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 - Saline Nasal Spray

Yes, it is still allergy season here, hard and heavy. Actually, they say that it is one of the absolute worst we have ever experienced. I have to firmly agree! Grocery stores are selling loads of fresh ginger and honey. And over-the-counter sinus medications are flying off the shelves. But the one item I hear everyone talking the most about getting to help relieve their noses and sinuses is the Saline Nasal Spray.

It's just salt water, right? That's what everyone, including doctors, says it is. That is what 'they' want you to believe. I may be mostly salt water, but there is so much more in that little squeeze bottle of salt and water. One ingredient is even listed as "not for human consumption." Now just how much more 'consumption' can you get than squirting something up your nose into your mucus membranes?!

A little over a month ago, in desperation to get relief for my sinuses and nose, I, too, purchased a bottle of this inexpensive, salty liquid, completely unaware that there was more to it than just salt and sterilized water. Not long after I used it, I had a bad reaction. I thought that was odd so I decided to look more closely at the ingredient list (I am a hopeless label reader).  Here is what I found it contained....

Benzalkonium Chloride

Disodium Phosphate

Phenylcarbinol

Monosodium Phosphate

Water

Benzalkonium Chloride - What is it and what does it do? It kills germs and is one of the effective ingredients in ...... Lysol! Let me tell you, I would NOT want to squirt Lysol up my nose! This ingredient is very dangerous. According to a Hazardous Data Sheet, Benzalkonium Chloride is corrosive to the eyes, skin, and respiratory tract. Even worse, they strongly warn not to ever let this stuff into the environment. And we are suppose to put it into our bodies?!
Wikipedia states that Benzalkonium chloride can cause death if taken internally. Now, when I was still in school, I learned in my science classes that one of the fastest ways to get a medication into our bodies is through our mucus membranes, primarily our nose!  Wikipedia also states that a solution of 10% or more is toxic to humans, yet it is the FIRST ingredient listed on the label! It can cause swelling in the nose, which appears it could actually worsen the problem that it was being used for. And the latest scientific evidence shows that it may even cause birth defects! Just the first ingredient alone is enough to make me toss this dangerous liquid out. But wait.... I can't. It should NEVER be entered into the environment. Oh, and be careful, it may be in your eye drops, too.

Disodium Phosphate -  this is formed by mixing together sodium hydroxide and phosphoric acid. It is used in the industrial industry as a corrosion inhibitor (remember, the first ingredient is corrosive). It is used as a pesticide. It is also used as an emulsifier and a preservative. See more here. It can cause irritation of the respiratory system. Now, in a nasal spray, that doesn't make sense!!!  In one breath they say it is safe in small amounts... then in the other they say that, in its pure form, it can be toxic. It is listed on my bottle as only the second ingredient, so there is a lot of it in there. This stuff is scary, and I never realized how many things it is used in! I am going to have to look closer at the ingredients in one of my blood pressure meds, since it is also used in medications designed for excess fluid elimination. Here is the data sheet. 

Phenylcarbinol - aka Benzyl Alcohol - It is used to kill bacteria and is a local anesthetic. It is oxidized rapidly in healthy people, but it isn't healthy people that are reaching for the Saline Nasal Sprays. The safety of this chemical is questionable, although it doesn't appear to be as harmful as the first two mentioned.  Here is more information from Wikipedia. Personally, I prefer NOT to squirt anything up my nose that is used as a paint, lacquer, epoxy solvent!

Monosodium Phosphate - It is an acid salt found in dental products used for its enamel restoring qualities...  huh, so why is it in my nasal spray? It is also known as a laxative. It can be hard on the kidneys. In combination with other sodium phosphates, it is used as a pH buffer, which would be my guess as to why it is in nasal spray. Still, it certainly doesn't sound very safe. It can also be irritating to the respiratory tract, which, in a nasal spray, doesn't make sense!! Here is some more information about it at Livestrong.

and, for the FINAL ingredient in my little $1 bottle of Saline Nasal Spray . . . . .

Water - No where on that bottle does it say that water has been sterilized, nor even purified or distilled. It just says 'water'. It could be directly out of the tap, which is NOT something you want to put up your nose!

So, there you have it! That is what all is in your little bottle of Saline Nasal Spray. I don't know about you, but I'm not sticking that stuff up my nose again! Visit here for a little more interesting reading on the subject.


So, what to do.... make your own! Here is the simple recipe given to my family by a trusted doctor:

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

8 oz. water (distilled or boiled - NOT tap)

Stir well until all is dissolved. Dissolves best if water is warm or hot. Let cool COMPLETELY before using! I have made it without the baking soda, but the baking soda helps with the pH of the solution. Personally, I prefer just 1/4 tsp. of baking soda, but the above is the doctor's actual recipe. 

And that little bottle I bought? It wasn't a total waste. It made a GREAT cleaner for my eye glasses!

(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.

(AF) Wonderful Fall Soup!

Oh, the wonderful bounties of Fall! As you know, I have been putting up pears for weeks, now, most of them going into Pear Butter. I still have a couple of bushels left and, although I am extremely thankful for them, I am soooo ready to get to the end of them.

And now that I have quite a few jars of Pear Butter made up and put back, you might find it funny to know that I am now using a few of them as .... money! I always thought the barter system was an excellent idea, and as our economy goes further and further down the tubes, I do believe that the barter system is a monetary system that is coming back with great strength.

Last weekend at the flea market I got a nice, large tote bag and a heavily pocketed duffel bag in trade for a jar of Pear Butter. And then the really good part... I traded a big jar of pear butter for a bushel of fresh picked mixed greens! (turnip and mustard)  Oh, they were wonderful! They were so fresh and practically flawless. So this week, I have been putting up pears and greens (no, not in the same jars, ha, ha)  After I put up several big bags of greens in the freezer, I held out a mess to cook up for now.  And in between putting greens up in the freezer and cooking some for me, I had to make a run into town for a couple of errands. When I stopped at my mom's I remembered that last week, David had seen some young Lamb's Quarters (wild spinach) at her house, and I was so hoping they hadn't been mowed down yet.... It was all still there, yea!!

I decided that I had to add some to my pot of greens and pulled up a good handful of them (pictured above). Usually this time of year they are big and going to seed, but there had been a trailer parked there that had been recently moved and when the sun hit the bare dirt underneath, the little Lamb's Quarters started popping up. What a treat! Well, by today when I started to cook my pot of greens, I decided I wanted to do something a little bit different. I had seen a recipe the other day for a nice soup, made with potatoes, turnip and mustard greens. The more I thought about it, the better it sounded so I decided that now was the time since I had all the fresh ingredients at hand. No, I didn't look the recipe back up. I usually make my soups by dumping this and that in.

I cooked the turnip and mustard greens first, until they were about half done. Then I added in the cleaned and de-stemmed Lamb's quarters (they don't take near so long to cook). At this point I had to add some water (filtered, of course) because the lamb's quarters don't cook down much. On top of all of this I added several peeled and chunked up potatoes and a small to medium, cut up onion. I put the lid on and let it all slow cook until the potatoes were beginning to soften.

While all that was cooking I fried a few slices of bacon. When the potatoes were nearly tender, I added the bacon, grease and all, to the contents of the cooking pot. I sprinkled in some unrefined salt, a little pepper, a couple dashes of Cayenne pepper, gave it a stir, put the lid back on and let it cook some more. When it looked like it was all done, I had to take a bowl out to eat for lunch and test. Yep, it was good!

Now, to make it into creamy soup. With my immersion (stick) blender I pureed it all thoroughly, adding just a bit more water (but it still needs to be a little too thick at this point.) Then, after it looked pretty smooth, I blended in a few pours of whole milk, added a little more salt to taste, and gently heated it back through (Do not boil at this point. It will scorch and get all lumpy, just heat it through, making sure to stir often)
And there you have it! Cream of Fall Harvest Soup (Not really sure what to call it. I'm open to suggestions.) It is delicious!!!  Tonight, I ate it with crackers. But tomorrow, I think I will have to make some cornbread to go with it. And yes, Dave, I will put some up in the freezer to save and share with you.  

CAUTION: If you have cats and dogs and feel inclined to share this with them, please remember that they can't eat onions as it can kill them. When it is all blended up like this we forget the onions are in there. And cats, especially, adore stuff like this with the combo of milk and fresh greens.

(DF) WHAT IS IT?

Recently, Anna and I found this item at the grocery store. Neither of us knew what it was but we couldn't resist, (it was cheap after all).

What it is not, is a pumpkin or winter squash, judging from the flesh. What it might be, is some type of zucchini or zucchini crossed with something else.

I baked it as I would an acorn squash and it was edible though likely not as good as if it were cooked some other way.

If anyone knows what it really is and/or how to cook it properly, please let us know. We are certainly looking forward to finding new information, and recipes.

In any case, I have saved the seeds and it will be interesting to see what those seeds produce, depending on what was grown nearby that it may have crossed with.