MAKE YOUR OWN Holistic First Aid Kit

These basic Holistic First Aid items will take care of any small emergency. Many of these remedies have been used by families for centuries. Have fun personalizing the items in your home kit to meet your family’s needs by adding your own remedies.

There are some fantastic books on using herbs for health on the Bookshelf page.

Ask grandparents and parents what remedies they remember using or seeing their parents use when they were a child and possibly add these to your home kit.

**Always consult your physician with any injuries and illnesses.

We love growing herbs in our own garden for our personal remedies. It’s so much cheaper and you know the quality of the herbs is excellent if you have grown them yourself. Herbs like chamomile, raspberry leaves, feverfew, peppermint and yarrow will reseed for years in your garden. Just cut them and hang to dry in a cool dark room or closet. Or you can hang them inside paper bags, where they will dry dust free. Tie herbs in small bunches with elastics, so as the stems dry and shrink the elastic will hold them tight during the drying process. When your herbs are completely dry, and crumbly if you touch them, pack them gently in glass jars. The more you crush them, the sooner they will lose the strength and aromatic properties.

♣Easy to grow.  ♣♣Super easy to grow.

♣Aloe Vera Plant

Aloe refreshes and soothes burns, scalds, insect bites, and sunburn. Cut a thick slice of fresh leaf on the diagonal to increase surface area.  Remove sharp edges with a small knife.  Rub directly on skin. Refrigerate cut aloe up to a week. Allow cut tip to dry out then recut fresh when needed. Grow indoors in winter and outside in summer in northern climates, or purchase fresh if available.

Arnica 6x Homeopathic Tablets

Use during shock or accident, at 30 minute intervals until person is settled.

♣Calendula Cream

Purchase in health food store or make your own.  Calendula is antiseptic and antifungal.  Use on scrapes, cuts or other skin rashes or irritations.

Chickweed Cream

Use to draw splinters, on boils, burns and scalds or to relieve insect stings.

Clove Oil

Use for toothaches.  Put drop of oil on baby finger and rub on affected tooth and surrounding gums.

♣♣Comfrey Plant, Leaves and Root

Comfrey is an extremely large and prolific plant so should be placed on its own, away from smaller garden plants. Don’t be afraid of it’s generous growth, because Comfrey is excellent for healing bruising, sprains, strains, swelling, broken bones, torn ligaments and ripped muscles. The large prickly leaves can be wrapped around the affected area and held in place with a tensor bandage. The root is even stronger and can be used to make soothing salves to rub into damaged tissues. Internal consumption of comfrey is discouraged as it can cause extreme digestive upset.

Distilled Witch Hazel

Use to stop flow of blood from small wounds, for acne, to soothe insect bites, for bruises or strains.

♣♣Dried Chamomile Flowers

Grow yourself, purchase in bulk or tea bags.  A definite cure all, chamomile tea is calming for nervous shock or upset, or to induce sleep. Chamomile tea is also excellent to relieve the symptoms of gastric ulcers, acid indigestion and irritable bowel syndrome. It is used in Nourishing Comfort Digestive Tea Blend.

♣♣Dried Peppermint Leaves

Use for indigestion, over eating, flatulence, colic and nausea.

Evening Primrose Capsules

Excellent hangover cure – before going to bed and on rising.

♣♣Feverfew

Chew fresh or dried leaves to relieve migraine or any headache.

♣♣Garlic

Cure-all, garlic is antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral.  Use internally for viral (colds, flus – swallow one clove chopped small daily for 5-7 days), bacterial or fungal (yeast) infections, use topically for athletes foot, or crush and bandaid to warts.

Fresh (not cooked) garlic taken regularly will help to prevent any kind of infection, viral, bacterial or fungal.

Garlic is a natural blood thinner.

♣Ginger

Use to ease nausea, upset digestion, or to prevent travel sickness.

Unpasteurized Honey

Take one teaspoon to relieve dry cough or sore throats.

Lavender Oil

Use with carrier oil 2-3 drops to 1 teaspoon of olive or sweet almond oil, massage into temples and nape of neck at first sign of headache or stress.

♣♣Raspberry Leaves

Make hormone balancing, PMS relieving tea. Also take in last two or three weeks of pregnancy to help tone utereus for birth.

♣Rosemary Tea

Rosemary tea used warm in a compress is wonderful for easing menstrual cramping. Make tea with crushed, fresh or dried rosemary leaves. Soak cotton flannel in the hot tea and place right on your abdomen. Be careful not to burn your skin, but use as hot as you can stand it. Place a towel and blankets on top to keep heat in the compress for as long as possible. Resoak the compress in hot tea as needed. This is extremely relaxing and may cause you to fall asleep, a welcome relief from severe menstrual cramps.

Tea Tree Oil

Antiseptic, antibacterial, antifungal – use for cuts, abrasions, cold sores, acne, for disinfecting.

Turmeric Root Powder

Antifungal, Antibacterial, Antiviral – made into a tea is soothing and healing for sore throats, used topically as a paste on infections, including nail fungus.

♣♣Thyme Tea

Effective for sore throats, coughs, and to help relieve symptoms of cold and flu.

♣♣Yarrow

Use the flowerhead on wounds or nosebleeds to reduce bleeding in emergency situations. Yarrow has a beautiful flower, in soft, pale shades of pink, coral, white and yellow.