A Heaping Helping of Herbs!

  I have long used herbs and spices in place of most over the counter medicines.  I feel that there are just too many other things in those pills and liquids.  This is not to say that I never take medicines.  I do...occasionally...when a doctor tells me I should but that is a rare thing.  At least with my home-grown and wildcrafted herbs, I know what I am getting.  Granted, sometimes it takes a bit longer to cure things this way, but I feel safer.  Then, again, here lately, it seems as if the herbs are doing a far better job than are the "store bought" cure-alls.  Just recently, the dreaded flu bug hit the Little Bayou House in full force.  Mark was the first to come down sick.  For weeks, he stayed ill despite visits to the doctor, lots of prescribed pills, tons of pain killers, over the counter medicines and bed rest.  Two days after his first symptoms, Son and I both contracted the mess.  He and I used herbs and downed bottles of the Bayou Fire Brew.  Our bouts of the mess only lasted three days.  Maybe ours was not full fledged flu but neither of us had the lingering cough and congestion that normally comes with this type of illness.  In fact, we never were congested at all nor had a cough.  

  With the first symptoms  of headache, fever and body aches, I started my regimen. This included me slipping outside in a slight misty rain to find MY "cure-all"....Lyre-leaf Sage.  Since my garden had gone the wayside with the onset of winter, I had to depend on this wild herb to pull me through.  Sage is wonderful for most cold/flu symptoms when used as a tisane and gargle.  The Lyre-leaf Sage has a bit weaker medicinal properties but it is not nearly as strong tasting as the other sages.  When I found the few purplish leaves that had withstood the low temperatures, I snatched them up and added them to my sage blend tisane.  Ahhh, relief from all of those nasty symptoms!  Laugh if you wish but I figure that a three day bout of illness sure beats two weeks in bed feeling miserable!

  Today, Mr. PJ (the old dog) and I found ourselves in the midst of a virtual grove of Lyre-leaf Sage!  I plopped myself down among the plants and started to nibble a leaf. (I felt like a rabbit!)  When I looked at the old dog, he, too, was munching the plants.  Ha!  I think this dog is an herbalist!  He knows a good thing when he smells it!