How To Make Comfrey Tea.

Comfrey The Miracle Herb: I love Comfrey.  It helps all manner of conditions such as broken bones, irritable bowel syndrome, is a marvellous herb for skin and hair, and acts as a digestive tonic in mild doses.

Update:  I have just visited my sister in Napier, June 2014, and I was delighted to see that she has planted an orchard of about 25 trees.  Around the base of each tree she has planted comfrey, as the comfrey helps to draw up minerals from the soil which in turn benefits the fruit trees. Comfrey works symbiotically with the fruit trees.

So it looks like the ban on comfrey has been forgotten in the meantime.  Thank God.

Earlier, I wrote: The ban on it should be lifted, as Comfrey is such a valuable household medicine, which is why I am actively promoting Comfrey.  There is a danger that Comfrey will become a forgotten herb, because of the powerful drug companies having banned Comfrey.  We must not let them have their way and let the herb fall into decline.  Their ruling has resulted in Comfrey not being talked about – it is a ‘No No’ because the drug companies decided this is how it should be. Governments have been persuaded by the drug companies to ban or restrict Comfrey, in effect, so that the drug companies may benefit.  Why was Comfrey banned?  “They” gave the reason that Comfrey may cause cancer.  Comfrey was fed to pigs over three months, so the report which I read said, and this resulted in the pigs getting cancer.

I really do not believe that there is any danger of Comfrey causing cancer under normal usage, such as in Comfrey tea.  You would have to eat an awful lot of it for it to be a danger.  “They” probably fed these pigs nothing else but Comfrey for three months.

Carrots and Vitamin A Poisoning: If you feed any animal a diet of  only carrots for three months, these animals would perish.   And I know this for a fact, unfortunately, because of my own experience.  I once was on a carrot juice diet, and thought that I would feed the carrot pulp to my very greedy rooster, who, of course, dominated the roost, and the food scene.

I thought that the carrot pulp would cut down on the food bill for my rooster.   But alas:  After he had had about a week on this diet of mainly carrot pulp, he suddenly got ill.  The skin on his legs turned yellow.  He became paralysed, and the poor creature  had to be destroyed.  This was a terribly sad lesson for me.  I had to learn to be more generous, and not to worry about wastage such as carrot pulp.

Comfrey Is No More Poisonous Than Carrots:  Carrots can make you die if you eat enough of them, because of their high Vitamin A content:  If you eat only carrots, your skin becomes yellow, and you end up with Vitamin A poisoning.  So will green potatoes cause disastrous effects.  But governments do not ban carrots, or potatoes because of their POTENTIAL hazard to the health.  It is the same with Comfrey – yes, there is a POTENTIAL danger, and you would suffer if you had a steady diet of it, and ate nothing else. But people are no more likely to over-use Comfrey than they are green potatoes, or carrots.

There was never any link with Comfrey and cancer, at least not until the drug companies discovered Comfrey’s miraqcle ingredients, the main one being Allantoin, a cell-proliferant,which they desired for themselves. So  the drug companies ban Comfrey, but they do not ban carrots. THEY can use the marvellous ingredients of Comfrey in their drugs and cosmetics, but they deprive us of the natural source, so that they may profit from having hijacked the herb.

There is a danger that people might forget how good a herb Comfrey really was, and is, because of their ban world-wide on the growing of Comfrey, and the sale of the fresh or dried herb.

So – another promotion for Comfrey:   Comfrey tea is high in silica which benefits the bones, hair, nails, teeth, the skin, the nervous system, and aids the healing of wounds. It can be used to help chest ailments such as bronchitis.  It contains allantoin, which aids healing. Comfrey  has iron for the blood, Vitamin B12 for the nerves and the general health, and is a soothing tonic for the digestive system and the nerves.

Here is How To Make Comfrey Tea: Cut up two leaves of Comfrey.  Put into a pot and pour over a pint of boiling water.  Let the mixture infuse for a couple of minutes, as you would ceylon tea, and then pour. You can use these leaves once more, as long as you use them within two or three hours.  After that, they will begin to ferment, which is not good.  The comfrey pulp may be put over any skin abrasion to aid healing.

Herbs for Hair Growth


Herbs for Hair Growth

Apple Cider Vinegar

IMG_6820Photo taken by Merrilyn on Holly’s camera, 25th December, 2012.

 

Herbs which have a high silica content are extremely beneficial for the hair, skin, teeth, bones and nails.
Silica-rich herbs can be taken internally as a tea, which will help your general health.  They can also be applied directly to the scalp to good effect, as minerals from these tea solutions are absorbed into the hair tissues so that your hair roots will benefit.
Silica-rich herbs also have the effect of making the hair shiny when used as a final rinse after shampooing. This is because a fine layer of silica is imparted to the hair which thus evenly covers the scalp and all hair strands. The effect of having this silica remaining on the hair and head is very strengthening, not only to the hair, but to the cells of the whole physical body and also to the auric body.


Silica-rich herbs for hair growth are:

Borage

Comfrey

Hollyhock

Nettle

Oat Straw

Rosemary

Yarrow
Other herbs which are good for the re-growth of hair are:  calendula or marigold, juniper, lavender, maidenhair, nasturtium, onion, sage, soapwort, sweet flag, watercress, white birch, and white willow.

Oat- Straw Tea.
This is one of the highest herbal sources of silica, which means it is very beneficial to the health of your hair, bones, teeth, skin and nails. It will also put a shine to your hair. The tea is very palatable, and soothing to the nervous system.
To make oat straw tea: Boil up a heaped tablespoon of oat straw in a pint of water for ten minutes. Apply the  cold tea  to the scalp and hair after washing, and drink some oat straw tea every day for good health.
Keep the tea in the fridge for up to two days, and then make some fresh brew up.

Nettle, Urtica dioica, or stinging nettle.
Nettles used to grow naturally in New Zealand. You would often find patches of nettle in the bush, and they were always to be found growing around the edges of a chicken coup.They are great at finding nutritious, lime-rich soil to make a home in, which is why their calcium/silica content is exceptionally high. Unfortunately, nettles are rare these days, and this is because we are too keen as a nation to spray out, with toxic chemicals, anything which looks like a weed. Also, the small allotments of land which allowed people to keep chickens and grow vegetables have almost become a thing of the past: Land is nowadays very expensive to buy, or rent, and if you are lucky enough to have a plot of land, it is likely the local council will prohibit you from the keeping of farmyard animals if you live in or near a town. So bang- there goes your manure-rich, enhanced soil where your nettles might have grown.
Nettles have been regarded simply as weeds by most people, and their true medicinal and nutritive value has been largely ignored. Nettles, like oat straw, rank very high in their silica content, iron and other minerals.

To make a nourishing hair and scalp rinse:

This recipe uses apple cider vinegar, which is a good tonic to use on its own to aid hair-growth. Here, it is combined with nettles, which gives a highly nutritious result. It is very beneficial for the hair:

Boil 4 oz of nettle leaves in 2 cups each of cider vinegar and water for ten minutes. Leave the leaves in the liquid for 24 hours. Bottle and keep in the fridge. Use after washing the hair. Rub some into the scalp each day, massaging well into the roots. Don’t wash it off, but leave on so that your scalp can absorb the nutrients. This tonic will put a shine to your hair.

See merrilyn’s other posts on hair health entitled Regrow Hair; Best Vitamins for Hair Growth; Iodine Scalp Remedy