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10/18/2023

Happy newsletter Wednesday, my friend!!

I've got a lot to share today, and lots of things you'll be interested in, so buckle up!

First of all, I hope you're ready for a rockin' week next week! It's my friend, Shelby's from Farminence, annual livestock summit! I promise you won't want to miss this. With over 20 experts in various aspects of animal raising/training/healing plus some traditional food skills like cultured dairy (cheese-making) and others thrown in, it's definitely worth saving a seat! Best of all, it's FREE.

Don't wait---sign up here now so you can watch the presentations most relevant to you:

​2023 Homestead Livestock Summit​

If you already know you're going to want the All-Access Pass, which gives you the ability to watch on your own time and to take advantage of tons of valuable bonuses, just click below:

​2023 Homestead Livestock Summit All-Access Pass​

(It's a steal for all the workshops you're getting!)

Guess what?

***I'm speaking too!

I'll be teaching about how to use herbs and essential oils safely with animals (including pets), and All Access Pass VIP's also receive my 70 page guide that includes recipes and formulas for your animals, plus adjustments for species and sizes.

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Comfrey, a Favorite Plant for Bones, Skincare and More

Let's talk about comfrey (Symphytum officinale) as a medicinal herb for a quick moment. There's a lot of conflicting information out there about comfrey, but it's one of my favorite plants to work with!

Native Americans used comfrey as a sacred healing plant, using it both topically and internally. They also used it in cooking and to feed their animals. In Ireland during the great potato famine, many ate comfrey as food to survive.

My favorite ways to work with comfrey as a healing plant is for soothing aches and sprains and even broken bones. My preferred method in these cases are poultices or soothing salves. If there are no medical contraindications and if the individual has healthy kidneys and liver, then once in awhile I may suggest drinking comfrey tea in conjunction with the salves or poulticing, once to twice a day, for only two to three weeks.

Why the caution on eating or drinking comfrey when historically it's been used for both food and medicine?

Well, recently scientists have discovered constituents called pyrralizidine alkaloids, which can cause liver issues in some individuals when taken in very large amounts or for extended periods of time. Now, this caution is based on a study done on rats which were injected with huge amounts of comfrey, more than a human would ever ingest ratio-wise, but most herbalists still caution clients about either not consuming it at all or just a bit in extreme cases. Although, I do know of a couple of herbalists who have had a bit to drink every single day for twenty years or more!

The thing is, we just don't know of ill-effects until there ARE ill-effects on our bodies. So, it's better to be safe than sorry, in my opinion.

Another favorite reason I love using comfrey is in healing salve. Comfrey is en excellent choice for working with people who have osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and other forms of arthritis, and who experience fractures in the spine or other bones.

It's ALSO exceptional as a skincare herb and one of my favorites to infuse in oil and use topically for beautiful skin. It's healing and soothing for speeding tissue regeneration due to it's ability to speed cell turnover. This is because it is very high in a compound called allantoin, which is incredible.

Anti-aging formulas? Yes! Comfrey please!

Also---it's super easy to grow. I now have nearly 30 plants scattered around my property, and I love planting it under trees, as it nourishes the soil by fixing nitrogen. It spreads easily, so take care, but if you have the space, add some comfrey to your garden!

You may enjoy this latest video I made for a client who came to me recently with osteoporosis and tiny fractures in her spine. In it, I share my latest salve formula for you! It works for both pains and supporting the health of bones.

Check out the video and get the recipe by clicking the link below:

​Herbal Salve Formulation for Back Pain, Small Fractures, and Osteoporosis Support​

**I would love if you would "like," "share," and subscribe to my YouTube Channel. Our channel just made it to 32,000 subscribers, and my goal is 50K by the end of the year! I know that's a really BIG goal, but with your help, we can reach it. Please tell your friends, too!

If you love herbalism, aromatherapy, natural living, and the occasional pep talk, you'll love Healing Harvest Homestead's YouTube Channel! ​

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More Botanical Tips from the Website and YouTube

If you're new here to my weekly newsletter, you may not know that my website, Healing Harvest Homestead, has literally hundreds of useful articles on herbalism, using essential oils, traditional homestead recipes, being prepared, and more! There's a fully searchable INDEX that includes both my videos from YouTube and the Website as well.

Enjoy it all! It's free for you, and my hope is that I can help you continue learning to be more self-sufficient, especially when it comes to health.

Now here's the latest:

1) Five Quick Tips on Using Herbs and Oils with Animals

In this quick video, I share how to go about getting started using medicinal herbs and essential oils to help your pets and animals remain healthy....or possible to help them feel much better.

​Five Quick Tips on Using Herbs and Oils with Animals​

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2) Using Essential Oils for Grief and Difficult Times

I made this video along with a wonderful, helpful essential oil roller blend, because in the past week, I've two people come to me with some pretty bad struggles. The way we manage our thoughts is everything in tough situations, and essential oils can really be helpful in the process. If you need a little help, you'll probably really love this formula I created.

​Using Essential Oils for Grief and Difficult Times + a Formula to Make​

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3) How to Preserve Herbs in Salt Two Ways, Featuring Basil Infused Salt Recipe

Did you know you can use salt to preserve herbs that just don't like to be preserved? And also ones that do? Yep! In this updated article, I share two different ways to make herb-salt that is so delicious! Sprinkle it here and there, and use it in your cooking....SO good!

​How to Preserve Herbs in Salt Two Ways​

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Encouragement and Inspiration

I am an empath, are you?

The reason I know this about myself is because I just can't watch the news anymore. And when someone has a tragedy, like one of the ladies who came to my clinic/shop/office in town to ask for help last week, I cried right along with her when she shared with me. So many things hurt my heart, and some really make my heart sing. I tend to feel ALL the feelings in a situation, and sometimes I have to leave to protect myself.

But we can't stay in that place. Even if you are a steel pillar of an emotional powerhouse, emotional stress can take its toll, especially if you bury emotions.

Emotional stress can actually contribute to making us sick, especially over the long term. Our lymph gets stuck, our circulation worsens, our hearts have issues, and so do many other body organs. We just can't escape the fact that our psyche is completely tied up with our emotional wellness AND our spiritual wellness.

We really must do our best to stay in a healthy state of mind. This doesn't mean being like Pollyanna, all goody two shoes and not ever looking honestly at a situation, even if it's ugly. It DOES mean managing our thinking so that we can manage our feeling and in turn, stay well.

One of my favorite verses is Proverbs 17:22:

"A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."

We never know when we're going to have trouble, but the Good Book tells us we will....and what to do about it. Our healthy thoughts and being able to stay in a state of gratitude no matter what is vital to experiencing a good life and our best health.

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On the Homestead

The maple trees we planted a couple of years ago are tall and bright red! They're so beautiful! We still haven't had a freeze, which is very unusual for this time of year, so it's coming. Our tomatoes have slowed down, and I've been gathering the greens and the reds, both.

I have an amazing Red and Green Lacto-Fermented Salsa recipe you might like, if you're gathering last minute tomatoes like I am. You may also love my Fried Green Tomato recipe that's so fun this time of year as we bring in the greenies!

Our chickens are loving the leftovers from the garden, and I'm still scrambling to harvest more medicinals, too. My herb room at home is jam-packed with drying and dehydrated herbs I need to garble and bottle up.

I think I'm really ready for the cold months, where time slows down a little bit. I hope you are too, if you're in the Northern hemisphere! If you're Down Under, you're gearing up for spring, and both of these times of year are just so delightful.

Hugs, Health, and Self-Reliance,

Heidi

P.S. Don't forget to head over and save your seat to the 2023 Homestead Livestock Summit!​

P.P.S. If you visit my YouTube channel, please do comment & like my videos (I'm still a small channel, and I answer them all), share my videos with friends, subscribe to the channel, and enjoy the free herbal information!

P.P.P.S. You can get your FREE Herbal Guide and Five Favorite Remedies for Animals HERE, if you haven't picked it up yet!

P.P.P.P.S. Sorry about all the things I forgot to say, but do forward this note to a friend if there's anything in here that you think would be helpful.

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