Herbal Salve Underway.

July 25, 2015 -  Herbal Salve underway.  Here is my bowlful of chopped up herbs.  Included are:
Calendula, Catnip, Cinquefoil, Comfrey, Echinacea, Holy Basil (Tulsi), Lemon Balm, Marshmallow, Oregano, Plantain, Sage, St. John's Wort, Sanicle, Thyme, Wood Betony, Woundwort (self heal), Yarrow and Yellow Dock.

I think that should just about cover everything!  After chopping up the appropriate part of the herb and putting them in the stainless steel or pyrex baking container, cover the herbs with olive oil.  Go over the top of the herbs about 1/4" with the olive oil.  Start the oven about 300 degrees, lower it to 225 degrees and bake the herbs 3-4 hours.  Shut the oven off and let the concoction cool naturally.

Next it is necessary to strain/separate the herbs from the oil.  A stainless steel colander works well.  Get as much of the healing oil as possible by squishing/pressing  the mixture with a gloved hand (whatever works)   I had used 1/2 gallon of olive oil (64 oz) to cover my cut up herbs.  To make a salve, bees wax must be added to the strained oil.  The ratio is 1 oz bees wax to 8 oz of the strained oil.  Just heat the mixture on the stove until the beeswax melts.......then pour into whatever container you have decided to use for your herbal healing salve.

Wagon Fixed

July 24, 2015 - I felt better about spending $65 for tires for this little red wagon after I got some use from it.  I need to spend a whole day going around and trimming low hanging branches.  Since my mowing tractor is so tall, it doesn't fit under the low branches.  Even if I duck, the roll bar behind me does not!  There have been a few times when I thought a whole branch was going to get pulled down on me; therefore, I do not duck anymore!

I did get the yard mowed yesterday but I still have trimming to do.  I sure wish the weedeater was working!  I spent $79 having it tuned up and It is out of adjustment already.  I wouldn't even mind all the yanking to get it started if it weren't for the fingers that stick closed.  When that happens, I can't let go of the pull rope because my hand won't open!  Of course there are always small limbs and sticks blown down.  As I am climbing on and off this tractor to pick them up, I wonder if I will still be climbing on and off this thing at 80 years old!!!

Preparing for an Herb Day

7/23/15 - Not much going on today.  I plan to finally get my Coneflower "Cheyenne Spirit" planted in the herb garden along with some English Lavender.  Of course, there is mowing to finish.  I am getting ready to attend a workshop on Saturday at the Green Turtle Botanical Sanctuary in Nashville, IN.  We will be making an herbal salve and tonic.  Also gathering lots of herbs.  I hope she hands out some live ones, too.  The comfrey and feverfew I have growing at the farm is from a workshop I attended with the same lady prior to 1995. 

I never realized the coneflowers came in so many colors!  This plant has yellow as well as a pretty salmon color bloom.  I'm not sure but one of the traditional purple may also be included.  I got three of these plants and gave one to my friend Ann and one to my friend Debbie........these were in remembrance   of out trip to Mounds State Park to look for Puk-Wud-Jies!

At right, is the tractor tire trying to come off.  It is all fixed now and only cost $16!   Going out now to start some mowing!

A day of ups and downs - mostly downs!

My day started out enjoyably enough, then...............

July 17, 2015 - The day started off great.  I sat on the balcony, read several chapters of "Burn" by Linda Howard and worked a couple suduko puzzles.  Then, I decided instead of being lazy, I should go into town and get diesel fuel for my tractor and start the "hours" of  weekly mowing.  I stopped at Kroger for gas, rested my wallet on top of the car while filling the gas can.  Of course, although I had commented to myself that putting my billfold on top of the car was a stupid thing to do, I did it anyway and also drove away with it on top of the car.  I went to Taco Bell for a Carmel Apple Empanada, took a jog past Wal-Mart to check the flowers, went to Kohl's to see what was on sale, returned to Wal-Mart to purchase a few of the perennials that were on sale.  It was then that I realized my billfold was missing!  I retraced my route, checked with the station attendant, and stopped at the bank to cancel my cards!  Anyway, to make a long story short, someone did find my wallet and came to my house once, left a note,  came back again and returned it - everything intact!  Including my $95, a $50 Macy's gift card, $25 Panera card.  I offered him my 2 twenty dollar bills, he wouldn't take that but finally agreed to take a $20 for gas and time -------------  so happy to give it to him.

I hadn't been mowing when I got home because I was pouting about losing my billfold.  After I got it back, I decided I should go out to mow and promptly drove right out of my front tire.  I guess the tire had leaked enough air (I've had that problem with it before) that it came right off the rim.

I went inside, vowing to do nothing the rest of the day except put away a few clothes from the dryer.  That is when I knocked over the small glass bottle full of bleach and broke it all over the utility room floor.

I left that, went back outside and thought perhaps I should jack-up the tractor and get the metal rim off the rubber.  That went okay.  

But now I get a text from my neighbor, "Can you help, call me."  She was at Meijers grocery and had locked her keys in the car.  Her frozen food was melting!.  Meijers is only about 5 miles from me, so I gladly went after her and her frozen items, got them home, got the spare key and returned her to Meijers to get her car.

It wasn't until the next day that I noticed I had left the gas cap off the tractor after putting in the fuel!  I did search around the barn lot and found the cap.  Yeah!

It was also the next day when my kitty, Lilu died.  I only had her about a year after she was left behind by the renter.  He said she was about 10.  I found out that she had kitty HIV when I took her to the vet for a rattle in her chest and shots.  There wasn't much they could do for her.  She got a couple shots at different times, she would perk up and feel better for awhile, but she finally quit eating and couldn't go anymore.  RIP Lilu, Lulu, Dodah, Doodie ----all the names I called my little buddy, the purringest cat I've ever seen.

Choice

July 9, 2015 - I have been reading more books lately.  I think it is because television programs are so awful plus the fact that commercials seem to go on and on forever!  I get so tired of someone, something, someplace forcing information at me about products they are promoting.  It is EVERYWHERE!  Make a call, get put on hold while they feed their ads in your ear.  Walk through Wal-Mart, endcaps contain automatic startup of ads to pitch some product.  Don't forget that all the TV's in the electronics department are tuned in to promote yet another product.  Go to the grocery, out comes your receipt and more surveys, coupons, ads!  Well, that is the reason I am reading more - to get away from commercials, etc. 
  I just want to make a comment on the book Secrets of the Light by Dannion Brinkley.  Actually the material seemed to be exactly like every other Near Death Experience review.  Nothing particularly revealing.  The one statement that I did click with  was a simple sentence:


"What we DO in our lives is not as important as WHY we do it."  So, what really matters --- our INTENT, the motivating factors supporting any action taken.

Cellutlitis - July 9, 2015

July 9, 2015 - This is a picture of a place on my leg that will not heal.  I have tried everything on it for about three weeks or more.  I even tried the baking soda paste to pull out poison from an insect bite.  I truly do not know how I got the original abrasion.  I do know I always have a problem with any injury to my legs, probably because of the poor circulation, varicose vein situation.  I finally broke down and went to the doctor July 7.  He said it looked like cellulitis to him.  I am now on some huge capsules (4 cephalexin 500mg capsules) for the next 10 days. I believe I have this condition because when I was young, I fell asleep with a sunlamp on my legs.  I had a pretty severe burn which I feel left the tissue and skin of my lower legs susceptible to this condition.  The fact that I have varicose veins and poor circulation also enables this to occur whenever there is an injury to my lower leg.  The right leg seems to be worse.  Anyway, you know what they say about leg problems.  It is an indication that you fear to move forward, stuck.

I also began to wonder if the initial wound was the result of a lyme tick.  Anyway, with the drug I am taking now, I should be good as new in no time. 


 

Dad's Tree and Spirit Orbs

July 1, 2015 -




This Red Maple Tree was given to my dad as a Father's Day gift by my ex-husband and me sometime before Dad's death in 1979,  probably around 1976.  Since I am back at the farm, the tree is always there - outside my kitchen window, outside my back door.  So, every time I see it  I have this little "conscious click" of a memory/reminder of my dad.  I took this picture thinking I would post it to Facebook with the above note.   Anybody a believer in spirit orbs?  They are definitely evident in this photo. The one white streak, one on the bottom leaves to the right of the trunk, one in the grass near the other tree base to the left, also a tiny streak near the bottom.