Herbal Household Remedies

basil, pumpkin / squash

• Basil tea is a multi-purpose healing tea. To reduce fever, inhale the steam from hot basil tea by placing your head over a bowl filled with the hot tea, and cover your head with a heavy towel while doing so. To make the tea, use fresh basil leaves and unground seed: Bring 2 pints of water to a boil, add 15 basil seeds. Cover, reduce heat, and let simmer slowly for 45 minutes. Remove from head and add 1-1/2 handfuls of fresh or half-dried basil, steep for another 25 minutes.
• Tea made of pumpkin or squash leaves or equal parts for both reduce fever, too: Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil, snip in a couple of double handfuls of pumpkin and/ or squash leaves with a pair of shears or scissors. Cover, remove from heat, let steep for 35 minutes, then drink a cup of the tea every couple of hours. The same tea also helps to fight diarrhea.

corncob, parsley, pumpkin or squash, turmeric (curcuma)

• Corncob tea can be used to treat abdominal swelling, gout in general and edema in wrists and ankles. After removing (or eating) the corn from 2-3 fresh cobs, cover with enough water to cover the cobs by 2 inches. On low heat, cook for an hour, strain, cool. Drink 2-3 cups a day until the problems subside, then reduce to only one cup per day. Keep refrigerated what you do not use right away.
• Parsley tea is a well know remedy for edema, but also treats kidney inflammation and kidney stones as well as issues with urination, be it painful urination or even the inability to urinate at all. In 1 qt. of boiling water, removed from heat, steep one cup of freshly and corasely chopped parsley for 40 minutes. Strain before drinking, and drink a cup of the warm tea four times a day with meals.
• The seeds of pumpkin and squash can be used to treat edema and gout, kidneystones and issues with urination. Crush a handful of seeds and add them to a quart of boiling water, turn heat to low, cover and let simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep for an additional half hour, then strain. Until the desired relief is obtained, drink several cups of the tea each day, as needed.
• Turmeric, one of the main ingredients of curry, has anti-inflammatory properties. Half a tsp in juice taken both morning and night inhibits edema and can relief arthritic pains too.

pumpkin

The juice from a fresh pumpkin stem, squeezed out and dropped into an inflamed ear, will clear up the inflammation in a short time.