Hyssop
Hyssop has blue flowers and aroma leaves. Is used as essential oils and teas. Used for anxiety, asthma, bronchitis, common colds & sire throats, indigestion & gas, and topically for wounds. Interestingly the French use this plant in liquors.

Lovage
The essential oils can also be used in soaps, lotions and cosmetics along with teas and capsules. Commonly used for or as – sedative, fluid retention, stomach pain / gas, upper respiratory and urinary issues.

Calendula
The young leaves and seeds can be used as a pot herb [like spinach, kale turnips tops ECT] and the seeds can be ground into flour. It is high in vitamins and minerals.

Dandelion AKA Taraxacum Officinale
It is too bad that so many people consider this a weed to wage war upon and be eradicated. Anytime that you see Officinale in the name of a plant you know that it is or was used medicinally at one time. Dandelion is not native to North America; however you will find it pretty much world wide as any where the Europeans explored it was taken along with as a natural remedy for many ailments. Virtually all of the plant can be used as medicine or food. Common uses – constipation, digestive complaints, and fluid retention generally and for high blood pressure and congestive heart failure, weight reduction. It can be used in salads and as a pot herb in soups and fried like spinach. Soothing teas can be made from roots or leaves. The seeds can be used in breads and as flour or as sprouts. It is often the first plant to appear in spring and the leaves are ideal as the first fresh food of the season, it is high in vitamin C and historically used to prevent or treat scurvy. Dandelion is one of the things I cultivate in my garden.

Fenugreek
Typically only the seeds are used as teas or in food. Extracts are used to mask the flavor of medications. Seems to work great for indigestion and low appetite. Commonly used for constipation and topically on wounds. There are indications that it lowers blood sugar levels and acts as a blood thinner. Be especially careful in use if you are a diabetic or on a blood thinner such as Coumadin – consult your health care provider before use.

Lemon balm
Melisa officnalis – can be used topically generally [smells good in soaps] sometimes sold commercially as an antiviral agent. Often used as a tea for respiratory ailments and as a sedative. Topically for wounds and skin disorders.

Yarrow
Yarrow is commonly used as a tea for digestive, upper respiratory and urinary complaints. A poultice can be used topically to slow or stop bleeding. Use caution if you are on a blood thinner.

General warning – do not use any thing on this list if you are pregnant or breastfeeding without FIRST discussing with your healthcare provider. This information is provided to spark discussion and for possible use after SHTF when normal services are not available. If you plan on using any plant for health reasons start off slowly with small doses until you know how you will react.

AND ALWAYS consult your healthcare provider using or doing anything.

Specially prepared for The Farmer’s Daughter by the folks at www.PrepareSurviveThrive.US

Why you should buy 2 seed banks now.

In conversation one day at a gun show a friend and I stopped at ‘The Farmer’s Daughter “booth and were discussing the seed banks that Brett carries. While my friend, Brett and I were discussing the seed bank I opined that people should really buy 2 of the seed banks instead of just one. Brett asked me why that was? I told him that people should get the first one and start planting them NOW to learn how things work, the 2nd one to process for long term internment [bury] for \just in case\ ;]

SO – that is how it came to be that we wrote this flyer for Brett.

Rich
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Borage

Borage is a freely seeding, easy growing annual plant with vivid blue flowers and leaves with the flavor of cucumbers. Harvest leaves and flowers as needed. Older leaves will get prickly, making harvesting anything on the plant a bit unpleasant. However, the flowers do add a bit of flavor and a great deal of color to salads, soups, dips & spreads, open face sandwiches, beverages and ice cubes. As with all edible flowers, use sparingly until you know how they effect you. Borage is said to have a mild laxative effect. Other common uses include as an expectorant, bronchitis, common cold, inflammation, melancholy, arthritis, and to induce sweating

Cayenne / capsicum
This pepper is commonly grown either in the garden/ground or better yet in pots so that you can over winter them in you home. Most people think this is an annual plant however if you bring them inside during the cold times they have lived up to 5 years producing all that time for the author in Wyoming. They are natively a shrub. Uses are not limited to soups, stir fry, and bread. Health wise they induce sweating, aid in digestion and can slow bleeding. It also seems to help with inflammation and pain control either used topically or ingested- as a side note this is sold in the pharmacy section of stores as a commercial product. Can be crushed and mixed with vinegar to use as a \self defense spray.

Echinacea
Also known as purple cone flower. Native to North America. It flowers from May until October [or first snow] the roots and flower are the most active parts of the plants however the stems can be ground and used as well. A trade name for the commercially prepared product is Essiac. It can be used topically for miner burns and skin irritations, internally for upper respiratory complaints and for urinary infection. Some people like the flower petals in salad. Some people use this plant to treat cancers…. It most likely will not hurt to use it in conjunction with other treatments. If you have cancer discuss this with your doctor before using – all of the plants listed in this missive should be discussed with your doctor before attempting self treatment for anything worse than a miner malady. Used as a tea, compress and often in a capsule.

AND ALWAYS consult your healthcare provider using or doing anything.

Specially prepared for The Farmer’s Daughter by the folks at www.PrepareSurviveThrive.US

Vitamin D [3]

Below are some of the comments that I am responding to, my remarks are indicated with ***.
I AM stipulating that this is just discussion [and that you should converse with both your doctor and pharmacist about the particulars of your care] the ONLY way to know some of this stuff is by laboratory testing [and other clinical findings] ordered by YOUR primary care provider [and different labs calculate ’normal’ values differently]. I have been a healthcare worker and teacher for over 40 years now. As far as trusting any advertisement [ such as what started this thread ] or what ANYONE on face book posts goes… the best advice is to educate yourself, discuss the matters with people you know and trust and then make up your own mind.
Anything regardless if it is all natural, all synthetic or someplace in-between effects you and is mood altering… even the glass of chocolate milk that I am drinking does. It makes me happy because I really like chocolate milk. ;]
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Synthetic D (d3) depletes the body of magnesium
*** It may or may not. Drinking water and then peeing depletes electrolytes which magnesium is only one.

I take 10,000 units a day
*** That is often considered an OK dose depending upon your clinical results.

My vitamin D is high like 79 & that also can be dangerous. I wish there were a way to get rid of some. From what I have been told it might be the cause of my kidney stones. They really prefer it in the 40’s
*** Most labs consider ‘normal range’ to be between 50 & 100….in the middle of ‘normal’ is considered by many to be a good place to be. For MOST things the best way to rid your body of something is to drink more water == Discuss it with your doctor and pharmacist.

I think at 80 I shall not worry about any of this!
*** IF my own level were 80, I would not worry about it either;]

All you need is about 1/2 hour of Sunshine every day
*** NOT true in many cases. If you are above 40 degrees north [or south] latitude you are most likely NOT able to get enough sun light year around to take care of your needs AND there are some disorders which make the process of vit D production problematic.

I get several hours of sunlight exposure during the summer I was outside tending the garden ect daily… my MD up and decided to do a vitd3 level on me…. I was critically low at 11…. 3 months later with 50,000 iu 3 days a week I was clear up to 17… 3 months after that with double the dose I was at level 30 which the lab says is the BOTTOM of ‘normal’ range. The short of it is that supplements are sometimes needed and the only real way to know if you need them is blood testing which people should encourage their doctors to test you for ‘just because’.
*** I have seen other cases like this… so
BOTTOM LINE get an education on matters pertaining to you and your loved ones, develop a good working relationship with your healthcare providers who should also be teaching you about any conditions you may have and finally take charge of your own life and be the leader you need to be.