Yay! Christmas season is here! I want to share with you this beautiful video (click on image above) that portrays how we are Christ's hands here on earth. He spent His life in selfless service and gave the ultimate sacrifice for each one of us, let us give to Him by following His commandments and serving our fellow man. I invite you this Christmas season to join with me in serving others by following this countdown to Christmas and "Lighting the World" as Jesus showed by His example. I wish you all a Merry Christmas!
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It's the time of year for mixing up some herbal remedies for the winter season. There are many recipes out there to boost the immune system and aid the body in healing from colds and flu, but many of them aren't so tasty. I love my remedies to not only aid the body in healing but to taste good as well, especially if I am going to be giving them to my kiddos. I can handle taking a vinegar/garlic blend but they wouldn't touch it after the first round and since herbs work best when taken regularly (when treating acute conditions, I administer them every waking hour until the person is feeling better). With all that in mind my immune boosting blend is simple and delicious, just three ingredients. My favorite way to prepare it is in a glycerite but you could make a syrup, tincture, tea or capsule with the blend also. Cold Kicker BlendYou can read all about the properties of elderberry here, echinacea stimulates the body to release more white blood cells which are the virus/bacteria fighters and rosehips have a very high concentration of vitamin C which also gives the immune system a boost to aid the body in fighting off infection and viruses. DosageThese are just general guidelines, each body will respond differently. If I feel like I need more I take more, if my child asks for more, I give them more. Our bodies know what they need if we are in tune with them. Acute conditions = you are sick: Glycerite/tincture - 2 to 3 dropperfuls every waking hour tea - 2 to 3 cups a day Prevention: Glycerite/tincture - 2 to 3 dropperfuls a day tea - 1 cup, 2 to 3 times a week Where can I get these herbs?I love to grow what I can in my garden, then harvest, dry and store them myself. What I don't grow I purchase from Mountain Rose Herbs or Bulk Herb Store, I love and use both of them for their high quality and organic properties. With that said my home grown are always the freshest and best quality of any herbs I have every purchased.
Breakfast is our favorite meal of the day and sometimes the only meal I can get Little Man to eat...but he sure does eat a lot of it. With all that pumpkin in the fridge I have been adding it to everything, today we got a taste of it in our French Toast. I usually use our whole grain bread for french toast but after walking the bakery section at Smith's Marketplace I had to purchase the cinnamon bread and make it a special treat...and it was.
The Recipe
4 eggs
1 cup milk ½ cup pumpkin puree ½ teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice pinch of Real salt 1 loaf of bread Blend the ingredients together then pour in a baking dish. Dip the bread in to completely soak and cook on the griddle until toasty. Sprinkle with cream cheese syrup. Cream Cheese Syrup 4 oz. cream cheese 1 cup pure maple syrup Blend in a blender until smooth and creamy. This is the same glaze we used for the Pumpkin Donuts and we loved it so much we just want to put it on everything!
I love the harvest season. For some reason this year my biggest crops were those planted by Little Man, which means we had lots of pumpkins. One of the pumpkin varieties he planted were New England Sugar Pie Pumpkins and we had about 20 of them on one plant. We have been cooking up a different pumpkin recipe every week and I will be sharing some of them with you this month....tis the season for pumpkins!
Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.
2 cups pastry flour (soft white wheat) ½ cup sucanat 1 ½ tsp. baking powder ¼ tsp. baking soda ½ tsp. Real salt 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice In a separate bowl mix all the "wet" ingredients. 1 cup pumpkin puree ¼ cup milk ¼ cup oil 2 eggs Gently mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined. Fill donut pan(s) with batter. Bake at 325 for 15 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes and then turn pan over and shake the doughnuts out. Dip tops in cream cheese glaze. Makes 12 donuts. Cream Cheese Glaze 4 oz. cream cheese 1 cup maple syrup Place in blender and blend until a smooth, creamy consistency. Other Pumpkin Recipes from the BlogAfter much prayer and pondering I have decided to dissolve the store portion of my website here at Annie's Place. I have been guided down or I should say "up" a different path this year and I'm having a hard time balancing all of my responsibilities, so it is time to let something go. I still feel compelled to continue with the blog and building the resources here on the website, when time allows. I have always wanted to have the herbal remedies I share available for purchase for those who don't have the time or skill to make their own. But the time has come to let others go "fishing" themselves, rather than me providing the fish. On a positive note, this also means I will be sharing my "secret" recipe for my Miracle Face Cream....look for that in the coming month (or two if we are going to be realistic).
In the mean time I have compiled all the salves I had in my store right here in one convenient place for those who want to dive right in.
Hamamelis virginiana
Family: Hamamalidaceae Parts Used: dried bark, leaves Witch hazel has long been used as a first aid herb to counteract pain, soothe, cool and tone blood vessels. These very reasons make it a perfect herb for healing many skin conditions and inflammation issues. Whenever I think of witch hazel I am always taken back to the movie Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, when Milly is fixing up all the brothers after a barn raising brawl, using witch hazel extract for all their bumps, bruises and cuts...although she couldn't heal poor Gideon's heart with it. Herbal Actions and Properties
Beauty and Personal Care
Medicinal Uses
Methods of Use
In the Garden
Perennial shrub that sheds it's leaves in the autumn and then blooms up through December.
Where to Get Witch Hazel
Keep in mind the herbal decoction (tea) and extract are stronger and more potent than distilled witch hazel, which is what you find available at most stores and is diluted with a lot of alcohol. Mountain Rose Herbs has a witch hazel extract and they also have the root and leaf available. You can also purchase a shrub to plant in your yard at your local nursery or online.
Resources
This has been quite the busy summer, with kids that love to be outdoors we had lots of bumps, bruises, scrapes, cuts and burns. I've also had a garden full of herbs that have been put to good use in taking care of all those issues...well we did need a little medical help with that broken foot but we are helping that one out as well with herbs from the inside. I have been busy as well whipping up new remedies for burns, broken bones (as mentioned above), eyes, immune support and many others that I will be sharing in the next few months. Today let's talk burns.
I love my Burn Spray and we use it all the time for cooking burns and sunburns, it works great for immediately soothing the pain and starting the healing process. However, I wanted something a little more for those deeper burns that need more care, like rug and trampoline burns (had a few of those recently) or the more serious burns that can still be taken care of at home. I came up with this salve that includes a variety of properties just for healing burns; tissue repair and rebuilding, pain relief, inflammation and skin conditioning. So use the Burn Spray for immediate relief and the Burn Salve for longer term healing and care...they work great together! This salve is also very effective for diaper rash and skin conditions for baby. I have ended up changing the label to Baby Balm and giving to all of my friends and neighbors that have new arrivals. The Recipe
2 parts comfrey
1 part calendula 1 part lavender 1 part St. John's wort 1 part chamomile lavender essential oil
Mix the dried herbs together to create the herbal burn blend, then follow these instructions for making a salve, using lavender as the essential oil:
Apply to any type of burn, especially good for healing deeper burns such as friction burns and second degree burns. Reapply as the salve absorbs into the skin which could be several times a day and then always before bed and upon waking. This herbal blend can also be used to make a tea and take internally and as a poultice and/or fomentation.
Where to get the ingredients for this salve:
All of these herbs can be easily grown in your garden, you can also purchase dried, organic herbs from either Mountain Rose Herb or Bulk Herb Store, they both sell beeswax as well. I get my olive oil from Costco and purchase my essential oils from a trusted essential oil distributor.
This is one my kiddos favorite snacks and although it can be made with any type of fruit, strawberries are a favorite and must have ingredient for them so when strawberry season comes around this is always the first thing we make. With no exact recipe, you can merely chop up whatever fruit is in season and throw it together in a bowl with a squirt of lemon or lime juice and dip away. I have included some increments we most often use if you would like to follow a recipe, but please tweak away. We have tried this recipe with mango, pineapple, goji berries, etc. But this combination is the favorite.
The Recipe
1 lb. chopped strawberries
1 finely chopped apple 3 chopped kiwi 1/2 lime Optional: 1 Tbsp. chia seeds Stir all the fruit together in a bowl and squeeze the lime over all. Sprinkle in the chia seeds and stir everything together. Cinnamon Chips
Follow the recipe to make a batch of whole grain tortillas here or use ready made tortillas. Brush oil over each tortilla and sprinkle with a mixture of 3 parts cinnamon 1 part sweetener of choice (I have used xylitol, monk fruit and stevia powders, all have tasted great). Cut into wedges with a pizza cutter and bake at 350 for 10-20 minutes, depending on how crispy you want them - I usually go the entire 20 minutes and I use a stone to bake them on.
Trifolium Pratense
Family: Legumiosae (pea family) Parts used: both the leaves and blossoms but blossom are the most commonly used part. As a spring sprouting perennial red clover is well known for its cleansing properties, from the blood to lymph, to the lungs and digestive tract. As it cleanses it eliminates toxins by increasing the flow of urine and bile as well as moving mucus out of the lungs and other areas of the body. Because of its cleansing property this is a great herb for treating different chronic conditions. Properties and Herbal Actions
Medicinal Uses
Methods for Use
In the Garden
Where Can I Get Red Clover
Red clover is very easy to identify and it grows wild in a lot of places so this is a good foraging herb. I personally like to have all the herbs I can growing in my own garden, I found some red clover seeds in the sprouting seeds section of Mountain Rose Herbs website. You can also purchase the dried herb from Mountain Rose Herbs, Bulk Herb Store, or Dr. Christopher's Herb Shop.
Caution
Some red clover constituents have blood thinning properties so you do not want to combine it with heart or blood thinning medications or if you have blood thinning problems.
Herbal BlendsResources
Herbal Legacy - Red Clover (2022)
Red Clover Benefits - Dr. Axe Herbal Legacy - Red Clover (2014) The New Healing Herbs The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook Medicinal Herbs A Beginners Guide Backyard Medicine School of Natural Healing
There has been a strange turn of events around here at Annie's Place, I was too busy this year to order seeds and was content using what I previously have when Hubby suddenly took some interest in my seed catalog, that is strange indeed. A week later I have 6 different varieties of watermelon to plant - thus the plant series continues and this time we are talking watermelon. I am the last person who should be posting on how to grow watermelon since I have tried twice and both times were unsuccessful, but since this is the place for "learning" I will be sharing what I studied from my resources and then "try, try again".
Watermelon is native to the hot deserts of Africa and is part of the gourd family. Because of it's native origins it needs at least 3 months of hot weather to grow. Watermelons come in all different shapes, sizes and colors - as Hubby can attest.
Seed Starting
Care
Harvesting/Preserving
There are a few tricks to test watermelon for ripeness, here are a few ideas I've come across:
Seed Saving
When the fruit is ripe the seeds are ready. Just slice open the melon, pull out the seeds, rinse and lay to dry in a cool, dry place. Store in an airtight container or bag for up to 5 years.
Nutrition/Healing
Good source of vitamin A and vitamin C. Also contains smaller amounts of other nutrients and is a good source for replenishing electrolytes.
Watermelon nutrition facts from Nutrition and You. Resources |
![]() Hi, I’m Annie, a child of God, Mother of Influence and Herbalist. Welcome to my place where I share what I have learned of natural and frugal living, healthy eating and living, gardening, homeschooling, herbal crafting, preparing temporally and spiritually, and love for God and Country.
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January 2023
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