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Dealing With The H1N1 Flu

Friday, November 27, 2009

About a month and a half ago, our family came down with the H1N1 Flu.  We have not had flu of any kind for many years, and so this was quite unexpected.  But it so happened that there was an outbreak of it where one of my daughters takes ballet, and she was exposed thoroughly to it.    We did not realize that other girls had had that flu, though the dance instructor had.  Within a few days, Rachel came down with a fever of 103.  I treated her with some Motrin, EmergenC and later with some Benedryl for a stuffy nose.  She did not develop a cough for another day or so.  Meanwhile, Amanda and I began to get a funny little cough.  Amanda is a college student taking online classes from our home, and so she was trying to keep up with her studies.  After a day or so, Amanda came down with the 103 fever and I treated her with the same measures as I did Rachel.  Both girls got over the fever within a day.  Then for a day it was low-grade, then it was gone.  We also took an herbal mixture called “Lungs Plus” from Trilight Herbs. Soon I began to develop a low-grade fever and a continuing cough.  The cough started out as a dry tickle, then progressed to being productive.  I refused to let it settle in my lungs, so I would sleep with my head elevated a bit.  I would say the worst part about it all was the cough which made the stomach muscles so sore.  My two teen-aged girls got sore stomachs as well, but it is really painful when you are almost 8 months pregnant!  I took Tylenol to treat the fever and the pain, but I took as little as I could get by with.  I continued to drink my pregnancy tea which is made from Red Raspberry Leaf, Stinging Nettles, Oatstraw and Alfalfa.  I would pour boiling water over the dry herbs in a quart jar, cover and let steep for several hours.  I would drink a glass of this a day.  I do this routinely when I am pregnant, after the first trimester.  I would take several doses of Lungs Plus as well.  We all take cod liver oil in our household, and have for some time.  We take either Carlson’s Cod Liver Oil in the green bottle, or Dr. Ron’s fermented cod liver oil/butter oil capsules.  My big girls recovered fairly quickly, though the nagging cough did stay around for a while.  All my younger children got the fever, but got over it so quickly it seemed as though they hardly had it.  My husband had it for a day, and recovered quickly.  My two middle girls never got it.  They had a fever that lasted one day a month before, and perhaps that was a very mild form of the flu.  It was so mild, that I hardly took note of it.  But in any event, they never got  this flu, which was good because they ended up preparing meals for me!

The only other thing I can note is that the flu made us lose our appetites for a few days.  I lost a little weight, but kept eating as much as I could for the baby’s sake.  It also zaps your energy, and it took me probably a full two weeks to get back to normalcy and begin to get the energy back.  Perhaps if I had gotten a higher fever I would have gotten over it quicker.  But for the baby’s sake, it is a good thing that it stayed low-grade, I think.  I am thankful to the LORD for delivering us out of the flu, and for not having to take the vaccine.  I was offered the vaccine several times at my OB’s office, but I told them that I already had it!  (the flu, that is).   There is some question of the safety and efficacy of the the swine flu vaccine, specifically that which contains the element squalene.  I have not done research myself on it, but have read and heard that this is a substance banned ordinarily in the U.S. and Europe, but because of the “emergency” of the H1N1 flu, it was allowed to be used in the making of it.  Apparently it can cause long-term damage and chronic illness.  I know that the insert in the vaccine package states that the safety of the vaccine has not been determined for pregnant or nursing moms ( this was read aloud by Don Imus’ wife on the Sean Hannity show).  Whereas I might have taken Tamiflu if I had it to do over again, I would not have taken the vaccine.  And really, probably our own regimen served just as well as the Tamiflu, from what I have heard since.  But every family has to decide what is best for themselves.  I would not judge anyone else for what course of treatment he or she decides to take.  But I do think that it does help to be proactive day in and day out and eat wholesome foods, take things like a high-quality cod liver oil, a quality supplement and then find out what herbal concoctions work for you.  The Trilight Herbs work for us quite well.  I highly recommend the Lungs Plus.  Another blend they sell is called Scout Out, which is anti-viral and anti-bacterial and a good first herbal  when dealing with colds or flu.  Lympha Rub is another product we use routinely when the lymph system is fighting off a bug – or if a child gets an insect bite on the scalp and it causes the lymph glands to enlarge.  It is good for rubbing on the sinus area as well.  It really helps.

The other thing we did was eat the horseradish-ginger mixture I blogged about last year.   The ingredients are horseradish root, ginger root, garlic, jalapeno peppers (or chili peppers), onions and raw apple cider vinegar.  I generally mix this all up in a blender, and have posted the recipe which I think my daughter transferred to this new blog for me, and keep a jar of it in the refrigerator.  Taking a teaspoon or two a day helps the body fight off flu, colds, sinus infections, etc.  It is more like a condiment, but it is quite a strong one!

I have heard people say that the swine flu is much ado about nothing.  I wouldn’t say that.  For those who have frequent problems with their lungs or breathing, it could be serious.  I would say that if you are diligent about trying to stay ahead of illness by using good nutrition and you have some good, effective herbals and over the counter meds like Motrin or Tylenol and Benedryl, then you can probably fight the flu with good results.   Resting and getting adequate sleep is also key.  Don’t forget to pray over your children and and yourself (or have the others in the family pray over you as well).  Our Heavenly Father is the first One to which we must run for help and healing and wisdom.

“Bless the LORD, oh my soul,  And all that is within me, bless His holy Name. Bless the LORD, oh my soul, And forget none of His benefits, Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases.” ~Psalm 103:1-3

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“AMERICA’S AFFORDABLE HEALTH CHOICES ACT 2009″

Monday, August 10, 2009

I actually sat down and read over the infamous Obama Health care plan recently, though I have to admit that I skimmed over much of it.  I could and might go back and read some more of it.  I felt that as a former health care worker, it was something that I had to do to see what our President or whomever it really was who wrote this thing is really proposing.  I knew I would not like it, but I wanted to see what was actually written.  The amazing thing is that anyone who can read can go and read the entire Act.  Anyone who votes should.   I will include a link to the bill at the end of this entry.

The first thing that jumped out at me when I started reading were the words “Health Choices Commissioner,” “Health Insurance Exchange Trust Fund” and then all the words about the Commissioner working with the Health Secretary and the Treasury Secretary.  I realized that this whole makeover of our health care system was going to be gigantic.  This thing is going to cost an awful lot just to set up the management structure.  The next thing I realized was that it would require all health care professionals, hospitals, and businesses to obey a whole new set of rules regarding the giving of health care.  The one thing everyone must know is that it will not be free for anyone.   Someone will have to pay for every single health care service.   For the average person or family, you will have to pay according to your ability.  For those who are poor or indigent, they will be required to pay much less.  There is a scale based on income that will be used to determine what you must pay.  And when you fill out all of the paperwork to enroll in the government system, you will be subject to government investigations into your IRS taxes to make sure that you actually make the amount you claim on your forms.   The rich can plan on paying  more than their fair share, and if you try to convince the government that you are poorer than you are, again, they can and will audit your tax information.  As for businesses, if you look at Sec.314, you will find that they will be subject to “periodic investigations and audits” to make sure that they are obeying all the new government rules for paying into the government’s “Health Choices Plan.”  There will also be a tax on employers who fail to comply with the government’s regulations exactly.  In short, the American people are giving up a whole lot of privacy for some Government “services.”  If you ever shuddered at the Homeland Security Department’s wire tapping of terrorist conversations, (which I had no problem with), then you should be terrified at the thought of them probing into your financial and tax records whenever they wish, under the guise of “just making sure you are telling the truth.”

Now, once you realize that you will indeed still be paying for your services as well as having your taxes increased to pay for them, you also must know that when you sign up for your health care, there will be provisions you will be subject to regardless of whether you want to use them or not.  I am all for prevention in the sense of staying in good health and preventing illness.  That is really the key to not needing to use the health care system.  If you are healthy, you don’t need health care, unless of course, you have an accident or some kind of traumatic injury.  Making catastrophic health care affordable is a different issue that could be addressed without a total overhaul of the current health care system.    But on the subject of “Prevention,” if you go to Sec. 1711, you will see the different “preventative” measures which includes vaccines.  Vaccinations are a touchy issue with many people, and there are many questions and concerns regarding the current vaccine list that is routinely administered to young children all the way up through adulthood.   In our family, we have both used vaccines and opted out of some,  and I have always appreciated the freedom we have to decide as parents what is best for our family.  What concerns me about this impending Act is that if the Government is your health care provider, what is to keep it from enforcing what it thinks is best for your child?  Physicians can already pressure patients into taking medicine or using a particular treatment, and if the Government decides that you are putting the nation at risk by not doing vaccines or by declining to use a particular medicine, then what is to stop it from enforcing it?   Socialism is all about  putting the interest of the State over the liberties of the individual.  This is contrary to our Constitution.  On page 776, there is information about the coverage of “family planning services and supplies.”  I made a note of this to go back and look at this more thoroughly.  Family planning covers everything from birth control to pregnancy and childbirth to sterilization and abortion.  Here is another area that should be a red flag to those interested in preserving the family’s authority and liberty as opposed to the Government or State-controlled authority.  If a law-abiding family has 5 or 6 children, the Government -controlled health care system could regulate at any given time the number of children per family they will “take care of”  and put into effect how many children each family can have.  Also, if abortion is merely a family-planning tool, is it not likely to be used even more liberally than it is now?  What is to keep the Government from thinking that the less citizens they have to care for, the better?  They wouldn’t worry that they have less tax-paying citizens to increase revenue for the State, they would simply make the rich pay more.  In due time, we would have a citizenry that is made in the image desired by the Government, obedient to its every whim, and kept within a prescribed cage of activity, income and ability.

I noted also the section that refers to “simplifying and modifying Medicaid and Medicare.”  Two things occurred to me about this.  The first is that if the Government wants to simplify or modify these two entities, they can do that without a Government take-over of the health care system.  The second thing is that perhaps by modifying Medicare, this will make it easier for the Government to cull the ever-expanding pool of elderly citizens.  What is to keep the Government from deciding that all terminal patients, for example,  will only be offered limited health care services (since they are going to die anyway?)

I cannot think of any country that has socialized medicine and has a better health-care system than the United States does.  It is true that we have a less  healthy citizenry than other countries (based on statistics I have read but don’t have before me), but that really speaks more to the way we as a people eat and the habits we have.  Reform of the medical malpractice industry would certainly help lower costs without completely gutting the current system.  Our lawmakers in Congress have before them  a crucial decision to make.  They had better listen to the people of this nation and listen to their constituents.  I have not seen anything that indicates this is a health care Act that people really want.  I urge everyone to look over this “Health Choices Act.”  If you disagree with what I have written, I would really like to know.  Please, everyone check this out:

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h3200ih.txt.pdf

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New Baby Chicks and Lots of Rain

Monday, August 3, 2009

We have nine cute little black chicks that momma hen hatched last Thursday.  Being Dominiques, they are black instead of yellow, but they do have a little tuft of yellow hair on the top of their heads.  It is such a wonderful and amazing thing to witness a mother hen diligently sit upon her eggs for 21 days.  She seems never to tire of it, never loses patience, remains very determined and knows exactly how to turn her eggs and allow them to warm up or cool off as needed.  When the chicks hatch, they stay remarkably clean and are very attentive to what momma hen teaches them.  When she clucks a certain way, they respond.  She will signal to them when she has found some food, she will call them all to herself when there is potential danger, and she will take them all under her wing when it is time for a nap or for bedtime.  If the baby chicks stray, they generally don’t stray too far, for she will scold them.   It is very true that nobody knows how to raise chicks like momma hen, and it is definitely the easiest way to add to one’s flock.  My children enjoy watching the little chicks and gently picking them up and cuddling them.  I enjoy watching them too, and it is always a fun time when a new batch of chicks hatch!

We have had rain this past week, almost every day.  I am thankful that we have had rain this summer even when it is typically very dry.  It has kept things green and lush here.  We have also seen our share of snakes this summer.  On Saturday Bryan killed a copperhead, and a few days before that we found a little cottonmouth (or water moccasin) in the little filter basket in our pool.  That one had to be killed as well.  Whenever we find a harmless snake like a king snake, we leave it alone as it eats the poisonous snakes.   An interesting note about snakes is that when you decapitate them, both the body and the head still move for quite some time.   The head still opens and closes its mouth as though it were trying to bite.  I suppose it still could bite if you touched it. I think that I had heard this, but I really didn’t realize how freaky and true it is.  It really reminds me of Satan – how he has had his head crushed and has been mortally wounded by our Savior, but yet he is still moving around and trying to bite people!  It may all be over for him, but he is not going down without a fight, and trying to take every last person with him that he can, and he will seek to undermine the Father’s plan as best he can.  But God!  May we all seek God and submit to Him, and resist the devil so that he will flee from us!  Yes, remember James 4:7, and go ahead and read through to verse 10:

Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.   Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.  Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double minded.  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep:  let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.  Humble yourselves in the sight of the LORD, and He shall lift you up.

I find great comfort in drawing nigh unto God, and it is the safest place to be.  When things get tough and confusing in life, let us run quickly to Jesus like the baby chicks do to their mother.  Let us draw nigh to our Heavenly Father and be safe with HIM!

Blessings to all,

Christine

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A Midsummer’s Cool Spell

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

We have been fortunate to experience a significant cooling of the weather these past few days.  It has been so refreshing.  I am thankful to the Lord for His sweet kindness.  We have also had more rain this summer than in the past few summers, and that is another thing I thank the Lord for.  This evening as I was walking around our property, I realized anew how wonderful it is to live in the country.  It is sheer bliss to be able to walk around surrounded by trees and hills and meadows and the sound of birds chirping, crickets and frogs singing, and little fish jumping in the pond.  When I got back to the house, I found Mary had caught a tiny baby lizard.  I have never seen one so small.  She made a little habitat for it and put it in there.  She is quite the lizard expert around here.  She has caught several this summer, and takes excellent care of them until she decides to let them go back into the wild.

As you may have realized, the Fair Hills Farm website has undergone quite a change.  We were having considerable problems with our yahoo site, and so we changed over a few weeks ago.  In the process, we have super simplified everything, and at this point, this particular page is mostly a blog.  We have plans to expand gradually, but it will take a bit of time because my web person (daughter Amanda) has a lot going on.    A lot of information we had on the other site is no longer here, including some earlier blogposts.  I will try to retrieve them or re-write some of them, such as the one with the horseradish recipe.  I am currently working on my e-book, Nurturing The Generations, and making it into a study guide with recipes, and worksheets, etc.   This is going on while I am tending the garden, cleaning out and organizing the house (which is really a perpetual job, isn’t it?) and carrying our 9th baby, which is due around December 5th, the Lord willing!  We are all excited and delighted, and I keep thinking of things to add to the e-book.  I hope to add a section on the joys of being an older mom (since I am 46).  I really am enjoying being pregnant, which I have not always done in the past.  I think as you get older, the surge in hormones is such a delight to your body that you really feel better than when you did as a younger person.  It seems that way for me, at least.  I marvel at how the Lord God in His awesome plans can do the most wonderful things in allowing women the privilege of bringing forth life, by His hand and with His help.  He is so worthy of praise!

We have been enjoying some wonderful dishes from our garden.  Last night we had a meal that consisted of a grass-fed beef roast, mashed potatoes and cauliflower,  fresh zucchini and onion gently simmered on the stove and seasoned with butter and sea salt,  fresh tomato relish, and homemade bread.  I think the tomato relish is my favorite way to eat tomatoes, and it goes so wonderfully with practically everything.  If you have never heard of this dish, I will share with you how we make it.   I was telling my husband that I never had any such thing until I ate it at his grandparent’s house, perhaps 24-25 years ago.  He told me he thought it was just a family recipe, but I am certainly going to include it in Nurturing The Generations.  Very simply, you cut up 4-5 fresh tomatoes, 1 onion, 1-2 cayenne peppers (sliced open, with seeds removed, then chopped).  Add to this some sea salt to taste and a dash of raw apple cider vinegar (or plain white vinegar if that is all you have on hand).  Mix well and let sit for a few minutes so the flavors blend.  This is a spicy recipe, but not too hot.  Even my four year old daughter likes this!  I will have Abigail down load some pictures (she is my photo person!) so you can see what it looks like.

Another simple recipe for a delicious raw, fresh garden food, is cucumbers in sour cream with dill.  We just wash our cucumbers and then slice them up (3 or 4 of them), add a little raw onion chopped as well, and then toss with a few tablespoons of sour cream.  To this add some dill weed and sea salt, and voila, another dish that I think my children could eat forever.  One interesting thing to note is that cucumbers, watermelons and cantalope contain a wonderful amino acid, citrulline,  which is a precursor to human growth hormone that the body makes naturally.   These have anti-aging and rejuvinating properties.  Citrulline is also found in walnut seedlings, flaxseed, and in the milk protein casein.  Flaxseed is another thing we consume in our house – I put it freshly ground in our bread dough, and sometimes we eat it freshly ground mixed into some fruit juice.  It is very nourishing.

If anyone has questions for me, please e-mail me at info@fairhillsfarm.com  ~ I hope everyone is having a good summer and may the Lord bless and keep each one of you!

Christine

Tomato Relish

Tomato Relish

Cucumbers in Dill Sauce

Cucumbers in Dill Sauce

Beth with the chickens in our backyard

Beth with the chickens in our backyard

4 year old Beth in the Bradford pear tree in our front yard

4 year old Beth in the Bradford pear tree in our front yard

3 year old Benjamin with Rex in our front yard

3 year old Benjamin with Rex in our front yard

New Flower Garden

New Flower Garden

Other side of the Flower Garden

Other side of the Flower Garden

Flower Garden

Flower Garden

Path in the Flower Garden

Path in the Flower Garden

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Book Review: “Gardening When It Counts”

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Today we worked outside planting lettuce, fertilizing the roses and fruit trees, and treating the yard with a natural fertilizer from Gardens Alive. We also turned the soil over in the garden beds and I applied an organic fertilizer that was derived from poultry manure, bloodmeal, and potash. I need to get some lime as well. Our soil tends to be acidic which is good for the blueberries, but not so good for the rest of the garden produce and field grasses.

A book I started reading back in December is by Steve Solomon and called, Gardening When It Counts. The subtitle is “Growing Food in Hard Times.” This is a very practical book. In the book’s introduction, Solomon writes about the “coming hard times.” Although the book was published in 2005, he sensed that with the price of oil going higher and higher, and the housing bubble on the verge of bursting, that an economic crisis was just around the corner. It appears he as well as many others, was right.

Solomon gardens because he wants to grow much of what his family eats. He started a seed business called Territorial Seed Company back in 1979. He ran his mail order seed business from his 5 acre homestead and grew and tested and ate the produce from the seeds he sold. He subsequently wrote several gardening books on intensive gardening. He also began experimenting with row gardening in such a way so as to not need irrigation. That is to say, he tried gardening the old – fashioned way and basically let the rain do all the watering. He found that one could actually grow a garden without having to use so much water, which is what one usually has to do with intensive, raised-bed gardening. He found that even in places that receive limited rainfall, you could still have a productive garden. The book he wrote on this subject is Waterwise Vegetables, which is now out of print. He now lives in Australia and gardens using his own method of semi-intensive beds and plant spacing which allows the growth of the plants to mature using less water. In short, he has figured out how to grow the most nutritious and productive vegetables using minimal resources. He has a fantastic natural fertilizer recipe, tells the reader how to make all kinds of compost, and explains how to start a garden with the barest of means, and then how to enrich even the poorest soil. I have to say that if I could only have one book on gardening, I would have this one. It is actually one of the best ones I have ever read. It is not fancy and there are not any pretty color photos (though I sure would like to see what his current place looks like), but there are helpful diagrams and 323+ pages of pure gardening wisdom. You can start knowing nothing about what you are doing and probably actually grow a nice garden in a year’s time, just going on what this man tells you.

So I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what a garden really needs and how to grow a productive one. Get your copy now while you still have a little time before you need to get those plants in the ground! I got mine at Amazon.com.

Blessings to all,

Chris

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Look To The LORD

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Now that it is February 1st, I managed to miss writing anything at all during the month of January. Actually, I started two posts and just didn’t get them finished. Both were on the subject of “What is your vision?” I find that in the winter months I like to take stock of what we are doing as a family in homeschooling and homesteading, as well as in homemaking. It is a time to focus on what we have in our hands, and on doing the best we can with what we have. It is also a time to draw near to the LORD and lift up to Him all hopes and dreams and heart’s desires and exchange it all for the sheer delight of seeking and knowing Him. Sometimes I think we get distracted with our own wants and goals and forget that the first ambition of our hearts and minds should be to delight ourselves in Him. What does HE want for us? How can we be faithful to Him to do His will with where we are and what He has given us? Do we desire HIM, or do we desire what HE can do for us? Of course we desire and need His provision, but what we really need is His fellowship and to sit at His feet. We need to wait upon Him. We need to wait in the way that we wait for Him to move on our behalf. We also need to wait upon Him in the way a servant waits on his Master – to be ready to do whatever He asks us to do – at any moment. This is the first priority as I ponder everything on my lists of duties and responsibilities. If we seek Him first, seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness – then everything will be added as needed and in due time according to His will. This is not just rhetoric, this is undeniable truth.

As this nation faces a new President and a lot of difficult things, many look increasingly to the politicians, the scientists, the doctors, the government, the teachers, the experts – for help, for answers, for money, for rationale or recourse. Everybody thinks they have a better idea for how things should be run, what needs to happen, what shouldn’t have happened, or who’s fault it is that we are in “this mess.” Today when we were having our Bible study, we read Psalm 146. It proclaims just whom it really is we need to put our trust in:

“Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
I will praise the LORD while I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Do not trust in princes,
In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.
His spirit departs, he returns to the earth;
In that very day his thoughts perish.
How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
Whose hope is in the LORD his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
The sea and all that is in them;
Who keeps faith forever;
Who executes justice for the oppressed;
Who gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets the prisoners free.

The LORD opens the eyes of the blind;
The LORD raises up those who are bowed down;
The LORD loves the righteous;
The LORD protects the strangers;
He supports the fatherless and the widow,
But He thwarts the way of the wicked.
The LORD will reign forever,
Your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the LORD!”
~Psalm 146~

So as we continuously lay before the LORD our plans and concerns, we are trying to be diligent. All the children in our household that are school age (and Amanda who is in college) are working on diligence with regard to school lessons and chores. I am working on trying to finish revising my e-book Nurturing The Generations. This is a diligence test for me because even though I love to write and spend time interacting with people, I find that being a wife and mom takes up most all of my time. I look with admiration at women who homeschool, have a home-business, write and speak and keep blogs and Facebooks and Twitters and travel to conferences and then do all sorts of creative things in their spare time. I truly admire these women, because they have managed to do a lot more than I can with the same number of hours in their day as I have. I have decided that at this point in my life, I will endeavor to finish revising my e-book and it will be available. Then if anyone has questions, they can e-mail me. I am always available for questions, especially about nutrition or health concerns, but also on homeschooling or home-managing. If I don’t know the answer, I will research it or find someone who does. This is what I do. All day. Every day. My job is to love and support and keep happy my husband, love, clothe, educate and train my children, and keep house so that everything stays in fairly decent order, there are elements of beauty all around, the meals are nutritious and good-tasting, and there is a lot of laughter and happy voices for the most part (and some beautiful music!). If you wonder why I don’t blog more often, it really is because all the things I just listed take up most of my waking hours. And I truly love my job! And on that note, I need to close now and get on with my job.

Blessings to all,

Chris

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Some Good Old-Fashioned Horseradish-Ginger Tonic

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Actually I guess you could say it is really a condiment. I happened across this recipe a few months ago in the Farm and Ranch Living magazine. A reader had submitted this recipe as a super-tonic that is “good for what ails you.” As I looked at the list of ingredients, I thought that was probably an accurate statement. So the next time I was buying groceries, I bought some ginger root and horseradish root, which I have never done before. I made a batch of this tonic and put it in two jars in the refrigerator. The first time my children and I sampled it I thought it was some of the spiciest, worse-tasting stuff I had ever eaten. But we realized that if you eat a little with some bread and butter, it actually is not that bad. If you eat it with cheese it isn’t even that spicy. Now we routinely eat it with our meals as one would eat a little chutney or relish – more like a condiment. We put it to the test recently when we seemed to have a bout of sinus and cold symptoms as the weather changed from warm and balmy to cold, windy and wet. I woke up one morning with a sore throat and sinus congestion. Later in the day I developed a cough. I began to eat some of the horseradish mixture (a few teaspoons), and also to add some essential oils to some steaming water on the stove and breath it is as a treatment. I did this three days in a row and by the third day my illness was pretty much gone. I know that historically, if I develop a sore throat and sinus congestion, it takes a week or two to get over it completely. Not this time. I was amazed at how quickly I recovered. None of the members of my family had the symptoms as badly as I did, and what they did have they got over very quickly. We had some friends staying in our guest house, and the mom arrived here with another sort of illness similar to mine. She did the same treatment I did and subsequently got over her ailment quickly as well. So I think this recipe is worthy of sharing and perhaps might be helpful to readers looking for nutritional ways to boost the immune system and get over illnesses faster. Here are the ingredients:


1-2 horseradish root, well-scrubbed (I used 1)
1-2 ginger root, washed and peeled (I used 1)
10 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 medium onion, peeled
1-2 chili peppers (I used jalopenos), seeds removed
raw apple cider vinegar

Place the ingredients in a blender and add enough apple cider vinegar to cover, and then blend. What I did was cut up the roots into chunks as well as the onion. It takes a while to get everything blended up well, but the finished product looks somewhat like coarse apple sauce. Just taking a sniff of it will clear your sinuses! I put the mixture into clean glass jars with caps and the directions were to keep in the refrigerator throughout the winter and use as needed. We have been using ours for about a month or so.

I did a little research to learn some of the health benefits of the different ingredients. Let me note here also that horseradish is not recommended for children under the age of 4, or people who have peptic ulcers. Also, I have read that ginger can cause uterine contractions, so if you are pregnant, you may want to avoid this remedy, and it is contraindicated for anyone suffering from gallstones as ginger stimulates the release of bile. I also saw some contraindications for horseradish for nursing mothers, but I presume it is mostly for those nursing infants. I am still nursing a 2 year old, and it didn’t hurt him any that I could see. But an infant who is very sensitive to spicy foods in mom’s diet might have some disagreement with this concoction. Here is a quick run-down of some of the properties found in the ingredients.

Horseradish Root: From the same family as the mustard and cabbage family and has anti scorbutic and expectorant properties. The root reportedly cures tonsillitis and is a natural treatment for rheumatic and respiratory disorders. The root is also laden with a potent amount of vitamin C and B complex, minerals, potassium, calcium and iron as well as enzymes. It is a natural antibiotic which can kill bacteria in the throat that cause bronchitis. Horseradish heats up the body and has a cardiotonic effect (strengthens the heart). The glucosinolates found in horseradish are thought to increase resistance in humans to cancer. These glucosinolate compounds are only found in plants which are in the mustard family such as horseradish, mustard, broccoli and cauliflower. They have powerful anti-oxidant properties. It is interesting to note that a study in 2005 showed that glucosinolates increase the liver’s ability to detoxify and eliminate carcinogens. Horseradish contains an enzyme that aids in the breakdown of the glucosinolates which makes it easier for the human body to benefit from its therapeutic properties.

ginger root: The ginger root is actually an underground stem. It may have blood thinning properties and cholesterol lowering properties. Compounds found in ginger known as gingerols have analgesic, sedative, anti-pyretic (lowers fever) and anti-bacterial properties. They also have anti-fungal properties that supposedly are effective against even athlete’s foot. Ginger contains protein, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin C, choline, folic acid, inositol, manganese, pantothenic acid, silicon and a small amount of vitamin B3. Ginger has good properties for menstruation problems, and many say that it is good for settling and upset stomach.

Garlic: Garlic contains antiseptic properties and it helps to lower blood pressure and bad cholesterol, is an appetite stimulant and is good for the hair! Garlic is known to be anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic as well as a blood purifier. There are recipes for treating tuberculosis, whooping cough, rheumatism, ringworm, pneumonia, wounds and ulcers, parasites, asthma, high blood pressure, digestive problems and acne. A cut garlic clove rolled on pimples several times a day will make the blemish disappear without a scar. Rubbing garlic over ringworm will burn out the infection. The skin falls off leaving healed skin behind. When cooking with garlic, by chopping or crushing the garlic clove and letting it rest for a few minutes before adding it to the dish you are cooking gives the anti-cancer properties a chance to form so that they are transmitted into the food even after it is cooked.

Onions: Onions contain phytochemicals called flavanoids. One flavanoid called quercitin may inhibit tumor growth and keep colon cancer at bay. A newly discovered compound in onions may actually inhibit bone loss in menopausal women. Onions contain vitamin C and chromium, B6, biotin, folic acid, vitamin B1 and K, and healthy sulfur compounds as well as enzymes. They also have anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-histaminic properties and are a source of fiber.

Peppers: Red peppers contain lycopene which protects against cancer and heart disease. Peppers contain large amounts of phytochemicals that have antioxidant capabilities such as chlorogenic acid, zeaxanthin and coumeric acid. Hot peppers also stimulate blood flow in the body, but cayenne pepper is also good for helping to stop bleeding. I have applied some to a cut finger before, and it helped stop the blood flow.

Raw apple cider vinegar: Apple cider vinegar is made by fermenting apples in a wooden barrel. It contains calcium, iron, sodium, potassium, malic acid, acetic acid, pectin, potassium. Pectin is good for the colon, regulates blood pressure and also removes bad cholesterol. Malic acid is good for fighting infections, as it is anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal.

Remember that all of the information I have posted on this blog is for informational purposes only. I am not trying to treat medical conditions, I am trying to inform others of the incredible properties the Creator God has put into some of the plants and herbs that we call food, and how they can be consumed and used to nourish the body! Isn’t it all amazing!

Blessings for a healthy winter!

Chris

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Waiting On The Lord

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

I started to write a flowery commentary about the results of this election, but I just didn’t have the heart. The truth is, I am disappointed. Terribly. I am not discouraged, but I just have a hard time trying to understand the people of this nation. Actually, it is not understanding them that is difficult, it is seeing the tragic consequences of their choice that is hard to accept and understand. It is something akin to watching a quarterback try to throw a pass to a receiver who is triple covered – only to have it picked off and returned for a touchdown. You are left with asking the question, “Why did he DO that?” Why did he make that foolish choice? Of course, that is a poor example because that does not demonstrate a pre-meditated choice, but rather a reactionary choice. I guess voting for a person is more of a pre-meditated choice even if it could also be reactionary.

All that aside, the only thing I know to do now is seek the Lord and wait on Him – for everything. This is the charge no matter what happens in life. Always we should seek the Lord and wait on Him. I trust that the Lord heard the prayers of the small minority of people who genuinely sought His heart and will on the matter of this election. Everyone else got what they asked for. So come what may, we are at His mercy, and we humbly implore Him to help us completely seek His face, seek His direction in and for our lives and our calling, and be obedient to Him. What would He have us do now?

As for me, with God’s help, what I determine to do is take the best care of my family I possibly can. I endeavor to create the best tasting, most nourishing meals I can to feed my precious husband and children. I will seek to keep order in my household and homeschool and challenge my children to do the best of their ability at everything they put their hand to. I will make it my ambition to create the sweetest, most pleasant atmosphere in my home I possibly can – full of pleasing aromas, beautiful music and continual praises to the Lord Of Hosts – to Yahweh. I love that Name. I have found recently that when I am in a bad mood or frustrated or having difficulty that just pausing and then praising God helps to change things almost instantaneously. Lift up the Name of Jesus! He is always worthy of praise!

So, let us put our hand to the plow and push on ever harder. Let us continue to pray for this nation and for some of the congressional races not yet decided. Let us look well to the ways of our households and do what we can to further the Kingdom of God from our own homes, in our own families in the place where God has put us.

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A Call To Prayer

Monday, October 27, 2008

I was just re-reading over my last entry, and I have to admit that it surely will offend some people terribly. I want you to know that I don’t mean to hurt and insult anyone, or be unloving. I suppose that it is nobody’s business who another votes for, but it seems like much of what I have read and have myself written, are reasons to vote for McCain or not vote for him, why we shouldn’t vote for Obama or Third party, or why we should. So in my last entry, I was trying to show why believers should be united on this election, even though I don’t think I did a very good job of it.

All of that aside, I know that there are some very high-stakes issues facing us concerning this election, and I received an e-mail which I will share that gives some good ideas as we go into the last week before this extremely important election:

The Stakes Couldn’t Be Higher

October 27, 2008

With the upcoming elections 8 days away, satan has worked hard to deflect attention off of the real issue. This has been relatively easy through the economic meltdown and an unpopular war. Many Americans, including Christians, will vote based on these two issues. While these things are obviously important, they pale in light of the real issue-the Supreme Court.

The cover story of USA Today, on Thursday of last week, spelled this out quite clearly. It stated that the real legacy of the next president won’t be the economy or the war, but the Supreme Court. The next president of the United States will appoint at least 2, and maybe 3, Justices in his first term. If he serves 2 terms, it could be 5 Justices-there are 5 of the 9 on the Court 70 years old or older! Since the trend is to appoint younger and younger Justices, the next president will most likely shape the court for the next 30-40 years! This means we are not voting only for a president, we are voting for the Court we want for the next generation! The vote we cast on November 4th will do more to shape the culture we give our children and grandchildren than any other vote of our lifetime! Perhaps some succinct bullet points will help us see this clearly:

Without question, no institution, organization, or agency has shaped the current culture of America in the last 50 years more than the Supreme Court. You don’t need millions of people, the majority in Congress, or the President to shape the culture of America. You only need 5 people-the majority of the Supreme Court. Five people can kill 50 million babies (the number aborted since Roe vs. Wade), legalize homosexual marriage, remove parental rights, put God out of schools and government, rob from us our godly heritage, etc.

It is now split-sometimes 5-4 toward life, family, morality, our godly heritage, the intent of our forefathers when they wrote the Constitution; sometimes 5-4 toward death, immorality, legislating their beliefs from the bench (though not their constitutional role or right, this is easy-they simply say the Constitution is a fluid, living document and therefore must be changed to accommodate the times), removing God from our nation, etc.

2-3 Justices will retire over the next 4 years, their replacements chosen by the next president; possibly a couple more will step down 5 to 8 years from now, making it 5 potential Justices that could be appointed by the next president if he serves 2 terms. This will determine how the Court rules for a generation.

The first two Justices to go will almost certainly be Stevens who is 88 years old and Ginsberg who is 75 and ill. They are the two most liberal and are no doubt waiting to retire, hoping for a president that will replace them with 2 more liberals. These two replacements alone, if they are good, conservative judges could shift the Court toward righteousness for many years.

Conclusion: our vote this November 4th will be not for a president, not for the economy, not for ending our involvement in Iraq. Our vote will be for what we want America to look like 40 years from now!

The ramifications of this are staggering! We are no doubt reaping great judgment now in America-diseases, family breakdowns, violence, a death culture, destructive weather, and much more-because of abortion alone – not to mention expelling God and His laws from our schools and government. I don’t know that we can survive another 40 years of this without completely losing our godly heritage and destiny. The economy will recover and the war will end no matter who is elected president-but this is not the case with the Court and the soul of this nation.

If you don’t know where the candidates stand on the Court and the kind of Justices they would appoint, read the USA Today article. It makes their positions very clear. Share this information with every friend and acquaintance you have. And finally, pray like never before for God’s will to be done in this election. We CAN win this war and we MUST NOT lose this war. Pick up your word, go to war and let’s make history together. Here are some practical suggestions to consider:

Fast (a meal a day; a day this week; a Daniel fast; 3 days; TV; etc.) and spend the time praying.
Agree in prayer with someone everyday for God’s will to be done.
Hold nightly prayer meetings
Take time in every gathering to pray. (Take 15 minutes in every service to pray for the elections. Turn an entire service to harp and bowl style intercession-worship and prayer combined.)
Join 2 or more friends on a conference call and pray for 15, 20, or 30 minutes.
Pray on the way to work (and on the way home).
Pray before you go to sleep.
Pray before church services.
Ask God to give you His strategy-He will!

For God and Our Great Nation,
Dutch Sheets

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What About Healthcare?

Monday, October 13, 2008

This blog was originally set up so I could blog about our experiences living in the country on a small farm while raising and educating 8 children. This is still my primary purpose, and it is also a way to share with others the things I have learned and am learning regarding matters of health. Though I no longer work as a registered nurse, my college degree in that discipline has helped me understand the way professional healthcare providers do things and approach treating patients, but at the same time, I know that disease prevention is the best way to deal with chronic health issues. That is to say, if you can stay healthy and safe, then your healthcare costs should be minimal.

Now in case this sounds too simplistic to you, let me just say that besides catastrophic healthcare costs (that would be accidents and/or trauma injuries requiring hospital care), the next most expensive things are hospital births and then children born with special needs that require continual care. There are also the times when emergency surgeries or illnesses requiring surgery present themselves. These types of surgeries or illnesses we long to prevent if possible, and generally speaking, that is what we should all aim to do. Nevertheless, sometimes they happen. Keep in mind that I am writing this as a sort of overview for the purpose of addressing the healthcare issues in the current political campaign. Last week Sen. Obama said that healthcare was a right, and Sen. McCain said it was a responsibility (when a questioner asked if healthcare was a right, a privilege or a responsibility). Keep in mind also that we already have in this country, Medicaid for younger people and Medicare for the older people, as a sort of safety net for the more vulnerable people to receive medical attention. I don’t know the ins and outs of these programs, I just remember studying them in school, and I know people who are in these government programs. We also have to remember that we already have Health Departments where people can receive checkups, immunizations, home health visits, WIC program assistance, and other things for little or no cost. Again, it has been a long while since I worked as a student in a Health Department setting, and certain things may have changed, but I do know that they are there and people use them.

So for a presidential candidate to say that “healthcare is a right,” I would say that in this country, healthcare is already practically a right. The problem of payment for health services is the problem we are really discussing. Healthcare availability is everywhere, and accessible to most people on some level. But the real problem is health insurance, or everyone’s ability to aquire health coverage for a decent price. As I was pondering this, it ocurred to me that we have car insurance, home-owners’ insurance, life insurance — why is health insurance so horribly high for people who are either not employed or perhaps self-employed, and why is it so hard to find reasonable rates? I have a few ideas. If Congress wanted to, they could inspire insurance companies to re-design their programs, and maybe insurance companies could be enticed to lower their premiums by tax incentives as a way to help make health insurance more affordable to more people. They could do this without taking over the entire job of forming another government entity to socialize medicine in this country. If you want things to get messed up really fast, and government spending to go through the roof, and at the same time, lowering the quality of care, this is a good way to do it. Our government has too much on its plate right now to even think of doing this. It is irresponsible for Barack Obama to even suggest that he would or could do something of the sort if he were elected President.

One of the things you have to look at when trying to figure out why medical costs are so high, is the cost of medicine. Drug companies are the ones who make out like bandits here. In fact, as our country’s health gets worse and worse, people take more and more medicine. The idea is that the more dependent people are on medicine, the more money the pharmaceutical companies make. They make billions and billions of dollars off of sick people. Sickness is big business. It really is. I am not trying to pick on pharmaceutical companies, I am telling you the truth. It is good that these companies make legitimate life-saving medicines, but the idea that people need to take prescription drugs to stay healthy is, well, not the way we should all want to live. It is not the way God meant for us to live, I believe. Many chronic diseases have come about through poor diet and health habits, as well as nutritional deficiencies. When these things are corrected, symptoms improve and many times diseases are healed. I know of people who have been cured or healed supernaturally by God Himself. It is not a forgone conclusion that everyone is going to need prescription drugs, even as elderly people. It would be good if medical practitioners could seel the value in looking for alternative ways to treat people with less medicine. This in itself is a tall order for the medical community, and one that will take time, no doubt. But people everywhere can educate themselves on good nutrition and take an active role in health maintenance. People can pray for healing and for good health and for wisdom in dealing with sickness. Perhaps this will lead to less trips to the doctor, less prescription medications, and better overall health. Maybe there should be rewards for people as there is in auto insurance, (for not getting in wrecks or getting speeding tickets), that if you don’t need to use the doctor that much, you should pay less in premiums. For example, a family pays $550.00 a month for health insurance. If they go for a certain length of time – say a year -and haven’t had to use the doctor, or have gone only once or twice, couldn’t they lower their premiums? After all, if they are paying that much, and rarely need to see the doctor (even with children), shouldn’t they be allowed to pay less for coverage? Isn’t it a good thing to have an incentive for taking charge of your health? We don’t want to punish people with health problems they have through no fault of their own, or special needs children. That is not what I am talking about. I just know there are better ways and any number of options for people to be able to get quality healthcare at an affordable price without socializing medicine. There are also Christian groups that have cost-sharing which works in the same kind of way as making insurance payments, but it is not a company trying to make a profit. When someone has health expenses, the money is there for payment.

One of the things I noticed during the Republican primaries was that everyone who was running at that time had valuable opinions on nearly every issue. When I saw the Republicans debate, I saw men looking for answers to problems, and debating about the different ways to solve problems. They talked of specific ideas and plans to address different issues. It looked like if you only had that group of men working together, they could probably come up with a sensible solution for everything facing our nation. By contrast, when I saw the Democrats debating, I saw a lot of government-speak, a lot of vague notions and generalizations, a sort of elitist attitude towards the American people. I am not picking on Democrats on purpose, it was just something I saw. If I could have heard something encouraging from them, I would say so. I will give credit anywhere it is due. The fact is, healthcare, like all of the other issues our nation faces, is best addressed by people looking to solve problems by spending the least amount of taxpayers’ money, in the most efficient and legitimate manner possible. Empowering individuals and private businesses or corporations is good for the country as they encourage competition and capitalism. There are probably a lot of illegitimate government programs now, but the Department of Defense is one area that should never be skimped on. It must remain strong, with the best and brightest people working in it. It is a legitimate job of the government as defined by the Constitution. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are some of the inalienable rights that the Founding Fathers said you and I are endowed by our Creator with. These are rights, according to the Constitution. It is our responsibility, then, to take care of our lives, and use our liberties in profitable ways. We can pursue happiness as long as we are not robbing someone else of theirs. We have so much freedom in this country. But with freedom comes responsibility. In fact, freedom demands it. If you have freedom without responsibility, what happens to you? You begin to think everything is owed to you, and you shouldn’t have to work for anything. And in so doing, the lines between right and wrong, good and evil, should and shouldn’t all begin to blur. Everything is relative. The Constitution was not written for that kind of people. This is why a socialist government cannot rightly exist under our Constitution. It won’t work and it doesn’t need to be tried.

I would really be interested in hearing anyone’s thoughts on this matter. I welcome your comments!

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