Garlic, how I love you!

I am totally in love with garlic. This stuff is one of those miracle plants that I fully intend to learn to grow (providing I can get past my total lack of a green thumb). I wrote in a previous post about how I use garlic to help cure ear infections, but that's not the only use we have for garlic around here!

This next remedy couldn't be simpler. Whenever we get respiratory illnesses, all we do is take a clove of garlic, peel it, and cut off a little slice. Then we take the cut clove and rub the juice over the soles of our feet. Apparently, the things we rub into the soles of our feet are very quickly absorbed into the blood stream, so when we use things like garlic or essential oils, this is one of the first places we use them. When we try the garlic trick early in an illness (within the first day or so of showing symptoms), the duration and severity of the illness goes way down--a 7-10 day cold is totally gone in 2-3 days, at least for us.

One of the best experiences I've had with this was shortly after we brought our new baby home from the NICU. She was born with double pneumonia, and her doctor told us that because she'd had such a serious respiratory illness so early in life, she was likely to have a lot more trouble with such illnesses throughout her childhood. Well, we have 3 other kids (all under age 7), and with that many little kids, it's hard to avoid getting sick for very long. Sure enough, within a few weeks of bringing her home, one of us caught a cold and started sharing it. I was so worried that she'd get it and we'd wind up having to take her in that I preemptively started rubbing garlic on her feet at night. I know she came down with it because she started sounding congested; over the next 3 days I had to suction her nose 4 or 5 times, but on the fourth day, her breathing went totally back to normal. No screaming fits, no fever, no serious difficulty breathing--just a couple more boogers than usual.

Ah garlic, how I love you!

All-natural Ear Infection Remedy

This blog is being re-purposed! Up until now, it's been a (mostly ignored) cooking blog. I still love cooking, so there will still be cooking-related posts, but I'm also going to be using this as a place where I can share a lot of the natural remedies that my family and I are coming to love more and more. 

I should say at the start that I am not against modern medicine. I feel like many of our modern medical abilities are true miracles and I am so grateful for many of the doctors and nurses that have helped us when we've needed it. However, I also believe that for thousands of years God has provided His children with the plants and herbs, etc., that we need to heal our bodies. I believe that by being open to both sides, we truly get the best of both worlds. 

And now for the good stuff! How many of you have children who get ear infections? Any time we have a serious cold that runs through our family, at least one of our three children (and often I) will wind up with a secondary ear infection. Usually on a Saturday night, of course. So what to do? Run to the doctor for a standard antibiotic prescription? At $100 for an off-hours office visit (with no co-pay) and another $15 for the prescription, that adds up--especially when I'm taking myself and two kids. No thanks. I've used this natural ear infection remedy on myself and two of our kids (L, the lucky girl, never gets ear infections) and it has worked EVERY TIME. So if you want to cure an ear infection fast, with only ingredients you already have in your kitchen, read on.

All you'll need is fresh garlic, olive oil, and a dropper.

Step 1: Peel a few cloves of garlic. I did 7 cloves this time. 

Step 2: Place your peeled (but still whole) garlic cloves in a small saucepan and add about 1-1/2 cups olive oil. You can do a much smaller batch if you're just using this for medical purposes, but it tastes good too, so I make extra to use in cooking.

Step 3: Turn the heat on medium low until the garlic looks like it's simmering. Then turn the heat as low as it will go and let the garlic infuse for about an hour. After that, turn the heat off and let the garlic and olive oil cool down all the way. The olive oil should smell very strongly of garlic.

And you're done! Wasn't that easy? The last thing you need to do is pour the oil into a bottle with a dropper. I used an old medicine bottle that I cleaned out well. I leave the garlic cloves in the oil so that it gets stronger with time. 

Now, to treat an ear infection.

For an adult, use 5 to 7 drops in the infected ear 3 or 4 times a day. When I treat myself, I grab a book and lie down on my side for about 10 minutes per side (and let's be honest, when I'm sick with an ear infection, it's nice to take a few extra minutes of quiet time). The pain is gone within 2 or 3 treatments, but I do an extra day's worth just to be sure. I have never had an ear infection that lasted more than a day or so when I used this stuff.

For children, it's much the same. I use 3 drops for my 6 yr. old, and whatever I can with my almost-2-yr.-old.  The older kid knows this stuff is amazing and so he happily does everything I ask him to do. My almost-2-yr.-old is definitely not so cooperative. I wind up having to hold her head still while I add the stuff (which of course she hates, but there's nothing else for it), and then I snuggle her up on my lap and either read her stories or sing her songs. She soon forgets the trauma of the strange drops in her ear and enjoys the closeness.

Sure beats a 9-day course of expensive antibiotics!