Quick Tips
Tips designed for the every day person; you don't have to be a homesteader or health buff. Enjoy learning tricks to up your skill set, enhance your garden, and improve your health holistically.
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Natural, Holistic Support for Allergy Relief
If you’re looking for a gentler, more natural approach to your seasonal allergies, consider adding Quercetin & Nettles into your routine.
Quercetin is a natural, plant-based compound known for helping to ease allergy symptoms by preventing the release of histamines. It’s a potent antioxidant & considered anti-inflammatory & to support heart health.
Nettles is a highly nutritious plant known in herbal medicine to act as a natural antihistamine. It is anti-inflammatory & high in vitamins, with many other benefits.
Please consult your healthcare provider to ensure these are safe for your personal health profile and won't interact with any medications you are taking. Disclosure: "This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease."
Natural Remedy for Bee & Wasp Stings
So you’re at the park or out in the soccer field, when you feel the sharp prick and burn of being stung. Ouch! What do you do? Start by looking around for a very common weed called plantain. The leaves are large and oval coming to a bit of a point, with its veins running from bottom to top without crossing; and a mature plant will have a central flower spike. It likes to grow in dryer spots or where the soil is disturbed, so check along the edges of the field or landscaping or in sidewalk cracks.
Plantain leaves act as a natural drawing agent, allowing it to pull out the toxins, venom, and stinger. It is anti-inflammatory, has antihistamine properties, and is energetically cooling. Therefore, it will help not only pull out the venom, but reduce the swelling, itch, pain, and burning sensation.
When you get stung, pick the leaves and create a spit poultice - meaning, chew the leaves up into a mushy ball in your mouth, and then firmly push that poultice ball into the wound.
An Abundance of Leafy Greens? Freeze it!
So what do you do with an overflowing harvests of rainbow chard and kale? Certainly can’t eat it at every meal. Wash it…let it air dry until about 95% dry, chop up into small strips, and freeze it! I’ve been doing this for years, and it freezes up so nicely lasting well over a year.
Then, throughout the winter as you make soups and stews, simply grab handfuls out to toss in for that extra healthy kick!
During the summer, keep the rest of your leaves fresh in a vase of water. Plus the vase of leafy greens makes a beautiful centerpiece or gift!
Try Ginger for Motion Sickness: Planes, Boats & Cars
Ginger is a great, non-drowsy option for motion sickness. For years, I had to fly several times a month for work and needed to take something for motion sickness. The “name-brand” one made me so tired that I could hardly function once I landed for my meetings. So with some research, I came across ginger. Not only did this work for me much more effectively than the other brand, but no more drowsiness either! Plus, ginger is packed with bioactive compounds - making it anti-inflammatory and helping to improve digestive health. Here's a link to the organic ginger pills I use regularly: Check Amazon.
Please consult your healthcare provider to ensure these are safe for your personal health profile and won't interact with any medications you are taking. Disclosure: "This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease."
Save those Eggshells!
Eggshells are an excellent natural source of calcium and trace minerals for plants like tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, strawberries and roses. Just rinse and let them dry completely before adding the shells to a jar.
The shells decompose very slowly, so if you want faster results, be sure to grind them into a fine powder. I personally leave mine the size of the picture, knowing they will continue over the years to break down and feed the soil. Also, spreading the coarse pieces around the perimeter of a plant will help deter slugs and snails.
Keep Birds Away from Your Berries with Painted Stones
By painting basic landscaping stones with red spray paint and dotting them with a gold metallic marker, you can create some faux strawberries to fool the birds away from your berry patch.
Place them out early in the season to peck at, which will then discourage the birds from returning once the real strawberries form.
Oil Pulling for a Clean Mouth
Oil pulling is an ancient Ayurvedic holistic medicine practice that involves swishing coconut oil around in your mouth and through your teeth. It has been traditionally used to pull out toxins, balance energy, and improve oral health by reducing bacteria and freshening breath.
Simply place about a tablespoon of coconut oil in your mouth and swish and pull it through your teeth for about 15-20 minutes. (Make sure your coconut oil is organic, cold-pressed, and unrefined for the best quality and nutrient preservation.) For a boosted effect, I like to place 1-2 drops of either peppermint oil or clove oil on my spoon with the coconut oil, as well. Peppermint oil is obviously known for its fresh breath effect, but it is also antibacterial, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory. It contains a compound called menthol that not only targets the bad bacteria that causes bad breath, cavities, and plaque build-up, but also helps ease any discomfort from sore gums or canker sores. Clove oil contains a powerful compound called eugenol. This compound is a strong natural antimicrobial that, much like peppermint oil, not only inhibits bacteria growth, but also eases any inflammation or sore tissue in your mouth. When you are done oil pulling, just be sure to spit out in the garbage and not down the sink, so the coconut oil doesn’t thicken and clog any pipes.
Consider adding this to your morning routine!
Disclosure: "This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease."
Check back for more quick tips soon! Still building content. Thank you!
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