Wonderful Healing Herbs

In October our 6-year-old ended up with a case of ringworm. We have no idea where it came from, or how he got it. The poor little guy had spots all over his chest and back. We treated it first with Tea Tree Oil, and a bit later when it seemed it wasn't helping, we tried Oil of Oregano. I don't know if it was coincidence or if the stuff really helped, but all the spots disappeared. Tonight I was helping our almost 12-year-old son Peter treat his spots of ringworm with Tea Tree Oil, and praying for his healing (can't figure out how he got it when it has been over a month since his brother had had it clear up!), when I thought back to last summer when Peter had an accident.

One Sunday in July we participated in the Bottineau Gospel Music Festival; a lot of our homeschooling friends had come to play in the afternoon of music as well. Many of them stayed overnight at Metigoshe Ministries in the bunk rooms (most have large families) or over at our friend Paulette's health center. Some had originally planned to tent it in our field, but with the amount of rain we had had, they would have been slopping in mud. Quite a few stayed overnight until Monday, and some of us took the children over to a camp to go swimming -- the girls swam where the swimming area is supposed to be, and the boys over in another area. There had been so much rain that spring that most of the landmarks and usual shoreline was under water. As usual, the boys couldn't just go swimming, but had to make a mud slide and took turns sliding down the hill in various contortions.

Blissfully unaware of what was happening, the girls and younger children finished playing in the water, and we hiked over to where the boys were supposed to be swimming. I got there just as my husband Jim was leaning over our son Peter, who was sitting in our station wagon. Apparently under all that water there was broken glass, and after sliding down the hill into the water he began to walk out and felt something sharp. Peter didn't think too much about it, and went up to wait his turn to slide down once again. This time he managed to walk on the same spot, and deeply sliced the underside of his foot, just under the big toe and 2nd toe area. When I got to the car, Jim was packing "People Paste" into the deep wound. Jim is always so cool and calm under emergency situations and I tend to get a lot more excited, so I was very thankful that he was there. We had just begun carrying an herbal first aid kit in the car, so the Paste was available to use.

Peter was very sore, and we had him keep off his foot for a couple of days. Every morning and evening we had him soak out the People Paste in a foot soak of steeped Comfrey leaves (I was very thankful that Paulette had grown Comfrey in her garden), and then we repacked the wound with People Paste. I felt sick when I saw the cut, as I knew if we would have still lived in the city we would have taken him in for stitches, but that wasn't an option up here.

I wish I could remember just how long it took, but for sure within 2 weeks you could hardly detect that there had even been a cut! I was so amazed, and it made me much more determined to learn what I can about the healing properties of herbs and other things found in nature.

For anyone not knowing what "People Paste" is (I didn't until we read the book, "Ten Essential Herbs," by Lalitha Thomas), it is a combination of equal parts of the herbs (in powdered form) of slippery elm, goldenseal root, and myrrh. This is what the author says, "Externally, People Paste is famous for help with wounds, rashes, infections, and burns. In my experience this amazing formula prevents infection while it pulls wounds together and greatly decreases the chance of scarring. Even on larger wounds the use of People Paste has led many to think that the wound had been stitched by an expert." We even used it on our 2nd goat after one of our dogs attacked and wounded her. (Needless to say, that particular dog is no longer living.) With the goat, we sprinkled the People Paste into the wound (the dog's claws had pulled down the skin and exposed the raw flesh) and then wrapped her with an ace bandage so she and the flies would leave the area alone. There was a bit of scarring, but she was fine.