and aunt’s businesses suddenly needed an extra set of hands and eyes, I jumped at the chance to work with them. Since I started it has been a whirlwind of new material, ideas, and experiences. I am often using the skills I learned in college with something that I may have learned that day.

And I can’t wait to see what’s next!

Nice to meet you all,

Molly

Grocery Store Preparedness

Note:  Since writing this article, I found myself with two young women in the house coming down with food poisoning at 1 in the morning.  Because of that experience, I'd add sports drink and ice pops to the list.  Since I didn't have them, it meant a middle of the night run for liquids, returning just in time to have a 7 month old thrown in my direction as her mother made a mad dash for the bathroom...

Grocery Store Preparedness

From the Nov/Dec '13 Essential Herbal Magazine
Tina Sams

 

Just this week, my daughter who is now a young adult caught a doozy of a cold.  Ignoring Mom’s pleas to take elderberry tincture, she quickly progressed to the deep wheezing of bronchitis.  I thanked my lucky stars that the herb shelf was lined with everything I needed to make some good syrup, and was grateful to have been busily making different medicines for the last couple of months.  However, it has not always been this way.  Not so many years ago, I would have found myself struggling to find a way to get her to a doctor, fill a prescription (most likely), and still get to work on time.  Whether or not I found someone to take care of her, I would have felt like a terrible mom.  This is the reality that the majority of us face.

Make medicines ahead when you can.

I have friends who are purists and consider every substance they consume or come in contact with, and friends who eat fast food every day, smoke, drink, and view veggies as a waste of space on their plates.  Most everyone falls somewhere in between.  The truth is that everyone is just trying to stay one step ahead of the wolves at the door, raise their families, and enjoy a little slice of life where they can find it.  We all have vices.  We are all in-betweeners in one way or another.  We all eventually find that an unexpected illness can upset the apple cart, and we open the cupboards to find them lacking the things we need.

 

At that point, it’s too late to place an on-line order and sometimes dragging our sorry selves to a store is about as realistic as wresting an alligator.  The very best thing we can do for ourselves right now is to get a few things stocked up.  I’m not talking about exotic herbs or even making up special concoctions to have on hand, necessarily.  Certainly it is wonderful to have prepared or pre-purchased herbal products like tinctures and syrups on hand, but if not, all is not lost.

A good starter list for the grocery store:

HONEY – raw and organic local honey is the best.  It can be used to whip up syrups, teas, and some very simple recipes.
LEMONS – Always good to have around.  They stay good in the crisper for a long time, but pure juice is also available in shelf-stable containers. 
GINGER AND REAL GINGER ALE – We get crystallized ginger from the bulk store down the road, and try to keep ginger ale on hand.  It’s not always easy to do because that ginger ale seems to vanish… Check the ingredient label on the ginger ale to be sure that there is ginger in it!
GARLIC – Garlic also lasts pretty well, but if you don’t use it much in cooking, consider getting the chopped bits in a jar.
APPLE CIDER VINEGAR – the real thing.  Check the label.  Often distilled white vinegar is just flavored, so be sure you’re getting the good stuff.
ELDERBERRY JELLY – we can often find this at the farm markets around here, but if you can’t, ask your grocer to get it in for you.
OLIVE OIL – besides all the other reasons to have this around, it can become a quick salve or rub when infused with essential oil or some garlic, ginger, cayenne, etc.
CHICKEN BROTH – Although it’s wonderful to make your own, an emergency supply when you’re suffering is better than nothing.  Adding lots of garlic and ginger (see above) will make it into something very good.
SICK FOOD – Crackers, Applesauce, Jello, and some Italian Water Ice have all been things that we NEEDED but didn’t have in the house.

A few other things we couldn’t live without:
RICE HEAT SACK – these go by a lot of different names, but basically it is a cloth sack filled ½ way with rice that can go into the microwave for a minute.  Great for muscle pains, cold feet, cramps, or just to soothe a sick person.  Much like a hot water bottle, but easier to use.  Ours is about 18” long and about 4” wide.  We use it a lot.
LICORICE ROOT STICKS – In 20 years, there’s never been a time when we didn’t have these in the house.  There really is nothing like them to soothe a sore throat or raw sinuses.  As a stir stick in any tea, they make a huge difference.  As a child, Molly often had a licorice root stick in her mouth.
TEA BLENDS – we have a lot of our own here, and I try to keep them made up with heat-sealable teabags for ease of use, but tea balls work just as well.  We also love a certain ginger and honey instant brew that can often be found in health food stores.  If you’re not growing and blending your own, be sure to have a variety on hand.

Now if you’ve got a moment, make up some of these medicines.  They’ll keep for a very long time, and you’ll thank yourself later.

Garlic Honey  - Fill a jar about 1/3 full with coarsely chopped garlic cloves and then fill to the top with honey.  Work out any air bubbles.  Use in tea (or eat the garlic and honey) when a virus attacks.

Ginger Elixir – Into a quart jar, chop a large hand of ginger coarsely.  Thinly slice one lemon and add to the jar.  Add a couple of cinnamon sticks or a tablespoon of pieces or powder.  Cover with honey and stir well.  Fill the rest of the way with vodka.  The honey/vodka ratio is usually about 1 part honey to 2 parts vodka, however we do it more by feel than by measurement.

Fire Cider –  Into a large jar, chop onions, garlic, ginger root, horseradish, and cayenne.  Some people add turmeric as well.  There are specific recipes on line, but I make it up as I go, depending on what is around.  Cover ingredients with apple cider vinegar and let sit until you need it.  To use, mix with a little of the garlic honey, taking about a tablespoon at a time.

 

None of the items on the shopping list will go to waste, and it’s a good idea to keep an eye on them since they are things that we use in every day cooking.  By keeping them in the house, I’ve saved myself (and my fellow shoppers) some very unsightly exposure.  If you’ve got your chicken stock frozen, your syrups lined up in gleaming bottles, and your tinctures ready to strain, good!  But if you’re an in-betweener like almost all of us, hopefully this will make you feel a little less guilty about that can of chicken noodle soup and saltines that might be the only thing that your little one is willing to eat today.

 

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