Flowers are a Girl's Best Friend!

We all love the beauty of flowers, whether they are expensive and wrapped in pretty tissue paper from our significant other or picked up on a walk and handed to us in a dirty chubby hand from our offspring. Flowers bring us beauty and joy, even the ones that are considered weeds! The best part is that many flowers are healing as well as beautiful. Chamomile is one of these flowers. Looking a bit like a daisy, it packs a medicinal punch and it definite calms what ails you. It is strong yet mild and can be used for comforting the newborns, as well as, the elders in your life.

Most people know about it's digestive properties and use it to calm tummy ailments. It can be used for nausea, indigestion, acid, heartburn and wind. It also has anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties. I have successfully treated my child's conjunctivitis with a chamomile tea bag compress on the eye three times per day. It is especially helpful to calm children and babies down right before bed or anytime you or they are in need of some peaceful time. For children and babies, chamomile is especially helpful, as it can aid in teething, colic and fever. Infants do exceptionally well with chamomile. You can put a little brewed chamomile tea in an eye dropper and give to baby orally or put some in their bottle to calm and soothe. I use chamomile tea whenever my children are ill and they take it well and recover quickly from colds and earaches.

I like floating chamomile tea bags in my bath to promote relaxation or for itchy skin. I have heard that it can treat bruises and sprains when mixed with vinegar. It has even been used to prevent or remove gangrene, not that we have this issue anymore in our modern world, but it is interesting to note. It benefits the liver and spleen, and it is also useful for nursing mothers who experience uterine pains when feeding baby.

Chamomile is a beautiful and wonderful flower in it's own right and everyone would do well to have a little Chamomile tea tucked away in the pantry for whatever ails the family. Make it organic and the earth and your body will thank you. Add a little raw honey, even better!

Here's to your health!

ClearSkies

Sources: A Handbook of Native American Healing Herbs by Alma R. Hutchens and The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Natural Remedies by C. Norman Shealy