Herb of the Week: Angelica and a book review of Girls Gone Mild

Herb Of The Week: Angelica (Angelica Archangelica)

Parts Used: Leaves, roots, seeds, stems

Properties: Anti-inflammatory, aromatic, culinary, carminative, diaphoretic, digestive, emmenagogue, expectorant, sedative, tonic

About: Angelica is a plant rich in lore and traditions dating back far before the Christian world. Angelica’s ‘angelic’ powers were supposed to protect against witches and demons. I don’t know about that though . . . it hasn’t worked on my kids yet. o_O
Angelica has mostly been used for it’s effects on the respiratory tract. Coughs with excess phlegm are particularly helped, especially when noting the mild sedative and relaxing effect Angelica has on the body.

The upper section of the Angelica root is used primarily for building blood and is therefore an excellent treatment for anemics. Angelica has often been considered as the female ginseng due to it’s helpfulness with female reproductive problems of all sorts.

In cooking, Angelica lends a licorice flavor to whatever you are making, using usually the stems or leaves. Candied Angelica stems are a historical favorite and would make a unique treat for your friends and family.

Warnings: Angelica is not an herb to mess around with if you don’t know what you are doing. Not only is it easy to mistake it in the wild for the most certainly deadly Water Hemlock, but it also has been found to contain carcinogens.

The safety of Angelica has been compared by some botanists to the safety of coffee. However, a single 8oz cup of coffee has recently been found to contain as many carcinogens as an entire year’s worth of conventionally grown produce. Obviously if you buy organic coffee the amount of carcinogens will be less, but it isn’t just the pesticides that create this risk to your body: it is the roasting process.

Angelica is still considered safe by the FDA, but how much do we really trust those bozos, eh? So like drinking coffee, I advise using Angelica in moderation and for mostly medicinal purposes. Angelica won’t hurt you unless you take too much. I really don't think it's any more dangerous than comfrey (another maligned herb), but you need to know what you are doing and be 100% confident that you are wildcrafting the correct herb and using it in the correct dosages.

Dye Colors: Angelica stems and leaves produce a deep green dye if you use iron as the mordant.


Also, I want to remind everyone that Herbal Roots Magazine is a great resource for more herb knowledge, especially for children since that's who it's created for, but just fun herb knowledge in general. :)


Book Review: Girls Gone Mild - young women reclaim self-respect and find it's not bad to be good

I actually found this book by accident on Google Books. Wendy Shalit seems to be a woman after my own heart. She breaks down what the breakdown is in young women's lives. She also made me realize that more women feel as I do than I previously thought.

Wendy Shalit highlights the issue of young girls having sex and 'sexiness' shoved in their faces, as well as parents not understanding the line between adult and child. "Two women I interviewed had friends who photographed their baby daughters in bikinis, spread out on the hood of their car. They imagined that the adult pose was 'cute,' and they had brought the photos to work." 

I notice more and more little girls dressing provacatively. The parents not only allow this, but seem to encourage it as well by purchasing inappropriate toys and slinky clothes that would be out of place on a full grown woman in public.

Mrs. Shalit encourages modesty of dress in women in a time where I thought I was the only one. Through recent research I have found that there are MANY women who are taking back their bodies and their self-respect. There is an entire counter-movement against feminism and all it has destroyed. This book is a shining example; a beacon in the darkness of human repression through overt sexualization. "There is no longer any mystery or power to sex--it is just expected that everything will be sexual, and so nothing is. There is nothing to wait for, or to look forward to."

I liked this book because it helped me focus my thoughts on the matter of modesty and sexuality a bit more. People used to look forward to going on dates, stealing a kiss, getting married. I thought I was the only one who never went out on a date until I met my husband, but most apparently don't for a different reason. According to interviews Rolling Stone did with young college age women, a lot of young people don't date anymore, they just bed-hop. And many girls make themselves do it anyway because they think there's something wrong with them if they don't. I know I thought there was something wrong with me for years and years because I couldn't just kiss someone I didn't know, much less anything else!

Over the past few months, I've worried to myself about what sort of world my children are going into when they grow up. What kind of mate can my son expect to find? What sort of man will my daughter marry? Will my son be able to find a woman worthy of making his wife? Will my daughter ever find a real man out in the social jungle? Will everything I do for them be in vain? Will they still turn out just like everyone else?

The fact that there is an entire movement back to basic family values and a return to modesty relieves a lot of my worries. It helps me know that we aren't alone a single candle in the dark. If anyone who reads this is curious to read more or wants to know where they can join up with other people of a like mind, I have a couple of links below.

Peas and love,
Mrs. Yoder

http://blogs.modestlyyours.net/
http://www.avirtuouswoman.org/
http://ladiesagainstfeminism.com/

New Post! Been a while!

Okay, so the holidays are FINALLY over with. Hurray! I have a major love/hate relationship with the holiday season. I'm just glad it's done and I can go back on with regular life. I am still putting together information for a regular blog post, but until then, I thought I'd put up a link to a new site I found, particularly an article, and my own response to it. Hopefully it will prove educational!

http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2009/03/healthy-cooking-oils-whats-wrong-with-canola-info-from-nina-planck.html

Here is my response:

From what I know of Canola (shortened form of Canadian Oil Low Acid), one of the main reasons I avoid it is because it’s processed from genetically altered rapeseed. Apparently back in the 40’s, rapeseed was grown to make oil to use as engine lubricant during the war. After WWII was over, they had to find something to do with it, so companies repackaged it as cooking oil. They did the same basic thing with SLS (from coconuts) which was originally used as an engine degreaser and is now used in toothpastes, shampoo, soap, body washes, etc because it causes foam and bubbles. The American populace got a lot of fun things handed to them as left overs from WWII industrialism.


Anyway, the information I’ve found through various widespread places is that rapeseed is a member of the mustard family and naturally contains high levels of erucic acid which is highly toxic. Animals don’t touch rapeseed in the field and it’s known as being quite deadly. They GMO’d it a bit about 40 years ago and continue to do so today so it wasn’t as toxic and can practically be called another species now. I still maintain that it is toxic for several reasons and it has been linked to heart, thyroid, and kidney problems amongst others. I won’t touch it because it’s not natural and I don’t trust it. I never trusted microwaves, even when I was young, and I was right about that. I felt the same way about margerine and always preferred butter, way before reading anything about Weston A. Price. I think if humans follow their instincts about what they put in their bodies instead of mindlessly feeding, we’d all be healthier over all.

So more important than whether it is a traditional oil, though, is that we should look at what it does. You can’t take a plant with a toxic seed and breed it and tweak it to make magic non-toxic oil. That doesn’t work. There will always be residual problems with it. We are not God and we as humans are not meant to drastically alter what God has made. A little regular plant breeding, weeding out the weak and breeding the strong I can understand. That happens in nature usually and even cross-breeding happens in nature. Drastically altering plants to make brand new ones, however, creates an unknown factor in our health.

Peas and Love,

Mrs. Yoder

Herb of the Week: Aloe

Herb of the Week: Aloe (Aloe Spp.)


                      

Parts Used: Leaves (fresh sap)

Properties: Adaptogenic, anti-bacterial, anti-biotic, anti-helmintic, anti-microbial, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, astringent, anti-ulcer, culinary, demulcent, emollient, emmenagogue, mucilaginous, purgative, vulnerary

About:  Aloe has been known as a medicinal plant for thousands of years across the middle east and Africa. The thick, fleshy, alien leaves are instantly recognized by almost anyone. Recently, there has been debates by the scientific community about what families to which Aloe belongs. I don't think it's important, frankly, but I thought I would let those who do think it important to know that as of 2003 Aloe belongs to the Asphodelaceae family officially. The name has also changed from Aloe Barbadensis to Aloe Vera for the time being.

Most people, especially if they live in sunny regions, know that Aloe is useful for sunburns. Aloe is also one of the single best things to apply to open wounds, scrapes, or burns of any kind (the other best thing being raw honey).

If you want to have Aloe available in a first aid kit, I learned a trick from my old mentor that keeps much of the plants finer qualities intact:

- Take the whole leaves and wash them thoroughly
- Clip off the ends and the spiny sides of the leaf
- Chop it into pieces and put it in your blender until it is thoroughly pureed.
- Spread the mixture over a clean, ultra-fine screen and set it out in the sun to dry for a few days.

You can rig a set up for this easily by stretching the screen over a wooden frame so it is off of the ground. Make sure it doesn’t get rained on. Use the resultant dried Aloe in tinctures or capsules. I recommend storing it in the whole sheets if possible, and perhaps grinding some into powder to store in a small bottle in any first aid kit you may prepare. The dried Aloe can be reconstituted in water for use on burns or wounds.

When using Aloe (or honey) for wounds, however, please take two very serious precautions:

- clean the skin first with either soap and water or a mild anti-bacterial wash such as sage tea before applying the gel. I also suggest lightly debriding scrapes or cuts as well. If you don’t clean the wound first, the ‘seal and heal’ properties of Aloe will trap bacteria inside of the wound, abrasion, or burn and cause an infection. Aloe is naturally sterile, like coconut water, but it can also be a natural petri dish.

- always use fresh Aloe gel in medicinal products. Anything without color or with added stabilizers will not work for your medical preparations due to the fragile nature of the active constituents. Shelf stable Aloe Vera gel with natural preservative solutions added such as citric acid or GSE are ideal for personal products because it won’t cause lotions, creams, and soaps to spoil.

Aloe Vera is one of the top 15 anti-biotic herbs and it rapidly speeds the healing process. Aloe’s most ideal application for wounds is due to several factors, including:

- keeps tissues moist and pliable
- restores fluids through the skin
- has a soothing, cooling action
- reduces inflammation to swollen tissue

Internal use should be extremely limited, and only when other remedies have failed. Usually this plant is only used by vets for horses when they are constipated. It’s generally recognized as far too strong for humans in most cases.

However, Sergei Boutenko of the Raw Family fame does mention in his new book Fresh that you can make a fabulous smoothie that is especially good for diabetics. Aloe is also good for reducing blood sugar when used in small amounts. Below is his recipe:

Blue-Green Aloe Smoothie

2 cups water
1 head romaine lettuce
1 medium Fuji apple
¼ a lime
¼ cup blueberries
1 small aloe leaf

Blend all ingredients until smooth and enjoy.

Aloe contains aloin, which absorbs approximately 30% of UV rays, so it is an excellent addition to homemade sunscreen preparations. You can look for this in concentration just under the skin of the leaf. Rosemary Gladstar recommends that you remove this part anyway for internal preparations because it irritates the mucous membrane, so it’s great to keep the leaf skin with the brown gel just beneath for formulae which require UV protection.

The fresh juice can also be used as eye drops to protect the fundus of the eye from additional UV damage and age spots. Burns or wounds of the eye can be healed in the same way as the skin with fresh, naturally sterile juice straight from the leaf.

Warnings:  Can cause internal cramping when used internally. Don’t use internally when pregnant or nursing as Aloe can stimulate uterine muscles. Some people may experience light burning or stinging sensation if put directly on an open wound or abrasion. This usually subsides within a few minutes. Again, this is a rare complication.

Dye Colors:  Purple Aloes, like Socotrine, can be used to make a violet color dye that requires no fixative.

Habitat:  Aloes prefer a lot of sun and a warm climate that is closer to tropical than temperate. However, it’s a very forgiving plant to grow. In fact, when we were moving a couple of years ago, my father-in-law stuck an aloe plant in a box, taped it up, and gave it to us for our move from Florida to Kentucky. We forgot about it for a few weeks and then when we took it out of the box, it was still fine! So we planted it and it looks just as good as when he put it in the box. Aloe could probably subsist on thin air for an extended period of time. I know that ours did. So this is a great plant for people with ‘black thumbs’ to try for their first plant.

Homeschool Minute: rebellious children & the school bucks reward coupons program

I have a very rebellious, headstrong child to homeschool. My son's attention wanders and flits like a butterfly from thing to thing. He has problems sitting still and doing his lessons. He can take up to 3 hours to complete one lesson. He often mouths off to me or his father and often treats his little sister like a plague.

Does any of this sound familiar?

Through hard work, struggles, and tears, we have finally made some headway. The lying and mouthing off we have cured with old fashioned soap. He bites down on the bar for 30 seconds the first time and it increases by 30 second intervals each time he lies to us. I told him at 5 minutes we'd change it to chewing slivers of soap starting at 30 seconds and going up from there. In three weeks we've gone up to 3 minutes of holding the soap in his mouth. Joshua is like a new child with the lying and disrespecting. :)

As for the rest, one of the things that has really helped me to understand my son is the e-book Homeschooling The Rebel by Deborah Wuehler available here. There is also a second part where she has her child speak out directly about how they felt. The book is free, you just have to go through a shopping cart process to get it.

Now, I don't believe in indulging bad behaviour. In her book, she speaks about letting her child cover herself with a blanket and stay that way to do her work because she wanted to have a blanket on her head. I'm the parent, my son is the child and I believe that teaching a child to listen to what you say is more important than indulging them in bad behaviour just to get them to do their work. Children have to learn how to get along in society, as bad as that society is. Children will never get anywhere in the world if they do not learn self-discipline.

With that said, I really loved the book! I had few other problems and it was so terribly informative for me. I talked to my son about it and read some of the passages from the second book to him. Joshua said that he felt the same way that child did.

We've used some of the methods from the book, and they've worked so far. The biggest one is to give breaks between lessons so Joshua can stretch and burn off some energy.

And on a tangent, I don't believe in ADD or ADHD. I think it's utter nonsense. I believe in 'little boy-itis' and I believe that I also am a bit dreamy and distracted. It happens. My personal opinion is that it has to do with a combination of diet, possibly subluxations in the spine, and a build up of heavy metals/chemicals in the body. Just so everyone knows where I stand on that. It's possible to heal yourself of this problem, but it's also possible to deal with it. Labelling someone as 'ADD' gives it power over you. It gives you an excuse. 'Sorry, can't help being distracted, I've got ADD.' Instead you could say: 'I'm sorry, I get distracted sometimes. Let me do that over.' You take personal responsibility for yourself and what you have or have not done.

Tangent completed, moving back to the subject at hand. My son has done wonderfully with taking breaks between lessons. It helps him to focus when he comes back to his school work. Then I thought of an idea that has proved to be even more successful: school bucks.

The school bucks system I created works like a charm. For each lesson Joshua completes in a timely manner (I determine how much time he needs for a lesson and set the timer so he can see it) he gets a school buck. He earns extra bucks for good grades on tests, showing kindness to his sister during school hours, and sometimes if I do a pop verbal quiz or give him bonus questions on a test worth a buck each.

Joshua spends his school bucks on things he wants. I made a list of things, with his help, and each was assigned a price in school bucks. Since the 'annoying little sister' is with us all the time, I also added some things I wouldn't ordinarily add on like '20 minutes of undivided attention' or 'a night out with dad'. That way, he earns some special one on one time with us and we can make a point to give it to him when he needs it.

It has also proved to be an invaluble lesson in handling money and saving up for things he wants.

Below is a copy of our price list:

=======SCHOOL BUCK REWARDS========

(Rewards with * next to them can be used during school hours)

15 minutes on computer = 1 school buck*

20 minutes of undivided attention = 1 school buck*

15 minutes to play across the street = 1 school buck*

30 minute delay of bedtime = 2 school bucks

1 hour of bike riding = 2 school bucks

30 minutes for fossil hunting = 2 school bucks*

Choose dinner menu one night = 4 school bucks*

Have a friend over to play = 5 school bucks

Watch a movie on the computer = 5 school bucks

One cooking lesson = 5 school bucks*

One lesson about blacksmithing

or woodworking = 5 school bucks*

Night out with Mom = 10 school bucks

Night out with Dad = 10 school bucks

Friend over for dinner = 10 school bucks

One book (worth $5.00 or under) = 15 school bucks

Go out for ice cream = 15 school bucks

Have a friend over for the night = 15 school bucks

Sleep over at a friend's house = 15 school bucks

A dinner with grandma = 15 school bucks

Go to Gatti Town = 25 school bucks

Go to Explorium = 25 school bucks

Go to Cincinnati or Louisville for bookstore and museum = 100 school bucks

Payouts:

One lesson completed in the time given = 1 school buck

100% on a test = 2 school bucks

A on a test = 1 school buck

==========================================

And here is what the school bucks look like.

Please feel free to use this system for your very own if you also have a hard-headed child. Please let me know how it works for you! If you'd like a full size page full of school bucks to use for yourself, send me an email or leave a comment here with your email address and I'll send you the file. Or copy the image above.

I hope this helps some of you out there dealing with the same problem we are having. It's hard, and frustrating, when one of your children is continuously disruptive or disrespectful. Anyone with stories or tips, please feel free to share for everyone's benefit.