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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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