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Onions
Written by Zola Gorgon – author of several cookbooks.
Watch out for those spoiled onions.
I had the wonderful privilege of touring Mullins Food Products. Mullins is HUGE and is owned by 11 brothers and sisters in the Mullins family. My friend Jeanne is the CEO.
The facility is mammoth. We toured about 280,000 square feet! Questions about food poisoning came up and I wanted to share what I learned from a chemist. Read More…
Tea Tree Oil has been used for acne treatments as well as ultraviolet – C- range light to eradicate systemic infections. Arguments have been made that since acne vulgaris was from a bacterial source, below the surface of the skin, that a topical anti-bacterial, such as Tea Tree could not kill the bacteria since it did not touch the bacteria. The same arguments made are typical of similar arguments originally made about C-range ultraviolet energy being incapable of destroying pathogens of a systemically infected patient.
What is overlooked in that simplification is that all bacteria tends to colonize, ie.forms “pockets” or comes together as a group. This is most common where we use ultraviolet energy, C- range, on bedsores (decubitus ulcers), and the patient has a systemic infection versus a local infection. Systemic simply meaning the bacteria is within the patient’s body and not centralized in the bed sore itself. Read More…
Just finished submitting an article for publication about using Tea Tree Oil rather than the prescription drug, Accutane, for treating acne. I posted the article on our web site if you want to read it or paste this url to your browser: http://bit.ly/TeaTree4Acne .
This is a continuum ( that is a word isn’t it???) of how Tea Tree is actually used to treat acne.
What made us realize it’s benefits were the multiple Moms who came to our herb shop, Cameron Park Botanicals, with the problem of the cost and adverse reactions they were seeing in their kids as they tried to treat acne. Many of these Moms did not feel comfortable after looking at the potential short and long term use of the drug. At this time Tea Tree Oil was being widely used in topical antiseptics and it was thought acne was caused by bacteria so maybe it could help.
Many of these Moms were spending up to $350 per month on the prescriptions and were seeing bad reactions to the medicine both physically and emotionally and were going to change. We had seen several articles about Tea Tree for acne and sold the oil itself.
Where did this expression come from?
In Europe you’ve probably seen the pictures of the homes that
had thatched roofs. The folks knew the left over hay could
provide insulation to stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
They would use the hay to thatch their roof and recycle but
it also provided practical benefits.
Read More…
As promised here’s the first of many of the plants you can usually
find at HerbFest.
Bouncing Betty
In our country’s early formative years the West was being claimed
by the “Easterners” and the trail from East to West Coast could take
many a month and sometimes years to complete. Read More…
Homeopathic Medicine Referred To As Pillules
Homeopathic medicine has been in dispute since it’s inception but it’s origination was to help treat sickness, not cause sickness, by stimulating the immune system in it’s natural responses. Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician, was a non-believer of medical treatment methods such as bloodletting, leeches and encouraging vomiting and bowel release in the late 1700s. He felt there had to be a better way to cure illness.
At that time one of the more serious diseases was malaria, which was treated with quinine, but Hahnemann was not convinced of the rationale behind why quinine worked when it did. Samuel Hahnemann started what would later be called “provings” by administering quinine to himself, even though he was not suffering from malaria. What he found were the symptoms of taking quinine were remarkably similar to the same symptoms one had with malaria. Those similar symptoms were fever, headaches, extreme thirst, chills etc. From those observations on himself he postulated that certain substances worked because they duplicated the body’s defense mechanisms used to rid oneself of the disease. Read More…
We love feedback, it helps us grow just like those herbs do! Read More…
Lavender is an herb we inherited from bath-loving Romans, and its name is rooted in the Latin verb to wash, “lavare.” By medieval times, they had ceased using it to scent the bath and applied it as an odor-covering strewing herb. It was also quilted into hats and other clothing for an on-the-go masking fragrance.
We have a new article on the website, just type in “strewing herbs” in search and you will get the latest addition.
Lavender, from lavare - to wash, is a great bath herb
Here in N.C. we live in the Research Triangle Park area, Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill. Lavenders are somewhat tricky as our climate is too hot for some varieties so one has to be careful which variety is chosen for your landscape and/or to micro manage those other varieties if you insist on having them. Here’s a thumbnail sketch to guide you on plant selection. Read More…
Aromatherapy Bath
Lavender is one of the most well known herbs for relaxation.
Grow yourself a nice lavender plant, then when you want a relaxing hot bath, break off a stem and wish it in the hot water.
A Heavenly Relaxing Aroma!
Read More…
