HERBAL REMEDIES (and misc.)

Hi Sisters! This is the first installment of a series of Herbal supplements and Remedies!

I will start with a few of the commonly known plants and we will get alittle further into the lesser knowns as we go along.  If anyone has a particular complaint and might want to know the herb to help with it please comment below, or emee at rdraginis@yahoo.com  
My vision for this is really exciting because in our day and time, our ability to obtain herbs and/or supplements could be curtailed or rendered impossible to get because of the constant pressure to pass thru the Codex Alimentarius, which is an ongoing threat to the freedom of people to choose natural healing and alternative treatments including nutrients, vitamins, and supplements. This is very serious..and it has nothing to do with consumer protection as it claims. Its all about protecting the huge profits of Big Pharma. here is a link to follow to educate yourselves about this http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/ What I would like to have personally and to share with you all is a knowledge of herbal gardening and storage as well as medicinal uses and how to prepare those medicines from natural products.

How much better off would we all be if we could avoid the medicine that is contributing to our general poor health? The fact is that anything that is a prescription drug may have started out as a natural remedy but was changed to enable a"patent", which spells big wealth to the pharmacy industry and the changes made to the chemical structure and makeup of these remedies always has side affects whereas the natural remedy has little or none.

I also want this to be interactive so that if you have any herbal supplements or remedies you can also share...I'm not sure how best to achieve that (new to blogging) but there is a comments section and if you would please post comments, suggestions or some of your own knowledge and experience ..PLEASE do .....Thank you  in advance!!


COMMONLY KNOWN HERBS:

ALOE VERA   This is well known for the healing & soothing properties when applied to a sunburn to prevent blistering or to small cuts.  However, did you know that it is also used internally as an aid to digestive ailments such as ulcers and inflammatory  bowel disease, and constipation?  It is also very dense with vitamins: Vit. C, E, B1,B2,B6,folic Acid, Choline, and Beta Carotene. Also many minerals including Zinc which is well known for its wound healing properties. Aloe also contains 20 different aminoacids which are known to help with tissue repair. (personal experience: It is great to use on stretch marks..I had huge wide stretch marks and aloe healed and lightened them up considerably! The bad ones don't disappear entirely, but it sure makes them less visible)  This a very interesting plant!  It also has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. It is particularly good on "jungle rot" as they call it..actually a fungal type rash that develops on skin when it is really warm and humid ( ie; Houston) if you use it with Gold BondTalcum powder it really helps!

When taken internally, it actually has pain relieving qualities as well due to the Salicylic acid (same component that is active in aspirin).
HIV/AIDS sufferers take this plant for the component of "acemannan" which is a very good anti-viral agent in the aloe vera.
For sunburn or cuts:  cut the aloe vera plant and squeeze out the gel onto the surface.  You can either grow your own (very easy plant to grow) or aloe vera gel is readily available at grocerie markets or pharmacies such as Walgreens. 

for a digestive aid:  skin off the skin of the plant leave, wash off the liquidy gel (or reserve for the laxative)  the actual core of the leave is the portion used for taking internally.  "The Natural Physician's Healing Therapies" recommends to initially use only aprox 1 tsp. and you can blend it with orange juice or water or another favorite juice or mild drink.  You can advance this up to 6 tsp a day.  Any more than this would probably cause diarrhea.  The liquidy gel portion mentioned above is a very severe laxative which is why you want to wash that off entirely. (doesn't hurt to apply to skin though)  Now if you really want to use the laxative portion...just make sure you take an eensy bit of it like a 1/8 tsp and see how that reacts with your body.  Should never give this portion to anyone under 13 years....And never give to anyone who may have an impacted bowel.  If this works for you..only take it for a few days at the most.

***Now, on rare occasions, someone might develop a rash with the aloe vera gel, if this happens, you may be allergic to it and just discontinue.

Other uses:  canker sores (due to the anti-viral agent in the aloe vera)  Diabetes ..In a study of 77 people who were newly diagnosed in Thailand (some given a placebo others the real aloe juice) when taken (1 tablespoon) per day for 42 days it reduced their blood sugar significantly compared to the placebo group.  The research also found that it lowered their triglycerides! Used on psoriasis very soothing to the lesions and in some cases has actually cured the disease.  Is helpful against virus of measles, influenza and herpes simplex.  An injection of this was found in one study to be effective against Feline Leukemia Virus. 71% of treated cats were still alive after 12 weeks in what is usually a fatal disease.

So!  as you can see this is a very versatile herb and has many uses!!

If you have questions about this you may feel free to emee at rdraginis@yahoo.com and I will be more than happy to help you.  If you have any comments or have tried this and have a testimonial PLEASE do share with us!!  

Preparedness: Miscellaneous items...

First of all I want to apologize to all of those who are interested in Food Storage and Emergency preparedness because ..I have not been writing my blog as I should have been! There are many reasons for this...However, I am now correcting this and I will be communicating with you through my blog very frequently!

I visualize this blog as being more than just Food Storage, and more than Emergency Preparedness..Although it will fall within those categories..this will be a greatly expanded version of those themes! I have long been fascinated with this and that interest has led me far and wide and I want to share some of the things that I have learned!

The next block of Info is for any of you who follow the news and also for homeschooling parents:
I don't know how many of you follow Glenn Beck (Lately of Fox News & before that CNN amongst others..) Glenn is a member of the Church ...He left Fox News because he wasn't able to tell the truth in its entirety and expose certain things that he felt should be..so he developed a TV network of his own..only its online. His 2 hr. show is found on GBTV.com and if you're interested he has a 14 day free trial you can sign up for. It is 9.95/mo for the whole program which includes a varied format which should have something for every one or $4.95/mo. for his daily 2 hr. show. I believe it is valuable because he teaches us alot about the events & current news of the day as well the importance of our countries history and development. The great men & women who have helped to shape the Constitution and have been such examples of the kind of Heros we would like for our kids to look up t0. I mention all of this because I know alot of you are home-schooling your children and this is a great source of information that truly outlines how this Country was founded on the teachings of Christ and with a purely Christian perspective as to what their vision for America was. How the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence was divinely inspired. (Someday we may be the only source of knowledge our kids will have of the Constitution. The schools may phase this out along with a very liberal agenda).


On Glenn Beck's network, GBTV.Com there is a program for youngsters called The Liberty TreeHouse - it goes into the whys, hows and wherefores of news stories of today and he is developing this to be a great source for Homeschooling moms and dads. Also, Tomorrow he will premier two new shows. The Real News :unvarnished, unbiased, uncensored news) and a reality TV program that will follow a couple and their kids as they embark on a venture to live off the grid...And prepare for the worst. This program will be invaluable for those of us who want to learn how to be more self-sufficient and how to prepare ourselves and our home and family for this in case we someday have to!

For the cooks amongst us (and those who are trying to be):

A web site called "Just a Pinch Recipe Club' Its free and it is a great place to look at new recipe's, get coupons and set up your recipe file which you can build from saving into your file the recipes of others that you like (on the site) and also from your own good recipes or you can take some one elses recipe and change it to suit you and your family. Its fun! They will also send you a great apron that has their logo & nice pockets for free! You can also enter your favorite recipes to be judged in their ongoing search for "Blue Ribbon Cooks! This site is really fun because they have alot of organizational tools and ways to be creative, Try it, I think you will like it...Also remember the great coupons every week!

Next posting: stay tuned because I have great tips for herbal remedies that I want to share, that may be really important when the "powers that be" institute their new rules and regulations on vitamins, supplements & some medications that will make them very hard to get.

updated Info for the Cannery

Hope y'all are keeping cool and your gardens watered! This has been a really hot spring! I wanted to let you know about some information that I received from Sis. Peacock who is over the storehouse.
The cannery will be closed on July 4th. the hours of operation are 9-4 mon-fri. and 9-12 on Sat. She said if you want to order something to can or package in mylar bags that you should call them about 3-4 weeks before the date that you want to come to the cannery to be sure that they have the products that you wish to package. Also, they are really busy so it would be wise (she said) to call the day before to make sure they have those products before you come. You can also call and check to see what pre-packaged or canned items they have that you can just pick up. If you want to come with a group you can check the calendar for the Stake Cannery Dates. Otherwise you can come as a family or with a friend(s).(no small children). Non-members are also welcome now and they do not have to be with a member. She told me that the prices have not changed very much and also that the availability of the produce has not yet become a problem. If any of you have been ordering from the freeze-dried companies you know that they have gone way up and you have to be on back-order for some time due to the widespread calamities that the world has been experiencing.

If anyone has questions or special interest in dehydrating their produce to store please check out the web-site : dehydrate2store you will find everything you ever wanted to know on that site, if you don't have access to the internet call me and I will help you! 972-955-3696 or rdraginis@yahoo.com

Water Storage

A sister in the ward asked me a question about storing water. While answering her, I realized it's that time of year to start thinking about Hurricane season (June 1 - November something), and where is the best place to start thinking? WATER!!!!

First and foremost, how much water should you store?

Many sources recommend 1 gallon per person per day for 14 days, so how much water would a family of three need to store?
1 gallon x 3 people x 14 days = 42 gallons of water.

Where do you store all that water?

The best answer is wherever you can. I have boxes of cheap store bought water in the corner of my sons' room and used juice, soda pop, and Gatorade bottles in the boys' closet. I have a friend who's been storing hers in her laundry room/closet.

How do you store that water?

In the Water Storage Guidelines on providentliving.org, they say...

Containers

• Use only food-grade containers. Smaller containers made of PETE plastic or heavier plastic buckets or drums work well.
• Clean, sanitize, and thoroughly rinse all containers prior to use. A sanitizing solution can be prepared by adding 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of liquid household chlorine bleach (5 to 6% sodium hypochlorite) to one quart (1 liter) of water. Only household bleach without thickeners, scents, or additives should be used.
• Do not use plastic milk jugs, because they do not seal well and tend to become brittle over time.
• Do not use containers previously used to store non-food products.

Note: They suggest sanitizing all containers with that 1 teaspoon of bleach to one quart of water solution. I've actually never done that before, but I think I'll start...to be on the safe side.

Water Pretreatment

• Water from a chlorinated municipal water supply does not need further treatment when stored in clean, food-grade containers.
• Non-chlorinated water should be treated with bleach. Add 1/8 of a teaspoon (8 drops) of liquid household chlorine bleach (5 to 6% sodium hypochlorite) for every gallon (4 liters) of water. Only household bleach without thickeners, scents, or additives should be used.

Note: You should not only treat non-chlorinated water with bleach, but also all water that's questionable.

After Hurricane Ike, the mayor said not to use the water coming out of the tab. To disinfect the water, you could use this bleach method. Nate and I actually boiled it. Providentliving.org says, "bringing water to a rolling boil for 3 to 5 minutes will kill most water-borne microorganisms. However, prolonged boiling of small quantities of water may concentrate toxic contaminants if present." For Hurricane Ike, we used our water storage for cooking with and brushing teeth. We used boiled water for everything else.

Storage

• Containers should be emptied and refilled regularly.
• Store water only where potential leakage would not damage your home or apartment.
• Protect stored water from light and heat. Some containers may also require protection from freezing.
• The taste of stored water can be improved by pouring it back and forth between two containers before use.

Note: I've read on beprepared.com that "if water is: A) Free of Microorganisms. B) If the container is made of food grade materials. C) The container is clean and tightly closed. D) The container is kept from sunlight. Then it will remain safe indefinitely." Another source says to rotate your water storage at least once a year.

I personally have been rotating water every other year because most of the bottled water I've bought usually expires in two years, so I just go ahead and empty and refill my recycled bottles every other year as well.

Another Note: When ever I empty water bottles, I feel bad watching all that water go down the drain, and that's what I did until I realized I could be using that stored water to water my plants.

I kept potted plants last year, and I also had a lot of water that needed to be refilled. It was so easy to use a bottle or two of water storage to water my plants and then refill it, write on a new date, and put it back in storage. I didn't feel like I was wasting water any more, and I don't think my plants minded at all that the water had been sitting in my sons' closet for two years either.

I'd like to know if you have thought of ways to rotate your water. Have you?

Happy Water Storing!

Book Review

I'm currently reading I Dare You to Eat It, a book about food storage, by Liesa Card.

Liesa Card's a working mother who doesn't really like cooking, but has a testimony that food storage is important and the prophets wouldn't be telling 13 million plus members and the world to have a food storage for nothing if they didn't mean it.

She began her food storage by doing what a lot of people do, buying the basics...wheat, oats, beans, etc., but like most of us, she had no idea what to do with it.

Like her, when I bought our food storage basics, I figured I'd have it, store it and throw it out in thirty years unless (heaven forbid) we'd ever need it.

But that's a waste!! I got to a point where I felt like if somebody doesn't know what to do with wheat than they shouldn't have it in our food storage. Plus, there is no guarantee that you and/or your kids' bodies would react well to moving from having little or no wheat in your diet to having wheat every meal in a crisis.

Liesa Card pointed out that the Church does still recommend getting the basics, though. Maybe we do have to do some hunting to find wheat recipes our families will tolerate and grow accustom to, but luckily wheat isn't the only basic thing we can have in our food storage. Church Dry good Canneries provide oats, rice, pasta, potato flakes or pearls, etc. in addition to wheat (click here to see order form).

Surely, there are meals that your family eats with oats, rice, pasta, or mashed potatoes. When we're planning your food storage, why not "notice what your already eating." Card says, "One day I realized that instead of constantly struggling to hunt down food storage meals, the meals I normally cook--using foods my family already likes--could actually become part of our food storage plan."

She gives the example of spaghetti... "Using the pasta from the cannery already stored in the basement, all I really needed to buy for our everyday storage were three jars of our favorite marinara sauce. Done. With that little effort I had the storage ingredients for one meal, to be served once a month, for three months. And look, a food storage dinner of spaghetti isn't even scary or weird."

She went through the other food storage basics she had already and thought of a couple recipes that went with oats, rice and potato flakes much the same way as she thought of spaghetti. The recipes are simple, but what's important is her family was already eating them. Yes, some of the recipes have fresh ingredients, but everything that can be is substituted with the non-perishable equivalent.

She thought of recipes until she came up with thirty. Then she made a list of all the canned, bottled, etc. ingredients she needed to have three months worth of those thirty meals (basically multiplying each recipe by three).

A list of some of those recipes are in the book as well as on her website, http://www.idareyoutoeatit.com/. Take a look at her wheat recipes. Some of the recipes had called for Uncle Ben's wild rice, and she'd substitute wheat berries. The recipes work, and her family enjoys them.

Here's her method of food storage summed up (in her words)...

1. Gradually [build] a year's supply of basic dry goods suggested by the Church


2. [Design] thirty meals that use these dry goods


3. [Purchase] a three-month supply of the canned, dried, or bottled ingredients for these thirty meals, with fresh ingredients added as necessary and as available.

The plan does call for work on our part, but I believe it is an effective method.

What do you think?

For more info on our Regional Cannery, see How to get your food storage? post and Policy Change at the Cannery post.

For more info about three month supply, see Three Month Supply post

Great Sale at Kroger for Food Storage items

Looking at the Kroger ads for Wed, Jan 26 through Tues, Feb 1, I was blown away at some of the prices of great food storage items.

Kroger is having this sale where you get $5 off "when you buy any 10 participating products."

The first thing I saw was...

Del Monte Vegetables (11-15.25 oz Can) for 32 cents each!!!! (when you buy 10 participation items)

I've never seen a price that good for canned veggies. You can buy 30 cans for just $9.60! What a great way to start a food storage!

I'm not recommending it for everyone, but if you use canned veggies or don't mind canned veggies, this is a great time to buy extra for food storage.

Other participating items:

Pace Picante Sauce (16 oz jar)
Hunt's Tomatoes (10 - 15 oz Can)
Rotel Tomatoes (10 oz Can)
Ritz Crackers
Kraft Mayo and Miracle Whip
Planter's Roasted Peanuts
Some Progresso soups
Goldfish

I'm sure if you've been collecting coupons, the prices would be even better. For detailed information about what coupons would match up at Kroger see http://mylitter.com/kroger/kroger-deals-wed-26th/ and then click on "display all matchups."

Also, cheese is at a pretty good price and isn't a bad thing to stock up on for a three month supply if you have room in your fridge. Just double check the expiration date. I've bought cheese at Kroger that had expiration dates anywhere from five or six months out to ones that had already expired a month or two ago (I was ticked, let me tell you, but that's what you get when you don't check the date on the package).

Food Storage for those who love cooking

Do you love cooking?

Do you hunt online weekly or daily for a new recipe to try?

Do you gag at the thought of using cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup in your cooking?

I can honestly say "NO" to all of those questions, but I do know people who would say yes.

I've recently learned that these cookin' lovin' people don't like following the food storage advice given in literature or on the Internet.

Most "specialists" say to:

• Adapt favorite recipes for food storage
• Buy extra of what you normally buy (assuming it's not perishable)
• Make sure every meal uses a food storage item (pasta, rice, wheat, beans, oats, etc...or something canned) to get your family used to it.

But how does that work if you don't...excuse me...if you WILL NOT buy a canned food item and have 365 x 3 different meals a year if you could.

Good question!

Besides "Just suck it up!"...I've only heard of one other bit of food storage advice for cooking lovers and that's...

FREEZE-DRIED FOOD

Yes, it's more expensive, but I've heard the chicken actually tastes like normal chicken. The Green Bell Peppers tastes just like fresh peppers, etc, etc, etc.

For more options, see beprepared.com

How is Food Freeze-Dried (from Emergency Essentials)?

"To create freeze-dried food, the item is first flash frozen, then a low-level heat is applied inside a vacuum chamber this special process dehydrates the product without changing the cell structure of the food. Finally, the food is packed for long-term storage. This process retains much of the color, texture, shape, flavor, and nutrition."

If you have enough money budgeted for food/food storage, I'd give it a try.

But I do have a question for all those anti-cream of chicken soup cooks out there that have been holding up a food storage for the last x years...

What do you do for your food storage, especially your three month supply?