Attack of the grass.
Nature vs. nature
Last weekend we completed more fencing and fought a terrible sinus allergy response that developed from one symptom to another. I looked up local allergens on the weather channel and “grass pollen” is apparently in the air. Everyone seems to have this allergic response and I live on a hill completely surrounded and covered in grass. We have been drinking mullein tea, I remembered it from last fall making the unusual hairy tea for Bruce and I when we had a terrible dry persistent coughing that seemed impossible to cough out. As I grabbed my new super fantastic book with all the plant medicines I learned a lot about the medicinal benefits of this common plant I wanted share a few with you.
I plan to make dried mullein tea leaves packaged in mason jars with a reusable linen tea bag to add to my cart of goods I will sell at market. It has been used to treat bronchitis, tuberculosis and asthma. The leaves of the mullein plant are anti-inflammatory, so that is how it treats your inflamed sinus. It is antiseptic, antispasmodic(relieves involuntary muscles’ spasms), astringent, demulcent (relieves inflammation and irritation) emollient (softens skin), expectorant, anodyne (pain-killing), and vulnerary (wound healing).
It is listed as a safe herb to ingest while pregnant; evenmore- it is great for removing congestion and soothing mucus membranes. This is not “lambs ear” which is much cuter and lives in landscaped gardens in the soft “chocolate cake-like” rich soil of the Midwest. This plant is bigger, stronger and tougher, and prefers disturbed ground, gravel, roadsides, sandy and chalky soil. As I am writing this I am drinking it.
On top of this sinus allergy extravaganza, I also had a tooth pulled yesterday afternoon and that is why I did not make my Wednesday afternoon deadline for this newsletter.
We are going to keep our Billy goat in the yard with the chickens/ ducks/ turkeys so he will be separated from the ladies this season. I believe at least one of our two ladies is expecting and the little bitty lady is best separate from him for a while. He can be easily irritated by foolish kidding around, although on pasture now, he wouldn’t be competing for food pellets like he was when we had all the goats in a much smaller goat pen around a hole that was once as pond. We have opened that smaller pen up and connected the ends to the fences on both sides that lead along our new goat pen, uphill, towards the coop.
Someday soon I will be able to pull on a rope that opens a door on the back wall of the coop, so all the birds, chickens, turkeys and ducks can free range down the pasture to the pond under an evergreen tree line. Complete with baby pools for the ducks to splash around in until we dig, add clay, and possibly a pond liner to our pond.
Last week we bought 10 “buff Orpington” baby chicks. I had reinforced the coop with rocks and chicken wire outside which gave me a false sense of security apparently because when we came back to the farm yesterday 3 hen chicks had vanished. I purchased 3 more yesterday and 1 was missing this morning! I had moved them from the coup to a rabbit hutch, but now I have the door more secure with wire holding the top and bottom tightly secure. I’m really hoping to raise these chickens into a bigger flock because they are beautiful dual purpose chickens, laying a fair amount of eggs and providing chicken meat as well.
Until next week, I’m hoping to keep making a little progress every day. There are so many different things to complete and take care of, praying I can focus on being present and enjoying each day with my little kids.
