Sun-6-Jan-2008 - Echinacea Tincture
As I said in the previous post, our illness coninues. One of the bright spots in the whole thing is I've had ample opportunity to test out echinacea tincture for sore throats. Let me tell you, the longer you hold it at the back of your throat the better, it gives practically instant relief and it doesn't taste bad at all.
Early this morning, Jay asked me what I'd taken for my sore throat. He tried half a dose of this, and a few minutes later he said "Well, that really does work, doesn't it?"
This is what I have been using:
I can buy one bottle, about one ounce, locally for about $3.50. This would last one person in dire straits for about 2-3 days.
HOWEVER, this is nothing but 99.9% glycerine and echinacea. I can buy a pound of echinacea from the Bulk Herb Store for $18.50 and I already have glcerine. If I pack a pint jar half full of echinacea, pour a bit of hot water over them, top off the jar with glycerine and simmer it in a crockpot for a few days, I can strain out my own tincture!
16 oz of echinacea from the store would run me about $50!
I think I really like herbs!!!!
~Ashley~
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Fri-4-Jan-2008 - Homemade Diaper Ointment!
I find this incredibly exciting!
Yesterday, my almost 2yo had such a bad rash that it was affecting the way he walked around the living room. So, I determined to find something that could help.
Since he was born, we've used A&D ointment since it was recommended by a doctor to one of Jay's co-workers. I've also used Arbonne's Herbal Diaper Rash Cream but it seems less potent than the A&D, although I've often wondered if I havn't allowed the diaper area to dry as much as necessary? So this could be user error!
Anyway, yesterday A&D just wasn't working fast enough. It didn't seem to provide enough relief!
Several months ago I ordered a box of herbs from the Bulk Herb Store. One of the herbs I ordered was plantain, which I knew had healing properties, so I went online and read a bit more about it. It did say it was 'esspecially helpful with diaper rash'. Bingo!
Then I had to research how to make a salve or ointment. Fortunatly, I was able to find all of the information I needed on the Bulk Herb Store site! It seemed the easiest to me to put the base oil in a crockpot and cook it with the plantain, and one of the oils suggested was lard. I have a big bucket of lard sitting around to make soap with, so I used two cups of that.
The recipe ended up being:
2 cups of lard
1 cup of fluffy, dried plantain leaves
I cooked this together for two or three hours, strained it through cheese cloth and was thrilled at how dark the mixture was! (I've read the darker the mixture the more potent it is.) It was a deep, murky green. When the salve cooled it was much lighter but I don't think that's a good measure of how rich it is.
I noticed several important things:
One, plantain is a contact healer. While my son was whimpering when I applied A&D with my finger, he didn't mind plantain at all. The plantain and lard even seems to have a bit of a 'textured' feeling under my finger, and he doesn't mind!
Secondly, it really works!!!
If this is something you would be interested in, half a pound of plantian sells for $4.80 - shipping is $5.50 if you only want a pound of herbs, but the rates get better the more you buy. Half a pound of plantain is quite a bit of cut leaves! (What tickles me to no end is that plantain grows in my backyard! And front yard....and well, pretty much everywhere, lol.) With half a pound I'm thinking I could make a gallon of salve, if I didn't use it for anything else. I keep trying to think of how I could measure how many cut leaves half a pound is, over a quart but less than two quarts?
I think the only thing that might make this better is to add a bit of comfry leaf ($4.05 for half a pound) and was startled to realize these are the two main ingredients in one of my favorite salves made by Healing Hollers!
Comfry is also THE ingredient in the salve I used profusely when I was pumping frantically while Elijah was in the hospital. (Ouch!)
It's a small world, herbally!
Just wanted to pass this on, and also record it so I know exactly what I did. 
~Ashley~
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