Homemade Tallow Balm

For the past year and a half I have embarked whole heartedly into my whole foods journey. I have always had more of a "natural route" approach when it comes to feeding and caring for my family. In finding out about the Weston A Price organization I had an 'ah-ha!' moment. It was like I found what I never realized I was looking for. An organization - more like a group of people -  who are dedicated to eating what is nourishing to our bodies and are committed to helping others do the same. I became a member immediately and in doing so I received their quarterly journal quickly in the mail.

I devoured it. I read it. I scoured it. And I learned from it.

I can't emphasize to you enough of my enjoyment of reading that lovely journal. In it I found a jewel, one that I have been looking for long and hard.

I have been battling diaper rash with my daughter for months. It seems like I have had an issue with it since she was born last July. It has been terribly frustrating to not be able to figure out why it wont go away and not have any home remedies work in healing her poor bottom. Weston A. Price to the rescue! In the quarterly journal there was an article about tallow balm, it's history, it's healing properties, and a 'how-to' in making your own. There even was mention of a mama using it on her baby's diaper rash and it was cured. Say no more, I decided that I was going to try it out. What was there to lose? Nothing. Absolutely nothin'.

There I was, standing in my kitchen looking at something that should be in a sci-fi movie sitting on my counter top. I had made several calls earlier in the week and had walked into a local grocery store/butcher shop and finally obtained what I was looking for. Beef tallow or as the butcher called it suet (I will proceed to call it tallow/suet since I have had so many people call it these two names). Since I have my quirks and like to have fun with my food I decided to name the newest addition to my REAL foodie journey.

Meet 'Little Miss Suet'.

Isn't she disgustingly awesome?

I think so too.

I'm serious, she was and is awesome in so many ways. I never knew the greatness that I had before me. Before we get ahead of ourselves, let me give you a few facts on tallow balm and why I am so excited about this. Once rendered you can cook with this, bake with this, and make your own skin care products with this. You heard me correctly. Skin. Care. Products. This is where I am heading with this post. Food tastes amazing using tallow/suet and it is full of natures goodness, but I want to focus on what it does for your skin.

In the article it states that, "From biology, we know that the [human] cell membrane is made up primarily of fatty acids, a double layer, to be exact. Saturated fats constitute at least 50 percent of the cell membrane. Since saturated fats tend to be more solid  than unsaturated fats at a given temperature, they help give the cell membrane its necessary stiffness and integrity for proper function...Healthy, "toned" skin cells with sufficient saturated and monounsaturated fats would undoubtedly make for healthy, toned skin. Interestingly, tallow fat is typically 50 to 55 percent saturated, just like our cell membranes, with almost all the rest being monounsaturated, so it makes sense that it would be helpful for skin health and compatible with our cell biology."

Isn't that just so amazing? I love learning about how the Lord made our bodies and how intricately we were designed. Did you also know that "tallow also contains fats like conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which has anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as palmitoleic acid, which has natural antimicrobial properties?" (quotes cited from article)

I could go on, but I'll spare you. I'm hoping this will lead you to do some more reading and research on your own.

*wink, wink*

Back to my baby's diaper rash. I'll admit, this was my last ditch effort before I resorted to more drastic measures. I am so glad that I tried this because it really worked wonders and I love that I'm putting something on my baby's skin that not only is helping her, but is also healing her.

Tallow/suet balm is so easy to make. If your interested in learning how to do it follow along and then...get you some suet!

You'll want to cut up the suet in small pieces and cut out anything that isn't hard and waxy. The kidney you can either throw away or if you have a dog...give the dog a treat! Franco loved his treat so much he buried it. What can I say?  He's a smart one. There is major sarcasm going on here.

Once that job is complete, put the tallow/suet in glass cooking dishes and preheat your oven to 220 degrees. Just a warning, it takes quite a while to cut up this hunk of fat, so make sure you do this early in the day. By early I mean, start in the morning so you can have this whole process done well before bedtime. And yes, I was straining tallow/suet while the rest of the family was snoozing. I didn't get the early start that I'm advising...

You'll want to bake the tallow/suet for 6+ hours, or until all the fat is cooked out and the hard tissue is floating in the rendered fat. During the cooking process I took my potato masher and gave everything a good smooshing.

Once this step is finished you'll want to put a metal strainer over a large bowl and strain out all the large chunks. You will need to do a final strain through a cheese cloth to make sure that you got everything. I draped the cheese cloth in the metal strainer and then re-poured the fat through the cheese cloth. It was pretty simple. Don't worry about your cheese cloth, after I used it to do the final strain, I rinsed it out with warm water, gave it a good hand scrubbing with dish soap, let it sit overnight in soapy water, and then washed it the next morning with my laundry. It was as good as new. Whew, that was a mouthful!

Pour your liquid gold into jars and let cool. The rendered fat will stay good for a looong time in your fridge. I use it for all my cooking now and let's just say...it's delicious.

I didn't make my tallow balm right away and so I just let it all cool. When this stuff cools it turns white and once you place it in the fridge it gets hard. When it came time for me to whip up some tallow balm, I just took a jar out of the fridge and let it warm up a bit so it would easily mix up with my other ingredients.

Long post made longer, here's my recipe for my tallow balm.

Homemade Tallow Balm

Here's a wonderful skin balm that has a wide range of uses. Such as face lotion, hand and body lotion, diaper rash cream, and etc.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons soft tallow
1 teaspoon organic olive oil
4-7 drops lavender essential oil* (or desired scent**)

Instructions:

1. Mix tallow and olive oil together in a small glass bowl.


2. Add essential oils and mix.


3. Once the desired consistency and scent is achieved transfer to a small glass container with a lid, keep at room temperature, and enjoy!


4. Makes approximately 2 oz.


5. *I would start with a few drops and then add more if you are wanting a stronger scent. You can always add more, but you can't take away.


6. **Use essential oils that are known for being good for skin and skin health. I wouldn't use anything strong that could be an irritant. Peppermint for example would NOT be a good choice.


7. ***I wouldn't recommend using any essential oils that aren't 100% pure therapeutic grade. DoTERRA essential oils are what I use and I highly recommend them.

I hope you love this tallow balm as much as I do.

However, I know that not everyone is up to making their own skin care products. If you are still wanting to have this skin care goodness but don't want to make it you can go HERE and buy some. You won't regret it.

And just so you know, I also use this on my face. Don't be shocked, it's wonderful.

If your in need of essential oils click HERE and you can find everything you need.

*** Excerpts in this post were from the article written by Andrew J. Gardner titled, "Traditional Nourishing and Healing Skin Care". It can be found in the Winter 2012 Volume 13 Number 4 edition of Wise Traditions.

What I Learned at the Wise Traditions Conference - Portland 2013

So I've been busier than a bee and have had nary a chance to write down all I learned at the Wise Traditions conference I went to a few weeks ago. Heck, I've hardly had time to even THINK about what I learned about. Yes, it's been that crazy.

I'm trying to convince myself that life isn't going to slow down and that I need to get used to this pace. I'm naturally a pretty laid back gal, a go with the flow kind of lady, and a take everything as it comes kind of girl. This is how I function, but it's not the best way to approach life and it lends itself to lack of preparedness for the day, lack of productivity and stress. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: stress + me = no bueno.

I had plans of doing an explanation of every talk I listened to, but honestly I don't have the energy. I will simply write my notes and you can glean from them what you will. Sorry if you were wanting more, but I just don't have the time to give it.

*******

 ***Disclaimer: These are the notes that I wrote down in haste trying to remember everything that was said. I may have written down a thing or two (unintentionally) wrong (probably not, but maybe). Don't hold it against the speaker or myself. Thank you!***

Sooo, I got to meet Sally Fallon (AFL), which was so awesome! I was sitting down waiting for the first talk to begin (Sally's of course), and realized she was...ahem...sitting right in front of me. Whaaaaat?! So when she glanced over her shoulder I took the opportunity to say hello and begin a conversation. Probably everyday stuff for her, but I was in shock that I actually got to meet her. Needless to say, during her talk I deemed it downright necessary for me to take a picture with her. After all, we're friends now. Right? 

She is lovely and I'm thankful to meet someone who's worked so hard to help people eat well and take care of their bodies.

Nourishing Traditional Diets- Sally Fallon

11 Principles for a healthy diet.

1) No refined or denatured foods

    No agave syrup or corn syrup (The process used to make agave uses many steps and solvents and               renders a sugar that the body is unable to digest. Stick with the good stuff- raw honey and grade B

    maple syrup.)

    No hydrogenated oils, refined oils

    No protein powders

2)Every diet (in Weston A Price's book (afl)) contained animal products.

   -Fish and Shellfish

      -oil, bones, and heads

   -Birds

      -organs, fat, and skin

   -Red Meat

      -beef, goat, sheep, game, organ meat, and fat was the most preferred part of the animals

   -Milk and Milk Products (raw of course!)

Only found in animal foods:                                     

-Vitamin A & D

-Cholesterol

-Vitamin b12

-AA, EPA, DHA

(AA is a long chain, super-unsaturated fatty acid)

More easily absorbed from animal foods:

-Calcium (dairy and bone broth)

-Vitamin b6

-Magnesium

-Iron

-Zinc

-Copper

Vitamin b12 Deficiency:

Early signs-                                                 Chronic Disease-

-fatigue                                                        -MS

-tingling in hands and feet                             -Anemia

-sleep disorders                                           -Cancer

-irrational anger                                           -Heart Disease

3) ~Huge Deal~ Nutrient Density of Food.

Primitive diets contain 4 times the calcium and other minerals and 10 times the fat soluble vitamins than our food.

Sources of Vitamins A & D.

~From the Sea~

-Sea Food

-Fish Eggs

-Livers

-Oils (Fermented Cod Liver Oil)

-Heads, Oily Fish

-Sea Mammals (traditional cultures, remember?)

~From the Land~

-Insects

-Butter

-Cream

-Egg Yolks

-Liver

-Organ Meat

-Animal Fat

We cannot absorb and digest our food and all it contains as well without the fat soluble vitamins (A & D).

Needed to convert Carotene to Vitamin A:

-Fats in the diet.

-Thyroid Hormone (assuming its working properly)

-Enzymes

-Vitamin A

It is very difficult and nary impossible for following groups of people to be able to digest and absorb their food properly without the fat soluble vitamins. Mainly due to not mature enough immune systems or severely weak ones.

-Babies and Children

-Diabetics

-Poor Thyroid

-Poor Liver Function

-Poor Intestinal Absorption

(need to eliminate nitrites and nitrates from diet!)

Vitamin A:

Needed for numerous processes in the body.

-Protein Assimilation

-Calcium Assimilation

-Proper Growth

-Prevention of Birth Defects

-Proper Function of Endocrine System

-Thyroid Function

-Immune System

-Production of Stress & Sex Hormones

-Eyes, Skin, and Bone Health

Vitamin A is the conductor of the concert when it comes to baby formation.

Vitamin A is depleted by ___

-Stress

-Cold Weather 

-Fever and Illness

-Physical Exertion

-Exposure to Toxins

Vitamin D is our feel good chemical.

Myth: only need 10 minutes a day of sun exposure to get our daily dose of vitamin D.

The body makes vitamin D out of cholesterol out of the action of sun exposure at mid-day.

Sources of Vitamin D:

-Fish Liver Oils (FCLO)

-Fish Eggs

-Shellfish

-Oily Fish

-Lard

-Butter

-Cream

-Liver

-Organ Meats

Vitamin D is needed for ___

-Bones

-Teeth

-Proper Growth

-Muscle Tone

-Reproduction

-Healthy Skin

-Insulin Production

-Immune System

-Nervous System

Activator X = Vitamin K2

Vitamin K2 is the animal form of Vitamin K. It helps prevent tooth decay.

A, D, and K are the trio that help to keep us very healthy.

Sources:

-Natto

-FCLO

-Goose Liver

-Cheese

-Egg Yolk

-Butter

-Chicken

-Fatty Meat

-Sauerkraut

Raw butter and Cheese is great for every day eating and COOK IN LARD!!!

Cholene is critical for pregnancy preparation, pregnancy, and babies.

We should eat liver once a week! It gives you the same amount of Zinc and other minerals as eating red meat every day. It is also inexpensive.

FCLO works best when consuming plenty of animal fats.

4) All cultures cooked some or most of their food. Some animal food (aka meat/organ meat) they ate raw.

Vitamin b6 is destroyed by heat and so we should eat some meat raw.

Raw milk contains lactoperoxidase and lactoferrin.

5) Traditional diets contained high levels of enzymes.

Fermented good is full of enzymes.

Enzymes give energy.

Enzyme Rich Foods:

-Raw Dairy Products

-Raw Meat & Fish 

-Raw Honey

-Tropical Fruit

-Cold Pressed Oil

-Wine & Unpasteurized Beer

-Lacto-Fermented Food

  -Vegetables

  -Meat (salami and etc)

  -Dairy

  -Fruits

  -Fish

  -Beverages

Bacteria and Biofilm is 85% of our immune system so we should be eating a lot of enzyme rich foods to keep our guts healthy and properly functioning.

6) Soaked, Sprouted, and Fermented

Did you know there is no food that has higher profit margins that breakfast cereals? And it is probably one of the WORST things you could eat.

In order to properly soak your grains you need ___

-moisture

-warmth

-slight acidity

-time

7) Total fat content of traditional diets vary from 30% to 80% of calories. Only 4% of calories come from polyunsaturated fats.

We each need to learn what makes our bodies hum and thrive. While some of us can handle less fat in our diets, some of us need more. And please, get the notion out of your mind that fat = fat. You will not get fat if you eat butter, you'll be giving your gut a favor and helping it to digest food and help you to feel full faster. I'd rather eat butter any day than a honkin salad with nothing but bird food sprinkled on top. And if you don't believe me, you should see how much butter we go through in the McNeil household...

8) Equal amounts of omega 6 and omega 3's needed.

9) All traditional diets included salt.

Salt is needed for ___

-Protein Digestion

-Carb Digestion

-Development of Brain

-Adrenal Function

-Cellular Metabolism

Salt should be gray or pink...not white.

Adult needs 1-1 1/2 teaspoons a day of salt.

10) All cultures made use of bones, usually as bone broth. 

If you haven't made bone broth yet...you MUST!

11) All cultures recognized the necessity of good nutrition for expecting mothers and those who would become mothers soon.

Special foods for parents-to-be, pregnant women, nursing women, and growing children were of high importance.

They spaced their children every 2-3 years to allow for the woman to be prepared physically and emotionally for a new baby.

The elderly taught the young how to prepare, cook, and eat their food.

The Life and Lore of Bone Broth - Tressa Yellig

Minerals found in bone broth:

-Calcium

-Phosphorus

-Magnesium

-Potassium

-Floride

-Sulfur

Bone broth helps the body digest food that is eaten throughout the day.

Amino Acids:

-Glycine

-Proline

Bone Marrow:

Soak bones overnight in cold salted water, bake, and enjoy the marrow goodness!

Gelatin:

-Gives bones flexibility.

-Improves digestion

-Normalized stomach acid

Never microwave bone broth! Microwaving the broth makes it toxic; especially to the liver, kidneys, and nervous system.

Bone broth is a source of Glucosamine Sulfate.

To Make Good Bone Broth...

-heavy bottomed stock pot

-clean water

-good bones (variety)

-splash of vinegar

-aromatics (vegetables, herbs, spices)

-time & patience (8 hours minimum on a tremulous simmer...I prefer 12-24 hours)

-strainer

-storage container

-don't salt till done

Broth will last for a few weeks in the fridge and you'll know when it's bad when the gelatin breaks down.

Bone broth can last up to 6 months in the freezer.

Cooking Time:

-Up to 72 hours for beef or lamb.

-Up to 24 hours for chicken.

-Up to 4 hours for fish.

-180-212 degrees while simmering - NO HOTTER!

Types of Bones To Use for Broth:

-Chicken: heads, backs, fat, wings, hearts, gizzards, feet, neck.

-Beef: trachea, shanks, knuckles, ribs, hooves, oxtail, any that have exposed marrow.

-Pork: any of above, but NOT cured bones.

-Fish: heads, tails, spines.

Broth is a bridge to a better diet.

1-2 lbs of bones per quart of water.

If you want to have a richer broth, bake your bones first. Especially if they still have some meat on them. 450 degrees for 10 minutes.

Fertility - Dr. Kaayla Daniel

Trans fats affect everything, including fertility. Its best to avoid them along with all or most processed foods.

We are very toxic these days due to constant exposure.

Toxic Metals:

-Aluminum

-Mercury

-Cadmium

-Lead 

-Nickel

If you are having a hard time getting pregnant, consider doing a metal detox. Look into copper toxicity which can over-estrogenize women.

No matter what, avoid SOY!

Tofu was originally a food for monks because it decreased their sexual desire. If a chinese woman wanted to punish an unfaithful husband, she'd feed him soy.

Fertility Food:

-Butter

-Cream

-Eggs (especially the yolks)

-Raw Milk

Cholesterol nourishes all of our hormones.

Cultured vegetables are great for fertility and over-all health.

Avoid MSG. Autolyzed yeast extract is code for MSG. Learn all the 'names' of MSG...

Have a Healthy Pregnancy - Sally Fallon

1100 IU of Vitamin D is found in 1 Tbsp of grassfed lard. Moral of the story? EAT LARD.  

Cheese is one of our best forms of Vitamin K.

Liver and Egg yolks are a must for preparing for pregnancy, during pregnancy, and baby's first year. Egg yolks should be baby's first food. Make sure you don't feed any white!

Cholesterol is key to the healthy formation of your baby's gut.

Eat liver and feed liver to baby when appropriate. Cook liver in butter or lard to get Vitamin D.

Fish eggs are extremely healthy. To eat:

-Crispy Pancake (recipe from HERE(afl))

-Sour Cream

-Fish Eggs

-Chopped Onions and Parsley

You can eat chicken liver everyday, but you should only eat calf's liver a few times a week.

You can get Vitamin b6 from raw milk, cream, and butter.

Avoid industrial foods.

Never has there been a case of listeria from raw milk.

If you must take prenatal vitamins, take Dr. Rons Prenatal Vitamins.

*******

As you can see, these are clearly notes and not in any way complete when it comes to the topics. I learned so much and probably could listen to the lectures a few more times to glean from them when I would like to. I will add a ridiculous amount of pictures to this post so you can have some more info. I got tired of writing and so took pictures of the slides. The lectures and slides will be available on the westonaprice.org website soon, but not sure when they will have it up.

Here are the pictures of the slides. They are in no particular order. Too many pictures and I need to go to b-e-d. 

Homemade Tallow Balm

For the past year and a half I have embarked whole heartedly into my whole foods journey. I have always had more of a "natural route" approach when it comes to feeding and caring for my family. In finding out about the Weston A Price organization I had an 'ah-ha!' moment. It was like I found what I never realized I was looking for. An organization - more like a group of people -  who are dedicated to eating what is nourishing to our bodies and are committed to helping others do the same. I became a member immediately and in doing so I received their quarterly journal quickly in the mail.

I devoured it. I read it. I scoured it. And I learned from it.

I can't emphasize to you enough of my enjoyment of reading that lovely journal. In it I found a jewel, one that I have been looking for long and hard.

I have been battling diaper rash with my daughter for months. It seems like I have had an issue with it since she was born last July. It has been terribly frustrating to not be able to figure out why it wont go away and not have any home remedies work in healing her poor bottom. Weston A. Price to the rescue! In the quarterly journal there was an article about tallow balm, it's history, it's healing properties, and a 'how-to' in making your own. There even was mention of a mama using it on her baby's diaper rash and it was cured. Say no more, I decided that I was going to try it out. What was there to lose? Nothing. Absolutely nothin'.

There I was, standing in my kitchen looking at something that should be in a sci-fi movie sitting on my counter top. I had made several calls earlier in the week and had walked into a local grocery store/butcher shop and finally obtained what I was looking for. Beef tallow or as the butcher called it suet (I will proceed to call it tallow/suet since I have had so many people call it these two names). Since I have my quirks and like to have fun with my food I decided to name the newest addition to my REAL foodie journey.

Meet 'Little Miss Suet'.

Isn't she disgustingly awesome?

I think so too.

I'm serious, she was and is awesome in so many ways. I never knew the greatness that I had before me. Before we get ahead of ourselves, let me give you a few facts on tallow balm and why I am so excited about this. Once rendered you can cook with this, bake with this, and make your own skin care products with this. You heard me correctly. Skin. Care. Products. This is where I am heading with this post. Food tastes amazing using tallow/suet and it is full of natures goodness, but I want to focus on what it does for your skin.

In the article it states that, "From biology, we know that the [human] cell membrane is made up primarily of fatty acids, a double layer, to be exact. Saturated fats constitute at least 50 percent of the cell membrane. Since saturated fats tend to be more solid  than unsaturated fats at a given temperature, they help give the cell membrane its necessary stiffness and integrity for proper function...Healthy, "toned" skin cells with sufficient saturated and monounsaturated fats would undoubtedly make for healthy, toned skin. Interestingly, tallow fat is typically 50 to 55 percent saturated, just like our cell membranes, with almost all the rest being monounsaturated, so it makes sense that it would be helpful for skin health and compatible with our cell biology."

Isn't that just so amazing? I love learning about how the Lord made our bodies and how intricately we were designed. Did you also know that "tallow also contains fats like conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which has anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as palmitoleic acid, which has natural antimicrobial properties?" (quotes cited from article)

I could go on, but I'll spare you. I'm hoping this will lead you to do some more reading and research on your own.

*wink, wink*

Back to my baby's diaper rash. I'll admit, this was my last ditch effort before I resorted to more drastic measures. I am so glad that I tried this because it really worked wonders and I love that I'm putting something on my baby's skin that not only is helping her, but is also healing her.

Tallow/suet balm is so easy to make. If your interested in learning how to do it follow along and then...get you some suet!

You'll want to cut up the suet in small pieces and cut out anything that isn't hard and waxy. The kidney you can either throw away or if you have a dog...give the dog a treat! Franco loved his treat so much he buried it. What can I say?  He's a smart one. There is major sarcasm going on here.

Once that job is complete, put the tallow/suet in glass cooking dishes and preheat your oven to 220 degrees. Just a warning, it takes quite a while to cut up this hunk of fat, so make sure you do this early in the day. By early I mean, start in the morning so you can have this whole process done well before bedtime. And yes, I was straining tallow/suet while the rest of the family was snoozing. I didn't get the early start that I'm advising...

You'll want to bake the tallow/suet for 6+ hours, or until all the fat is cooked out and the hard tissue is floating in the rendered fat. During the cooking process I took my potato masher and gave everything a good smooshing.

Once this step is finished you'll want to put a metal strainer over a large bowl and strain out all the large chunks. You will need to do a final strain through a cheese cloth to make sure that you got everything. I draped the cheese cloth in the metal strainer and then re-poured the fat through the cheese cloth. It was pretty simple. Don't worry about your cheese cloth, after I used it to do the final strain, I rinsed it out with warm water, gave it a good hand scrubbing with dish soap, let it sit overnight in soapy water, and then washed it the next morning with my laundry. It was as good as new. Whew, that was a mouthful!

Pour your liquid gold into jars and let cool. The rendered fat will stay good for a looong time in your fridge. I use it for all my cooking now and let's just say...it's delicious.

I didn't make my tallow balm right away and so I just let it all cool. When this stuff cools it turns white and once you place it in the fridge it gets hard. When it came time for me to whip up some tallow balm, I just took a jar out of the fridge and let it warm up a bit so it would easily mix up with my other ingredients.

Long post made longer, here's my recipe for my tallow balm.

Homemade Tallow Balm

Here's a wonderful skin balm that has a wide range of uses. Such as face lotion, hand and body lotion, diaper rash cream, and etc.

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons soft tallow
• 1 teaspoon organic olive oil
• 4-7 drops lavender essential oil* (or desired scent**)

Instructions

1. Mix tallow and olive oil together in a small glass bowl.
2. Add essential oils and mix.
3. Once the desired consistency and scent is achieved transfer to a small glass container with a lid, keep at room temperature, and enjoy!
4. Makes approximately 2 oz.
5. *I would start with a few drops and then add more if you are wanting a stronger scent. You can always add more, but you can't take away.
6. **Use essential oils that are known for being good for skin and skin health. I wouldn't use anything strong that could be an irritant. Peppermint for example would NOT be a good choice.
7. ***I wouldn't recommend using any essential oils that aren't 100% pure therapeutic grade. DoTERRA essential oils are what I use and I highly recommend them.

I hope you love this tallow balm as much as I do.

However, I know that not everyone is up to making their own skin care products. If you are still wanting to have this skin care goodness but don't want to make it you can go HERE and buy some. You won't regret it.

And just so you know, I also use this on my face. Don't be shocked, it's wonderful.

If your in need of essential oils click HERE and you can find everything you need.

*** Excerpts in this post were from the article written by Andrew J. Gardner titled, "Traditional Nourishing and Healing Skin Care". It can be found in the Winter 2012 Volume 13 Number 4 edition of Wise Traditions.

Garden Planning and The Plague of Illness

I am back.

I can't say that I'm alive and kicking, but I can say that I'm alive and coughing. Which is worlds better than down on the couch with body aches, fever, tight back, neck and shoulders, sore throat, aching ears, heavy chest, no appetite, and totally congested head. Yes, it was really that bad. Plus, it was a full 8 days before I woke up a felt a little better. I was truly miserable and my feeling of exhaustion and sickness was beginning to affect my mental state. I wasn't depressed, but I was very much praying that the Lord would heal my body.

I am finishing up my second week of being sick and it truly has been some of the hardest weeks for me. I don't know if I've ever been this sick and even if I have, I surely didn't have three kids at the time and farm chores. I have spent the last days and weeks thanking the Lord for the (normally) healthy body that He's given me, for a husband and kids that are well, and for a life that is blessed. When you are down, perspective plays a huge part in the healing process. I was very aware and how unprepared I was (and am) for when an illness strikes my house. We normally are very healthy and so it is taken for granted.  The thoughts of having certain items on hand for the unexpected has never really been heavy on my mind, until now.

I am beginning to dabble in essential oils and so far, I truly love them. I am a novice mind you, but a girl's gotta start somewhere right? I signed up with doTERRA and really am pleased with the company. I don't really want to sell it, but for a little fee to get started I get a pretty nice discount. So sign me up...and I did. I also want to learn more about home remedies, preventative medicine, and I want to expand my herb garden to contain many herbs and such that can fight off a slew of afflictions.

Western medicine has it's place, but I'd prefer it stayed away from me and my family. If I can fight something naturally, you better believe that I'll try anything to stay away. Hospitals just kind of give me the creeps. Maybe it's cause the only reason I have ever really gone is because someone is dying or has had something tragic happen to them. But believe you me, if something is truly wrong with me or one of my loveys I will get myself to the hospital...I am no fool.

In fact, I think it is wise as a wife and mama to want to be prepared to care for my family naturally and to be proactive about our health.



What I really want to start growing on the farm is an Elderberry bush (or maybe two or three). I have done a bit of research about these berries and boy-oh-boy am I ready to get my hands on them! The European variety is what I will be looking out for and hoping to plant...soon!

Curious about why I want this super fruit? Let me list some of the uses of this highly medicinal berry bush.

• it helps activate the immune system


• it helps to prevent getting the flu


• contains bioflavonoids and antioxidants which help the body to not get sick

Truth be told, I am still in my research stage so I will stop with three VERY good reasons of why I want this plant.

While in the throws of misery my hubby and I decided it would be a good time to map out our garden. After all, what else could I do? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Right now, we are in the bracket of our gardening experience where we need to be transplanting our seedlings into the garden. I have to admit, I am a bit nervous and I really hope that the birds don't get them. I may need to come up with some kind of netting to prevent this...

What you are looking at is a mixture of what we currently have in our garden area and of what we want. Can you see where we want our elderberries? Oh, it is such a perfect spot and I can't wait to see the beautiful bushes spreading out along the fence! The bottom right corner of the picture is where I'll be planting my herb garden. We don't have the raised beds there yet, but they will be there soon. The square in the center is where we plan on planting our vegetables. It is currently under about 6-8 inches of wood chips and is still weed free. Oh yeah! If your wondering about the wood chips, watch this.

I'm thinking I need to get my recovering fanny in gear and figure out what medicinal herbs I need. I'm thinking that echinacea, golden seal, chamomile, calendula, st. john's wort, and lavender would be a good start. Any suggestions for more?

I am thankful that I'm on the road to recovery and that my family didn't get the bug as badly as I did. However, with all this to say, the next time the flu bug wants to hit this house again...I better be prepared. Lord willing we won't get sick again this year and I hope that by next fall I will have my medicine cabinet well stalked with herbs, spices, syrups, essential oils, and a whole lot of knowledge under my belt.

I really, really, really would like something like THIS to go in this spot. I'm pretty sure it's perfect in every way. I'm keeping my eyes wide open for any amazing steals out there on vintage and antique cabinets like this, but if all else fails I can and will bat my eyelashes and beg and plead my wonderful hubby to make me one. After all, he is a contractor.  *wink, wink*