The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.” – Abraham Lincoln
(Disclaimer: Make sure to follow the FDA guidelines in PH levels when canning to ensure you do not poison yourself. We do not advise to use homemade vinegar for canning.)
What would make someone want to make their own apple cider vinegar? Well, let’s explore that for a moment….
Continue reading “Apple cider vinegar”If you are in your 30s or older, you probably remember the Tom and Jerry Cartoons. In it, the child forces Tom to drink the castor oil because he was a bad Puddy Cat. Then, Jerry accidentally guzzles it down as well. Both then upchuck, and it’s hilarious. I always thought, “how absolutely grotesque castor oil must be!” I didn’t know anything about it at all other than it must be gross and no thank you!
Well, as I have gone on my natural healthcare journey, I began to ask myself, “why so much propaganda against castor oil?”. Well, just like all other natural home remedies and previously recognized medicines, big pharma, John D Rockefeller, and later Bayer and Merck, had a stake in the demonizing of natural and herbal medicines. That is an interesting rabbit hole that you should definitely dive into!
I am not a doctor, please see my disclaimer. Also, I have affiliate links in this article.
Castor oil is incredibly helpful home remedy to keep on hand. Also, you should put it as a pack on your hand!
Castor oil is derived from the seeds of the castor plant (Ricinus communis). It has been used for centuries for numerous health and beauty benefits. This makes it a staple in traditional practices across various cultures. Castor oil is rich in ricinoleic acid, which is a unique fatty acid that contributes significantly to its therapeutic properties.
Cleopatra is said to have used castor oil for various beauty purposes, including:
Hair care: Castor oil was also used to strengthen and moisturize her hair.
Moisturizing skin: It was believed to help keep her skin hydrated and healthy.
Castor oil is rich in fatty acids. It is known for its moisturizing properties. It has been a staple in beauty regimens throughout history.
Castor oil is not commonly found in cooking oils. However, it is widely used in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. It is also used as an industrial lubricant. Its versatility makes it a valuable addition to various health and beauty routines.
Castor oil is great for moisturizing lips, face, and skin topically. It promotes healthy hair growth and healthy nails beds. Castor oil can reduce the appearance of scars and stretch marks. It treats eczema and psoriasis… I have psoriasis and have felt improvements with use.
It treats fungal infections like ringworm, athlete’s foot, and toenail fungus. Its active ingredient, undecylenic acid, has been shown to inhibit the growth of fungal pathogens. Not having ringworm is definitely a beauty bonus! I will expand on all the beauty and skin health uses in the future.
I won’t have recipes for skin and beauty in this post. There are recipes for other ailments below. Reminder: I am not a doctor and am not liable for how you use any information that I share.
Here’s a breakdown of the nutritional profile of castor oil based on a standard serving size of one tablespoon (approximately 15 ml):
| Nutrient | Amount per Tablespoon |
|---|---|
| Calories | 120 |
| Total Fat | 14 grams |
| Saturated Fat | 1.5 grams |
| Monounsaturated Fat | 6.5 grams |
| Polyunsaturated Fat | 6.5 grams |
| Protein | 0 grams |
| Carbohydrates | 0 grams |
| Fiber | 0 grams |
| Sugar | 0 grams |
Ricinoleic Acid: Castor oil, extracted from the seeds of the castor bean plant (Ricinus communis L.), contains a high concentration of ricinoleic acid, making up about 85-95% of its fatty acid content. The presence of the hydroxyl group on the carbon chain distinguishes it from other common fatty acids. This makes it unusually polar.
This structure gives ricinoleic acid and castor oil distinct physical characteristics. It is a colorless to pale yellow, viscous liquid at room temperature. The hydroxyl group promotes hydrogen bonding. This contributes to castor oil’s higher viscosity compared to other plant-based oils. It also enhances its lubricating properties and oxidative stability. Source
Vitamin E: An antioxidant that helps protect cells from damage and supports skin health.
Omega-6 and Omega-9 Fatty Acids: These essential fatty acids contribute to various bodily functions, including inflammation regulation and skin health.
This website is full of great additional information. It also includes safety information regarding castor oil and the ricinoleic acid that comes from castor beans. Please go look at it! Ricinoleic Acid: What It Is, Uses, and Benefits – Biology Insights
Some of my remedies:
This has become my go-to and the remedy that blew my mind! I had been in such insane pain due to my hip being out of place and being inflamed. I have a leg that is longer than the other by a small amount. It causes me a lot of trouble. Thank goodness no one notices! So, after I had a massage and a chiropractic adjustment, which helped a lot. (Normally, a massage fixes me pretty quickly, but I still had some issues by the next morning this time.) I was back to the same amount of pain as before my appointment. I had heard a little about castor oil, but thought is probably an old wife’s tale. However, with seeing how much it had been demonized and how much that drives me to dive deeper into research. I decided it was worth a shot. So, I ordered a bottle of castor oil and some packs. And then I was amazed!
My husband used the packs on his wrist (carpal tunnel), lower back (injuries), and his feet (inflammation from injuries). He has a lot of injuries due to having incredibly demanding jobs…. and then I also work him like a slave on the Ranch. So, this poor guy doesn’t get a break.
We each wrapped ourselves in packs and woke up with almost no pain. My husband’s wrist was better than his untreated wrist, his back was relaxed, he slept deeper. I woke with incredibly less pain in my hip. I was able to walk without limping. I slept like a baby that was given a shot of whiskey and lavender. A great bonus… both our digestion was fantastic! (TMI… I have IBS and this is a big deal to me!)
Additional remedies below:
We all have days when things aren’t flowing as they should. You can get this remedy and more from Master Recipes from the Herbal Apothecary.
This is a simple topical treatment that has profound effects on the body.
This treatment works best if done a minimum of 4 consecutive days a week.
For adults, you can take a typical dose of 1 to 2 tablespoons of castor oil on an empty stomach. This will get things moving fast!
The FDA has approved castor oil to be used as a laxative.
Applying a castor oil pack to your abdomen twice daily is a wonderful way to invigorate your immune system and help clear toxins from your body!
Simply rub 2 tablespoons of castor oil over your abdomen, then cover it with a soft cotton towel and a hot water bottle or heating pad. Enjoy a relaxing session for 30 to 45 minutes, or feel free to apply it before bedtime for a restful night’s sleep.
Apply a castor oil pack to the abdomen twice daily to reduce inflammation and support the excretion of excess estrogen.
Spread 2 tablespoons castor oil over the abdomen.
Cover with a cotton towel and then a hot water bottle or heating Pad.
Relax for 30 to 45 minutes or put on before bed and go to sleep.
2 tablespoons black cohosh root
1 tablespoon rose petals
castor oil
Put the herbs in a glass baking dish. Cover them generously with castor oil. The oil should be at a depth of 1 or 2 inches. Bake at 170 F for 4 hours. Once cooled, strain the mixture with care. Apply 1 or 2 tablespoons over the abdomen and cover with a soft cotton cloth. Enjoy the soothing warmth by applying gentle heat for 30 to 45 minutes. Drink some raspberry leaf tea and relax.
For the best results, aim to use the packs 4 consecutive days a week. Do this during weeks 1 to 3 of your menstrual cycle. Feel the wonderful benefits!
This infused castor oil should reduce discomfort, but it does more than just pain relief. It’s a great anti-inflammatory; castor oil is absorbed through the skin and can lubricate the joint as well. It assists the immune system if autoimmunity is part of the problem.
1 teaspoon lobelia leaf
1 tablespoon black cohosh root
3/4 cup castor oil
Put the herbs in a glass baking dish. Pour castor oil over the herbs to a depth of 1 or 2 inches. Bake at 170 degrees F for 4 hours. Allow to cool and then strain. Apply 1 or 2 teaspoons to the painful area and cover with a cotton towel and then a heating pad or hot water bottle
I hope these remedies help you in your quest to have less pain and better health. Subscribe to make sure you never miss a post!
Yesterday, my husband ventured into the pasture to check on one of our first-time fresheners (a doe experiencing her first delivery). What he discovered was heart-wrenching. Our beloved Cosmo gave birth to two kids, but tragically, neither was viable. One kid arrived stillborn and underdeveloped, while the other emerged barely breathing. I do not know what transpired in utero for this to happen, yet it is clear that my dear Cosmo was utterly devastated. Never before have I heard her cry so sorrowfully as she did last night.
Read more: Colostrum for Kids
My husband and I try our very best to make every heartbreak that we experience into a learning moment and try to find a way to salvage whatever we can from all situations. In this case we needed to help Cosmo feel some form of comfort and distraction. We already planned to have her become a milker, so we decided to begin collection of her colostrum and save it for future kids. We also try to milk all does that reject a kid so that the kid receives its mother’s colostrum as well.
In the world of goat husbandry, a “colostrum bank” is often the difference between life and death for a weak or rejected kid. Because colostrum and raw goat milk have different viscosities and purposes, here is a guide on the best ways to filter and store them effectively.
Filtering Colostrum
Since colostrum is thick, “sticky,” and high in solids/immunoglobulins, standard fine milk filters often clog instantly.
Filtering Regular Milk
Goat milk fat globules are naturally smaller than cow milk (naturally homogenized), which is why it feels “creamy” despite being thinner than colostrum.
Storage & Freezing Tips
If you are saving the colostrum or milk for future emergencies, how you store it is just as important as how you filter it.
A Critical Warning on Thawing
When the time comes to use that colostrum, never use a microwave. Microwaves create hot spots that destroy the delicate antibodies (immunoglobulins) the kid needs. Always thaw the bag in a bowl of warm (not boiling) water.
I’m turning a difficult situation into a life-saving resource for my herd. Having a stillborn is hard on not just the farmer but that mama was so incredibly sad. Getting some grain and special attention definitely helped improve her spirit.
Born 1-6-26 at 12:25 pm
We brought Mary Jane inside immediately because she was the smallest of the triplets born. It is challenging for a doe to keep track of and feed three babies. Did you know that newborn goats are called kids? After about 20 minutes, my husband went back out to check on the remaining kids. Clementine was starting to get cold and hadn’t stood up. Their other sibling had already begun walking and nursing. With Momma having walked off with the other baby, my husband had to act fast, as it was cold outside and hypothermia was a risk in this situation.
Fortunately, both girls began walking and drinking milk from a bottle (fresh goat milk) within just an hour of birth! Isn’t that impressive? Goats are remarkably resilient creatures. Neither has shown any signs of illness, and both have strong, loud lungs, which is a great sign of health. Fun fact: a goat’s ability to stand and walk shortly after birth helps them escape predators in the wild!
When caring for newborn baby goats, you must determine whether the mother is capable of raising them or if you need to bottle feed them yourself. A newborn must be able to get up and walk then search for food within an hour of being born. 15 to 30 minutes after birth is normal for a baby to get up and walk. If you are at the tail end of this, you may need to take charge and determine why the newborn isn’t walking.
Some reasons (not limited to) why a newborn goats won’t walk right away or have difficulty eating are white muscle disease, selenium and vitamin E deficiency, deficiency in vitamin B, birth defects, premature birth, hypothermia, and floppy kid syndrome.
WHITE MUSCLE DISEASE AND SELENIUM DEFICIENCY:
Most kids affected by white muscle disease have been in good condition and are 2–3 months old (range, 1 week to 4 months). Commonly, sudden death is associated with cardiac muscle damage. Other kids are lethargic, reluctant to move, and appear stiff, with a sawhorse stance, or become recumbent. Muscles, especially of the hind limbs, are firm and painful to the touch. Treatment is with selenium and vitamin E injection in acute cases. You may also use a selenium and vitamin E gel or paste.
Selenium deficiency in kids is most commonly seen as white muscle disease. The muscles in their legs are too weak to support their weight and they end up unable to walk or walking on their ankles. Other symptoms of selenium deficient kids are:
The main thing to remember is, that if you have a kid born who is weak and unable to stand- especially if their ankles are bending back- then you are dealing with selenium/vitamin E deficiency, and they need treatment immediately and help eating until they are strong enough to stand on their own.
This is preventable with ensuring that you have free choice selenium and available. I use Vitalix goat tubs found at Ranch and Home or some of your local farm supply stores. This also contains the needed amount of copper in most cases. When I have a goat that needs additional copper, I use a copper bolus (also available for kids)
HYPOTHERMIA:
Signs of hypothermia in kids are:
•Shivering
•The inside of its mouth and its tongue feel cold to the touch
•Droopy ears, lethargic, not active and alert
•Labored breathing
•Rectal temperature below 100F (normal temperature is 102.5F)
The sooner you help a kid, the higher chance of survival. First, get it wrapped in a towel and into a warm, indoor place. I tend to use the bathtub with a towel under the kid and a heater blowing into the tub area. If the kid is wet, dry it however you can and heat it at the same time. Sometimes a blow dryer is helpful here. You can also hold the kid against your body warm it on your lap. Another method is to create a hot box. If you only have a barn or cold area to work in, you will need to use a hot box.
Making a Hot Box for a Baby Goat
To create a hot box (or barrel) for a baby goat, follow these steps:
1. Secure the barrel to the wall of the kidding pen with rachet straps or heavy-duty bungee cords.
2. Cut a hole in the top of a 55-gallon drum to create a warming barrel. This should be a 10×10-inch door cut into the drum.
3.Secure a heat lamp in the warming barrel to reduce fire hazard risk. Ensure that the dam cannot access the heat lamp.
4.Bed the barrel with straw or shavings to provide insulation and comfort for the baby goats.
It is possible to heat it too fast, and it is also possible to get it too hot. You must be careful and aware of how the kid is doing as you work. You also need to be careful to not burn it.
When using a blow dryer, if the heat you are blowing on it is uncomfortable to your hand then it is too hot for the baby as well. Check its body temp with a rectal thermometer every 5 minutes or so. After it reaches a rectal temperature of 102.5° F, stop heating it up.
Once you have the baby back to normal body temperature, it is good to give it warm milk to help warm its insides. Think of hot chocolate after building a snow man, it warms your insides up too. Don’t feed the kid while they are hypothermic because it may be too weak and can aspirate the milk. Aspirating will cause a whole other pile of problems, like pneumonia.
The baby can also aspirate if it is having labored breathing. Postpone feeding the baby until you have raised its body temperature up to normal. At this time give that baby warm milk preferably from its mother. You can syringe feed it if it isn’t suckling yet.
If you get the baby warm and back to temperature, it can go back to its mother. Hypothermia is a quick killer, if you catch it soon enough and treat it properly and successfully, you will have saved its life.
Floppy kid syndrome can occur between 3 days to 2 weeks. This is the disease that most scares me as most kids don’t come back from it if not caught immediately. Typically, a vet won’t consider it floppy kid unless its 10 days old at least. A kid who had appeared healthy since birth suddenly can’t stand, nurse, nor wrap its tongue around a nipple. The kid does not have diarrhea and is not dehydrated. If not treated, it may fall into a coma and die within 24 to 36 hours.
Floppy kid is a metabolic disorder caused by a base deficit, according to a book called Goat Medicine. It may be caused by consuming too much milk. It can be easily corrected by giving a kid about one-half to one teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in a small amount of water. Since the kid is not dehydrated (because it consumed too much milk), you only need to mix enough water into the baking soda to get it into the kid. Even though the kid can’t suck, it can usually swallow, so you should be able to get the baking soda into the kid with a bottle or eye dropper and a lot of patience. If not, a vet can administer sodium bicarbonate intravenously. A single dose of baking soda is usually all that is needed, although since overfeeding is the suspected cause, some people also advocate limiting milk consumption for the next 24 hours.
If you don’t see improvement fairly quickly, it’s probably something else.
After the kid is born it’s important to tie off the cord with floss and dip in iodine. Clip off any that is hanging past the tie off spot with clean disinfected scissors.
You will need a baby aspirator to suckle the extra fluid that may be still in the kid’s nose if the dam didn’t clean off the baby. Gently suck any fluid.
Dry off the baby with a warm, clean towel if the dam isn’t cleaning the baby herself. Do not interfere with the dam and her kid if at all possible, as this is the time when the first bonding occurs.
Watch that the kid gets up and walks and seeks its mother’s milk. If the baby doesn’t get up within 30 minutes you may need to intervene.
Babies that are dam raised tend to be healthier and grow faster. But the benefits of bottle feeding are that you end up with a goat that loves and adores you because you are its mother. Sometimes bottle feeding is unavoidable and the only way to save a kid.
Do not over feed. This is extremely important. Bottle babies will always act like they are hungry. Do not give in to their pathetically sounding pleas. They will tug at your heart strings with the begging for more food…… hold strong!
I prefer to feed raw milk or fresh goat milk. If this isn’t available to you, you can mix 1 gallon milk with a can of evaporated milk and 1 cup buttermilk, then, combine. You can also pick up formula from Amazon or your feed store. Make sure that whichever milk form you choose that you heat to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Below is a chart that can help in the feeding process.
If you have any questions that I didn’t cover, I would love to get a comment from you so that I can update and add information to this post. Thanks!
Nothing is as satisfying as pulling out fresh laundry from the dryer, feeling the warm fabric against your skin, and inhaling deeply as it tickles your nose with its fresh aroma. So wonderful! The delightful scent of clean linens and clothing fills the air. Each piece you unfold brings a sense of accomplishment and comfort, making it hard to resist wrapping yourself in those fluffy towels or slipping into that freshly washed shirt. The ritual of laundry transforms into a joyful moment, one that highlights the little pleasures in everyday life. Even if laundry is a dreaded chore for you, you can’t deny that the fresh scent is pleasing.
Continue reading “Homemade Laundry Detergent”
Making your own “backyard amber” is less of a hobby and more of a high-stakes science fair project involving questionable plumbing and a lot of patience.
I’ve completely fallen head over heels for the oh-so-delicious taste and bold flavor of sourdough—let’s be honest, those health benefits just make it even more drool-worthy! This recipe has become my glorious little secret, letting me whip up a magical loaf overnight, so I can wake the family up to the heavenly scent of freshly baked bread wafting through my house like a glorious bakery bomb. And let me tell you, this recipe doubles so effortlessly that I’ve found myself baking not just two, but three loaves at once in my vintage oven—who knew I’d become such a kitchen rebel?
Continue reading “Simple Sourdough”” I have never known birds of different species to flock together. The very concept is unimaginable. Why, if that happened, we wouldn’t stand a chance! How could we possibly hope to fight them?” The Birds
