hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

[dma1974]

I wanna try that baking soda and acv thing on my hair too! I have major problems with over production of oil, fallout/loss. My hair is fine so it just does better if I don't wash it every day. Second day hair is always the best

 

[hqueen13]

I wanna try that baking soda and acv thing on my hair too! I have major problems with over production of oil, fallout/loss. My hair is fine so it just does better if I don't wash it every day. Second day hair is always the best

That is one of the things that is noted in the blog post - sometimes oily hair is actually due to the shampoo/conditioner stripping off the natural oils, so the body over compensates and produces too much oil. That is why it takes some people almost 2 weeks to really figure out what their hair should be doing.

Good luck with it! I won't go back!

 

[dma1974]

Thanks! I'm going check out that blog now......

 

[hqueen13]

Yay for Bee's wealth of info!!
I have a canner that mom gave me, but the gauge is really wrong, so I've got to get a new one. Didn't do it in time this year to be able to use it. We haven't started a garden here before, but I am considering that maybe I should just do beans because I LOVE green beans when they are canned, I grew up with them, and they are soooo yummy!
Thanks for the suggestions. We do some cook-big-batches-and-freeze-a-lot, but not enough. We need to get into the habit more often. And yes, the crock pot is our friend!!

 

[hqueen13]

Body Work and Essential Oils
Several years ago, through my riding instructor, I met an amazing woman that does body work on both horses and humans. I had never met anyone like her before. She came up from Florida along with my instructor to do some demonstrations during a multi-day clinic. There were a couple of horses in the group that were having a very tough time with the training, and when my instructor encounters that, she often brings in Jeffra to work on the horse to see if she can help get the horse un-stuck. The results are astounding.
The little mare that she worked on first had always been a problem. The owner bred her, so all the issues were the product of the situation, and not baggage from a prior history somewhere else. Wendy was a feisty young horse that was really struggling with body and balance issues, and the trouble with young horses is they often feel good enough that they don't think they need to be corrected so they resist the work. Jeffra set to work on Wendy, and within minutes her head dropped and she relaxed and became calm while Jeffra worked on her including picking up her legs and manipulating them in all sorts of directions. All of this while she stood in a stall with a crowd of 20 people peering in from every spot around the stall that they could get to.
I didn't really understand how she was doing what she was doing, but the results were visible. There was no doubt that whatever she was doing was having a profound effect on the horse. She explained that it was through a technique called Orthobionomy when working with humans and 'Positional Release for Horses' when working with the equines. The gist is that the body develops patterns that result in incorrect biomechanic movement. She takes the body, and manipulates it, finding the 'path of least resistance,' adds some compression, which allows the body to find the discomfort and reset the proprioception. The result is that the body moves free-er, and looser with less resistance. For horses, the results stick so long as people don't do anything that would cause the horse to slip back into the old pattern. It is a phenomenal complement to training to help a horse move beyond a plateau in their work. In humans, it can help instantaneously relieve pain and reset patterns that have become habituated over time due to injury or compensation.
After watching the first session, I was hooked. I had the opportunity to have her work on my horse, Storm, and he fell in love with her. As she worked, he settled into a deep relaxed calm, allowing her to do whatever she needed to do - manipulating his legs and body with no resistance (If only he would pick up his feet that nicely for me all the time...). She would step away from him, and he would crane his neck in her direction looking and seeking her not wanting her to leave. Since that first session, he's had a handful of other sessions when he gets himself bent out of shape and needs to be reset.
Along with all of this work she does a variety of holistic and homeopathic treatments. The biggest of which is using essential oils for healing and wellness. From there, it has become a passion for me. I use oils all the time every day for just about everything. And the results are amazing.
Let me stop here a moment and say that I use only high quality 100% pure therapeutic grade essential oils. In the US, an essential oil is only required to be 5% of the oil on the label to be sold as an 'essential oil.' The quality of the oils purchased in a standard health store are rarely pure, often containing carrier oils or chemically processed scents. It is risky, and potentially dangerous, to use low quality oils for their health benefits. They may smell good, but for the purposes that I apply the oils, it could be harmful. I frequently use my oils both topically and internally. I do not ever recommend doing this if you are not 100% confident in the grade and quality of your oils (I only use ONE brand of oils, and stick with that). One of my mentors recounted that she recommended using Lavender oil to help heal burns, and one of her students found her self with a burn and applied lavender, but failed to realize that her oil was not 100% pure - it contained more Lavadin than actual Lavender oil, and she ended up with a burn much worse than if she had done nothing at all. If you don't know the quality, DON'T use your oils topically or internally. It is DANGEROUS.
That being said, I am blown away by the power of pure oils. Oregano can kick colds (it tastes disgusting, but if you can get past that...); Peppermint is great for curbing appetite, settling an upset stomach, relieving a headache, and cooling in the heat of summer. Lemon can remove sticky and grease; Cypress is good for circulation; Marjoram is good for relieving muscle pain; Lemongrass helps heal ligament damage; Cedarwood is good for curing a hangover; Juniper is good for bone strength; Wintergreen is good for relieving aches and pains... the list goes on and on and on.
We use the oils daily, diffusing them all over the house, applying them topically, and when needed, ingesting them. We are much better for it and our house always smells good. While my mother was here staying with us to help my other half recover from surgery I gave her Marjoram and Lemongrass to use on her hands where she experiences arthritic pain and she found great relief. It was thrilling to see the difference in her without using drugs. She was able to knit and do hand work without needing to reach for a pill to make it through the evening. I am constantly amazed at the ways in which the oils work. I have spent a great deal of time exploring their healing power and feel like I have barely scratched the surface of knowledge.

 

[Denim Deb]

I've heard a lot about using essential oils, but have never had the time to really look into it. Do you know of any oil that's good for horses w/heaves, or any that's good for a person that suffers from vertigo attacks? (I have an inner ear condition called Meniere's Disease.)

 

[dma1974]

Using oils is something I am really excited to learn about.

 

[~gd]

Body Work and Essential Oils
Several years ago, through my riding instructor, I met an amazing woman that does body work on both horses and humans. I had never met anyone like her before. She came up from Florida along with my instructor to do some demonstrations during a multi-day clinic. There were a couple of horses in the group that were having a very tough time with the training, and when my instructor encounters that, she often brings in Jeffra to work on the horse to see if she can help get the horse un-stuck. The results are astounding.
The little mare that she worked on first had always been a problem. The owner bred her, so all the issues were the product of the situation, and not baggage from a prior history somewhere else. Wendy was a feisty young horse that was really struggling with body and balance issues, and the trouble with young horses is they often feel good enough that they don't think they need to be corrected so they resist the work. Jeffra set to work on Wendy, and within minutes her head dropped and she relaxed and became calm while Jeffra worked on her including picking up her legs and manipulating them in all sorts of directions. All of this while she stood in a stall with a crowd of 20 people peering in from every spot around the stall that they could get to.
I didn't really understand how she was doing what she was doing, but the results were visible. There was no doubt that whatever she was doing was having a profound effect on the horse. She explained that it was through a technique called Orthobionomy when working with humans and 'Positional Release for Horses' when working with the equines. The gist is that the body develops patterns that result in incorrect biomechanic movement. She takes the body, and manipulates it, finding the 'path of least resistance,' adds some compression, which allows the body to find the discomfort and reset the proprioception. The result is that the body moves free-er, and looser with less resistance. For horses, the results stick so long as people don't do anything that would cause the horse to slip back into the old pattern. It is a phenomenal complement to training to help a horse move beyond a plateau in their work. In humans, it can help instantaneously relieve pain and reset patterns that have become habituated over time due to injury or compensation.
After watching the first session, I was hooked. I had the opportunity to have her work on my horse, Storm, and he fell in love with her. As she worked, he settled into a deep relaxed calm, allowing her to do whatever she needed to do - manipulating his legs and body with no resistance (If only he would pick up his feet that nicely for me all the time...). She would step away from him, and he would crane his neck in her direction looking and seeking her not wanting her to leave. Since that first session, he's had a handful of other sessions when he gets himself bent out of shape and needs to be reset.
Along with all of this work she does a variety of holistic and homeopathic treatments. The biggest of which is using essential oils for healing and wellness. From there, it has become a passion for me. I use oils all the time every day for just about everything. And the results are amazing.
Let me stop here a moment and say that I use only high quality 100% pure therapeutic grade essential oils. In the US, an essential oil is only required to be 5% of the oil on the label to be sold as an 'essential oil.' The quality of the oils purchased in a standard health store are rarely pure, often containing carrier oils or chemically processed scents. It is risky, and potentially dangerous, to use low quality oils for their health benefits. They may smell good, but for the purposes that I apply the oils, it could be harmful. I frequently use my oils both topically and internally. I do not ever recommend doing this if you are not 100% confident in the grade and quality of your oils (I only use ONE brand of oils, and stick with that). One of my mentors recounted that she recommended using Lavender oil to help heal burns, and one of her students found her self with a burn and applied lavender, but failed to realize that her oil was not 100% pure - it contained more Lavadin than actual Lavender oil, and she ended up with a burn much worse than if she had done nothing at all. If you don't know the quality, DON'T use your oils topically or internally. It is DANGEROUS.
That being said, I am blown away by the power of pure oils. Oregano can kick colds (it tastes disgusting, but if you can get past that...); Peppermint is great for curbing appetite, settling an upset stomach, relieving a headache, and cooling in the heat of summer. Lemon can remove sticky and grease; Cypress is good for circulation; Marjoram is good for relieving muscle pain; Lemongrass helps heal ligament damage; Cedarwood is good for curing a hangover; Juniper is good for bone strength; Wintergreen is good for relieving aches and pains... the list goes on and on and on.
We use the oils daily, diffusing them all over the house, applying them topically, and when needed, ingesting them. We are much better for it and our house always smells good. While my mother was here staying with us to help my other half recover from surgery I gave her Marjoram and Lemongrass to use on her hands where she experiences arthritic pain and she found great relief. It was thrilling to see the difference in her without using drugs. She was able to knit and do hand work without needing to reach for a pill to make it through the evening. I am constantly amazed at the ways in which the oils work. I have spent a great deal of time exploring their healing power and feel like I have barely scratched the surface of knowledge.

Yep Back in the day when I had the toys to play with I used to run so called pure oils through gas chromatography only to find that like just about any Natural product they were really complex mixtures that varied considerably depending on the source. I only suspect that this is the 'out' that is used to explain why they fail to perform as expected.~gd

 

[hqueen13]

I've heard a lot about using essential oils, but have never had the time to really look into it. Do you know of any oil that's good for horses w/heaves, or any that's good for a person that suffers from vertigo attacks? (I have an inner ear condition called Meniere's Disease.)

For the heaves there are a couple of blends that the company that I use makes. I only use Young Living Essential Oils. Yes, they are an MLM company, and yes, the founder has done some really strange crap. But I feel that their oils are superior to pretty much everything else on the market. I checked my notes from the 3 day intensive class I took on using the oils with animals, and the vet that taught the class recommended a blend called Theives (has a lot of clove and things like that in it), and a blend called Raven - diffusing either of those will help with the breathing issues (it does take a pretty powerful diffuser to diffuse in a barn, but yes, she does it), she also recommends rubbing those oils to the throat and chest area on the horse. I suspect you could also use one of the varieties of Eucalyptus which is known for its airway opening properties. There are also a couple of oils that have antihisitmine properties that might help. Of course, keeping them out of a dusty hay bale will help.

I am sorry to hear that you have Meniere's. I know a little bit about it because my 'day job' is in an audiology office, so I know of it. I checked my giant reference book, and it doesn't have a specific entry for Meniere's (I am not surprised I guess), but it also doesn't have an entry for Vertigo, either. I checked dizziness, and it recommends several oils - Cypress, Tangerine, Peppermint, Basil, Cardamom, and Frankencense. You can either inhale the scent, or apply topically to the temples, back of neck and shoulders as needed (or both). Are there other symptoms that you experience? There may be other oils that help deal with some of the other things, if I remember correctly Meniere's has quite a few symptoms that come and go.

Let me know if you'd like information about getting oils. They are expensive, but it is a bit of one of those you get what you pay for things. The value to me is WELL worth the expense, especially if it means not taking drugs or needing a doctor.

 

[hqueen13]

Yep Back in the day when I had the toys to play with I used to run so called pure oils through gas chromatography only to find that like just about any Natural product they were really complex mixtures that varied considerably depending on the source. I only suspect that this is the 'out' that is used to explain why they fail to perform as expected.~gd

Heh, pretty neat! Well, it is the 'out' as you said, but more than that it is also the source of a lot of finger pointing that many people use to say 'it doesn't work!' The interesting thing is that when it comes to natural remedies so many people are quick to discount them when they don't work 100%. Tylenol doesn't work for me half the time and yet I continue to take it, and it is still on the market. I don't know how many people I've heard say "well, I take <insert Tylenol/Advil/Alleve/Motrin/drug of choice>, but it I don't notice much difference." When a natural remedy doesn't work as well as people think it should, it is immediately written off as a complete failure.

Truth is that these things DO work, for some better than others, but then the OTC drugs work better for some than others - so it isn't any different. I'll take the natural product when I am confident of the source and the quality over drugs any day. Heck, even Tylenol had a recall not long ago. I just don't trust the "Bigs" anymore (big pharma, big ag, big dairy, etc......)