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Everlasting
Gardener’s
Improving Your Herb
Know-How
Publisher: Joanie Lapic Volume Number 2
Issue Number 16 Date: August 15, 2009 |
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“Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on
the face of the whole earth
. . . And to . . . Everything that has the breath of life in it I give
every green plant for food.’”
Gen.1: 29,30
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If you have questions about any information in these
articles, or if you
need any supplies or products, please contact
Joanie Lapic, Everlasting Gardener
Phone -- 724-846-4787
e-mail --
joanie@everlastinggardener.com
Following this link to my website may also help you find what you are
looking for:
Herb Specialist Joanie Lapic Everlasting
Gardener
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IN THIS ISSUE:
~ Herbs are natural, whole
substances
(“Six Reasons” series)
~ Labor Day DRAWING
~ August SPECIAL
~ Herbal Highlight
~ Do You Need Aromatherapy?
~ Upcoming Classes
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Herbs are natural, whole substances
(“Six Reasons” series)
This is fourth in the series, which began in my July 1, 2009 newsletter.
HERBS ARE NATURAL, WHOLE SUBSTANCES
Just like food, Herbs are plants that are nutritious. Herbs contain
hundreds, probably thousands, of natural phyto-chemicals. These include
vitamins, minerals and many other nutritional parts. All of these
ingredients work together to bring health and balance to the body.
When the body is brought back into balance, it is able to heal itself. This
is the
basic idea behind holistic medicine. I should explain that Herbs are NOT
simple chemical compounds, like modern drugs. Modern drugs (pharmaceuticals)
are chemicals, often manmade, which are not found in nature. They are made
that way so that they can be patented. Natural substances cannot be
patented, thus they cannot be financially exploited, and that is why
pharmaceutical companies are often the origin of misinformation about Herbs
and natural nutrition products.
There are benefits to using whole substances rather than isolated chemical
compounds. The main benefit of Herbs is that, as natural
substances, they are immediately recognized by the body as nutrition, and so
are readily digested and assimilated, just as food is.
If you believe, as many spiritual traditions teach, that our all-wise
Creator gave us Herbs to heal every affliction and fulfill every nutritional
need of the human body, Herbs make sense. Even if you do not agree with this
spiritual point of view, the use of Herbs is logical from an evolutionary
standpoint. Our bodies have evolved to be able to use the natural compounds
contained in plants for tissue repair.
This is another important reason why so many people use Herbs to heal their
health problems.
If you have any question about any Herbs or their uses, please
contact Joanie.
To visit Joanie’s online Herb
supplement
store.
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Labor Day DRAWING
For every 3 perennial OR windowsill
Herbs you purchase
between Aug. 15 and
Sept. 5, you get one chance to win 2
Herb plants OR two
Pocket Therapies.
(Buy 6 Herb plants, get 2 chances, buy 9 Herbs, get 3 chances, etc.) The
drawing will be done about Sept. 7 and the winner will be announced by Sept.
10, ’09.
Your prize must be picked up at Joanie's Gardens before Oct. 1, 2009.
Please call Joanie for your
appointment to come and choose your Herbs.
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August SPECIAL
When you come to Joanie’s office for your
Health Profile during August,
receive a FREE
Foot Reflexology session (an added $20.00 value).
Please call for your appointment. You’ll be so glad you did.
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Herbal Highlight
COMFREY
Symphytum officinale
Comfrey enjoys growing in moist fields,
meadows and gardens, in full or part sun, and thrives in temperate
conditions. It can grow 4 or more feet high when given high amounts of
nutrients.
As early as the first century, A.D., Comfrey’s curative powers were extolled
by Dioscorides, a famous ancient Roman medical officer, who used it to treat
bruises and bone fractures. To this day, it has a reputation for healing
broken and fractured bones, bruises and sores, thus its common name “Knit
Bone”. It contains many beneficial substances in its leaves, including:
calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and vitamins A, C and B12.
To use Comfrey, harvest the leaves in the summer, and the roots in the fall.
To consume Comfrey, the leaves can be chopped and added to your salad, or
eaten like spinach. The stems can be cooked like asparagus.
For cosmetic purposes, make a tea of the leaves and add to baths and lotions
to soften the skin. You can make an excellent oil to use externally on skin
conditions such as eczema and other skin irritations. Pack clean, dry,
chopped leaves into a glass jar, pour in warm oil such as olive oil, apply a
screw-top lid, label and leave to sit undisturbed in a dark place for
exactly two years. Strain into another jar, then use as needed. You can also
make a poultice by putting the fresh leaves between two pieces of clean
cloth, dip in very warm water and squeeze out, then apply to burns, rough
skin, cuts, aching joints, sprains, sores, and to reduce swelling around
fractures.
To make an effective fertilizer for your other Herbs and garden vegetables
(especially tomatoes and potatoes – high potash content), pick the stems,
dry for 48 hours, then lay on the ground below the plants you want to
fertilize. Or you can make a “tea” by soaking about 2 pounds of leaves into
2 ½ gallons of water, stirring daily, strain and use the liquid to water
plants when no bubbles appear when stirred.
Comfrey should be taken internally (as a tea) only in moderation, as one of
its components, pyrrolizidine alkaloids, can cause liver distress when taken
in higher than therapeutic doses.
(some information obtained from "The Complete Book of Herbs“, by Leslie
Bremness, and from “The Complete Guide to Natural Healing”, section 9, card
# 22)
Joanie has several good-sized Comfrey plants available. Please
contact her for availability
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Do You Need Aromatherapy?
People from all over western
Pennsylvania and beyond are using – and acclaiming – Joanie’s new
Pocket
Therapy products.
Many people, young and old, are finding relief using these essential
oil-rich portable Aromatherapy products, developed and manufactured by
Joanie.
Do you know someone who has bouts of fuzzy thinking at work or school OR
because of their age?
Give them “MEMORY” as a gift.
Have a friend or relative who suffers from nasty, miserable hot flashes?
Help them find blessed relief with “COOL FLASHES”.
Know someone who has allergies or asthma, affecting their breathing?
Open their airways with “BREATHE FREE”.
Who doesn’t have stressful days at home, school, or the office?
Get de-stressed with “CALM”.
Someone you know has painful joints.
Relieve aching joints and muscles with “JOINT
RESTORE”.
At only $5.00 each half-ounce tin, these concentrated salves can bring
relief of these common symptoms of everyday life - which no one need
tolerate anymore.
Pocket Therapies can be mailed to you. Contact Joanie to find out how.
Try some Pocket Therapies, then take it a step further by making your
appointment to see Joanie for a Health consultation. Until the end of
August, you receive a
Foot Reflexology treatment with your Health
consultation – a $20.00 value.
Make you appointment today to have your health analyzed --
and purchase some Aromatherapy healing while you’re at
Joanie’s office.
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Upcoming Classes
Saturday, August 22, 2009
3:00 pm
Pesto Party
Help gather the ingredients from Joanie’s Gardens (fresh Parsley, Basil,
etc.)
Together we’ll process them into the famous ‘paste’.
We’ll sample some on Focaccia or multi grain crackers.
And you take some home with you.
We’ll also explore the art of cooking with other Herbs and their flowers.
$12.00 per person. Take $1.00 off each when attending with a friend.
Your deposit of $6.00 must be in Joanie’s
mailbox by Aug. 20.
You may call for availability
after that date.
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When I feel empty and alone, He fills the aching vacuum with His power. My
security is in His promise to be near me always, and in the knowledge that
He will never let go.
- From “Psalms Now” by Leslie F. Brandt
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