Medicinal Plants in the Gardens

As things become more unstable in the world, it's always a good idea to be looking at ways to care for yourself and family. For example, if someone becomes ill and you're not able to get to a doctor or store, or if as we've seen recently, supplies are hard to find.

In this article, I'll share with you a few things that I have in my garden that you might want to consider adding to your flower beds, or even start a medicinal garden in a corner.  Realize too, that a lot of things that are considered "weeds" are also edibles.  

Disclaimer: "I am not a medical doctor and I am not giving medical advice in this post

Purple Cone Flowers - (echinacea pupurea):  This is one of my favorite flower bed fillers.  The stems are tall and sturdy, and the flowers themselves are lovely purple and attract bees and butterflies.  The seed heads are easy to collect, I just let them dry on the stalk and then collect the seeds into a ziploc bag or other airtight container in the fall.  The seed heads are very prickly, so it's not a job for small kids.

Echinacea (shown below) can be used to build the immune system, combat cold and flu symptoms, help with congestion, relieve pain and help with mild urinary tract infections.  You can make a tea of dried flowers, leaves and roots and store it in an airtight container for later use.  

Feverfew - (tanacetum parthenium):  Feverfew looks very similar to daisies, and is easily confused with chamomile.  The plant has lovely clusters of white flowers, and grows in bush like clumps similar in shape to mums.   The yellow center of the flower, when dried, produces the seed head that can easily be collected.

Feverfew (shown below) can be used to combat migraines, body aches, fevers, arthritis and has been known to help with cancer as well.  The leaves and flowers can be dried and made into a tea, or you can eat the leaves fresh during the summer months.

Horseradish - (armoracia rusticana):  Horseradish can be used to make spices and sauces.  However, the root is also a great expectorant and works well to loosen mucus, is a diuretic, and helps with cancer as well   Please note, horseradish is also very pungent, and you should process the root in a well-ventilated area to avoid discomfort to eyes, nose and throat.  The roots can be stored in the refrigerator, or honestly left in the ground until needed.

Onions can help prevent and treat heat exhaustion, treat joint pain and can be used as an expectorant.  They also can be used to cure migraines, treat amoebic diarrhea and can help with ear aches and cataracts.

Garlic has antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial and antioxidant properties.  It can be used to treat acne, help with insulin resistance and helps to prevent cancer.  Studies show that garlie is as effective as penicillin in treating infection.

Lambs ear - (stachys byzantina):  This velvety soft plant is both fun and functional.  The leaves can be applied to open cuts, as it has antibacterial properties and speeds healing.  It can also be used to treat bee stings, bug bites, sore throat, gum issues and asthma.  And added bonus, is that it can also be used as toilet paper without issue.

I also have purple basil (shown below), bee balm, lemon balm, calendula, peonies, mints, sage and evening primrose all growing in various spots in the garden.  Each of these have wonderful medicinal qualities as well.  However, if space is limited, I highly recomment the items that I've discussed above to be  your "must have" additions to your garden.

I hope you will take time to find out more about medicinal herbs and flowers, and incorporate them into your garden and landscapes as much as possible.  Happy gardening!

Return to Blogging, and Cloth Napkins

It's been a long time since I've posted on this blog.  I've been keeping up with the homeschool blog, Learning Curve, but I've just not been faithful here.   Now that we're on our last year of homeschooling, I'm trying to transition back to this blog as well.  At some point, I'll catch you up to the last few years, but for now, here's a new post!

With things being odd, at best, with being able to find what you want and need at the grocery stores, and prices being unbelievable, I'm trying to cut cost and be more self-sufficient.   I recently had the opportunity to score a lot of cloth table napkins, for FREE!  

I decided to just roll the napkins up and stand them on end in a sturdy, deep basket.  This is both decorative and makes them easy to grab when setting the table for dinner.  Once used, these can just be chucked into the laundry with dish towels or other linens.  It's a money saver, but also seems to add an air of coziness to the dinner table as well.  

Worst case scenario, in the even "feminine hygiene items" become hard to find over coming months, these can transition into that use as well.  That may seem like an odd idea, but nothing at this point is outside the realm of possibility.

Bringing Everyone Up to Speed

I won't bore you to tears with every detail of what's been going on in my life since I let this blog fall silent in February of 2017.   However I will give you some updates and insights as to what I've been up to.

"I got busy" can be a cop-out, but it's the truth here.  Along with homeschooling both of my girls, I was asked to help start a co-op, I started reviewing homeschool products again, became a contributor at another homeschooling blog, took on coaching spring and fall volleyball, and am the director of a ministry at our church.  Olivia and I went to Haiti on a missions trip and did crazy amounts of fundraisers, which took crazy amounts of time.  See, busy!

The co-op we started ran for two years with me putting WAY more time and effort into than anyone else.  Year one I taught two out of three classes, and did all the administrative and marketing work.  Year two saw me only teaching one class out of three, but still doing all the administrative and marketing work.   We had a family who seemed determined to cause strife and drama and it took a huge toll on the relationships we'd worked so hard to build.   Heading into our third year, the drama just got worse.  Then one of our most dependable families moved out of the area, another enrolled their student in a private school, and then we just didn't have enough parents who were willing to teach.    Co-op ended, and we now just do a once a month fun thing (bowling, apple picking, etc.) with one or two other families.    While pulling the plug on co-op was hard considering all the time and effort I had invested, it took a huge burden off of my mind and my time.

Reviewing products has been a blessing, but it's also taken a lot of time and interrupted our school flow.   In some ways it was helpful, getting to see and use new curriculum without having to buy it.  In some way it was a hindrance, having to work in extra things that just didn't go with what we were doing or how we like to learn.   I decided early this year that I wanted to step down after my contract runs out in the fall.  I'm anxiously waiting for the last review to post and be done.

Being a contributing writer for another blog sounded fun.   Then I realized I was putting all my best work out there on their site, and not getting anything out of it other than another deadline and thing to do each month.  I decided that was something that needed to be cut out.


I've coached Lindsey's team every year that she's been in recreation league volleyball.  This past year we came away undefeated through the season and took the tournament championship as well!   This year though, with Olivia playing varsity volleyball elsewhere, I didn't want to be obligated to be at one place while she played elsewhere.  I decided to step down from coaching so I could just be the parent and enjoy these last two years of Olivia's high school career.   As fate would have it, Lindsey's coach works every other weekend and can't be at every game, so she does the practices during the week and coaches the games when she's not working.  When she is working I fill in and still get to coach Lindsey.

I'm still the director of the one ministry at church.  I'm covering both Sunday morning services and teaching Wednesday nights and those things all take time.   This is an area I know I'm called to, so this will be a long term thing...and will benefit from my purging other areas.

The Haiti trip was amazing!   We were there for 8 days and it didn't go at all as planned.   We were there during the riots in July of this year and were ordered to shelter in place most of our trip.  You can read more about each day by clicking on these individual links.    Haiti - Day 1, Haiti - Day 2, Haiti- Day 3, Haiti - Day 4, Haiti - Day 5,  Haiti - Day 6, Haiti Day 7, Haiti - Day 8.

Momma passed away in March at the age of 90.   Although we knew it was coming, it was still very hard on my brother and I.   Just a few weeks later, Kiriki died unexpectedly.   She'd lost a foot, both kidneys and her eyesight to diabetes and was in a nursing home at the age of 43.   Sadly she'd told everyone there that she had no family (although I visited her often and took her things she needed).   We weren't notified of her death until the funeral home director recognized her name from being in Momma's obituary and gave my brother a call.

Like I said, it's been a busy season of life.  Now, I'm seeing some of those seasons come to an end, and some I'm just pruning off because they aren't bearing fruit like they should.  Not all good things are things I need to do, and everyone, including me, will just have to accept that I won't do it all anymore.

Breathing Life Back Into the Blog

It's been a busy year and a half, and I've spent most of my blogging time over at Learning Curve.    However, I've been missing writing here.  Not that I have (or had) a lot of followers, I still enjoy sharing non-homeschooly stuff.

My goal is to start sharing here at least once a week.  I've got some changes in the works, so let's hope my plan goes, well...as planned.

Check back next week!

Keeping It Real

At the beginning of the year, many of the bloggers that I follow put up their reading lists for 2017.   I thought it would be a grand idea to join that band wagon, so I took a photo of the ever growing pile of books on the corner of my desk.

I'm happy to report that I have already read The Ruby Moon, and a great part of The Old Man and the Boy.   The Clarkson books were added after I won a give away from another blog, and while I know the are all the rage in the homeschooling world, I just have not been able to get past the first couple of pages, I'll try harder I guess.   I'm a very fast reader, and can easily plow through this pile in a month, if I can only get the motivation, and if the books grab my attention when I start to read.

I've been reading other books, ones not in the photo.   These are typically books that go with the healing class I teach at church, or read alouds that we enjoy as a family.   Truthfully though, I'm spending most of my free time reading curriculum descriptions and catalogs as I try to piece together next year (grades 7 and 10).   Truthfully, the planning and searching for curriculum is one of my favorite parts of homeschooling.

In other news, ahem, I'm continuing to fight the battle of the bulge.   I find it amazing that I can fight for three or four weeks to lose 3 pounds, only to gain it all back by taking two days off from the gym.  It's discouraging ya'll.   I have lost a total of 34 pounds, since late July, but I should be a lot further along in my journey.   Interestingly enough, my pants are literally falling off of me, but the next size down doesn't fit.   How can this be?  

I'm wearing many hats (as usual).  I'm head of the Healing Ministry and Healing School at church, and am doing a lot of the teaching there.   In addition to homeschooling both girls, I'm teaching two co-op classes this year.   I'm also laying out the plan for next year's co-op, it's going to be a LOT different than this year.   I've been approached about coaching volleyball in the spring league and have yet to make a decision on that.   I still do the bookkeeping for the ballet studio.   While this does bring a bit of income in, it's taking more and more time, and I don't know that I can continue, or that I want to honestly.

Lastly, I'm still reviewing products for grins and giggles.   No, seriously I enjoy doing product reviews. I do the majority of my reviews through the Homeschool Review Crew.    Thankfully this year, they added a lot more blogger/reviewers, so I'm not having to take as many reviews as I had last year, which is making it a lot more enjoyable, and less stressful.

In a nutshell, that's where I am in life right now as far as "things" go.   This doesn't include being a wife, homemaker, mom and all those other one on one relational roles I have.   I'm feeling a bit introspective now, which typically means a change is on it's way.   Time will tell I suppose.

Ponderings

It's amazing how quickly time gets away from me where this blog is concerned.   I keep it listed in my side bar of my main blog, Learning Curve, and it'll be "2 weeks since last post" and then poof, it's suddenly "2 months since last post".   

Sometimes I think maybe I'll just do away with this blog, but I just like it's cozy, open feel.   I'm not tied to the boundaries of homeschooling, and I can cover many topics.   Yet, the other blog takes the majority of my writing time.  It's disheartening ya'll.

Yes, I know, I set my own schedule and surely I should be able to eek out at least a weekly blog post that has something of value in it.  I shall endeavor to be better about it.

Now that I've whined a bit, be sure to check out the recipe for St. Nicholas Day Cookies, from you know, "the other blog".

Here's to a good week and hopefully some productive writing for me, right?

Bible Study Give Away Time!

I have two give aways going on this week over at Learning Curve.   The first is a copy of the 6-week Bible study entitled I Am Found.  The second book is a 10 week study on the book of Acts entitled An Unexplainable Life.   Be sure to hop over (using the links provided in this paragraph) and sign up for a chance to win.