GENERAL HEALTH ARTICLES - JUNE, 2008

HEALTH ARTICLES ARCHIVE>>>JUNE ARTICLES INDEX

Herbal Remedies

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These are herbal remedies that have been in existence and used since the early days of the United States. Some were learned from Native American Indians and some of these herbal remedies came with the early settlers to our shores.

- Chamomile is an herb that when consumed as a tea is especially useful for calming a cranky baby. It works well on adults as well. Drink a cup before bed for a restful sleep.

- One of the best herbal remedies used as a disinfectant and healing agent for wounds is tincture of garlic. Mash a garlic bulb herb and cover with one ounce of grain alcohol. Let stand for two weeks in a capped bottle, strain, and put tincture into a one-ounce bottle. Apply freely to cuts, wounds and infections.

- A wonderful healing salve is made from the herb golden seal. To make an herbal remedy, heat one ounce of powdered golden seal root in two cups of water, but don't boil. Heat until about two-thirds of the water has evaporated. Mix the watery paste with enough melted beeswax and a little oil of cloves ( for aroma ) to make a thick salve. Put in tightly closed jars.

- If a cut is bleeding profusely, cover it with the powder-like spores of the common puffball mushroom - the ones that produce a puff of smoke when stepped on or kicked. Spider webs also stanch bleeding. Puffball powder is very explosive, so store it closed and keep it away from fire.

- Another great herbal remedy made as a tea are the leaves of the horehound plant. This herbal remedy makes a great expectorant and tonic.

- The herb garlic is a generally fine all-around healer. It suffuses the body with its essence which drives out "bugs" from the body just as it does from the plants in the garden. The folklore story is that a cut garlic taped to the bottom of the foot at bedtime will yield a garlic taste in the mouth the next day.

- Borage is an herb that when made as a tea has been used for centuries as an herbal remedy for tarrh, or heavy production of mucus.

- Black walnut meat and red mulberries is an herbal formula that works great as a gentle laxative.

These herbal formulas are just a few of the hundreds that can be found in Americana lore. They can be purchased, collected from the field, or grown in your garden.