Two articles in the past few weeks have focused on the medicinal uses of gelatin and ways to use gelatin in the kitchen.  To be sure, using the commercially produced stuff, like Knox Gelatine, is the easiest way to go.  It’s fairly inexpensive when purchased in bulk and stores indefinitely.  For other uses in the kitchen, like an egg substitute or in making marshmallows, it’s really the only way to go.  For the medicinal uses, however, extracting gelatin from animal bones at home is perfectly acceptable, and perhaps even preferred. Most of us have already made gelatin on nu ..read more

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on nutritional needs and deficiencies that you might wish make sure you have covered in your food storage supplies and plans.  No medication or supplement, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care.  A qualified, licensed physician or other medical provider should be consulted before beginnin ..read more

(The spelling of this word is enough to drive a person crazy.  Apparently, sty, stye, sties, and styes are all correct.) Over the last semester or so, it appears Becky has been plagued by styes.  She finally went to the health clinic and was given some antibiotic eye drops.  But she hasn’t been impressed.  Her condition hasn’t improved much.  And so I figured it would be a good topic to research.  From The Ship’s Medicine Chest and Medical Aid at Sea: A sty is an abscess of the small oil glands along the margin of an eyelid.  There is usually a painful red lu ..read more

It’s been a couple of years since I first posted on the medicinal uses of basil.  I have to admit, medicinal uses of this herb aren’t my favorite.  I mean, just inhale the delightful aroma of basil fresh from the garden.  How can you not want to just eat it?  Maybe this will be the year that I have such an overabundance that I can make some medicine as well.  For the most medicinal basil salves, begin by making an oil infusion with freshly dried basil.  You can use the slow method given here, or either of the faster methods provided in the article on making oil in ..read more

is finally done and available for sale on Amazon. Many days it felt like it would never happen.  The constant research and re-writing are part and parcel to compiling an herbal reference.  I did not bank on the guy I selected to do the formatting introducing more of his own errors into the manuscript and adding in typos along the way.  And then expecting me to correct them.  And messing with the indexing.  And making excuses all along the way for why a project he promised to deliver in two weeks took a full eight weeks.  For the first three deadlines he missed ..read more

Being a wife and mother is the absolute best career in the world.  Sure, there are those days when I wanted to trade places with my husband—the baby is puking everywhere, 4-year-old QOTPE is mad at Lydia, so she decides to frame her for the crime of drawing on the walls (but she got busted by Dad instead… bwahaha), 12-year-old Jared decides the ironing board would make a fine ladder for reaching the top shelf of the closet—and then somehow believes that we won’t notice that he hasn’t bent it back into shape, 3-year-old Becky chops all her beautiful hair off, applies a whole tube of lipsti ..read more

One of the things that has always impressed me as I read the Old Testament was the importance the Lord placed on the observance of holy days, especially the feast days.  Feast.  Food.  The importance of good eats.  Not for every day, of course, but special occasions.  Food is largely what makes most occasions special.  As our family observed a special occasion last week, my husband wanted me to make Lipton’s onion soup mix dip, to be accompanied by potato chips and carrot and celery sticks.  Because I love him, I obliged—happily.  However, I don’t think ..read more

(This was supposed to have posted two months ago.  I have no idea what happened.  Life as a computer-impaired person.) My husband called me at 4:44AM to lament about his morning commute.  (Yes, he did know that I would be awake; otherwise, it would have been a rude time to make a phone call.)  Snowing, white-out conditions, he couldn’t see the road, going maybe 25MPH, and navigating by the reflectors on the snow poles.  He said he wanted me to give our daughter an advisory on the road conditions before she departed herself in a few minutes.  The snow wasn’t going ..read more

You know why they call it a textbook case?  Because it follows the textbook exactly.  It’s a classic, perfect example.  There is no deviation.  It’s a no brainer.  If you can read the textbook, you can diagnose the problem and suggest treatment as well as a doctor.  And how often do those textbook cases occur?  Not often, I’d venture.  It’s also why society refers to physicians as those who practice medicine.  There are so many variables that come into play and affect the ability to diagnose a problem.  The most common and serious is that too m ..read more

One of my great fears for at least the past 45 years, long before I even gave a thought to preparedness, was losing the use of my hands.  I’ve always loved handwork of any kind.  My paternal grandmother taught me to crochet, knit, and embroider probably around the age of seven.  My maternal grandmother covered other kinds of crafts.  I’ve never been one to sit and do nothing.  If I happened to be watching TV, I had to have a project.  And now that I appear to be approaching senior citizen status and ridiculous aches and pains materialize out of thin air, I’m start ..read more