Winter comfort

Being the time of colds and congestion, thoughts turn to mass produced medicines but why not try out plants from the garden.  A small window box planted up and placed in a sunny window will suffice is no garden space is available.  Collecting from trees or visiting the local herb shop will also provide the parts of the mix needed to produce healthy, cold busting steams and poultices.

Chamomile, sage, lavender, lemon balm, marjoram, Melissa, peppermint mint, rosemary, and thyme are all easy to grow herbs and a walk in the woods or down the high street will provide basil, cedar wood, eucalyptus leaves, geranium leaves (scented), hop flowers, orange peel, pine tree sap, and rose petals to make up a wonderful collection to experiment with.

A mix of boiling water, a pinch of thyme, eucalyptus leaves, geranium leaves and rosemary will provide a great decongestant and room freshener.  The use of pine, lavender and hop flowers will get anyone moving if soaked in hot water, drained and placed in a cotton bag to hang near a bed or around the neck.  Just make sure the contents have cooled down first.  After a few hours the contents can be burnt on a home fire or put into the compost bin whilst the bag can be reused later.

Cedar wood is great for keeping moths at bay and helpful for congestion if a piece is kept under or to the side of the bed. Experiment with the above natural products to make a scent you like but remember these are for external use only.   Go to a trained and qualified herbalist near you for drinks and potions.  Go to
www.nimh.org.uk for a herbalist near you in the UK or look up international herbalist on the WWW.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 7:46 am and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.