A
quick, upward glance at the sunlight filtering through
the canopy of trees signals that
it’s about time to head back to camp. The crisp, pungent
smell of the forest floor reminds you how much you needed
this family vacation.
You can almost smell the trout that you and Billy caught early
this morning frying in the pan over the open fire. Just as your
stomach begins to rumble in anticipation, you hear a scream.
Your head snaps around and you can see Billy just a few yards
down the trail, his arms flapping wildly around his head. Back
over the log you jump, and running reach him in just seconds.
Billy has upset one very angry wasp.
Whipping off your cap, you swat it away and while it’s
stunned lying on the ground you send the nasty critter
off to meet his insect brothers in
the great beyond.
Quick examination shows that Billy has been bitten repeatedly
by the wasp and is in some serious pain. No medicine cabinet
and no drugstore for miles. Your emergency medical kit is back
at camp.
Eyes darting around the ground near the
trail, you spot just what you need. Grabbing a handful
of leaves from what looks like
a weed, you toss a few in your mouth and chew them quickly.
You apply the poultice to the red welts appearing on
Billy’s
arms and face.
Almost as quickly as his screams began,
Billy stops crying. Wiping away his tears with the back
of his hand, he manages a
crooked grin and a sheepish, “thanks Dad.”
Disaster averted.
As you and Billy begin the hike back to camp, you remember that
book you purchased online about herbal remedies and acknowledge
it was money well spent!
If you enjoy the outdoors and all the fun and memories that
go along with spending time with Mother Nature, chances are you
may have had a similar situation once or twice.
There are thousands of plants that can
treat just as many ailments. In this particular case,
Billy won’t even require and medical
attention and by the time the family vacation comes to
an end, so will the memory of this incident.
What is so amazing about herbal remedies
is their close association to our modern medicines. Most
of our current “wonder drugs” have
a botanical connection.
Sadly, many of those medicines contain much more than simple
botanicals. Stuffed with chemicals, allergens and who knows what
else, we are fast becoming a medicated society.
We’ve got pills to make us sleep, pills to wake us up,
pills to make us eat and pills to curb the appetite. It’s
absolutely crazy. Whatever ails you there’s a pill to take
care of it.
The good news is, that you can learn
to wean yourself from your medicine cabinet. For every
ailment that you are currently taking
pills to correct, there’s a natural remedy that can take
it’s place.
Do you know what Dad used to stop the
pain for Billy? Are you aware it’s a simple plant that you probably know very well?
In fact, you probably dig them out of the cracks in your driveway
every couple of weeks during the growing season. It’s called “Plantain.”
If you are sick and tired of being over-medicated, you
can take control and start a journey toward natural herbal
remedies. After all, natural remedies served the human
race very well before we became so smart!
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