My backyard is full of medicine cleverly disguised as weeds.
What have I been pulling up all these years? Needless to say, after writing
these books, I’m a little more discriminating now. While I’m outside with my flock of rescued
chickens, just a quick look around shows me California poppy, feverfew,
plantain, rosemary, chickweed, dandelion, and cleavers—all of which can be used
in cures.
When the flat was full, she got a piece of
paper and drew a grid, with the names of the plants in the squares, and a word
or two about what kind of soil and sun each one liked.
“Ruth, I don’t even know where to start.”
“It will come. Begin simply and the rest will
grow from there. Folks around these parts favor certain complaints, you’ll
find—burns from the stove, cuts from the lawnmower blades, head colds, stress,
flu. These plants are the basics. Get them going and they’ll carry you through
most problems you’ll run into.” —Herb of Grace
One of the most humble weeds, the sticky one with the burrs
called cleavers, is good for clearing
the lymphatic system. Simply crush up several stems of the fresh plant, add in
some orange calendula petals, and pour a quart of hot water over it to make a
tea. Strain out the plant matter, cool, and drink it over the course of the
day.
She found a moment to pull Amanda aside, and
took a small package out of the pocket of her dress. “I made you some things
for your skin,” she said. “Chickweed and cleaver tea—I wrote out a recipe that
tastes gut—like breathing a meadow.
It will clear your glands if you drink a cup every morning. And here is a jar
of rose cream. Use it everywhere, not just your face.”
Amanda touched her jaw, where a couple of
blemishes had appeared, her gaze falling self-consciously. “Is it that bad?”
Sarah gave her a squeeze. “Of course not. But
there is nothing wrong with using the plants God gave us to make things
better.” —Keys of Heaven
My chiropractor, Harriet Segelcke, who is also deeply
interested in homeopathic medicine, told me a simple cure for gout—a painful
condition where uric acid forms crystals in the joints (often the toes). A
glass or two of black cherry juice per day over a week will dissolve the
crystals and relieve the pain. Of course, once it’s gone, it would be helpful
to look into what’s going wrong in the diet to cause it in the first place.
Oran had stopped now, and was fiddling with the
straps on the gray-sided buggy sitting next in line for repairs. “Medication
ain’t so strange,” he muttered just loudly enough for her to hear. “It’s
putting that burden on the church for no reason I can’t abide. Stuff’s
expensive.”
“No, it isn’t,” she chirped. “You can find it
at the supermarket. Sometimes you can get it on sale for a dollar fifty-nine.” He
huffed as if she were babbling nonsense, and turned to make his way through the
big sliding door. “Black cherry juice did the trick, didn’t it, Simon?” She
raised her voice just enough to carry through the door. “A couple of glasses a
day, and Jacob was right as rain in a week. It dissolves what they call uric
acid, you see, that forms crystals in the toes.” —Herb of Grace
I get my pedicures from a lady who’s a cross between a
cosmetologist and an herbalist. Toenail fungus is a disgusting problem that
lots of people have but don’t want to admit to … but she gave me a cure for it.
Mix 4 parts grapeseed oil and 1 part oregano oil, and pour it into a bottle.
Soak your toes in distilled white vinegar for 10 minutes every other day. After
you dry your toes, use an eyedropper to put a drop or two of the oil mixture on
each toenail, rubbing the excess dribble into your skin. Within a few weeks you
should see the new toenail growing in fungus free.
“I have a customer who’s Englisch and as stubborn as an old mule. It’s taken me two months
to convince him to eat his vegetables. Now he tells me he’s had toenail fungus
for months and did I have something to cure it. Sure I do. He has to soak his
toes in white vinegar for ten minutes every other day, and then put a drop of
this oil on each toenail afterward. But if he follows my instructions even
once, I’ll be surprised.” Sarah stuck a handwritten label on the bottle. “Why
do people resist being made well?”
“Maybe they don’t really believe that something
so simple will help them. We Englisch
are used to just going to the doctor and taking a pill.”
—Keys of Heaven
One of the best cures for colds is
the antiviral agent found in elderberries—and wouldn’t you know it, the tree
fruits just in time for the onset of cold season. To make a delicious cough
syrup, cook a couple of cups of ripe berries in water until the skins burst.
Strain well, and return the liquid to the heat to simmer until it’s reduced by
half. Add an equal amount of honey to sweeten. Administer by the teaspoonful up
to four times a day, or add the teaspoonful to a glass of warm water for a
soothing drink.
Legend has it that Roman soldiers
used to take borage (Borago officinalis)
before they went into battle, hence the expression “borage for courage.” It is
known for its support of the adrenal glands, so maybe that’s why. This starry
blue flower can be eaten right off the plant, and tastes like cucumber. Here’s
a way to liven up the punch bowl at a summer party: Simply freeze a borage
flower into the ice cubes in the tray and when you add the cubes to your punch,
it will look as though flowers are floating in it. Maybe you’ll find the
wallflowers among your guests plucking up their courage to be more social!
“If a woman is
unhappy but can’t tell the cause, I often give her my Sunshine Tea. You
probably have everything you need to make it in your own garden, except borage
flowers and rose petals, which I enclose in the zippy bag.”
—Herb of Grace
—Herb of Grace
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet,
Ophelia says, “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance: pray, love, remember.”
Studies have shown that breathing in the scent of rosemary helps to aid memory.
Of course, it’s also a cooking herb, great for flavoring meat and vegetables.
But some health professionals are looking into its use to help with cognitive
function, memory loss, and even treatment of Alzheimers.
“Ruth made it sound so ordinary—as though
selling herbs with which people could cure themselves was no different than
selling them rosemary and thyme to cook with. But both went into the body and
helped it to work as God meant it to. It was clear she hadn’t been thinking of
it in the right way before at all.”
—Herb of Grace
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