Costa Family Farm

Echinacea Immune Booster

Last week my family had a cold. They all looked pretty miserable so when I got it I decided to fight back. I made myself tea with Echinacea and a tiny amount of Goldenseal. The other herbs I used were just for flavor and sustenance: clover and alfalfa. The clover is from our yard. I’d have made this for my children but they won’t drink it’s sharp flavor, although they do drink about everything else I give them. (I was making a different tea for them,, basically to soothe their throats, and gave a little pinch of restricted herb ephedra to one son to open up a slight allergic response to his cold.)

I drank my tea twice that day and didn’t get the cold as awful as my family did. This is important because if I get sick, as you know, there’s no lying down on the job!

Echinacea is used best as a preventative. It can be taken alternately 10 days on, 10 days off throughot a sickness season, to boost immunity.

I felt better by the 3^rd day and made the mistake of working too hard, moving boxes of winter clothing in our shed’s loft. The next day I was sick again.

I repeated the Echinacea & Goldenseal and was healed again by the next day.

I know, I should have just continued with the Echinacea straight through.

Goldenseal is a strong antiobiotic. It is not recommended to drink it much. I was in a state of emergency (I presumed.) It is very useful as a topical antiobotic. I have previously written about its use on umbilical cords.

This is what my Expectorant/Congestion Mix for the children is:

Pleurisy Root, Licorice, Coltsfoot, Slippery Elm, Chamomile, Nettles, Alfalfa, Red Clover

Instead of a strong herb like Ephedra, which should only be used in extreme cases, and then with much care to use just a pinch, this is my usual Lung Support for children:

Chamomile, Mullein, Licorice 

*You MUST STRAIN this through a coffee filter or the mullein hairs will stick in the throat and drive the person into frenzy.  Mullein grows wild up here!

We used herbs and homeopathy to once heal a son who was a toddler at the time. I will write about that event soon.

Lavender and Goldenseal

Last week my husband had an open wound on top of his foot that hadn't healed since our trip, when he (or the surf) bashed it with a small surf board. He realized it was infected when it remained open and wet and had a red ring around it. He realized he was going to be taking time out of his busy work schedule to visit the doctor! I wanted to try to help him at home, first; this is what I did:

Made up a bowl of warm water & lavender oil, maybe 10 drops, and had him use it with a clean soft cloth to compress his foot for a while (20-30 min.)

Then I had him dust the sore with Golden Seal. We get a little bit of it onto the end of a cotton-tipped Q-tip or whatever and just tap it to release the powder. The powder is extremely expensive per lb. but you don't have to buy a pound of it! Still, we don't waste any.

Golden Seal also dries up umbilicals like you've never seen before. It's a very strong antibiotic, so you get the benefit of rapid drying and germ-killing. Like any powder, dust it on carefully so's not to get any into the newborn's nose or eyes.

About my husband- by the next day, his foot was dry, sealed over & healing, with the redness gone. We never did need the doctor.

That's why I like herbs. You can do something at home, and you get a choice between using a doctor or not. If a doctor is needed, we go.

Plantain Salve

Posted by Allison (Mommie)

Hi! Here's the recipe for Plantain Salve:

1. Harvest the plantain leaves(longleaf or broadleaf, either is fine) from your lawn. Don't wash it! You don't want water in the salve: it will spoil it. Just shake off the leaves. They are probably clean 'enough'.

2. Chop up the plantain and bruise the leaves. Put it in a pot with some olive oil. For every ounce of olive oil you use, you will need an ounce (or a Tbs.) of beeswax, so measure your oil use accordingly.

3. Heat the oil slowly, let it stay low enough to avoid burning, but warm enough to draw out the plantain's herbal properties. Let it stay warming until you think the palntain has been absorbed into the oil as much as pocssible. It does not take a really long time. Watch it carefully!

4. Drain the contents of the pot through a metal strainer, into another pot. Let it sit draining for a while. You can even push some through near the end. Now you have plantain oil, just so you know: you can make any herbal oil this way.

5. Add an ounce or 1 Tbs. of beeswax per ounce or Tbs. of oil in the pot. You can start with less if you are not sure, and add as you go. Warm up the wax in the pot and stir. You can't tell how the consistency is going to be until it is cooled, so don't worry too much about it now. I usually put it in the refrigerator to speed up the cooling and check it later.

6. (Later) Check the consistency. Too runny? More wax will fix that. Too hard? Leave it out to reach room tepmerature first. Is it still too hard? Then you can add more olive oil, or even better- more plantain oil if you have some left. This final step requires playing with it or just settling wiht less than perfect consistency. I would rather have my savves a little too runny than too hard. Remember you just want to be able to use it.

If you know planatin, you know the many uses this salve can have. This recipe can work with any herb! You can make yourself a comfrey, calendula, plantain, yarrow salve.. you can chop and mix the herbs together and make anything you need. I have used the above mix for everything from diaper area to cuts. I like having plantain salve isolated in a salve for special bug bite problems or sny skin rash which needs to be calmed down. The analgesic properties of plantain are way, way high.

Remember, the very best thing for an insect sting is to grab the plantain leaf from the lawn and just chew on the leaves, quick! Put the green saliva on the sting. Your little one will stop crying, there will be no swelling, etc.

I love how God puts the plantain into the lawn just as the bees arrive. If you don't already know how, identify this very important plant!

Happy spring, it is finally here.