Mama's Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health and the Pleasures of Natural Livin, Svetlana Konnikova [classic fiction .TXT] 📗

fairy tales and illustrate them with images of beautiful sleeping young women. The arched and curved vines of this plant are closely interwoven and form impenetrable brushwoods, which are riddled with sharp,

crooked thorns. In Europe this plant blooms in late fall

with big, beautiful, and aromatic wild rose blossoms. Because of the dense brush and dangerous thorns, the

flowers and tasty berries are inaccessible to wildlife, except birds.

One of the first herbal infusions I became familiar

with as a child was marsh cudweed ( Gnaphalium uligi-

nosum) tea. The herb is a dwarf, evergreen shrub with a strong, camphor-like fragrance.

This herb was well loved by my family, and we

had many plants in our stock of herbs to complement it

in our home-made infusions or tonics like elecampane;

astringents like mullein; elder flowers as a phlegm-reducing herb; or wild lettuce as a cough suppressant. The tea of marsh cudweed is used widely throughout Russia to treat colds, bronchial asthma, and rheumatism. This natural healer is an anti-inflammatory fighter, tones up the respiratory system, and gives temporary relief of persistent, hacking cough and shortness of breath.

Here are several remedies:

R 46. Combine 1½ ounces of marsh cudweed herb in a pot with one quart of boiling water. Steep five minutes and drink about 12

ounces five or six times a day. The course of treatment runs from 5–14 days.

66 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

R 47. Combine 1/8 ounce marsh cudweed herb and ½ ounce nettle leaves with one quart boiling water and steep five minutes. Drink four ounces five to six times a day. Repeat this procedure for five to seven days.

My family used to make another natural medicinal drink called “Bloody tea.” It includes another great healing plant, hawthorn ( Crataegus oxyacantha). This herb’s blossoms are sometimes blood red with five delicate petals. The berries of the hawthorn plant are usually red, but sometimes red-yellow. This plant, especially its flowers, is an effective natural medicine for colds. R 48. Combine three tablespoons hawthorn flowers with 24 ounces boiling water and steep overnight in a preheated, cooling oven. The next morning filter and warm the mixture. Adults can take one cup three times a day. Children may have two ounces three times a day.

It can be beneficial to eat delicious creams made with black currants because they are rich in vitamin C, glucose, and essential oils. Year-round our herbal stock contained a delicious and effective remedy that we called Black Sofia, which we made from black currants. We named this healing desert Sofia, a woman’s name that means wisdom.

R 49. Make Black Sofia vitamin cream. Wash one pound of black currants and dry them on a napkin. Combine with two pounds of organic brown sugar in a blender and whip. Store the mixture in a glass jar in the refrigerator. Drink hot herbal tea, chamomile, linden, mint, raspberry, green tea, or a blend of Indian and Ceylon teas or a glass of warm milk and eat two to three teaspoons of Black Sofia cream. It is a simple remedy, which is also helpful when recovering from colds, tonsil itis, laryngitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, bronchial asthma, headaches, and nervous disorders. Stop Sneezes and Sniffles and Stifle a Cold @ 67

R 50. Wash one tablespoon rose hips and combine with 16 ounces boiling water. Boil 10 minutes, cool, filter, and add one tablespoon honey. Mix and drink four ounces three times a day. R 51. To make our family drink, Sweet Kiss, you wil need one cup grape juice, 24 ounces spring water, four ounces red wine, (Cabernet Sauvignon), four tablespoons organic sugar or honey, and one grated lemon or orange peel. Bring spring water to the boiling point and add sugar or honey and orange or lemon peel. Boil three to five minutes, cool, filter, and add grape juice and red wine. Pour the liquid from the pot into a glass pitcher. Drink one cup once or twice a day for your recovery and pleasure. R 52. Cherry Milk. Combine one quart of milk with one cup of cherry syrup (carried in supermarkets and health food stores) and one quart of mineral water (S. Pelegrino, Perrier or other). Mix and drink 8–24 ounces a day to cleanse your internal organs.

Natural raspberry and strawberry drinks also help to cleanse internal organs.

R 53. Juice 24 ounces of strawberries or raspberries. Add the juice of two lemons, one cup of sugar or honey, and three quarts of mineral water. Mix and drink one cup two or three times a day. R 54. Grandmother’s and Grandfather’s Old World Sore Throat

“Tonic.” Sunshine in smal doses can be healthy for you. Every day take a seat or lie down on a blanket in the bright sun for five minutes. Face the sun with your eyes closed and your mouth open widely. Sunbeams wil penetrate the throat and heal it with its natural warmth and ultraviolet rays. Try this for two weeks. R 55. In Russia wild marjoram (this herb is caled dushitsa) is a oneof-a-kind nectariferous herb which serves as a pungent tonic, 68 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

and stimulant. It is a great healer of a sore throat. Combine two tablespoons