Red Clover ~ Frugal Medicine

While Rebekah and I were out walking the other day, we came up on a beautiful patch of red clover.  We hurried home, grabbed a basket and the big girls and headed back to pick the lovely purple blossoms.

In only a few minutes we had filled our basket.  We took a few moment to watch all the butterflies visiting the clover as well.  Then we headed home to clean the blossoms before putting them in the dehydrator.

The blossoms took about 18 hours in the dehydrator set at about 95 degrees.  You don't want to dry them to quickly as they will loose their color.  And if it takes too long they can start to mold.  We will store the blossoms in a mason jar to use in our winter teas. (1tsp of dried blossoms to 8oz boiling water steep for 10 minutes, this can be taken up to 3 times per day)

RED CLOVER

Latin Name: Trifoolium pratense

Contains:

• antioxidant tocopherol
• anti-tumor compounds
• calcium
• chromium
• iron and copper salts (high concentration) 
• isoflavones (water-soluble chemicals that act like estrogens and are found in many plants)
• magnesium
• niacin
• phosphorus
• potassium
• protein
• thiamine
• vitamin C

As you can see red clover is very high in nutrients!  It really is a good herb for almost everyone.

Constituents (uses):

Women's reproductive health - Red clover is used for relief during PMS and menopause as well as to promote breast health.

Blood health - Red clover is known to help cleanse the blood by promoting urine and mucous production, improving circulation and stimulating the secretion of bile.  Supplementation with red clover  has also been shown to improve hemoglobin levels as well as the size and number of blood platelets.

Respiratory health - red clover is known for antispasmodic effect.  Basically this means that it supresses muscle spasms and therefore can help with asthma, wheezing, coughs and such.


Red clover tea is easy to make.  Put 1 tsp of dried blossoms in a tea ball or muslin tea bag.  Pour 8 oz of boiling water over and let steep for about 10 minutes.  Can be drunk hot or cold.  Drink a cup three times a day for maximum benefits.  Red clover can also be added to other herbs to create your own blends.  So have fun and give red clover a try.

Warnings:

Red Clover should not be taken by pregnant or nursing woman.  The isoflavones (water-soluble chemicals that act like estrogens and are found in many plants) have not been proven safe for these women.

Also those taking blood thinning or needing to avoid blood thinning medications should not take red clover because of its milk blood thinning properties.

While red clover is considered safe you should always check with an herbal professional before self medicating.  This information is for educational purposes only.


Linking up at the Homestead Barn Hop, Make Your Own, Monday, Traditional Tuesdays, Sustainable Ways,  Healthy 2Day Wednesday and Wildcrafting Wednesday.

Yarn Along

Joining in the fun of the weekly Yarn Along hosted by Ginny over at Small Things. In Ginny's words:

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

So good to be back knitting, reading and sharing with this wonderful community.  I finally figured out my issue with the Hetty and now am moving right along.  It is hard to see the detail in the photo, but I am really loving the  seed stitch accent.  The next section is straight knitting to get the length and should go quite quickly if I can carve out the time to knit.

I've also managed to get back to hitting the books after letting my studies laps during Sarah's play.  I am excited to get back to it.  I love learning and herbal medicine is something that I am growing more and more passionate about. This unit is one vaccination, a subject that had always interested me.  I wont get into it here as it is a big and hotly debated topic.  What I will say is that I wish both side would stop using scare tactics and really present the facts.  I truly hope parents do their research as well as know and understand their options when it comes to vaccination.


The Teenage Liberation Handbook is more for Sarah than for me.  She is such a creative, talented and alive soul.  I love how the world is opening up to her and she is discovering herself.  I want her to keep growing and searching to find her true self and not who society says she should be or how she should get there.  I firmly believe that education is a journey in and of itself and should NOT be the ends to a means.  I want these high school years to be a time of self discovery propelled by interest driven learning and self education, and not the "required" subject list.  Did any of us really love those required courses?   Ok, now I'm hoping this book is all that it has been cracked up to be.  I'll be sharing more soon.


Don't forget to stop by the Yarn Along to see what everyone else is knitting and reading.  There is always an abundance of inspiration.

Overnight Sourdough Waffles

I have been playing a lot lately with sourdough.  I have learned a ton about bread, gluten, yeast and sourdough in the Family Herbalist course as well as from their bread book.  And of course there are numerous blogs and websites with great information as well.

I thought some of you might be interested in some of the most interesting facts I've learned.  If not you can skip to the recipe and just know that not only is it yummy, it is also good for you!

First, refined white flour is not a new thing.  The ancient Egyptians were very adapt at refining flour and had white flours that would rival our modern day flour.  For them the more refined the flour was the "better" and more expensive it was.  White flour was a sign of wealth.

Gluten has always been present in wheat so why is it now such a big issue.  It seems that gut health is more the issue than the gluten.  Leaky gut syndrome refers to the intestines not filtering as they should.  Particles that have not yet been fully digested and are too large are able to cross into the bloodstream.  Most often when something ends up in the body where it doesn't belong the outcome isn't good.  The body begins to fight that substance.  Interestingly enough many of the same people that suffer from leaky gut syndrome also don't have the correct digestive enzymes to break gluten down.  Of course traditionally a wider variety of grains were used as well, some of which are naturally lower in gluten.

Another key piece to the puzzle is yeast.  For millenia, people have been baking their own bread.  However they didn't open a little foil packet of bakers yeast to do so.  Ancient peoples discovered that leaving a mixture of flour and water exposed to the air would "catch" the wild yeast, at least two different species.  In turn these wild yeast would grown in the medium of water and flour.  Of course while this produced a wonderful loaf of bread it was hard to commercialize.  It took time and each loaf was unique.  So bakers yeast was developed as the answer.

One should note that bakers yeast is one is only one species of yeast and is not one of the natural yeast that was used in baking.  Also in order to ensure the consistent and reliable results a package of baker's yeast contains over 100 billion yeast cells.  Natural starters contain very small amount of active yeast.

And I love this, fermented breads also contain bacteria caught from the air.  Why is this important?  These bacteria, usually from the lactobacilli family, feed of the maltose, one of the carbohydrates in flour that the yeast doesn't utilize.  And it is important to note that these bacteria take about 12 hours to fully develop in the dough.  They are not present in today's modern bread.  The long fermentation time also allows for the gluten to be predigested making it easier on our guts.

So there you have it, the wild yeast and bacteria have a symbiotic relationship.  The work together to make bread  a whole food that is easier to digest and whose minerals are more bio-available.

Thanks if you actually read all of this. I hope you learned something.  Now, as promised the overnight sourdough waffle recipe.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
Overnight Sponge

• 2 cups of White Whole Wheat Flour
• 2 Tbsp Evaporated Cane Juice
• 2 Cups Kefir
• 1 Cup Sourdough Starter (unfed)

Waffle Batter

• All of the overnight sponge
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda

The night before you will want to mix up your sponge.  In a large bowl mix the flour, sugar, kefir and starter. Cover and let sit out on the counter overnight.  No need to worry about it going bad.  All the good bacteria in the kefir and starter.  I love mixing this up the night before.  Makes getting breakfast on the table much simpler.

In the morning your sponge should look, well spongy.  It will have risen and have lots of lovely little bubbles in it.

Now you are ready to add the rest of the ingredients.  Mix well.  If you are not used to working with sourdough batters this will seem a little strange to you.  They have a very elastic consistency to them.  It can take a bit to get everything incorporated well.  Just stick with it.  It will come together.

Now all you have left to do is cook your waffles.  We use a Belgian waffle iron.  This recipe will make about 6 waffles yummy waffles.  We top them is pastured butter and local maple syrup!

I'm linking up over at Traditional Tuesdays, Scratch Cooking' Tuesday and Friday Homemaking.

No Poo

If you have been following my blog for any length of time, you already know that fugal, green solutions are one of the things I am passionate about.  God only made one amazing Earth and commanded us to take good care of it.

"The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.                                "Genesis 2:15  

And if we take a closer look at the word to "keep", we will see that in the Hebrew it means to care for something completely and gently ensure that no harm comes to it.

Today I wanted to share my No Poo hair cleansing recipe.  I have been No Poo for a few years now and really love it.  I can't imagine ever spending money on shampoos and conditions especially knowing how bad some of the ingredients are in most of them.

Ingredients

• baking soda
• rosemary essential oil
• water

Tools

• funnel
• container to mix in
• container to store No Poo solution

Mix about 1Tbsp of baking soda to 1 cup of warm water.  Mix to dissolve.  Add a couple of drops of rosemary essential oil.  Mix again.  Pour into storage containers.  Let sit for about a week before you use.

To use wet hair.  Massage about 1/8th of a cup into scalp.  More or less depending on the length of your hair.  No need to drench all you hair.  Let mixture sit on your hair for 3-5 minutes, then rinse.  If you have hair that tangles easily you may want to follow with an apple cider vinegar rinse.

Dry and style as usual.

So why rosemary essential oil?  Well it has long been know to nourish hair and help with scalp dryness.  Some even say it promotes hair grown and treats dandruff.  It is also known to promote memory an added benefit for getting your day off on a good foot. 

And just a few added notes in case you are wondering.  I have hair more than half way down my back.  We have hard water.  If you are not having results you like, before you through in the towel, I would play with the amount of baking soda per cup of water.

I'm linking this post up over at Make Your Own Monday and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.

Dandelion & Violet Lemonade

Rebekah and I have been loving the Herb Fairies books!  We are both learning so much.  And they sparked an interest in wild foraging for Rebekah.  She is always bringing me plants and asking, "What can we do with this one, Mama?  Is it edible?"  Don't you just love that?  Of course I'm so glad she comes and asks insted of tasting first.

A couple weeks back I stumbled across a recipe for Dandelion & Violet Lemonade, and I just knew that we would have to give it a try.   We kept trying to get out to harvest violets, but the rain and Sarah's play foiled many of our attempts.  Finally this week we made it.  I love this little patch of violets out behind the chicken coop.  We are still in our yard in the middle of town, but it feels so remote and magical.  Rebekah got right to work harvesting the violet flowers for her lemonade and munching on the violet leaves for a little snack!

Next the dandelions.  We have NO shortage of these beauties.  They seem to be everywhere this spring.  Funny, as a kid I loved them and then grew to see them as an annoying weed, now I love them again!  It took quite a few dandelions to fill our jar half full.  Both of our fingers were stained a lovely yellow by the time we were done.  Rebekah thought that was just fabulous!

Then we headed inside to add some fresh lemon juice as well as the peals to our flowers.  It was looking and smelling yummy already, but of course it wasn't quite done.  We needed to call on a little magic from the sun to finish off our yummy drink.

Oh so carefully, Rebekah carried her Dandelion & Violet Lemonade to the back yard and picked a sunny spot for it to brew!

It looked so lovely.  It was hard waiting.  Isn't that always the hard part?  But we did.  I sat out there the rest of the day until supper time.  When Rebekah, once again oh so carefully carried it inside.  We both had a glass with supper sweetened with just a touch of honey.  It was so good!

Don't forget you can find the complete recipe as well as come nutritional information on both dandelions and violets over at Blissville Living.

Dandelion Lavender Cookies

I love when Spring finally makes her appearance after the long New England winter.  Before the grass is really green the dandelions start sharing their happy yellow flowers.  As a child I loved dandelions.  I would pick bouquet after bouquet, and those that I missed became fuzzies to blow.  I did go through a phase when I thought dandelions were just a weed.  But oh how glad I am that was just a phase.  Now I am actually jealous of my neighbors who seem to have so many more dandelions than I do.  Lucky they share with me, as I just can't seem to get enough of the little yellow flowers and their yummy, nutritious greens.

Our latest adventure in the kitchen with dandelions is a yummy little cookie.  These nutritious bites are just perfect balance of a tad sweet with a hit of floral and just enough oaty goodness that even the man of the house will devour them.

Dandelion & Lavender Cookies
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut oil (purchase here)
• 1/3 cup raw local honey
• 2 pasture eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup white whole wheat four
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup oats
• 1/3 cup yellow dandelion flowers
• 2 Tbsp lavender flowers

Whisk together coconut oil, honey, eggs and vanilla.  Add flour and baking soda and mix until combined.  Stir in oats.  Finally stir in the dandelion petals and lavender flowers.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven on parchment lined cookie sheets for about 9-11 minutes.  Remove to rack to cool.

The addition of the dandelion and lavender pack some extra nutrition into these little cookies.  Dandelions are high in beta carotene, iron, calcium and vitamin A.  They also contain lecithin which is good for the liver as it flushes out toxins.  Lavender contain vitamin A and calcium as well as limonene which has been shown to promote weight loss and help prevent cancer.  And really this are just lovely benefits because the flavor of these cookies is just plain yummy!  No need to tell anyone they are good for you too.

Linking up with Make your own Mondays over at Nourishing Treasures.

I shared this post over at the Homestead Barn Hop, a great place to share and find tidbits to help your little homestead grow.

You'll also find this post over at the Living Green Link-up Tuesdays.

Yarn Along

Joining in the fun of the weekly Yarn Along hosted by Ginny over at Small Things. In Ginny's words:

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

It has been a while since I've participated in the yarn along.  It has been a while since I pick up my knitting.  I finished my last project over a month ago and just couldn't find any inspiration.  And then, well you know how it is.  It was just time to pick up some needles and dig through the stash and find a little project.  That project - the Hetty, a darling baby girl top.  You can find the free pattern on Ravelry.  I think my little one with love this.  And the yarn, a gift from a dear friend that moved away just a few short months ago.  I miss her terribly, but knitting with this yarn she gifted me, help me feel close to her.  Crazy, but that how it is.


As for reading, I have been busy studying.  I'm enrolled in the Family Herbalist Course from Vintage Remedies.  It is truly amazing!  I highly recommend it to anyone interested in natural health.  It covers everything from nutrition to body chemistry, herbal medicine to aromatherapy and oh so much more.  


Extra Yarn is a cute book Bekah picked out on our weekly library trip.  We are both enjoy it.  A very cute story about how sharing a little color can change a lot.


It feels good to be knitting again and joining in here at the Yarn Along.  Don't forget to hop on over and she all the wonderful fiber crafting and reading going on.  It is always inspiring.

Herbal Sore Throat Remedy

Sarah came home from a sleepover exhausted, loaded with junk food and a sore throat. She had a great time, but was now paying the price. She needed more than tea with honey. Dad was sure her throat and tonsils were covered in white spots. We needed to make a decision. Head to the ER or treat her at home. Not being a huge fan of the over prescription of antibiotics, I headed off to the herbal medicine cabinet.

I remembered saving a post I had seen for a Strep Throat treatment. The treatment received rave reviews with lots of success stories. So we mixed up a batch and set to treating Sarah. She took a dose every half and hour for three hours before going to bed. To everyone's surprise she woke the next morning feeling much better. We continued to dose her every hour for the next three hours and then every two for the next six hours.

Less than 24 hours later and Sarah felt completely better and no white spots to be found!

So what is this simple, natural Strep Throat treatment, you ask? I'm happy to share, you will think it is too simple. But trust me, it worked.

2 Tbsp Raw Local Honey

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

8 cloves of garlic - crushed

Mix all the ingredients together. Take 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp every 30 to 60 minutes. Don't wash it down, you want it to coat your throat. You may need to double this recipe in order to have enough to last the 24 hours.

That's it. Simple! Natural! What else could you ask for?

There is science behind this remedy. Honey is an anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal substance. It is also coasts the throat. The cayenne is a rubefacient, which causes dilation of the capillaries bringing blood to the area. The garlic is a potent immune system booster.

This remedy is one we will be keeping around. It is empowering to know that we are able to take care of our families successfully. I'd love to hear about your successes with herbal medicine. What are your favorite remedies.

I shared this post over at the Homestead Barn Hop, a great place to share and find tidbits to help your little homestead grow.


Also sharing on the 36th edition of Wildcrafting Wednesday!