PHARMACY FRIDAY - Lavender for Winter Ills

It seems that there are more viruses and ills going around right now than usual. Some of them this year are also more aggressive than usual, so it seems. I have kind of lost count as to how many different ones are going around simultaneously just this month alone.

I don't know about you, but I really get tired of taking so many synthetic/commercial medications to combat all of those Fall/Winter viruses and their complications. Sometimes, the side effect can be even worse than the actual virus! Then you have to try and heal up from the virus AND the medications. Not to mention, we build up immunities to them and, after time, they often don't work as well as they once did, if at all. No fun!

As you know, I prefer to use NATURAL REMEDIES whenever possible. There are very few, if any, side effects to them, and we don't usually build immunities to them. One of my favorite natural remedies to combat winter time viruses is Lavender Essential Oil. Not only is it highly effective, it is also one of the absolute safest essential oils to use for adults, babies, children and the elderly. (checking with your healthcare provider before beginning any treatment is advised for any age.)

Not all Lavender essential oils are alike. Different Lavender essential oils provide different properties, some therapeutic, some medicinal, some for aroma therapy, and some are good for all. My two all time favorites are French Lavender and Spanish Lavender.

Being low on the medicinal value side, Spanish Lavender Essential Oil is mostly used for aromatherapy purposes; however, it is also a great expectorant. A few drops can be added to your favorite carrier oil, then gently rubbed into your chest (and don't forget the bottoms of your feet) or used as an all over massage lotion to aid in congestion relief. As a massage oil, not only does it work as an expectorant, but the aroma therapy aspect of Spanish Lavender also helps you to relax and rest better, which could easily speed healing and recovery time. Lavender essential oil is so mild that it can also be taken internally (In food and/or beverages. Do not consume straight!). Only a drop or two is all that is needed. I haven't tried them, yet, but I have read that Lavender Cookies are very good! I love the fragrance of this one the best!

French Lavender Essential Oil is my absolute favorite to use for medicinal purposes. The price of it has risen considerably lately, but only a tiny bit goes a very long way and, in the end, it is still far cheaper than modern medications, with little to no side effects. It is well worth investing in!!! Store in a dark, glass bottle in a dark, cool, dry place and it will keep for an enormously long time.

French Lavender Essential Oil is loaded with medicinal properties!  Not only is it antiviral, but it is also antibacterial (bactericide), decongestant, antiseptic, and analgesic. When so many 'bugs' are going around that you don't know if your illness is viral or bacterial, this essential oil can cover both. Used in a massage oil, it can also aid in the relief of the aches and pains associated with flu and fever. It is such a versatile oil that it is well worth investing in!  With its combined strong antiseptic, antiviral AND bactericide values, it is great to add to your cleaning products to help kill germs and prevent being ill at all. Diffusing Lavender Essential Oil into the air and/or burning natural Lavender candles can also help kill the germs and viruses in the air that you breathe in.

Can you guess? I just can't say enough good about this essential oil! For some excellent Lavender Recipes, visit:

Joys of Lavender

AllRecipes.com 

Happy Valley Herb Farm

Culinary Lavender

Sunshine Lavender Farm

I can't wait to try some of those recipes! I think a salad dressing would be fantastic! 

 May this Pharmacy Friday find you well!

NOTE: This post is for informative purposes ONLY. It is not intended to treat, diagnose, cure or prevent any disease or illness. If you are ill, or think you are ill, it is advised that you see your health care provider.

PHARMACY FRIDAY - Honeysuckle to Reduce Overheating

   Although it is officially still Spring here where we live, for many of us, that time of year that often renders the day unbearably hot is already here. With all that heat, and with us trying to live more naturally and reduce the amount of electricity we use (meaning no air conditioning) we begin looking for ways to beat the heat, keep cool, and, when that doesn't work, we look for ways to remedy heat exhaustion and heat stroke (both of which are very dangerous).

As some of you may know, I have a small shop at our local flea market. It is a cross between indoors and out. The inside is inside of a windowless metal building with no electricity, and the outside area is solid gray gravel. It gets VERY hot when the weather is hot! We have a few canopies up that we often sit under, but even with that, when the sun hits a certain angle, it simple heats up the gravel under the canopy, the canopy holds in the heat, thus creating a miserable summertime heater.

I have overheated quite a few times as I work throughout the late spring and summer, getting heat exhaustion nearly to the point of heat stroke a few times.. With several health issues, including heart problems, a few times got downright scary! So with my first (and extra early) round of heat exhaustion this year, I began to urgently search for natural remedies and aides to help me endure the upcoming summer's heat and still be able to work.

To my excited astonishment, I learned that the flowers on the honeysuckle growing in the corner of my yard was my answer! The Japanese Honeysuckle (which is what both Dave and I have) seems to be the one that is said to work the best. You simply drink brewed tea made from the Honeysuckle Flowers and drink to reduce the heat in your body!  HERE is some more great, detailed information about using Honeysuckle Tea to reduce/eliminate excess heat from your body when you are hit with heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

A couple of weekends ago, while working at my setup at the Flea Market, it got much hotter than we had expected and I badly overheated. I came home feeling really lousy and, as I pulled in my driveway, I was greeted with a burst of Honeysuckle blooms. I remembered what I had read, got out and picked a handful, then brewed me a big cup as soon as I got inside. I sweetened it with honey and sat down to taste my first ever cup. First, I was surprised at how wonderful it tasted!! Remember when you were a kid and you pulled those little flowers stamens out the end of that honeysuckle flower, anxiously awaiting that little 'drop' of sweet nectar to pop out so you could quickly catch it on your tongue, then wished like everything you could have a whole cup of it because that wonderfully sweet and tasty drop just wasn't enough? Well, that is what that tea tasted like... that whole cup I dreamed of having when I was a kid!!! It was pure Heaven!

And even better...... within an hour I began to feel much better! (oh, yes, I had also badly sunburned on one side, to the point of blisters). No doubt I was experiencing heat exhaustion when I came home, and it is the kind of heat that seems to take forever to leave your  body, but I was absolutely AMAZED at how fast I began to cool off and feel better just a little while after that cup of tea!

Now when I head out for the flea market to work I take with me a BIG mug of icey cold Honeysuckle Tea. I simply toss a handful of Honeysuckle flowers into about 2 cups of hot water and let steep for awhile. I pour that into my big mug with sweetener, ice, finish filling with water and stir. Because I have also been craving limeades, I also squeeze a couple of limes into my mug with the Honeysuckle Tea Yes, I toss them limes in, too, after I have squeezed the juice into my mug). It is wonderfully delicious! [Recently I have been craving citrus fruits HARD, and when I caved into my cravings, the heart palpitations that I had started to have completely disappeared, but that is a subject for another post at another time.]  Sometimes I sweeten this heat relieving iced tea with honey, and sometimes with granulated evaporated cane juice (I use Zulka). Both are excellent.  And I can first handedly say that sipping on my large mug of this wonderfully tasting and refreshing tea throughout the day (okay, sometimes I guzzle), most definitely keeps me cooler and greatly helps me get through a day of working outdoors in our sticky, icky humid heat. I hope this will help you, too.

Now, to figure out how to get my honeysuckle vines that appear to be slowing down its blooming cycle to pick its blooming back up. Oh, yes, when it is in heavy bloom, you can dry it and store it away for later use. Just make sure you hide it from your cats, as they seem to love it as much as they do catnip!

Pharmacy Friday - Perilla Mint... I had no idea!

  Perilla Mint -  Perilla frutescens . Shiso : It is an annual wild mint that now grows abundantly here in the US. In other countries, it is cultivated and grown as a food crop, but here, it is regarded as a weed and grows quite prolifically, especially in shady, wooded areas.

Until I moved out here in the woods nearly 15 years ago, I don't recall having ever seen it. I had no idea what it was. When I first moved here, as I was pulling weeds from around wanted plants, I kept noticing that something smelled like mint. I finally realized it was the pretty green plant with the square stems and purple highlights. But I didn't know what it was called.  I left a few to grow because I thought they were so pretty, then pulled the rest. But from just those few that I left, they really took off! It now grows all over my front acre nearly as abundantly as my wild spinach (lambs quarters).

Over the years I simply regarded it as a weed because I didn't know what it was. I just knew it was taking over and I kept pulling it up and, I hate to admit it, but I sprayed it a lot, too (that was before I became so conscience of the dangers of weed killers). 

Then a couple of years ago, on a day this stuff was especially strong and wonderfully fragrant, I decided to do some deep research and see if I could find out what it was. My results, of course, turned up that it was Perilla Mint, without any doubt. But everything that I read on it said that it was a nuisance because it was highly toxic to many animals, especially livestock such as cattle, horses, goats, etc. It appears it is very deadly to them with little chance for recovery or remedy. I have to wonder now how many of my goats over the years that were fine one day and gone the next, had eaten that stuff!  Here are some links on its toxicity in livestock:

   Poisonous Plants of the Southern United States
   What is Perilla Mint?
   Perilla Mint Toxicosis
   Farmer Loses 6 Cows

So for the past 2 years I have worked harder than ever to pull up and thin out this dangerous, yet beautiful and wonderful smelling plant. The results? This year it seemed to be thriving better than ever! It even survived last summers extreme heat and drought with no problem. So this spring, once again, I found myself fighting a losing battle as I fervently worked to pull it up by the bushels and discard it. Fortunately, though, I haven't seen any in my rocky goat yard, but you never know when a sprig will pop up and get eaten before you ever see it.

But the other day, as I was working in my yard picking wild edibles and pulling up and discarding the Perilla Mint, it was smelling extra wonderful that day. It got me to thinking... "How can such a beautiful and wonderfully fragrant plant be so completely horrible. It HAS to have some good purpose." So when I took a break, I came in here to the computer and decided to do a little deeper researching on it. What I found was AMAZING!  I had no idea the Perilla Mint has so many good uses, too!

 In Japan, it is also called Shiso and is actually the most important part of their diet and cuisine!  Too bad I can't ship all of mine over there to them. It would definitely be an easy farm to get started, here, and maybe even pay for itself, lol.  HERE  and HERE is what Wikipedia has to say about its culinary uses in several different countries. I especially like the way it is used to serve Wasabi on.

This site (Drugs.com)  says that it has shown antioxidant, anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, antidepressant, and tumor-preventing properties. I have seen several places where it is known for its cancer fighting abilities against several different cancers. If you can keep it away from your livestock, this plant is WONDERFUL!!!

At LIVESTRONG they talk about how great it is to alleviate nausea, allergies, sunstroke, asthma, muscle spasms, and other ails. And to think that I have been pulling up and throwing away the very thing that could be helping with my asthma and allergies! It also fascinates me that it can prevent some food poisonings. Maybe I should sip a cup of Perilla Mint tea before I go out to eat the next time! HERE is the nutrition information for Perilla Mint from LiveStrong.

According to Local Harvest, Perilla Mint seeds were brought to the USA in the early 1800s by Asian immigrants. They give several great cooking uses for this great herb and also says that it is great for relief of colds, flu, sore throats, congestion, and that breathing in the steam from a boiled pot of it can clear the sinuses! Sheesh! I have been battling this blasted sinus infection and was throwing away the very thing that might help it. Ugh!!! 

So now, as I walk through my yard, I view this most interesting plant from a totally different point of view. I view it with a smile and thoughts running through my head as to how much of it I want to dry and put away for winter's use; while at the same time, I am contemplating how I am going to let some of it grow while keeping it away from the livestock. I think the best defense will be to make sure they have plenty to eat so that they won't even be tempted to take a nibble of it.

I will post a picture of my Perilla Mint sometime this weekend. By the time I realized this evening that I hadn't taken a pic yet, then cleared out some pics so I could take one, it was too dark. Thank you for taking the time to read my post. If you know of any more uses for this most interesting herb, we would love to hear them.

On the right, you can see the turned over leaf to show the slight purple coloring on the backside of the leaves.The amount of purple on the leaves/plants will vary greatly. Sometimes there will be no purple at all.

PHARMACY FRIDAY - Garlic as an Antibiotic

As I stated in my last post, I am devoting April to remedies associated with sinus ails. I, myself, am still battling my extreme sinus infection, but I seem to be making considerable headway. The prescription antibiotics did not work. But the natural remedies seem to be helping considerably. To be fair, I have to admit that I am also taking an allergy medication, but I was taking that before, too, when nothing seemed to be working.

Since the prescription antibiotics didn't seem to do anything for my sinus infection (but did do damage to my body), I decided to go natural there, as well. And the best natural antibiotic that I know of is GARLIC (if you know of others, I would like to hear about them.)

I am talking about FRESH garlic, not the powdered nor that minced stuff you see canned in a jar that has been setting on the store shelf for no telling how long. To get your fresh garlic to reach its strongest antibiotic effect, thinly slice, chop or crush it, let it stand a few minutes .... then consume (raw - the more you cook it, the lower its antibiotic properties). The active antibiotic ingredient in garlic is Allicin. Allicin is released when you cut into a fresh clove of garlic. Once you cut/chop up that clove of garlic and let it stand a few minutes, the allicin level rises.

Although prescription antibiotics kill only a small range of bacteria and germs, garlic has been shown to be a broad spectrum antibiotic that kills a broad range of bacteria, possibly the broadest range of any antimicrobial known. And even better, bacteria doesn't ever become resistant to it. As an added bonus, garlic also kills off many kinds of molds, parasites, viruses and fungi .... all things that can contribute to sinus infections and irritations.

HERE is some more wonderful, detailed information about Garlic,  its antibiotic uses, and how to use it.

Is all fresh garlic the same?  NO 

There are two main types of garlic... hardneck and softneck. Visit HERE for a great explanation of the differences in their appearances.

Softneck garlic is the most common seen in the grocery stores. It is much easier to grow, is more productive and has a longer shelf life. It is recognizable by the soft, easily bendable stem in the middle, along with the papery outer covering and its many cloves (often in several layers). It is also easier to braid.

Hardneck garlic  has a hard stem in the middle, has fewer, larger cloves, a thinner outer covering (sometimes none at all), and grows scapes (stalks), topped with bubils, up through its middle.

I have always read that the Hardneck Garlic had the absolute strongest antibiotic properties. Personally, I have had better luck with it. But today, I  have spent hours on end trying to 'officially' find documentation of this to link to, and have yet to find it. So I am now going to step away from my computer for a spell, rest my eyes and try again later. I look forward to hearing any additional info you might have on this subject.

MORE great info about how wonderful garlic is as a natural antibiotic.

PHARMACY FRIDAY - Pickles for your Sinuses

Here in Oklahoma (and I am sure many other states) we are in the midst of our Spring respiratory allergy season. This year it seems to be one of our worst. So with that in mind, combined with the fact that I am still battling my extreme sinus infection, I have decided to devote all of April to sinus remedies.

As some of you know, my sinus infection has been so extreme that I have had a multitude of mini strokes over the past month. (I am so glad to report that I have had only one or two very tiny ones this week, which I managed to stop/slow down using the acupressure points.)  I have asked everyone possible (friends, pharmacists, store clerks, etc.) what their suggestions were to remedy my sinuses. One of the oddest, yet very effective, suggestions I have had yet was dill pickles, suggested by two different store clerks at that!

Of course, my first thought was, "no way!", but they both explained to me that there are several ingredients in Dill Pickles that aid in relieving your sinuses. One of them strongly emphasized that it had to be DILL pickles, as there was something in the dill weed that was very effective. She also explained that something about the combination of the ingredients, including the cucumbers, especially helped. So I thought, "Why not..." I had a full, unopened gallon of dill pickles at home that had been sitting untouched for months (I had gotten them because I needed the jar), so I figured I would try them.

By the time I got to the end of that first dill pickle, I was amazed at the relief I got. My sinuses eased up considerably for the next couple of hours. But I was still skeptical so I decided not to put too much stock into it until I tried it a few more times. Well, I am 3/4 of the way through that gallon of pickles now, and with every pickle I have eaten, I have received very noticeable relief for two or more hours after I have eaten one. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it is a cure in itself, but it sure has given me relief. And coupled with other remedies, I am now feeling considerably better!

This concept fascinated me so I had to do some research to see if I could find out the logic behind why Dill Pickles appeared to be working so well to relieve my sinus pressure. Here is what I found about dome of the ingredients in a jar of Dill Pickles:

 DILL - This wonderful, flavorful herb has more healing properties than I ever dreamed it did! Among those properties is respiratory health. Dill contains components that are anti congestive, anti histiminic, anti bacterial, anti fungal, anti inflammatory, and kills mold. It aids in clearing the congestion in your respiratory system. As an added bonus, it just might also alleviate the cause of your sinus infection! (bacteria, mold, fungi, etc.)
Here is some more good reading on the subject: Health Benefits of Dill, Dill, Health Benefits of Dill Weed 

GARLIC - Garlic is known to have antiviral properties which helps the body fight against allergies (which is a common cause of sinus irritations/infections). It is also anti bacterial, anti fungal and, best of all, a great, natural antibiotic! Since prescription antibiotics (very strong ones at that) didn't work on my sinus infection this time, I definitely need something like this.

VINEGAR - Be it white or apple cider, vinegar is anti bacterial, kills molds, and is decongesting. It can be a great help in the fight against sinus irritations/infections and its causes. I don't know about you, but when I bite into a big, juicy, dill pickle, it often squirts up into my nose (via the back of my mouth) and that seems to be a good thing because it gets it to where it needs to go.

CUCUMBERS - Little did I know that cucumbers are anti inflammatory (which can reduce swelling in your nasal passages), among many other health benefits! Cucumbers are loaded with Vitamin A, which can help keep the surface lining in the respiratory tract intact. Who would have thought?!

And then, in many jars of Dill Pickles, you might also find mustard seed, which also has anti inflammatory properties and is anti fungal.

So as you can see, amazingly, all the ingredients in a jar of DILL PICKLES may very well work together to alleviate sinus infections/irritations! Looks like Dave and I will have to grow LOTS of dill and cucumbers this year to can lots of dill pickles with.

Have a great, easy breathing weekend!

PHARMACY FRIDAY - Pineapple for Sinus Congestion

As some of you may know, I have been battling a sever sinus infection for quite awhile now. Prescription antibiotics seem to have done nothing for it. Plus, my body is absolutely tired of taking them and letting me know it. So I have been intently searching for any home/natural remedy I could find to help relieve the pressure of my extreme sinus infection (and, hopefully, cure it).

Recently I read that eating pineapple will relieve a sinus infection. Yes, you read that right, PINEAPPLE! It turns out that fresh pineapples are very high in an enzyme called Bromelain, which has anti-inflammatory properties and breaks down mucus. Eating pineapples can reduce the swelling in the nasal passages, relieving the symptoms of a sinus infection. It sure is a lot tastier than sinus medications, too!

Some say that bromelain fights bacterial and viral infections, thus it could greatly help in a variety of types of sinus infections. It is definitely helping with mine, I am just having a hard time eating so much of it every day And I sure wish it didn't cost so much!

As stated in a recent post, Dave and I ate a fresh pineapple for dinner one day, and had even grilled part of it. I don't mean to be gross, but the next morning, we both got up coughing up loads of 'yucky' stuff . . . . stuff that was desperately needing to come up. I felt better, slacked off, and stuffed back up. So, guess what is for breakfast, today . . . .  pineapple!


Here are some good links discussing eating pineapples to relieve your sinuses > > > >

Foods That Help a Sinus Infection

Diet to Decrease Sinus Infections

Food For Thought Thursday - be sure and check out the video!

Remember, FRESH PINEAPPLE works best!

PHARMACY FRIDAY - Intro - Sinus Relief

  I get so very frustrated with going to the doctor. When I do, it seems that all they want to do is give me a pill (or drugs) to treat the symptoms I went in for, not find out what is wrong and fix it. Then . . . . when I have a reaction to, or side effects from, the pill(s) they gave me, they give me more drugs to mask the symptoms from the first drugs prescribed. Then, often times, this cycle continues with those drugs... And before you know it, I have more problems, and am feeling worse, than I did when I originally went into the doctor!!

It all gets pretty frustrating. It seems any more, that going for medical care is simply a BIG money maker for the pharmaceuticals, drug companies, equipment makers, and everyone else on that end of the stick, with little to no regard for the actual, quality health of the patient. Once upon a time, a long time ago, if a doctor knew of a 'natural' or 'home' remedy that worked as well as, or better, than any drug he could prescribe, he would not only tell you about it (making sure you fully understood how to do it), but urge you to try it before he prescribed anything. But that was back when the medical profession truly cared about the patients, before extreme monetary greed hit the system.

In today's world, more and more chemical laden drugs are being created by the day, and more and more serious side effects are coming with them. I mean, just listen to the commercials. They advertise this big, wonderful, miracle working medication, then at the end of the commercial they list all these horrifying side effects it could cause. I don't know about you, but I certainly don't want all that crap in my body and I certainly don't want to experience any of those horrifying side effects.

Commercials?   For drugs and medications?  Now there's something we never dreamed we would see!  It's like they want us to be sick, like they want us to see these commercials, start imagining the symptoms, run to our doctor, ask for the medication we saw advertised on TV, hand them more of our hard-earned money, take the medications, experience the side effects, go back for more drugs to counter those side effects, so that we can go back and hand them some more money. It is a viscous, never ending cycle that appears to have been created to keep us sick and draining us of every penny we can come up with. Oh, and I find it pathetically amusing that 'they' have banned cigarette and alcohol commercials (which I am glad they did), then replaced them with 'drug' commercials! It just doesn't make sense.

Regardless of the fact that 'they' are trying every way they can to block us from growing and/or selling and using our own natural sources of healing and keeping ourselves healthy (by eating our way to good health), many of 'us' are searching high and low for every natural remedy, cure and prevention we can find to live the best quality, healthy life we can . . . naturally.  That is the way God intended, that is our right, and it should never be taken away from us. With natural living and healing, side effects are few to none, and cures are strived for, rather than simply a 'bandaid' placed on the symptoms. 

Then there is always the concern of major disasters striking, be it man made or an unexpected, enormous natural disaster. During such an event, grids and everything we have grown dependent upon will go down. Medical assistance and supplies will be spread unbelievably thin, not to mention they will run out quickly. Then what will we do?  Just live with being sick or injured? Or worse, say 'good-bye' to the world and die because we have come so dependent upon the greedy, money hungry medical profession that we don't have a clue what to do for ourselves??  NO! We need to start preparing ourselves now, learning (and practicing) every natural remedy and method we can learn, so that we can live a more healthy, quality, comfortable and productive lifestyle. And this is what PHARMACY FRIDAY will be dedicated to.

PHARMACY FRIDAY will be a weekly post discussing, not only the dangers hidden in many of our modern day medications, drugs and treatments, but especially natural remedies, treatments and daily living routines that will help us to have a better quality, healthier, more comfortable life, NATURALLY. I hope you will find this weekly post of great help and benefit to you, and I truly look forward to your input.
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*For our first post, I am going to begin with a remedy that doesn't even involve putting anything into your body. Only your body is used, and nothing else is needed ... nothing to buy, nothing to grow, nothing to harvest .... nothing. 

As some of you have been reading, I have been in a bad health mode myself, lately. I had to break down and go to the doctor, which ended in prescribed meds, and, you guessed it, more meds to counter bad effects of that med. Ugh!!!  Yet through it all, NOTHING is working on my extreme sinus infection. Along with that, I am having one mini stroke after the other (up to about 14 now in the past month and they are wearing me out!), which I am convinced is related to my sinus infection, but I can't convince the doctor of that. So I have been researching and digging deeply on my own to try and remedy the situation myself, because nothing they did for me has worked.

A couple of nights ago I found a website about using acupressure to help relieve your sinus pain, pressure and to help it to begin to drain. I found it very interesting and definitely worth trying. They listed many acupressure points with easy detail to follow (you can see them all here) I tried a couple of them for a few moments and could actually feel a little bit of relief. But still, I was skeptical.  But then the next time (only hours later, actually)  I felt one of those mini strokes coming on, I thought I would try pressing on one of those pressure points and see if it helped at all. I tried pressure point #2  and to my grateful amazement, the mini stroke instantly stopped! Woohooo!!!

Well, I still was unsure if it was just coincidence, a one-time thing, or if it was really going to work. Since then, three more mini strokes have come on (one was obviously going to be another pretty hard one), I immediately pressed on a pressure point (I am using points #1, #2 and #3, as needed) and every mini stroke immediately stopped! On two of them, just as the tingly numbness had begun to creep into my left side, I pressed on the pressure point and the tingly numbness faded back out in the same fashion it had come in, completely stopping the mini stroke. This even further proves to me that these frustrating and debilitating mini strokes are probably connected to my severe sinus infection. I have no doubt.

Even though this terrible spell I am going through has gotten pretty scary, kept me from working, which has kept me from making an income, without which I can't pay my bills, which has all the appearances of destroying me, I was still thinking just yesterday that there has to be some reason I am having to go through this all, some good purpose. Maybe this was the reason . . . to figure out, first hand, what triggers some mini strokes (pressure from a sever sinus infection, maybe) and figure out a simple, non-invasive, cost free, way to stop them the moment they start . . . . . which could save a person days, and even weeks, of recovery time. Now, keep in mind that mini strokes are a VERY serious thing and can be caused (triggered) by a variety of things, so if you are having them, you should consider seeking medical attention. But for me (I had no luck when I sought medical attention), this is stopping mine until I can remedy the underlying cause. And I honestly think that if I can get rid of my sinus infection, my mini strokes will stop completely, just as they did in the past. At least I hope so! (this post written by Anna)

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. We would love to hear your ideas, opinions and any suggestions you might have on any part of this post. We look forward to reading your comments. Once again, comments are currently open to everyone, members or not. No waiting for comment approval and no funny words to type.

  Disclaimer: I am not, in any way, a doctor nor a pharmacist and I am not telling, nor advising, anyone to skip the doctor's care and treat themselves. Pharmacy Friday is strictly for informative purposes.

(D♥A) Roasted Garlic

Dave and I FINALLY got to spend a day together! YEA!!!! It really hadn't been that long since we had gotten to see each other, but it seemed like it had been forever.

We have both been sick for the last few days. Not sure what Dave had had, a bug of some sort that made him feel bad, and I got up with the Flu last Friday morning. I have been nursing a fever, aches, chills and the croupies for days, then it finally turned into bronchitis. So with us both feeling under the weather, I decided to cook us some Roasted Garlic in my wood stove (my source of winter heat).

Garlic is absolutely WONDERFUL for curing all kinds of ails. I know it is probably best when eaten raw, but roasted just really sounded good last night. So I hunted down my tiny little Dutch Oven that I hadn't used since last winter.

To make Roasted Garlic this way, simply take a full head of garlic, roll it around in your hands and slip the outer 'papery' cover off of it, leaving it fully intact. Just the outer stuff, leave the cloves fully covered. Set the entire garlic head in your little cast iron pot (you can wrap it up in aluminum foil instead, but I am trying to get away from using aluminum.).  Then dribble a little of your favorite cooking oil over the head of garlic, making sure it runs down inside, inbetween the individual cloves. You can use most any kind of cooking oil. I have tried several, and I use to mostly use Virgin Olive Oil. But recently I tried it with some Virgin Sunflower Oil and that has most definitely become my favorite for this purpose. The flavor of it just seems to blend so perfectly well with the garlic. Now, put the lid on your Dutch Oven (or wrap your foil up tightly) and set it in the coals (not on the fire). Turn occasionally to keep from burning. Cook time will vary drastically, depending on how hot your fire and coals are.

When the garlic feels soft when you press on it, it is done. Ours took about 30 minutes. But that time can greatly differ either direction.  The cloves then easily peel and you can either scoop out the garlic or squeeze it out. Just be careful, it gets extremely hot and stays that way for awhile. It is then easy to simply spread on bread, crackers or use for whatever you want to use it for (or just eat as is). It spreads like butter and becomes sweet, losing its harsh, sharp, hot garlic punch. I especially like to toss it into my spaghetti sauce. It is also great to blend into your favorite spreads. The uses are endless.

And so are the health benefits! Garlic is an extremely powerful antiviral (the flu is a virus) and powerful antibiotic. In fact, its antibiotic properties have been said to be as effective as many modern prescription antibiotics, just without the side affects. We split this head of garlic last night, and by the time I got up this morning, my congestion had drastically improved. I was able to take far less medicine today, and felt so much better! I should have done this days ago. We had planned on eating it on some 'everything' bread we had picked up, but changed our minds and decided to eat it on some thin tortilla chips I had. It was yummy that way! I think we will be eating this often this winter to keep down our ills. If you have any questions about it, please feel free to ask. And yes, you can do this in your regular oven, too.