Friday, July 31, 2009

One Awesome Herb!

Over the past couple years as I've been trying to learn more about herbs,I kept hearing how great plantain was. Also how it is virtually everywhere. They say it is usually mistaken for a weed that people spray their lawns for to get rid of it and dandelions. After studying the pictures on Google Images I was so excited to finally find it!



Why so excited over a weed? Plantain draws out pain and poison quickly and painlessly. We have gotten the chance to use it first hand when Caleb got stung by a wasp at the lake. He got stung on his leg right before heading out on a bike ride. His brothers quickly found a few leaves. I rinsed them with my water bottle and had him chew them up and put the wad on his sting. Within two minutes all pain and tears were gone and we set off on our walk and bike ride.

I also use a plantain tincture as my evening face wash. It draws out all the inner dirt and grime and after just a few weeks,my face is more even and some of my dark spots are fading. I made this simple tincture by following the instructions on the Making Herbs Simple dvd put out by Shoshana Easling at the Bulk Herb Store.

Here is what I did.

After picking a good handful of leaves,I brought them home and the boys helped me rinse them gently.



Next,we tore and packed the leaves into two canning jars.



Finally, we covered the leaves with apple cider vinegar. Store in a cool dry place and shake the jars everyday for two weeks. After two weeks,strain out the leaves and the juice that is left is the tincture.




Store jars in a cool dry place. Can be used as a face wash,relieve stings,insect bites and even snake bites. (Praying we never have to use it for that!) To learn more about this amazing herb visit www.bulkherbstore.com

Leat

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Blessing Friends

There are friends and then there are blessing friends. My friend Dana is such a blessing friend! We'll call each other on the phone once or twice a month and get together even less, but I count her as one of my closest friends. She is someone I can talk to about nothing and about everything.

Earlier in the week I was at her house helping out because they are getting ready to move. I planned to go back again this morning while the boys were in VBS. But the key refused to turn over. After getting advice from Bri over the phone,I tried again and again. No go. So I called Dana to say I wouldn't make it after all. (Almost in tears by this time.) With out hesitation, she loads up her kids and comes over to let me borrow their vehicle to take the boys to VBS and then come back for her and the kids to go to her house as planned. We still got to spend our morning working and visiting together. After VBS we reversed everything. I picked up the boys,got them settled at home with lunch and returned her vehicle and she brought me back home. Not only that, she sent me home with a bunch of meat from their freezer!

Here I thought I would try and be a blessing to her, but she ended up blessing me a million times more.

Thank you Lord for my friend!

Leat

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Garden Update

Thought I would share some pictures of our garden and some landscaping. We have harvested a few things so far, but from the looks of the blossoms on the plants, we'll be super busy in a few more weeks!

The hostas love thier new home after being transplanted last fall.


Black eyed susans in the front of the house. These are Bri's favorites


Our siamese yellow squash


A bird's nest and eggs in the potatoe's


Cantaloup gone wild. (Now, some ten days later,you cannot even see the ground!)


Have a great day!

Leat

Monday, July 6, 2009

July 4th Camping

Bri had all of last week off from work,so we spent most of the time camping at Santa Fe Lake.

We set up camp on Wednesday morning. Already the place was starting to fill up for the holiday weekend. Each day we would see campers come in,drive around looking for an empty hook up and drive away very discouraged and even angry. So glad we just tent camp and can set up just about anywhere!

We had a great spot right across from the dam where the fireworks would be on Friday night. Of course the kids made friends with some of the neighbor camping kids. The other kids shared some of their fireworks stand goodies with our boys. Among them were the snap pops that you throw down and they pop. After a while, Nathan came up to Bri and asked where his little onions were. What?

"you know, my little onions the kids gave me".

"Oh, you mean the snap pops?" Yeah, my little onions."

Relaxing in the shade



Dinner cooking over the fire. Baked potatoes in foil,marinated chicken,zucchini fresh from our garden.


Jacob out in the canoe


Nathan spent a lot of time on his "kayak boat"


Have a great week!

Leat