Living Naturally
September 17, 2021
Herbal salves (a term often used interchangeably with ointments, creams, and balms) have come down through the ages as the premier household first-aid for scrapes, burns, wounds, itches, stings, bruises, diaper rashes, and more. Often expensive to buy, they’re quick and simple to make at home.
A salve is simply an oil (olive oil, almond oil) infused with herbs and combined with a wax (beeswax) to thicken them into a solid state at room temperature. That’s it! It takes about 30 minutes start to... more
September 17, 2021
The onion and its satin wrappings is among the most beautiful of vegetables and is the only one that represents the essence of things. It can be said to have a soul, wrote the American essayist Charles Dudley Warner, a friend of Mark Twain. Indeed, let’s us praise the onion: cheap, versatile and good for you!
I’ve spent the better part of today with onions. I pulled the last of this year’s crop them from the garden and hung them to dry. I trimmed the dry stems and roots from more than a bushel... more
September 16, 2021
You might know garlic simply as your favorite fall crop, but it also has a long history of healing. See some of garlic’s glorious health benefits and add garlic to your meals.
I grow lots of garlic and look forward to my mid-October garlic-planting ritual, when the weather is usually still warm enough to work without hat and gloves, the biting insects have disappeared, and there’s not much other outside work to do. Find out how to plant garlic in the fall.
I save the best bulbs from the season’... more
September 12, 2021
One day early last spring, I counted the ingredients of my shampoos. Each contained at least 20 ingredients—many of them unpronounceable—and three or four of them had suspected toxins. Two contained fragrances that made me sneeze. On that day, I decided to try an easy two-ingredient homemade shampoo that I’d read about for years but that had always seemed too hokey. I’ve never looked back.
Baking Soda and Cider Vinegar
My new strategy calls for an alkaline washing ingredient—baking soda—... more
September 10, 2021
Try these preventive health measures for salt, a historically important food that can act as a great natural remedy. Salt is inexpensive, but it has many uses for your frugal household.
Salt of the earth, not worth its salt, take it with a grain of salt, salted away, salty language.
Salt’s frequent appearance in figures of speech only hints at the importance of salt in human history.
The human requirement for dietary salt and the relative difficulty of producing it built and destroyed empires,... more
August 28, 2021
I’ve lived in a well-built old house sheathed with cedar shingles for decades, throughout which I’ve often (but never intentionally) shared it with mice, flying squirrels, sometimes chipmunks, and, occasionally, Norway rats. What to do? Here’s advice for identifying, controlling, and preventing rodents in the home.
How Do Rodents Get In?
Rodents are able to come in through impossibly tiny openings: A rat or flying squirrel can squeeze through an opening the size of a quarter; a mouse, the size... more
August 18, 2021
Seemingly out of nowhere, yellow jackets come at you and strike at blazing speed. Their venom hurts like the devil. How do you deter yellow jackets and eliminate wasp nests? Learn all about how to avoid yellow jackets as well as prevent and treat yellow jacket stings.
In late summer and fall, untamed places abound with gorgeous displays of late goldenrod, joy-pye, and fall asters, but some less-welcome visitors are the yellow jackets and other aggressive wasps.
Unlike honeybees, bumblebees, and... more
August 6, 2021
Find out the best sleeping position and how your sleeping position affects your health. We’ll also show you how providing pillows to support your sleeping position can help reduce stress on your body and help you sleep better.
Is There a Best Sleeping Position?
Front, back, right side, left side? Curled up, straight as a log, one leg over the other, splayed out across the entire bed? One pillow? Two, three, none? Pillow between legs, under knees, under feet, under stomach? Head and chest... more
August 3, 2021
Why would people line-dry their laundry when dryers have been invented? I’ll give you 10 great reasons why you should hang out your clothes to dry!
I started out with an outdoor clothesline held up by wooden posts. When that collapsed, I found a new clothesline online featuring steel posts and crossbeams—and a lifetime guarantee. (An old-fashioned carousel type is available at TractorSupply.com.)
Because it was a gift for the man of the house, I had the product delivered to my office so I... more
July 23, 2021
Hurrah! It’s corn-on-the-cob season across the nation, and I grew a few rows of corn this year. Corn is great for eating but also has so many other uses including medicinal. Discover the how to use the entire corn including the kernals, husks, silks, and cob to make delicious recipes in the kitchen, natural remedies to heal, fun crafts, and more!
Corn’s On!
For me there’s nothing like plopping an armload of just-picked-and-husked corn into a pot of boiling water for a few minutes and gobbling a... more
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"Living Naturally" is all about living a naturally healthy lifestyle. Margaret Boyles covers health tips, ways to avoid illness, natural remedies, food that's good for body and soul, recipes for homemade beauty products, ideas to make your home a healthy and safe haven, and the latest news on health. Our goal is also to encourage self-sufficiency, whether it's relearning some age-old skills or getting informed on modern improvements that help us live better, healthier lives.
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