Mama's Must-Have Kitchen Remedies for Winter

The season where we eat too much and hibernate in winter. I use castor oil and ginger this time of year. Ginger is very warming and calms the stomach and fights bacteria. I use castor oil daily in my mouth, and on my skin. I use hydrogen peroxide on a q tip in each ear until it fizzes out and repeat to make sure I got whatever might be out of order in the ear, then I add some castor oil on a q tip in each ear. It is said that 4 out of 5 people get relief from flu or colds if they do this when they first notice symptoms. I do it about once a week. My hair has turned a bit grey, so I have recently added molasses to my morning coffee about 1/2 tsp. Hope to see some youthful color return by spring. A good shampoo/ cream rinse is to use your own urine. It cleans out the hair follicles and resets the hormone balance in them and hair loves it. I usually shampoo if I think my hair is dirty, then rinse with the urine and let it sit a bit and rinse out with water. Urine is also good for skin and foot fungal issues. It helps stop hair falling out. 50-100 hairs a day is normal hair fall. I take a lot of supplements. Castor oil also helps hair grow. It is messy and I use baking soda if I put castor oil on my head to remove it, I sprinkle my scalp with baking soda and rub it around to soak up the castor oil and shampoo it out.

I would recommend you take small amounts until you adjust to things, so you don't have die off misery and do some research, these things are good for much more than what I wrote here. Stay hydrated and keep your salts in balance. HOPE YOUR WINTERS REST RESTORES YOU. Blessings, Charity

I have been making some Herbal Vinegars. New territory for me, but I am excited about the possibilities.

This is how I made my Herbal Vinegars:

Fill a jar half full with herb of choice. Fill jar (almost to the top) with raw apple cider vinegar. Cover, label, let sit in a cool dark place for 4-6 weeks.

Today I strained the herbs out of my vinegars. I made an Elderberry Vinegar, a Mullein leaf vinegar, a comfrey vinegar.

I put 1 Tablespoon of my Elderberry Vinegar into a glass with about 8 ounces of water. It tastes delicious and looks beautiful! I am hoping it will be as good at immune building as homemade Elderberry syrup. I think it would also be great on a salad.

My four year old likes it better than my 22 year old. The 22 year old said, "Well, I can see why you like it. It tastes like Elderberry and Vinegar." Maybe my liking of it is biased because I think it is good for me. :)

I made the Mullein Vinegar to use in Vinegar Tea for a cough. I will let you know how that one goes when a cough comes around.

~Mama to Many~

Hi Mama to Many,

Your chai spice recipe, apart from coriander, is exactly what I use too! I buy dry ginger powder from the Indian grocery store and add a tsp of that along with a tsp of organic pepper, cardamom pods skin and all, whole clove and cinnamon sticks in my coffee grinder and process into a fine powder. Stored in a air tight jar this can last for a month or more depending on frequency of usage. A 1/4 tsp of this powder can be stirred into a cup of warm milk sweetened with brown sugar and sipped to ease a child's sore throat or cold. This is especially effective as a bed time drink.

Adding whole coriander, cumin, mace, bay leaf and star anise to the above mix and processing in the coffee grinder turns it into garam masala - the rich, flavorful spice that livens so many Indian dishes!

I recently mixed up a batch of Chai Spices. I originally mixed it up to add to black or red rooibos tea to make my own Chai Teas. One day while mixing up a mug of Vinegar Tea, I thought to add the spices to it. It made a tasty tea and adds some extra healing power to the tea.

Chai Spice Mix

• 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon ground cloves
• 1 Tablespoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 Tablespoon ground coriander
• 1/2 Tablespoon ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix spices together and store in a glass jar in a cool dry place. Add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of the mix to each mug of tea.

Chai Spice Vinegar Tea

• 1 Tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon raw honey
• 1/2 teaspoon Chai Spice Mix
• 6 ounces boiling water

Add vinegar, honey and spices to a mug. Pour boiling water over the tea. Stir and enjoy!

The Chai Spice Mix is also delicious sprinkled on oatmeal or toast.

~Mama to Many~

Dear Sybille,

We have used Apple Cider Vinegar for all ages for years and never have had it cause diarrhea, in fact, we have used it to stop diarrhea. But, of course, there could always be an exception to the rule.

You say the doctor says the medication is killing the good bacteria? Is he on an antibiotic? That can cause diarrhea in some...sounds like a probiotic is a good idea.

There have been some pretty nasty viruses going around this year that have included bad coughs and diarrhea and/or vomiting.

The best solution we have had for coughing is garlic salve or garlic oil.

• 6-8 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (or olive, but it won't be salve like.)
• 8 drops of lavender (optional)

Mix in a blender. Store in fridge. Apply to back over the lung area and on bottoms of feet every couple of hours. If it seems irritating to the skin, just use on the feet or dilute with some more oil.

The nice thing about this is that it is a remedy that won't cause digestive distress. (It will just make the house smell like a pizza place.)

For diarrhea, I use turmeric or activated charcoal. 1/8 of a teaspoon of either mixed in applesauce or yogurt, every couple of hours. If you could get charcoal tablets (not capsules) some little ones will just take a capsule as they are tasteless. Mine did, anyway. Do not use charcoal within 2 hours of any medications.

I hope your little guy feels much better soon!

~Mama to Many~

Hello Mama to Many! I just want to know if drinking apple cider vinegar for cough and cold would cause diarrhea to a 28 month-old toddler? My son has them right now and his pediatrician prescribed cough and cold medicine. However, I noticed that he's stool is watery and foul smelling. I already asked his pedia about it and he told me that the medicines he's taking affect the good bacteria in he's gut so he prescribed probiotics. Have you experienced like these before with your children? What did you do?

I'm so happy to read your recommendation, Mama to Many! A bottle of nettle leaf tincture would be great for pepper emergencies.

My son is still picking peppers in the garden. He really likes to play there and the pepper-burning accident did not even make him stay away from the peppers. We also have okra, tomatoes, and beans in there but its the red peppers that he wants to pick.

I also had a bad experience with cooking fresh red peppers. I was trying to create chili oil for dumplings by frying sliced red peppers in coconut oil. The smoke from the frying peppers touched my hands, face, and eyes and I can't forget how painful it was! I tried to wash the residue with soap and water but the burning just went on for more than an hour. I don't how to ease the pain so I just endured it but I did not fry peppers since then.

Dear Mikell,

My son once burned his fingers with jalapeno peppers. Here is the story of what helped.

Dealing with a burn from Peppers

For a toddler, to make a nettle tea to take internally, I would pour 4 ounces of boiling water over 1 teaspoon of dried nettle leaf. Let sit for 10 minutes. Strain. Sweeten a bit if desired and drink. You may do well to just get a bottle of nettle leaf tincture. Then you could just add some to water and have an instant "nettle leaf tea." This is also good for other allergic reactions, so great to have on hand.

Here is a chart to help figure out herbal dosages for children:

herbal dosages for children

Also, when you initial try to rinse off the residue, use something with fat in it to bind with the oils. Coconut oil or olive oil would help to dilute the oils on the skin. This is also the solution for diluting an essential oil on the skin if it turns out to have been too much. Similarly, when one gets too much hot pepper in the mouth, milk (with fat) is generally recommended to quickly dilute the misery.

Your little one is blessed to have a garden to pick peppers (and probably lots of other great stuff! )

Hope your little one is feel great again soon!

~Mama to Many~

Hi Mama To Many!

I am addressing this question to you because I've read from your posts that you have many remedies with regards to children's ailments and emergencies.

Do you know any remedies that can help relieve the stinging pain from pepper juice? My toddler is fond of picking peppers from our small garden and he usually does it behind our backs. We have already talked to him about picking/eating plants in the garden that may harm him but he won't stop. Just now, he ran back to me crying while rubbing his eyes. I saw bits of pepper on his fingers so I believe this caused the crying. What I did is wash his eyes and face with water to wash away the juice but I know from my own experience that the pain will not be removed that easily especially if the pepper juice was already absorbed by the skin around the eyes.

Can you help me please so I can have a remedy to use when this happens again? Thank you!