Nature's Bounty
Summer Roses
One of the main reasons I have taught herbal medicine for the past twenty years is because of my commitment to helping revive the civic art of home herbal care. There are so many simple herbal preparations that we can use to help ourselves and others to ease the pain of everyday ailments.
One thing that every household needs to have on hand is a remedy for minor to moderate burns. Of course serious burns should be taken seriously and by all means, go to the hospital. But everyday burns like fingers on the stove, splashing oil from the pan, bumping up against the hot water heater, accidentally touching a hot iron; these kinds of burns don’t usually take you to the doctor, but they are painful and can take awhile to heal.
Herbs can be very successfully used for minor burns. The trick to curing minor burns is to treat them as quickly as possible. Try to apply the herbs as soon as you can after the incident.
One of the best herbs for burns is lavender. At your local herb or health food store, purchase a one-ounce bottle of essential oil of lavender. Just keep it in the first aid kit; it will last for years. If someone is burned, just put three drops of the lavender essential oil directly on the burn. Wait ten minutes and apply the oil again. Keep the oil away from the eyes.
The other famous burn herb is St. John’s Wort. The media has taught everyone that St. John’s Wort is for depression, but it’s most documented use is for healing the skin. St. John’s Wort oil heals burns and reduces the chance of scarring from any injury. It needs to be in an oil form to use on burns.
Last year my husband burnt his fingers very badly. We have an electric stove that can be very hot to the touch before the burner shows signs of it being hot. It is an old stove and the burners pop out of place all the time. I had the burner on high and my husband came into the kitchen. He saw the burner out of place a little and pressed down on it with his fingers to put it into place. He leaned into the burner with his 210-pound body as he pushed on it and the next thing I knew he was screaming at the top of his lungs and hopping around the kitchen like a bunny rabbit.
I turned on the sink faucet, grabbed him and stuck his hand under the flowing cool water, then went and got St. John’s Wort oil and lavender essential oil. Into a bowl, I put one half cup of St. John’s Wort oil and five drops of lavender essential oil. I stuck his fingers into the bowl, sat him down and put a cool rag on his forehead. He relaxed and went into a meditation. Within five minutes the pain and burning was gone. When he took his hand out of the oil, you could hardly see where he had touched the stove. Before he went to bed that night, we made a fresh batch of the mixture of St. John’s Wort oil and Lavender and he did one more soak for about ten minutes. The next morning he woke up without a trace of the burn. He said, “Wow, this stuff really works!”
This would have been a very bad burn that could have blistered for several days, and with the immediate herbal treatment, it was completely gone within minutes. Together the Lavender essential oil and the St. John’s Wort oil, pulled out the heat, eliminated any possibility of infection or inflammation, stopped the pain and calmed his nervous system. I have treated many burns this way and it never fails. These are two herbal preparations that every household and workplace should have on hand.
When you witness the actions of many of the herbs you think it is a miracle, how could it do that? Well the herbs are miraculous!
Kami McBride teaches experiential herbal programs focused on sustainable wellness practices and revitalizing our relationship with the plant world. Her popular course, Cultivating the Herbal Medicine Woman Within is an experiential herbal studies program that empowers people to use herbal medicine in their daily lives for prevention and wellness care. Kami can be reached at www.livingawareness.com or http://www.facebook.com/KamiMcBride#!/LivingAwarenessInstitute
