(The podcast episode for this post can be found here: https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-i72sc-146b763)

We are all looking for effective and natural remedies to everyday health probems so I’ve come up with a top 5 of remedies we use as a family.

1 Garlic and honey – Boost your immune system – This is something I make up and keep on hand always. All you need is a clean and sterilised jar, put in about 15 cloves of garlic and top up with honey.

Turn it over every so often as the cloves need to be kept in the honey and away from air (so use a small jar and fill it!). Eventually the cloves will sink to the bottom (after a few days). I usually take this as one 5ml teaspoon 3-5 times a day when I’m feeling under the weather. In fact, for the last chest infection I had I used this and ate the cloves as part of my treatment: I’m not saying this is a cure for chest infections but as an asthmatic I wanted to see if it would work for me instead of having another round of antibiotics. (I also used fire cider, thyme oxymel and a bay leaf sugar solution I found on YT: no antibiotics this time)

2 Lemon Balm – Great for anxiety or just needing to feel calmer. I planted it in the garden and allotment before I found out it is an aggressive spreader like mint and should be planted in a pot in the ground to restrict its spread. However, a handful of leaves in a teapot, leave to steep for 5 minutes and drink at your leisure, does wonders to relieve the stresses of the day. I’ve heard people complain about the taste but I don’t know what they are talking about – I think its lovely! I have also found lemon balm listed as an ingredient used in tablets for anxious dogs which I thought was very interesting and worth further investigation at some point.

3 Oats for itching – this is a new one on me. I mean, I’ve read about it somewhere a long time ago but never tried it until recently. You see, I get contact dermatitis on my left hand, on 2 fingers – which means I often can’t wear my wedding ring. I got so sick of the ‘creams’ prescribed I decided to look for something else and came up with oats. I took the porridge out the cupboard and ground it down, mixed it with a little water to make a paste and covered my poor hand in it! I’ve tried a few different ways of applying and removing and for me, the best way seems to be leaving it on uncovered for about 20 minutes until it dries then gently flaking it off. When I did this I couldn’t believe how cool, soft and smooth my skin felt. The itch had stopped and the redness calmed. Sadly the next time I tried it I washed the paste off and the water just seemed to make the problem occur again so I will be gently rubbing it off from now on!

4 Cornflowers for itchy eyes – recently dearest son had a real problem with one of his eyes being red and itchy which got so bad I took him to the optician to see if something major was causing it. Thankfully it turned out to be mild conjunctivitis and they gave him some drops. However, my brain started clicking and I thought ‘I’ve read about this somewhere’. A quick check in my notebook and sure enough I find a record saying you can use cornflowers (or fennel seeds) to relieve eye problems. I had some dried from last year so I popped a few in my herb teapot (a recent acquirement from a second hand store), put in hot water and allowed to steep. When cooled, we soaked a cotton wool pad in the liquid and put on son’s eye. Could not believe how quick it worked; had to apply a few times but apparently the relief he felt was pretty much instant and after a few days the problem went away completely.

5 Nettles for allergies – Hay fever runs rampant in our house and as one of the things I’ve been able to ‘grow’ on our allotment is nettle, it seemed a good idea to use it for something good – enter nettle tea! Nettles are a very nutritious food but apparently they are also good for counter-acting seasonal allergies such as hay fever. As I have found the easiest and quickest way to use many of the herbs I’m aware of is in the form of a tea, this was an easy and tasty way to try this remedy. I now always have a large jar of dried nettle leaves, ground up and ready at hand. I also found a recipe to make nettle pasta – when I get round to that I will let you know how it turned out!