DECEMBER 15, 2011 FOLK REMEDIES FOR THE KITCHEN

"What is difficult alone is always eased in a partnership."

I cannot describe how I would feel doing what I do everyday without the loving, compassionate and truthful support of a life partner. My days vary every single moment. The days can be filled with laughter, tears, sorrow, anger and sadness. It depends on what I have to discuss with a patient. The years in practice never prepare one for telling another individual that he/she may have a life-threatening disease. I get to vent out my frustrations at home with someone who listens attentively. He might comment now and then. I have to learn to listen more attentively when he tells me something. It sometimes takes me an hour before my head can clear. The knitting or needlepoint usually calms my thoughts on the day. I wish a loving partner for all!

Some of us want to have antibiotics in the medicine cabinet--just in case. I feel everyone should have a home healing medicine cabinet. There can be an Ayurvedic medicine cabinet, a Chinese herbal medicine cabinet, an aromatherapy medicine cabinet and finally, my expertise, a western herbal medicine cabinet. There are two shelves in my hall closet filled with tinctures and dried herbs. My herbal closet has the following herbs (and a lot more):

1. Elder - for cough/sore throats

2. Meadowsweet - for indigestion

3. Stinging nettles - for sinus congestion

4. Valerian - for stress

5. Skullcap - for tension

6. Echinacea - for cold/flu and congestion

7. Chamomile - for nervous stomach and sleep

There is another type of medicine cabinet that has passed on from generation to generation even within your family. This is the traditional home or Folklore Remedy Medicine cabinet or "Kitchen cabinet"

1. Garlic - fresh garlic should be in every household. This is great for intestinal infections

2. Wild flower honey - As a beekeeper I find this essential. It is great for the flu. Great for sore throats, and can be applied to cuts and scrapes.

3. Celery - For those individuals with always feeling he/she has to go to urinate. This is called cystitis. You can use fresh celery or celery seeds. A colleague uses celery for headaches.

4. Cabbage leaves - great to apply to infected hair follicles, boils or carbuncles. The cabbage draws out the infection. Place a gauze pad over the fresh cabbage leaves over the wound. Cabbage can be crushed and applied as poultice to a hot swollen joint. Useful for the gouty joints too.

5. Cinnamon sticks - It is very useful for the patient with an unstable blood sugar . It is also used for colds and indigestion.

Until tomorrow...