Over the last few months I have started to look closely at the ingredients in our food, cleaning products and medicines. Once I started down this particular rabbit hole I knew that the only way forward would be homemade-almost everything. I try to make as much as I can from scratch and I am constantly inspired by the growing number of bloggers out there who have been doing this for years.
In the summer I began to learn about the herbs and plants that grow in my area and what I could use them for. The most obvious was Mullein. I have used it in tea for headaches with great results.
Mullein
Red Clover
By far my best find was Yarrow. I used this to shake a particularly nasty chesty cough that I developed and although I felt like death on day 1, by day 3 I was feeling back to my old self. Yarrow comes with warnings not to drink too much. More information can be found here.
Yarrow
A great source of information and inspiration is Andrea Muse's website Frugally Sustainable, with the highlight of my week being her weekly blog-hop where I can see lots of different ideas and blogs in one place. I recently made a few different herbal remedies that required a little more work on my part.
The first recipe I tried was for Andrea's Cold and Cough Syrup. I tweaked the recipe slightly and used echinacea, chamomile, ginger and cinnamon. It was a great success and has been loved by my family.
Next I made Andrea's Horehound Lozenges. Now, Horehound really is very, very bitter. You have to really want to get better to be able to handle the taste but it does work. I made the lozenges one evening and then thinking they were set, popped them into a mason jar. Of course, the next morning I had a big mass of horehound lozenges stuck together! I managed to get them unstuck and then wrapped them individually. Of course some of the mini cupcake wrappers that I used stuck to the lozenges too. At this point I decided that there had to be a different way to get this wonderful herb into our systems without all the fuss that I was creating for myself. I used Andrea's Elderberry Syrup recipe but substituted horehound instead and although it is very bitter, I can stomach a spoonful in my tea or even just straight from the spoon. Big Chicken has started dissolving one horehound lozenge in his morning coffee.
Cold & Cough Syrup, Elderberry Syrup, Horehound Syrup
Now, Elderberry syrup is a whole different story. For anyone that has ever had Ribena, you'll know what I'm talking about. I've had to hold myself back from drinking all the syrup I made last week. I love it and so does Chicken Man (he calls it the red juice). I will be making more of this as the winter season continues.
Last, but not least, I made Andrea's Decongestant Salve or in this house we call it vapor rub. This is just fabulous. I had used the stuff in the little blue bottle all my life but this is a fantastic alternhiive without any chemical ingredients. It is also much easier to wash off your skin and clothing.
Vapor Rub
Also in the main picture is lip balm (another Andrea recipe) which I love and costs pennies compared with the tubes of lip balm in the health food stores. This also worked great for chapped skin from too much nose-blowing.
Myself and Chicken Man have recently had the sniffles and a cough but with the herbal remedies that I have recently made myself, we have been able to get better and avoid commercial pharmaceuticals.
If you have any other recipes, tips or information you would like to share I would love to hear from you.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical professional and do not intend for my comments and opinions to be used for any diagnosis or treatment of any individual(s) illness. All statements made here are my opinion (except where I have linked an external website). You should always do your own research and consult your doctor or medical professional before using herbal remedies.
Frugally Sustainable Blog Hop
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