Or, as I was considering naming this post; cough cough cough sniff. Here is the news from Milkwoodaverse in brief, and mostly in pictures.
Forgive my brevity, a winter lurgy has caught me by its edges and reeled me in…
Meanwhile, Nick is still stateside in the US of A; learning lots, meeting folks, helping planting trees, seeing old friends and eating ribs….
Lastly, a nice batch of books just arrived. Which to start first? Some are old and some are new…
- Restoration Agriculture – case study of a commercial scale permaculture farm
- The new Horse Powered Farm
- Farms with a Future – the numbers and the business of successful small farms
- Homegrown Whole grains
- The Alchemy of Air – a history of the Haber Bosch process and how cheap artificial nitrogen has built our current Ag system.
What are you reading at the moment? And what’s your best anti-cough magical cure? Be well and be warm, peoples…
>> More posts about life at Milkwood Farm
I don’t have a magical anti-cough cure – rest, clean air, time…you know…hot lemon with honey in it (my husband puts whiskey in his). A friend swears by apple cider vinegar as a gargle. Good luck with that. Like you, I have a lot of books on the go just now: Art of Fermentation (Katz), Small Scale Pig Raising (Van Loon), The Weekend Homesteader (Hess), and The Book of the Farm (Stephens).
Lurgies are so miserable, I just got over one. It feels so good to be well again. Hope you fight it off soon.
The photos are lovely and that honeycomb with raspberries looks delish.
you got a puppy!!!!!!!
Yes! Her name is: Onya Again Fox Twoblackeyes. No prizes for guessing who was in charge of naming her…
Haha love the name! I may be interested in a forest garden workshop 🙂
My go to is chilli tea. Boil one sliced chilli in water for about a minute (add a couple of bay leaves if you want). Will relieve symptoms for a few hours.
Thanks Jez! Trying that today…
Garden Sage tea is great for head colds and will dry up a post nasal drip. Elderberries are a must (or Elder flowers) for any cold or flu as they kill the viruses by disabling their ability to replicate. You can find Elderberry syrups at health food stores… Great plant to grow–we’ve started 8 in our yard this year…(Sambucus nigra–Black elder, red Elder is toxic) You can make wine, jams, pie, syrup, tea and more from the berries, which have yeast on them naturally like grapes (good for fermentation!)…….Elderberries have one of the highest antioxidant levels of any fruit out… Read more »
Also, though for lungs Mullein (Verbascum ssp.) leaf, Wild Cherry Bark (Prunus serotina.), or Lobelia (Lobelia inflata) tincture (aka alcohol extract) would be helpful. Esp. Lobelia if there is infection setting in the lungs…….White Pine (Pinus strobus) needle tea, too…I’ve added that to cough syrups and it’s awesome, plus high in vitamin C!
I have a fantastic recipe which is just brilliant for helping your immune system and combatting coughs, asthma and anything chesty. If you want the recipe let me know and I will send it to you. Just contains eggs, lemon, honey and cognac.
I find a simple lemon balm team, made with fresh lemon balm is wonderful at clearing a stuffed nose and head congestion. I also throw in a couple of pineapple sage leaves as well.
Looking forward to reviews of the books! The standard reciped in this house for lurgy is the typical hot water with honey and lemon (our own so we chuck the whole thing in, in halves), grated ginger, and a very generous slug of whisky, which FEELS like it’s clearing out your head even if all it really does is make you not worry about the fact that you’re sick…
Perhaps more as a preventative, if I feel anything coming on, I like to make a mug of boiling water with a few shakes of cayene pepper and 1/2 teaspoon or so of tumeric powder with a teaspoon of honey. You can adjust the quantities to suit your taste buds!
Anti-cough medicine? That’s the one medicine I CAN make. 🙂 Dice up an onion, pour on 2 tablespoons of your glorous raw honey and leave it to sit for a few hours. Take the resulting syrup as a cough syrup. It doesn’t taste as gross as you would automatically assume and it really does work. Antibacterial action fro the honey and the onion and even for viruses it is helpful as it does soothe the throat and help keep secondary bacterial infections at bay. I also believe golden thyme tea can help but I’m not so up to date on… Read more »