This is a great website with some basic overviews of herbal remedies.
Best Herbal Remedies
Not long ago, American herbalists had to rely on folklore and anecdote. There was little clinical data on herbs, and what did exist was mostly published in German. But researchers (and translators) have been busy of late, and we now have proof that herbs are viable treatments for many ailments.
“Herbs won’t replace pharmaceuticals, but the research shows that–for many conditions–herbs work well, are cheaper than drugs and cause fewer side effects,” says Mary Hardy, M.D., medical director of the integrative medicine program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. “Herbs aren’t quite mainstream, but they’re moving in that direction. Patients are interested in them, and doctors are increasingly familiar with herb research.
“Twenty years ago, there was no integrative program at Cedars-Sinai” she adds. “Now there is. That says something” Here, then, are the proven, 55 best herbal treatments. Stick to the dose specified in the studies or on the product label. When making teas, use 1 to 2 teaspoons of herb per cup of boiling water, steeped for 10 minutes. Tell your physician about any herbs you plan on using, especially if you’re pregnant or nursing, have a chronic medical condition or take medication regularly.
(1) Aloe Vera for Burns
Sometimes studies tell us what we already know. Aloe vera is the herb for minor burns, a fact that was confirmed most recently in the Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand. Keep a potted aloe on your kitchen sill; it requires no care beyond weekly watering. For minor burns, snip off a thick leaf and slit it open; scoop out the gel from the inner leaf and apply to the burn.
(2) Black Cohosh for Menopause
The Algonquin Indians used black cohosh to treat gynecological ills, and it was a key part of Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, sold in the 1870s to treat “female complaints and weaknesses.” In a recent German study on menopausal hot flashes, subjects were given estrogen, a Valium-like tranquilizer or black cohosh (Remifemin, two tablets twice a day). The herb, which is an option for women who can’t take estrogen, worked best. “The vast majority of studies show benefit,” says Mark Blumenthal, executive director of the American Botanical Council.
(3) Boswellia for Arthritis and Joint Injuries
Did the three wise men suffer aches and pains from their long camel ride? Luckily, they had frankincense, aka boswellia, a traditional Ayurvedic medicine for arthritis and joint injuries. In a study published in Alternative and Complementary Therapies, Egyptian researchers gave people with osteoarthritis of the knee boswellia and turmeric or a placebo. After three months, the herb group showed significantly greater relief from knee swelling.
In an article recently posted demand for prepping gear has exploded! And from personal experience companies like Mountain House are reportedly having a hard time keeping up. My local vendor here in Portland recently told me that the Country Living Grain mill was on backorder..
What does this tell me?
Well, like the article below it tells me that people are nervous on an international scale for a number of already posted reasons.. But it also tells me that people are waking up to being more prepared for the future. Here in Portland our Bureau of Emergency Management is working on a campaign to help people prepare and on a national level ready.org and FEMA have been drilling this in for YEARS!
More recently with the financial crisis of the times people are now taking note. I also have heard quite a bit about 2012 and I want to remind people of Y2K..
12 years ago before Y2k there was also a run on supplies.. And nothing came out of it.. this lackluster event left many with a sour taste in their mouth when it comes to being prepared. Now we have a new generation of people who are headed down the reverse Oregon trail. They want to be more prepared, to be self-sufficient and that is a GREAT thing.. The best thing we can do is to learn how to be more self-sufficient without relying on goods alone.. Grow a garden.. Raise rabbits and chickens. Cows if you can.. Being resilient does not depend upon the water in your basement but rather on your ability to dig you own well or filter the water you find..
[learn_more caption="Read the original Article ‘COLLAPSE’ PREPARATIONS PUSH SKYROCKETING SURVIVAL GEAR SALES " state="open"]
As the U.S. economy tanks and the Mid-East appears poised for war, a chain of survival gear stores in Missouri has reported a jump in sales due to people getting ready for the possible ‘collapse’ of society.
Steve Dorsey, a manager at one of the Uncle Sam’s Safari Outfitters stores in Webster Groves told KMOX-Radio that: “We had to order fifty cases of the meals ready to eat to keep up with the demand in the past three months. That’s not normal. Usually we sell 20 to 30 cases in a whole year.”
When local stores start running out of MREs– specially packaged meals ready-to-eat, generally for the military– that seems to be a sign of strong public anxiety.
Steve Dorsey also told reporters that sales has been picking up since the Arab Spring revolts and with the continued specter of a global economic collapse hanging over America.
‘Collapse’ preparations are apparently not just for the outdoorsman either. Dorsey claimed that wealthy patrons from cities have been buying up the gear as well, telling KMOX that:
“I’ve had people in here that are very wealthy and they’ve spent thousands of dollars just on backpacks that they fill with survival gear, one for each person of their family and something where they can just grab a bag and get out of Dodge.”
The survivalists‘ plans for a collapse aren’t limited to any one route, according to Dorsey. Some are stocking up on freeze-dried meals for home, others are stashing food at remote locations outside of cities they would flee to in the event of major incident. In other cases, families are setting up communal safe havens where 20 or 30 people will gather in the event of a collapse.
Dorsey gave his analysis of the situation as “people are scared. They don’t know where this country is going. They think we’re on a downward spiral with just dramatic, crazy spending. People just don’t know what’s going to happen.”
That much seems increasingly obvious, whether one is out storing up on MREs or not.
My wife and I talk often about how lucky we are to have the freedoms that we have, the right to choose what we want to eat, to have control over our food.
Support your local farmers!
It appears that government and corporate food business will do anything they can to control our food.. Take this story in point I found from SHTFPlan.com.
a group of private citizens gathered together at Quail Hollow Farm for a Farm-to-Fork dinner consisting of an organic spread prepared by Chef Gio were forced to dispatch and sanitize hundreds of pounds of food with bleach.
As invited guests began to arrive, mingle and satiate their appetites, one unexpected individual, operating under the auspices of the Southern Nevada Health District, had another plan in store for dinner.
The following outrageous first-hand account of the incident should make your blood boil. If it doesn’t then we don’t know what will.
It tells a story of a “undercover” food inspector who raided a local farm dinner and forced them to throw away hundreds if not thousands of dollars of food because it violated “health laws”.
Read the story.. Watch the video and ask yourself.. Who is in charge.. I have said for a LONG time that I support aspects of BOTH the Tea Party and the Occupy movement. That they support what I believe..
The system.. It is Broken.. and “We the People” need not just want but we NEED change.
If we let governments and corporations control the food we eat then we might as well let them control whom we love, how we pray and to whom we pledge allegiance.
Our guests were excited to spend an evening together. The food was prepared exquisitely. The long dinner table, under the direction of dear friends, was absolutely stunningly beautiful. The music was superb. The stars were bright and life was really good.
And then, …
for a few moments, it felt like the rug was pulled out from underneath us and my wonderful world came crashing down. As guests were mingling, finishing tours of the farm, and while the first course of the meal was being prepared and ready to be sent out, a Southern Nevada Health District employee came for an inspection.
Because this was a gathering of people invited to our farm for dinner, I had no idea that the Health Department would become involved. I received a phone call from them two days before the event informing me that because this was a “public event” (I would like to know what is the definition of “public” and “private”) we would be required to apply for a “special use permit”.
If we did not do so immediately, we would be charged a ridiculous fine.
Stunned, we immediately complied.
We were in the middle of our harvest day for our CSA shares, a very busy time for us, but Monte immediately left to comply with the demand and filled out the required paper work and paid for the fee. (Did I mention that we live in Overton, nowhere near a Health Department office?) Paper work now in order, he was informed that we would not actually be given the permit until an inspector came to check it all out.
She came literally while our guests were arriving!
In order to overcome any trouble with the Health Department of cooking on the premises, most of the food was prepared in a certified kitchen in Las Vegas; and to further remove any doubt, we rented a certified kitchen trailer to be here on the farm for the preparation of the meals. The inspector, Mary Oaks, clearly not the one in charge of the inspection as she was constantly on the phone with her superior Susan somebody who was calling all the shots from who knows where.
Susan deemed our food unfit for consumption and demanded that we call off the event because:
1. Some of the prepared food packages did not have labels on them. (The code actually allows for this if it is to be consumed within 72 hours.)
2. Some of the meat was not USDA certified. (Did I mention that this was a farm to fork meal?)
3. Some of the food that was prepared in advance was not up to temperature at the time of inspection. (It was being prepared to be brought to proper temperature for serving when the inspection occurred.)
4. Even the vegetables prepared in advance had to be thrown out because they were cut and were then considered a “bio-hazard”.
5. We did not have receipts for our food. (Reminder! This food came from farms not from the supermarket! I have talked with several chefs who have said that in all their years cooking they have never been asked for receipts.)
…
The only way to keep our guests on the property was to destroy the food.
We asked the inspector if we could save the food for a private family event that we were having the next day. (A personal family choice to use our own food.) We were denied and she was insulted that we would even consider endangering our families health. I assured her that I had complete faith and trust in Giovanni our chef and the food that was prepared, (obviously, or I wouldn’t be wanting to serve it to our guests).
I then asked if we couldn’t feed the food to our “public guests” or even to our private family, then at least let us feed it to our pigs. (I think it should be a criminal action to waste any resource of the land. Being dedicated to our organic farm, we are forever looking for good inputs into our compost and soil and good food that can be fed to our animals. The animals and compost pile always get our left over garden surplus and food. We truly are trying to be as sustainable as possible.)
Again, a call to Susan and another negative response.
…
Not only were we denied the use of the food for any purpose, to ensure that it truly was unfit for feed of any kind we were again threatened with police action if we did not only throw the food in the trash, but then to add insult to injury, we were ordered to pour bleach on it.
Now the food is also unfit for compost as I would be negligent to allow any little critters to nibble on it while it was composting and ingest that bleach resulting in a horrible death. Literally hundreds of pounds of food was good for nothing but adding to our ever increasing land fill!
its alright for the USDA to allow us to kill our selves eating (deleted) fast food, but this good wholesoem suff isent okay
it makes ya wonder, who owns america now?
When a farmer cannot prepare a farm-to-plate home cooked meal for friends and guests without intervention by a government agency we have a problem – one that goes against every founding principle of this nation.
This is just the latest example of the police state moving into every facet of our lives. They want it all. Total control. They want to know who you talk to, what you say, where you meet, what you eat, and what you’re thinking. Failure to comply will unleash a beast so powerful and with tentacles so widespread that it can, with no qualms or conscience, destroy your life, liberty and right to pursue happiness.
Laura the farmer and her healthy organic food eating friends are domestic terrorists for attempting to serve bio-hazard materials for consumption. And, if you haven’t given your government a reason to be considered one yet, we can assure you that you’ll do something soon enough. They’re watching, ready to pounce at a moment’s notice.
[learn_more caption="credits"] This article has attributes from Mac Slavo’s article at SHTFplan.com we thank him for showing us the light.. check them out! Date: November 10th, 2011 Website: www.SHTFplan.com[/learn_more]
Resilience; what a wonderful word.. it really means the ability to bounce back. Resilience is what I think of when I think of being truly prepared, having a holistic approach to getting ready for anything, for ourselves, for our families and for our community.
We are more resilient when we establish redundancy in our preparations, rather then having just matches you have matches, a metal match, and a lighter, rather then just having food stored and hidden in once place, you have stored your food in a few places like your house and your car, up you also have a prospering garden and maybe some rabbits and chickens. Now you are in control and ensuring that your needs are met.
We are more resilient if we can source water from a few locations—perhaps from an existing well, a small creek, and stored water—instead of just one. If we throw in a quality water filter, then just about any source of water can become drinkable.
We are more resilient when our home can be more off grid, using a variety of methods means that when one fails you can fall back on another, perhaps wood and solar to by weatherizing our homes we can reduce our need for oil and gas.
Resilience is a community effort, by educating yourself you can then pass on your education to your community. Building the resilience of your community as a whole you can also use resilience as a tool for living your life, but if that’s a little to hippie dippy for you think of it this way. If you look at every decision you make and ask you self how does this prepare me for the future you are asking yourself how does this build on the foundation that is my personal resilience
This is a great website with some basic overviews of herbal remedies.
In an article recently posted demand for prepping gear has exploded! And from personal experience companies like Mountain House are reportedly having a hard time keeping up. My local vendor here in Portland recently told me that the Country Living Grain mill was on backorder..
