Insect Repellant

Insects love to bite me, so when I developed my insect repellant, I wanted to cover all the bases -- repel as many insects as possible. It's been tested in the Delta, in the UP, places where mosquitoes are considered State birds. I've worn it in the infamously tick-ridden Ozarks. But as I often tell my friends - "It works, but ya gotta put it on." It smells citrus-y and minty, which I think is better than the Deet stuff. Plus there's no oily feel on one's skin.

Liniment

During the normal course of activities, we sometimes feel the need for a good massage. Through the addition of herbs long held in high repute for relief of pain and inflammation, and calling on a tradition long held secret in horse racing circles, a good rub-down with an old fashioned liniment will yield benefits.

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Ivy Rinse

New Spray applicator! I named it "rinse" back when it was in a squirt flip-top lid, but now it's so much easier to apply, thanks to the spray pump I'm using. I also added another size: 2 oz and 4 oz. Buy below to the left.

For years I didn't use my healing ointment on poison ivy, since drying out the affected areas is the obvious treatment. But after getting a bad case of poison ivy digging a trench back of our shop, I discovered towards the end of my affliction that the ointment helped eliminate the redness and helped speed healing and didn't contribute to any further spreading. So after that experience I use the Ivy Rinse to start with, then after it's tapering off, I finish up with my healing ointment. I'd been told this by a customer, so I tried it.

When I was a kid with a cold, my mom used to put Vicks on an old sock and tie it around our necks at bedtime so we'd inhale the vapors throughout the night. It didn't smell that great, but the sock kept it out of our eyes.

Years later after borrowing an antique vaporizer from my mother-in-law, inside the box was a small bottle of an essential oil mixture with the listed ingredients. It smelled a lot like Vicks, only better. My nose detected lavender, and I already knew the addition of lavender helps almost anything!! That's how I came up with the idea for my Inhalant. I'd use it in the sauna if I had one!

My favorite herb books is The Herb Book by John Lust, a Bantam book in paperback. He's the son of Benedict Lust, an herbalist from an earlier era when herbs were a serious part of home health care. It's my most dog-eared volume and it's encyclopedic in scope. There's several ways to look up the plants and their properties, with lists of conditions that might apply. The individual plant descriptions include a drawing, growing information, how to harvest and use it, cautions,.. and there are so many "weeds" to choose from that the average person with a yard would be able to find something of value growing nearby. If I only had one herb book in my library, this would be it.

 After reading several of Adelle Davis' books on nutrition (Let's Eat Right to Keep Fit, Let's Have Healthy Children, Let's Get Well), I learned that a wonderful sounding and smelling product known as baby oil was far from healthy.  It's made from mineral oil, which binds vitamins in the body to it, making them unavailable to the cells. If baby needs a massage, simple olive oil will do, and it has vitamins in it. If baby has diaper rash, my healing ointment will clear it up and soothe the redness quickly. Also, baby powder made from talc can settle in the lungs and remain there. Cornstarch is a powder that doesn't raise a big dust cloud, feels smooth, and it's inexpensive and readily available at grocery stores.

I raised my baby naturally, and followed my mothering instincts, with the support of my friends in La Leche League, (which supports breast feeding) for which I am so grateful. The world will too soon corrupt our youngsters; they don't need moms and grandmoms to be the agents who promote junk food, empty calories and unhealthy habits. Feed their bodies; feed their spirits.

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