Springtime means it’s time to include nettle in each jar of iced tea I brew. It helps keep hay fever at bay. And time to chop fresh mint, dandelion, and cilantro in salads. I’m convinced it does wonders to keep our sinuses clear when we cut and stack hay. And time to make our food hotter with garlic, onions and all kinds of peppers. Even the most persnickety eater around here eats most of the concoctions I make.
We actually rarely get sick here. Maybe it’s Isabelle’s raw milk, maybe it’s our raw honey or maybe it’s the threat of homemade remedies. Yes, threat.
My remedies work like a charm (the scary incantation sort of charm). I’m one of those loony natural healing people. I have jars brimming with healing herbs I’ve grown and dried, bottles of homemade tinctures, and perhaps most frightening—concoctions in which ingredients like reishi mushrooms and schizandra berries float. I’ve discovered that healing doesn’t lie in any of these substances, it lies in my family’s strong dislike of being dosed with them. Perhaps they have indistinct baby memories of crushed garlic and mullein oil in their tiny ears as ear infection remedies or perhaps they’re just afraid of what else I might do. They know any cough or sniff will doom them to my ministrations.
My approach is beginning to seem a bit less loony. Mild over-the-counter painkillers are linked to hearing loss and liver damage. Cough syrups are useless. Antidepressants (now prescribed in record numbers) are ineffectual for most people with mild or serious depression. And those handy meds for “acid stomach” are linked to dementia and osteoporosis.
My family may be onto something by avoiding my remedies. Now if all of us can just do better avoiding conventional remedies unless we really, really need them. So drink herb tea, eat fresh salad and open the window. It’s spring!
This is a Food Renegade post
I am so looking forward to getting properly out of the baby-coma and being able to torment our kids with home-made remedies! (At the moment we tend to do the ignore it and it will go away approach which can also be effective.
And I cook a lot with garlic and onion. )A friend commented this morning that her Mum constantly asks her if she is giving the children paracetamol instead of weeds…
It’s another service we mums offer—tormenting them with healthy meals, reasonable bedtimes, considerate advice, you know, kill em with kindness.
And then we get told that we’ve ruined their lives…LOL
Which I why I practice maniacal laughter whenever possible. Keep em off balance.
Herbal and homeopathic concoctions, and pure thoughts and clean living—coupled with maniacal laughter: a winning combination!
LOOOOL!