Meet Cleavers! The correct botanical name is Galium aparine. We need that botanical name because plants have “nicknames” that vary with culture and geographical area. Some of the common nicknames for Galium aparine are Catchweed, Bedstraw, Cleavers, Stickyweed, Sticky willy, Goosegrass and Velcro plant.
Cleavers emerges in early spring. You’ll find it in woodlands, meadows, prairies, and more. This spring I found it in my greenhouse! I often see it at our local zoo but never where the geese hang out. Geese gobble this herb up!
It can grow 6 feet “tall” but because it has a weak stem it doesn’t actually grow upright it crawls along the ground and over any obstacles.
It’s leave are arranged in whorls of 8 and it feels lightly “sticky”. This is because it has backward hooked bristles on its leaves and stems. It clings to clothing, socks, animal fur and more. Its buds are also sticky and hitchhike on animals or people to spread its seed.
Cleavers is considered an edible “weed”. So many of my favorite herbs are often considered weeds! This is a very safe herb – it’s not toxic in any way, there are no known contraindications and it has no reported interactions.
What can it be used for? Cleavers is considered a lymphatic tonic. It has been used to increase lymphatic drainage and break up lymphatic congestion (enlarged lymph nodes) especially in the pelvis. It has also been used historically as a demulcent for the urinary tract in the cases of cystitis, urethritis, prostatitis and pyelonephritis. It has often been used topically for inflammation of the skin, minor injuries and a variety of skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis.
I tincture this herb every spring and use it as a part of my formula for UTIs.
Take a walk outside and let me know if you find Galium aparine!
I was doing chores yesterday with two of my grandkids. We went to the calves field to feed Gloria. Gloria is very tame, comes when called, loves to have her cheeks scratched. One day she will grow up to be a milk cow. One of my younger grandchildren recently got to ride on her back, scratch her face and just enjoy her!
This is Hot Dog – all animals destined for freezer camp get food names. Grandkids get to name almost all of the calves. These two calves can get in with the cows but they also have a separate place I can feed them, give them minerals or even “cow cookies”. That way they don’t have to fight the bigger cows to get their portion. They each weigh about 250-300 pounds.
Yesterday, I made the mistake of taking Kiko, my German Shepherd with us. Gloria was peacefully eating when Kiko decided it was time to play and she lunged at her. Freaked Gloria out and she jumped backwards and kept moving. Unfortunately I was in her path. I saw her from my left side and tried to move but she’s faster than me! I had been standing there talking to the kids when all of a sudden I was moving through the air.
My grandchild said I went up – then spun around before I landed. Gloria knocked me right out of my shoes and my earrings! I landed on my right side and back with my shoes about 3 feet behind me. All was calm by then. I had a whopper of a headache but my son checked me for concussion and I was fine. Today, muscles are talking to me but I’m ok. Scared the kids something awful! But darn, I wish I could have seen it! That might be a video that would go viral!
I reached for my Arnica Salve last night and again this morning. Arnica Montana has anti-inflammatory properties and is great to prevent bruising, reduce swelling and therefor limit the discomfort. By tomorrow, I should be fine. By the way, that salve is on sale right now in my shop!
I’m thankful to my Father for his protection – it could have been so much worse! My grandchild brought me my shoes and helped me up. My younger grandhild, once we were back in the cow machine, warned me not to go to sleep cause ” you might have a cush shun Mimi”.
And me… I learned to leave Kiko home when I’m dealing with cows!
It may not feel like spring but my shop is open with my spring collection!
You will find that Spring Breeze (think a spring bouquet!), Gentle Petals (rose and lavender for dry and sensitive skin!) Green Thumbs for all you gardeners (you are growing a garden this year I hope!), and Seafoam Sprucalyptus Shampoo have returned (while supplies last).
You will also find my NEW Citrus Bliss – a soap filled with Orange, Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit and Litsea essential oils – it’s like sunshine in a bar of soap! Talk about uplifting your spirits! It’s hard not to smile when you smell this soap!
You will also find my NEW Stress Away created at a customer’s request (she’ll be getting a free bar!) This soap is minty and refreshing – packed with Eucalyptus and Spearmint essential oils and swirled with organic Spearmint leaves! Eucalyptus and Spearmint support the respiratory system AND are calming – so take a DEEP breath and RELAX!! Let me know if you have any requests and if I choose to make it – you’ll also receive a free bar of soap!
Remember, I’m a small artisan soap maker, my molds produce 16 to 20 bars of soap depending on which mold I use. When they are gone, well…they are gone! I’m already working on my soaps for summer, Lavender Twist, Lavender Mint, Tangerine Moisturizer (new!), and more!
Some of my bars of soap are on sale, my Arnica Salve is also on sale. Arnica Montana has anti-inflammatory properties – great for bruising too – just don’t use it on broken skin. When my knees hurt at the end of the day from crawling around in the dirt…I reach for my Arnica Salve! When I hit my shin on the dishwasher door (again!) Arnica is my go to to for swelling and bruising!
My Garden Calendar is 25% off! This calendar has no dates – but each month it tells you what to be doing in your garden! I’ve chosen a compilation of my growing experience and advice from some of my favorite garden sources over the years. I share my favorite plant varieties, some family recipes, my favorite seed catalogs and more! My calendar is a PDF download – it is not a printed calendar that will be mailed to you. This way you can print a new copy each year and take advantage of the Notes field – keeping garden notes year to year will help you remember what you liked and what you didn’t…what worked well and what you need to change!
If you purchase $25 or more, please use the coupon FREE SOS and receive a Sack of Soap absolutely free! Experience a variety of my soaps in small balls or cubes. Great for company or to tuck into a lingerie drawer, linen closet or anywhere you’d like a fresh, natural scent! Just put a Sack of Salve in your cart and be sure to use that coupon code to receive it absolutely free!
In my next Essentially Healthy class we will be learning about Candida, what the symptoms are, how to deal with it and more! I’d love for you to join my free classes taught every other week. You can register for class here: https://bit.ly/35Z7aR7
As you know, I also sell dōTERRA essential oils. For the first time ever, this month dōTERRA is allowing people to open a wholesale account by building their own kit! I’ve wanted this for years! Only you know what your body needs. If you aren’t sure how to figure that out, chat with me, I’d be honored to help you! I have a special gift package (value $50) for people who open their account with me – and then I’ll enroll you into my Oil Camp – tons of fun for 10 days while you learn about essential oils and their amazing ability to help with our health needs! You’ll also earn prizes for attending! It starts soon so if you are interested in oils and would like to work with me, please reach out!
Lastly, my 95 year old mom is pacemaker dependent and her pacemaker has reached the end of its battery life. This Monday she will be undergoing surgery to replace her pacemaker. It should be a very simple procedure but she is 95 and very frail. You know she is a fighter from how well she handled Covid in February but prayers are appreciated!
Remember this post on my iridotomy? I remember clearly my eye doctor telling me that if my eye got red, swollen and painful, to see him right away because the holes created by the laser could fill back in and it was imperative to have it fixed quickly so I didn’t loose my vision. He may have actually said the word “blind” {shudder}.
Well a few weeks ago, I woke up at 4:00 in the morning. I should say pain woke me up at 4:00 in the morning…eye pain. As I turned on a light to see what was going on , I realized that even looking straight ahead, I could see my lower lid protruding. It hurt to blink, hurt to close my eyes and it was so swollen – even well below my eye! And it was weepy! SO much pain!
Of course, first thing I think of is “did my iridotomy fail?” Sleeping was out of the question because it hurt to close my eye! I had no idea how often people blink – every blink was a stabbing pain. I tried cold compresses to reduce the swelling. I took a capsule of lavender, lemon and peppermint essential oil – my go to for allergies, to see if that would help. Nada!
I just decided that I would be at the doctor’s office when he opened to have the holes from the laser checked to make sure they hadn’t closed in.
I was there at 8:00 a.m. I looked like I had been punched in the eye – the swelling was increasing. Scary to me! They were able to work me in and first thing they checked was the iridotomy. It was fine – holes still open and he told me that it was rare to see that happen. Once in 25 years of practice had he seen an iridotomy fail.
So what was it?
An oil glad deep in the lower lid had gotten plugged. I needed to go home, use HOT compresses and massage the area. The cold compresses I had used for relief actually made the situation worse. Evidently, when it gets plugged the liquid oil becomes solid and HOT compresses would help turn that back to liquid so it could be released. He told me that it was terribly painful and would be till that gland could be released. He suggested 2 to 3 times a day for the compresses. He also mentioned that if it got infected we’d be looking at antibiotics. He said it could take up to 4 weeks to resolve. 4 WEEKS!?!
I had been scheduled to take my mom for an ultrasound that morning so I was trying to figure out how to do that in my condition. Driving was dicey. However, one of my amazing daughter-in-laws had been working behind the scenes (I may have texted all my kids at 4 a..m. to be praying for my eye!) and had it all worked out so that I didn’t need to do that. I headed home.
I used plantain compresses as hot as I could stand it over and over all day long and massaged the area where the gland was plugged. By evening the swelling was down a bit and the pain was greatly reduced. I fell asleep with the last hot compress on my eye. By morning the pain was gone and the swelling completely resolved itself in just a few days. There is still a small red area on the rim of the eyelid where the oil gland was blocked but everything else is back to normal!
Plantago major (Plantain)
So if you have something like this happen after an iridotomy, see your doctor but don’t panic! Oh…and reach for a hot compress! Although the doctor recommended hot water, I know that plantain draws and I believe that is why mine resolved so quickly – less than 36 hours as opposed to 4 weeks!
Plantain has many beneficial uses! One of my favorites…bug bite or bee sting? Pick a leaf of plantain and chew it up and put it on the bite. It will draw out the venom, reduce the swelling, discomfort and itch often associated with those bites and stings. I’ve taught my grandkids about plantain so that if they are out playing they know what to do if something decides they look good to eat! Now you know what to do too!
I’ve been making soap for days preparing for my spring release! My shop is closed now as I load inventory and prepare for April 10th when my spring soaps will be released! This is the set up for a day of soap making. I make small batches of artisan soaps – about 15 bars each. I can do 5 different batches in a day. It’s a full day by the time every soap is in its’ mold. The large pots will hold my solid oils like coconut, shea butter, mango butter or cocoa butter. The bowls will hold my water/lye solution. There is another bowl on the other counter that holds the liquid oils; jojoba, avocado, wheat germ, apricot kernel, sweet almond, and many more!
This is a new soap that will be released in April – Citrus Sensation! I love the color of this soap! It will fade a bit but it just makes me think of dandelions in spring! It is packed with essential oils of orange, grapefruit, lemon and lime! Yummy!
While I was working this day, I dropped some essential oil on my scale while I was weighing them out. I couldn’t believe how it landed! Can you see the perfect heart? Essential oil love!
The day after I make soaps I take them out of their molds and cut the logs into bars. Citrus Sensation is on the left. There is another new soap in that picture! It doesn’t have a name yet… if you feel inspired and you comment with a name that I pick – you win a free bar of that soap! The third from the left is a new soap made with Eucalyptus and Spearmint essential oils and swirled with organic spearmint leaves. It’s minty, invigorating, clean and fresh smelling! This soap was made at the request of a customer who will also be receiving a free bar! Yes…if you suggest a soap and I choose to make it you automatically receive a bar of that soap! Leave any name suggestions in the comments – fingers crossed you’ll win a bar of soap with the perfect name!
After I’ve finished cutting the soaps and getting them on the curing rack it’s time to empty the dishwasher load that I ran after making the soap and begin loading again…it will take 4 to 5 dishwasher loads to get everything clean from those 5 batches of soap. It’s also time to finish cleaning the kitchen, relining the soap molds for next time, putting away all of the ingredients etc. I’ve done a bit the day before but I never get it all finished until the next day.
And then…I start it all over again the next time I’m home for a day.
My soap kitchen smells exhilarating right now – so many wonderful scents, florals, citrus, mints, anise, fennel and tree oils! You’ll be seeing some of my popular soaps return in April: Hook, Line & Sinker for the fisherman in your family! Two varieties of Lavender, two shampoo bars: Rosemary & Lavender and my super popular Sprucalyptus (made with Spruce and Eucalyptus essential oils!). Along with Spring Breeze, Gentle Petals, Working Hands, Rosemary & Mint, Avocado Dilly Bar, Patchouli, Green Thumbs and more!
There will about 15 bars available of each variety! I sure wish there was a way to make that picture a “scratch & sniff” for you!
If you are on my email list, you’ll get notified before the sale. If you’d like to be on the list, just leave your email in the comments and I’ll add you to my list!
She won her fight against this virus!It took a lot of work. It took keeping on top of things.It took family members being willing to work together and to go in and offer her supplemental support when her provider refused to do so.
I took a new doctor who believed in early treatment and who truly cared.
That same doctor just gave her the all clear – her lungs are fine and she won the battle!
It shows me how much early intervention and supplementation matters. She felt lousy, was very tired and had trouble staying awake much of the time. She had mild congestion, but, because we treated early, it never got horrible. Her oxygen levels never went below 94. She has a lot of other “co-morbidity” issues but by treating her as soon as possible with recommendations for supplements and by using some additional vitamins and supplements recommended by a doctor friend, she managed to do this without needing hospitalization or oxygen! Truly a gift and miracle from the Father!
I encourage you to educate, prepare and be ready to fight if this happens to one of your loved ones…or to yourself! Talk to their /your provider now and find out “what would you recommend if…”. Make sure you are in agreement or find a provider that is willing to work with you…NOW. Don’t wait till you are in the midst of this…the added stress was incredible on top of the concern about her age, health etc. I’ve taken my own advice and am prepared if it happens to me!
The thoughts and prayers, the emails and texts that let me know you were praying for her and encouraging me to hang on and push through really mattered to me! I appreciate y’all so much!
Hopefully things are now back to normal on the homestead and I can get busy with creating new soaps for spring, blogging about projects around the farm, herbs, essential oils and all things natural wellness!
This is my mama! She turned 95 in December of last year. She had a partial hip replacement in October and this is her in rehab. She worked hard while she was there. She’s a pretty tough cookie!
Last Thursday afternoon I received a call from a nurse at her care facility….she informed me that Mom just tested positive for Covid. I immediately began sourcing Ivermectin. Yes…I know it is a dewormer for horses (and cows, goats, etc.) I’ve used it on the farm before when necessary. But it is also used in humans and is a very SAFE medication. Did you know that it was approved for human use in 1987?
I also have a protocol from my own functional doctor of natural supplements that I’ve had on my shelf for months. I packed that up to take to the facility. Vitamins A, D, C, Zinc and more. I called her NP to request a script for Ivermectin and an antibiotic. And a script for the supplements so that the facility could give them to her.
I was met with the standard that seems to be so popular today …to do nothing until she is worse. No early treatment. “she’s not that bad yet”…and my thoughts were “shouldn’t we be trying to keep it that way”! Mom had tested negative on the Monday previously. However, Tuesday night she developed a sore throat so I’m figuring she probably would have tested positive at that time if she’d been tested. So now I’m counting days in my head. 3 days down.
I was told that script was hard to fill in our town…she’d called 5 places but finally found one. Told me where to go and be there before they closed at 6 pm. Also told me that mom was going to receive the antibodies on Monday. Great news I thought! It was 4:30 and one of my sons and I were busy loading firewood from a tree that had come down. We dropped everything and headed to the pharmacy. We’d both been working outside all day, dirty work – I don’t think I’ve ever gone to town that filthy! We made it to the pharmacy by a little after 5. Went in to pick up the RX and they didn’t have a prescription for her. What?!? Never heard of her and when they asked what it was for and I told them Ivermectin – you would have thought that I’d expressed a desire to poison her. Oh…and they don’t carry Ivermectin.
Called the NP back – after 5 now – got the answering service. Asked if I had misunderstood the name of the pharmacy – just tell me where it is and I’ll go get it. “Someone will call you back”. I waited an hour. We headed home and once there I called back again to let them know that no one had called me. I was given a message from the NP…”I told her it would be hard to get. She needs to find a pharmacy to fill it. I’m not going to do that. If you are so worried about her – take her to the ER.” Wow! If you’ve read anything (beyond what the “so called” media touts) you know that would be a death sentence for a frail 95 year old woman. 4 days down.
Next morning I called a friend who has a local clinic – asked if she knew who was dispensing Ivermectin. She told me, I called it in to the NP.I then called AFLDs. Filled out a form for a tele-conference for her with one of their doctors. After yesterday, I didn’t trust the NP to actually write the script and I didn’t know how long it would take for her to write it if she decided to do so. She wasn’t in any kind of hurry to help so I wanted a back up plan. AFLDS gave us an appointment with a doctor in 90 minutes, a prescription within 30 min. after the appt., a call from the pharmacy for payment and their offer to overnight it to me. It was in our hands within 24 hours. Ivermectin, Zinc and a z-pack. Mom is holding her own. Congestion is worse. 5 days down.
In the mean time, one of my daugher-in-laws, who has had covid and recovered (natural immunity folks!) had visited her in the facility and begun giving her the protocol of natural supplements. The NP had not written the script for those and when she finally did she played with the amounts. However family is allowed to administer anything. We also began giving her the Ivermectin. I feel like at this point it was a battle – the NP just wasn’t going to let us do what we knew would help her. She flat out told me that she would not prescribe any antibiotics until it turned into pneumonia…because covid was a virus and not a bacterial infection. Another death sentence. She also told me that she couldn’t have a z-pack because it contraindicated with one of her heart medicines. I made a mental note to call cardiologist the next day to check on that.
I told her I didn’t want the antibiotics for the virus! She needed the antibiotics for the thick yellow mucus which indicated a possible bacterial infection. I didn’t care if it was a Z-pack or something else. The first day mom was able to cough this stuff up. The next day she was either too weak or it was too thick. Mom is feeling very tired, congested…things are getting worse. 7 days down.
Next day, NP has done nothing…no tests ordered, no script for antibiotics or even an OTC decongestant . Oh! And no anti-bodies. She didn’t make an appointment – she was going to TRY to make an appointment. She would, I was told again, do something if pneumonia developed. From all I’ve read, covid pneumonia in someone like mom would not be survivable – so why do we want to wait for that?! I also called the Cardiologist and found that that there was no contraindication with that particular medicine but there was one with a different medication she was on. The NP had missed that one – and it would have been dangerous. However, “there are still many antibiotics that are safe to use”. Yes…if only someone would prescribe one. 8 days down.
That evening, I texted a doctor friend of mine and told her the whole story. She was my mom’s doctor before she went into the facility. I asked if she though antibiotics would be helpful and I asked her if she would take my mom back as a patient. Yes she would! She asked me to text her in the morning and she’d work her in with a teleconference.
Morning of day 9. My friend got the medical records from the facility, had a conference call with mom at about 8:30 and ordered lab work, sputum culture (looking for a pulmonary infection that she has seen in some of her covid cases), chest x-ray, OTC decongestant, and…antibiotics. Finally! I got off the call and headed to the pharmacy. Mom had her first dose of the decongestant and the antibiotics before noon! Oh…and I fired the NP! What a relief. I truly believe that my mom would have died under her care – or, actually, her lack of care.
We are now on day 12 – we have another tele-conference with the doctor in the morning to get results of x-ray and labs. Mom’s oxygen levels have been good. She is weak, still struggling with congestion and very tired. I have hope. I know that with this hero of a doctor, she has a chance to survive and that everything that could be done is being done at last. I believe that the Ivermectin I got from AFLDS and the protocol from my functional practitioner saved her life initially. I am grateful for hero doctors like the AFLDS and my friend who care more about their patients than propaganda and politicizing health care.
I believe (my opinion my friends!) that withholding early treatment that is safe and effective is criminal! I encourage you to do your research, get prepared now with the proper supplements, a bottle of Ivermectin (if you believe it would help) and a plan. Be prepared to not accept the status quo from providers – be wiling to fight and fight hard for your loved one. You may be the only one they have standing between them and death. Never give up, be resourceful and keep looking for someone who is willing to listen to you and do the right thing for your loved one! Start looking now so you know exactly what will happen if you find yourselves in this situation.
Mom isn’t out of danger yet. The congestion is going to be hard to beat. I’ll find out more in the morning and I am hopeful that she will survive! I’ll update when I know something. Prayers make a difference and I covet yours for mom.
I’ve ended the old year….and have begun a new year…chasing cows. I’ve had a Houdini steer for awhile. If I kept him in a field by himself he never strayed but he bellowed night and day to be with his friends. If I relented and let him hang out with the gang, well, he ended up out of their field – and in my garden, hay barn, chicken yard, back yard and more. I wondered if the gang was helping him escape! Can’t you just picture cow “leap frog”?
Headed to Freezer Camp!
Then yesterday, when I went to drop hay, I found Tiny Moo Too out of the field and enjoying her freedom!
She’s a sassy, feisty thing and was running and kicking her heels up…and enjoying the grass in that field. I spent an hour chasing her in the Kubota (awfully hard for just one person to wrangle a cow back into it’s field – there is strength in numbers!). All naughty cows are put into our pond field – it’s pretty tight and no one has escaped from there. But…how are they getting out?
I do a head count twice a day when I feed the gang. When I went out to drop hay for their evening meal, all seemed well. After I parked the tractor, I took the kubota to pick up the netting and to pitch the dropped hay into the bed of the kubota. Low and behold I saw a cow headed to a far field that we don’t use in the winter. I watched it cross the creek! What the heck was going on?
By the time I managed to get through three fields and two fences (on foot), I could tell it was Nettie. She was headed across another creek towards the neighbors field. Nettie is also headed to Freezer Camp because of an udder abnormality. When that happens, you need to cull because it could be passed to her baby if she had a girl. It wasn’t found till Nettie had her first baby. Thankfully it was a little bull, now a steer.
The problem with Freezer Camp is that they are booked out 18 months – all of them locally – and we have at least 3 or 4. I am on the wait list for two of them. I think I will call Monday and beg!
I went back through those fields and jumped into the Kubota to get some grain to lure her. When I got back, she was headed down the lane at our neighbors which would take her right out onto a road! I ditched the Kubota, jumped in my car and made a bee-line to my neighbor’s house. Pulled in and knocked on the door – hoping he could jump on his four wheeler and encourage her to head home. No answer!
I sat in the car and prayed as I watched her mosey around for a bit and slowly head back towards the lane that would take her home. Prayers answered – she headed back down that lane. I high-tailed it home, ditched the car, jumped in the Kubota – back through three fields, two electric fences and found Nettie back on our property but on the other side of the creek. (Note to self…2022 will be THE YEAR OF FENCING!)
I got as close to the edge of the creek bank as I could and began shaking the bucket of grain….EVERY SO SLOWLY, she began to move my way. She took her time though – she was enjoying the blackberry brambles along the creek edge. Finally she jumped over to my side and stuck her head in the bucket! Slooowwwly I began to edge that bucket back towards the fence line to the field I wanted her in. I had called for back up and my son was on the way to help. I just needed to get her into the pond field!
Nettie would NOT go past that line…I moved the electric tape back out of the way just in case she was afraid to cross it on the ground. Didn’t help. I tried walking back and forth so she could see it was safe. Didn’t help. I tried going behind her to get her to move forward…she just turned around and headed towards the creek. Quickly got her turned around again and tried to lure her with cow cookies. Nope! If I moved that green bucket into the field she stopped.
Did I mention that I was trying to keep my previous two escapees in the field while the fence was down? Did I mention that we were having 25 mile an hour winds with 45 mile an hour wind gusts as a severe thunderstorm was headed our way? Did I mention that it was almost dark?
I head a “thumping” and saw my son running down the hill towards me. He literally walked up to Nettie, she looked up at him and that stinker WALKED RIGHT INTO THAT FIELD! I kid you not! I put the electric tape back up. We jumped in the kubota and headed up the hill. My son wanted to investigate to see how the heck this was happening. He grabbed some axes, a scythe, the voltage testers for the electric fence and we were off.
I thought they were getting out around the hay feeder – I’d found several broken posts there and had spent time repairing fence lines twice after the last two escapees got out.
My son decided on a different approach. We headed away from that field – went through a different field, through our bamboo forest (gosh that stuff grows FAST!) and came into the field from the other side. We didn’t have to go far to see the problem!
A huge tree had come down last week in a bad storm! and the other end of this whopper lay right across the electric fence!
Thankfully it didn’t snap the fence but it did pull it right down to the ground. All the cows had to do was step over it! This was our second downed tree in 10 days from storms. The last tree, even bigger, crushed a gate on our corral!
My son made quick work with the ax and then cleared some weeds with the scythe. It was almost dark, extremely windy and the rain was just beginning.
He’ll be back soon to clean up this fence line. I’ll be down there with my little chain saw to clean up what I can before he comes back. We found a lot of dead trees along that creek. They will have to be dealt with too. None of this was visible from the other side of the field or from the house which sits up above this field.
I’m grateful that the cows are safely in their fields tonight (so far anyway!). Grateful that Nettie didn’t make it to the road and hurt someone or get hurt herself. I’m grateful for all of the unexpected fire wood I can harvest. And I’m very grateful for a son who came running when his mama called for help. This son is 25 miles away so that was a sacrifice on his part!
I made it inside before the storm unleashed itself. Walked my shepherd and slathered my self with some essential oils for stress, covered my feet with my herbal soothing salve for some relief and am tucked in with my computer and a good book to ride out the storm!
Do you keep cows? Do you chase escapees too? Share your crazy cow story in the comments!
Thank you to all who served! I grew up in a military family (USMC) and know the sacrifice that ALL members of the family make for their country! We enjoy the freedom that we have because of Veterans and Active Duty Service members!
My dad retired a Colonel in the USMC – I was in high school when that happened. When a parent is enlisted, in many ways the spouse and children are enlisted as well! Parents have to deal with the absence of a spouse, being a single parent much of the time and the constant concern of the safety of their loved one!
I was pre-school age and my brother a toddler when Dad was sent overseas to Korea. I have vague memories of seeing him off at a military air base. Before that, he was wounded at Iwo Jima while attempting to raise the flag.
I remember that the bullet could never be removed – it was too close to nerves and he could have lost the use of his arm. I’m sure the technology now would allow that but this was decades ago.
I taught my boys, when they were little, to thank any man or woman they saw in uniform or could tell were a veteran while we were out in our community. Our soldiers don’t hear that enough from their communities. Veteran’s Day is important…but what if they were thanked every time they were out in public?
Simply walk up, stick out your hand and say “thank you for your service – thank you for my freedom, may God bless you!”
So…thank you to all of the veterans today for the freedom my family enjoys, thank you for the sacrifices you and your family endured, thank you for your service…may God richly bless you and your families and may you know that what you did truly made a difference….it mattered…it still does!
October is going out with a bang! My mama will be 95 in December. She fell Sunday but didn’t want to go to the hospital so we thought it couldn’t be too bad. Monday was a different story. She couldn’t bear any weight on her leg. Off to the hospital we go…and yes…she broke her hip. So…I’ve been in the hospital with her pretty much all week. However in the evenings after farm chores were done, I’ve been working on a project!
Lip Balms!
I had hoped to open my shop last week with my fall soaps, lip balms and some other new things but my mama’s surgery has been a bit of a set back. She moves to rehab on Monday morning and they don’t allow any visitors at this time. I’ll spend tomorrow with her since I won’t be able to see her for weeks. Then, hopefully, my shop will re-open this week. I’ll be stocked with all of my fall soaps, some of my spring soaps are still available and on sale, my lip balms will be available and perhaps even something else…I’m excited!
If you are on my email list, you’ll get a notice with date and time that the shop re-opens. If you aren’t on my list, but want to be, just let me know!
The Essential Herbalist 
