Dandelion

Dandelion ( Teraxacum officinale) is a small plant with lovely yellow flowers. Grows everywhere.

  

        It is very good for liver, bile, kidneys and the whole organism. Dandelion purifies blood, lowers blood cholesterol, eliminates toxins.

Helps with metabolic disorder, rheumatism, chronic spleen diseases, digestion. It's good against blood thickening, reduces kidney stones and gallstones. It is also good for dermatitis, vericose veins, obesity, constipation, anemia and cellulite.

The whole plant is used for healing.

LEAVES

 Leaves can be eaten raw as a salad, or cooked ( in water, just for a few minutes) and seasoned with some lemon juice and olive oil .The whole plant can  also be used for a salad.

The best time for picking leaves is early in the spring, before blooming, while they are young and gentle. For therapeutic purposes it's not important if the leaves are young or old, but younger have better taste.

You can also make tea from fresh or dried leaves.

        

STEMS

You can eat rowe stems in case of chronic liver diseases, diabetes, rash, stomach problems, methabolism, rheumatism, spleen.

Gather the stems while the plant is in bloom. Pick it together with the flower, wash it, remove the flower and eat the stem. For chronic liver diseases eat 5-6 fresh stems a day. In case of diabetes, eat to 10 stems a day.

        

ROOTS

Roots are gathered in spring and in the autumn. They can be used fresh or dried for tea. Roots purify blood, help digestion, work against blood thickening.

   

Two ways of making the tea from dandelion roots

1. In ¼ l of cold water put 1 teaspoon of roots and leave it during the night. Next day warm it till it boiles and then strain . Drink the half, sip by sip, half an hour before breakfast. Drink the rest, sip by sip half an hour after the breakfast.

2. Two tablespoons of roots cook in ½ l of water for 10 minutes. Than leave it at least for an hour, strain it and drink one cup before every meal.

Lavender

          What a lovely plant! I just love it's wonderful colour and smell.

          Lavender is a great decoration for your home or in the garden. It is also a very useful plant. It attracts butterflys, bumblebees and other bugs so it is good to have it in a garden.

          It is a very interesting spice. Parasites and insect repellent. And of course an excellent remedy for many diseases and conditions.

                                                                                                                                          

                    

As a remedy, lavander is used for : tea, oil, tincture, vinegar, herbal bags, cream and essential oil.

Tea                     

It is made from flowers ( fresh or dry ) and  has interesting, intense smell and taste of lavender. I like to add honey in my lavender tea. It has taste like a candy. Reminds me on a hot summer days.

Lavender tea is good for:

relaxing,

calming nerves,

insomnia,

headache,

digestion ( it enhances digestion and helps with flatulence ),

liver,

cold and infection of respiratory system.

To make tea, boil one cup ( 2 dl ) of water and pour it over one teaspoon of lavender flowers. Cover and leave for 2 or 5 minutes ( for fresh flowers leave less than 2 min ). Strain and drink few cups a day. For stomach problems and flatulence it is better to drink unsweeten tea.

Tincture

Tincture is good for rheumatic pain in the muscles and joints, for insect bites, skin itching. Rub the painful areas with the tincture. For insect bites just apply the tincture or make a compress.

Making the tincture

         You can make it just from flowers or flowers with little bit of stems.

Put the flowers ( fresh or dry ) into glass jar and pour alcohol over it. Close the lid and leave it in a sunny place for 2 weeks. Shake the jar from time to time.

After 2 weeks, strain the tincture and pour it in a dark glass bottle. Keep it in a dark, dry and cool place.

Lavender oil

Good for relaxing muscles, neck pain, skin ( helps to regenerate the skin ), arthritic and rheumatic pain. For skin problems apply the oil on the skin, rub it gently. In other cases massage the painful areas with oil for some time.

Making the oil

Take the fresh  flowers and put them in a glass jar. Pour over extra virgin olive oil so that it covers the flowers. Close the jar with a lid and leave it in a sunny place or near some heat source for 14 days. Shake it from time to time. Strain the oil and keep it in a dark glass bottle, in a cool, dry and dark place.

Drying  and keeping lavender

                                                                                

       Pick the lavender by cutting their stems, useing a knife or a scissors.

For tea, it is best to cut short stems, below the flowers. They will dry faster than long stems.

 To preserve more curative properties, crush the dry lavender before making the tea. Or if you want to make tea only from flowers, pull them off from the stems.

After picking, place the lavender on a clean cloth or a paper, in thin layer, or make a little bouquet ( in that case, cut longer stems ) and hang it  upside down.

You can dry it outside ( in the shade ), or inside ( away from sun or heat source ).

       

      Keep the dry lavender in a cool, dry and dark place. Best in a paper bag or a glass jar.



About rosemary

Rosemary is an old folk medicine for improving memory. It is used for curing vertigo, cough and illness of respiratory tract. Rosemary can help deactivate cancerougenus. It stimulates passing of urine and blood flow, and  is used for water illness, rheumatism, giht and inflamed joints.

Stimulates releasing bile, becouse of this digestion and bowel emptying is easier.

Rosemary acts soothing, its characteristic sent is relaxing and is used for good mood.

As a part of an old tradition in some countries, like Croatia, rosemary stems with little ribbons on them are put on wedding guests as a decoration, what means that they are part of the wedding group.Guests can sense its lovely aroma and I am sure that it puts them in a good mood, at least it is one way of achieving good mood.

Can be used if someone is feeling weak, tired and stressed after hard work or exercize.

Also rosemary is a good tonic for all skin types, especially for dehydrated, aged or unpure skin.

Rosemary is often used in cooking, I like it especially with fish.

Herbal medicine - sage

        Sage (Salvia officinalis) is a herb used as a remedy since ancient times, it growes 30-70 cm high, has purple flowers and greyish-green leaves. Name salvia in latin means that it saves, cures.

        Often sage is used in cooking meals adding flavour to meat, pasta, etc.

        As a remedy it is used to purify blood, and so gives strength to the whole body. Some say if you drink sage tea every day that than is very hard to get sick. Drinking sage tea several times a day can prevent stroke, is good for cramps ( menstrual), it clears respiratory organs and stomach from mucus, is good for digestion, appetite, diarrhoea.

        Has a good affect on liver and problems relating to it. It is used for diseases of spinal cerebral, gland problems and trembling limbs.

        Fresh leaves can be put on insect bites to relese pain or iching.

        I found it very good for tooth ache and other dental problems. For this take some tea in your mouth and hold it in for a while then spit and repeat at least once more. After few hours you can repeat this process if necessary. In some cases this helps almost instantly.

It is also good for sore throat drinking it or rinsing  the throat and then spiting.

Making sage tea

To make tea in one cup (2dl) of boiled water put one teaspoon of dry sage, stir and leave it covered for 2 minutes, or half a minute if you are using fresh leaves, than strain it.

For some diseases one needs to drink tea several times a day for some period of time to see a result, sometimes sip by sip. Drinking tea sip by sip means that you make tea,  then drink a sip and after some time ( 15-30 minutes, or so) take another, and repeat this until you run out of tea. This can be done with one cup of tea or more (2-4 cups) depending on the disease for witch you are drinking it.

It is best to drink fresh tea, not to hot and not to „old“.

Herbs are an excelent way to give strength to your body and mind they cure some diseases and with others they reduce the symptoms. Take this gift of nature because of it chemical content, or a godsent, or looking at everything as one; what ever of this reasons are valid to you.