Yeah, folks we've had a bit of it all today and it isn't noon yet!
Mike woke, much earlier than me, to open the birdhouses and release our feathered friends for their day. On the way out the door he encountered doggy diarrhea in the kitchen, courtesy our aged Great Pyr. Wait....hold....here it comes! It got worse!
When he arrived in the chicken house, which also acts as a green house, he discovered that ALL of the seedlings for this year's garden were eaten to the ground by mice or rats! EVERYTHING!!! Tomatoes, peppers....ours and the grand kids.
Not a good start to the day, you say?
I agree completely.....but, my turn was coming. I hopped, or crawled (not being a morning person) out of bed and stepped directly into a puddle of doggy vomit, courtesy our Mastiff.
Please reread the above- Great Pyr.....Mastiff. Do you see what I am getting at here? These are not dogs that make small messes!
The only thing that I can say is that I am blessed to be married to an angel and he cleaned up both situations, once he ran into the bedroom to see what I was screaming about!
The blessings continued. You are never alone when you have rural and urban farmer friends. Within an hour I had bartered goose eggs for seedlings from a wonderful urban farmer friend! That is how it's done with "country" people-and it doesn't matter whether those folks live in the city or on a dirt road....it's a heart thing, it's about community, it's about taking care of each other...it's not about zip code. Thanks, Pamela!
This is a picture of this morning's take of eggs, just the first round in the hen houses. A goose, three duck, a half dozen chicken and a guinea. The plants surrounding the eggs are sunflower and horehound (lower right). So, I think today I will talk about horehound.I know you have heard of this herb. Horehound cough drops? Yep, but it didn't always appear wrapped in cellophane and packaged in a sack. Believe it or not it was gathered by the grannies and prepared for their family's respiratory illnesses.
Before I go into uses and preparation, humor me while I tell a telling little story.
I was teaching an herb class at the farm one Spring and I encouraged the students to go gather 3 plants to prepare as teas. I had discussed horehound so I was not too surprised when it was one of the herbs hauled to the table. We carefully prepared our medicinal teas and tasted each. Yummy spearmint....lemony lemon balm.....and horehound. As we sipped each, I reviewed the properties.
I suppose the students were too enthralled with my herbal wisdom (tongue in cheek) to notice that the teacher did NOT pick up her cup of horehound tea and sip it!
Tea was spit across the room! Into cups! Hands grabbed for lemon balm and spearmint tea.
Important lessons learned that day: horehound is a bitter, bitter herb and if the teacher doesn't drink it you might want to pass!
When I moved to the farm there was no horehound here, of course, there was not much but red packed clay. I met Mike, he had 17 acres in Leuders. After he came to join me we would take my lawn mower to Leuders to mow his place, which had tons of horehound. Now, we have tons of horehound here at the farm. See how plants move themselves around? It can be on the blades of a mower, on the jeans of the farmer or in the droppings of birds. Nature is so creative.
Let's talk about the uses and properties of horehound! Horehound is an old fashion bitter, not as glamorous as some of the popular, trendy herbs in the materia medica. But, if you know anything about me, you know that I believe it is important to use herbs in your environment (maybe a blog on that upcoming)....thus, horehound is a go-to respiratory in my medicine cabinet.Let's discuss two actions that are specific for the respiratory system:
Expectorants you may be familiar with- think Mucinex or Robitussin. These type herbs (or medicines) help rid the respiratory system of excess mucus; they tone and tighten; they help dry out the respiratory system; they sooth and heal. Pretty good!
You probably haven't heard of the term "Pectorals." I don't think you are going to find anything in the drug store with that title. A pectoral is an herb that is specific for the respiratory system. They heal and tone the respiratory system. Pretty good stuff!
So, for the respiratory tract, for cough and wheeze, gather some horehound leaves! You can make a tea but refer to above! YUCK! I actually have used the tea in a pinch- drink small amounts at a time (not a problem) and avoid drinking too much as it may prove laxative.
Commonly horehound is made into a "candy." You just boil a handful of the fresh leaves in 1 and 1/2 cup of water. Strain the liquid. Use 4 tablespoons of this infusion to 2 pounds of brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of honey. Boil it down for half an hour, more or less. The candy is finish when a teaspoon hardens when it is dropped into cold water. Pour it on to a hard surface let it dry then cut or break it into candy squares when it cool- how easy is that?
Our grannies were so good at using the plants around them, and they knew how to take care of their families. Where on earth did we begin to think we did not have that same power? Think about it!
Now, I am off to cook a big pot of Chocolate Chili from a great new cookbook called Well Fed by Melissa Joulwan from Austin, Texas. I highly recommend it, especially if you are interested in the Paleo or Primal or Caveman movement-look into that BTW, if you don't know what I'm talking about.
Check out her blog:
www.theclothesmakethegirl.com
So, I haven't organized how this blog thing is going to go, yet. I had actually planned to talk about harvesting and preparing one of my favorite greens today but....well, you can see that didn't happen.
Know what I'm talking about- tumbleweed. Yep! Yummy!!! Next time!
Have a healthy, happy day- take your health in your hands today!
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