Hello all! We went on vacation last week...kinda...I guess. Okay, we took our camper to a State Park near the cities and spent half the time doing things like dentist appointments (#fiveappointmentsnocavities woot woot!)
and visiting with friends and half the time doing things like geocaching through state parks and going to Day of the Dozers (my kiddos look forward to this day ALL year).
We had one little "incident". Kiddo #1 was jumping from picnic table to picnic table and miscalculated the distance. Since his pain threshold is about negative forty-three on a scale of 1-10, there was much wailing and hysterics. In his defense, there was a little scrape and a quick-to-form bruise. So, can you guess what we did? Found PLANTAIN, of course! Man, have I told you how much I love plantain. Cuz.I.Do! (I don't know why that hyper-linked. I don't know how to turn it off. #iamnotawebgeniuseither) Chewed it up, put the poultice on his scrapish-bruise and got back to lunch. By bedtime, he had forgotten about the fall and if it hadn't been for the very slight discoloration from the scrape...we wouldn't have been able to figure out where the injury was. #whenindoubtPLANTAIN
Oxymels (part 1)
Enough about plantain, for now anyway. This week let's talk oxymels. I brought it up when talking nettles, so I thought I would swing back around. The word oxymel is from the Latin word "oxymeli" meaning "acid and honey". The two main ingredients in a medicinal oxymel are vinegar and honey. Both being mildly expectorant and antimicrobial, oxymels are not only great for extracting vitamins and minerals from herbs, they also make wonderful cough and cold remedies. The inclusion of honey make this particular type of infusion a little thicker, allowing it to coat the throat area better than a tincture or water infusion, thus making oxymels also fantastic for things like sore throat, swollen glands, mucus and congestion and even earaches (due to the eustachian tubes draining into the throat).
Oxymels are suuuuuuper easy to make and a great way to get the medicinal qualities out of many herbs....especially when trying to extract the vitamin/mineral goodness. I am beginning to run low on my MyMinerals Oxymel and thought, "Self, you should make a video for your devoted fans to teach them how to make an oxymel." (okay, I made up the part about devoted fans...but I really did make a video) If you promise not to laugh TOO hard...take a look here!
Grab some nettles and make a nettle oxymel! Or rose hip oxymel (vitamin C), or a garlic oxymel (antibiotic), or a turmeric oxymel (healthy liver, anti-inflammatory), or a plantain/pine needle oxymel (congested cough)...or...bah! Okay, I will stop. (I just added the "part 1" above because I think I need to do a few more posts about oxymels, with recipes. Stay tuned.
October Box Revealed
October Boxes shipped this week! Eeeeeeek! Here's what arrived on the doorsteps of those who jumped in this month...
Facial Steam Rejuvenating Bath Bath Bombs Magnesium Balm
PumpkinSpice Chai Tallow Soap Garlic Honey
This Week's Specials
November Box Orders Open. Order deadline November 6th, ship date November 7th. Use code: NovBox for your free shipping (on everything you add to the whole order!)
Facial Steams 15% off today through October 15th. Use code FACIAL (order this week with a November Box and it will all ship FREE 11/7)
Comments