For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."
a homemade cough syrup that tastes great and really works 🥃
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A lot of people I know have been coming down with something this past week... sniffles, sore throats, fatigue. I'm sure it doesn't help that kids have been home on winter break and everyone tends to spend more time indoors in winter. While some people are inclined to reach for an over-the-counter cough and cold syrup—you know, the "nighttime sniffling sneezing coughing aching stuffy head fever so you can rest medicine"—I'm reminded of a homemade remedy my parents used to make when I was a child that helped relieve cold symptoms naturally (and also helped us sleep better). Chances are, you probably have everything you need to make this same cough syrup at home if you're suffering from the same symptoms right now. (Even if you're not, it's a good recipe to tuck into your back pocket for later.) Knock on wood, my family has been staying healthy so far. Besides eating lots of leafy greens and getting outside as much as we can to soak up that vitamin D, I've been trying new (natural) types of supplements that have promising research behind them. One of these is organic lion's mane mushroom powder, which helps with sluggishness and brain function. A little in my tea or coffee seems to set me up right for a day at my desk! I've also been looking into adaptogens and how they help your body maintain balance, sustain energy, and manage stress. A lot of the new non-alcoholic canned drinks on the market have adaptogens in them, but they can be pretty pricey. However, you can add adaptogens to your own mixed drinks, smoothies, or even soups to take advantage of all their benefits. Here's an organic adaptogen blend I'm trying out. Both of these are available from a natural foods co-op called Azure Standard, whom I've been buying from for over 14 years! They deliver to drop points all over the US (their headquarters is in Central Oregon) and they source most of their products from local farms and makers. I usually place an order every other month for specialty items that are hard to find in stores, like wheat-free pasta (I'm a fan of these brown rice elbows and brown rice tagliatelle), forbidden rice ramen (which I buy in bulk), ume plum vinegar, grass-fed European butter, grass-fed beef soup bones, beef marrow bones, and wild salmon pouches (their citrus pepper tuna is also really good and both of these are backpacking/road trip staples for me). My kids love these wide egg noodles. I've been using this manuka honey tallow to soothe dry skin the last couple of winters. You can also find a lot of different starter cultures on Azure for making cheese, sourdough, kefir, kombucha, yogurt, and more. It's a great site to find a huge range of organic, sustainable, healthy food options and items related to homesteading, so if you haven't tried them yet, I highly recommend! P.S. Don't settle for the gross-tasting green stuff in a bottle. Make your own natural cough syrup at home that works just as well (if not better). P.P.S. If your New Year's resolution is to get healthier, check out Azure Standard for hard-to-find grocery and home products that are all organic, sustainable, or naturally good for you. |
Garden Betty
For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."