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Joylynn Hardesty wrote:So does plantain, which grows in most yards in USA. Here's how to identify several varieties. They are all used similarly in herbal medicine. And, fully in the category of safe to eat!
Ellendra Nauriel wrote:There is a lot of debate over how toxic comfrey really is. I wouldn't go eating comfrey salads on a regular basis, but there are people who do. If you decide, after researching, that you're not comfortable using comfrey in your mouth, look for a plant called oysterleaf. It has the same healing compound, allantoin, but at a lower concentration, and without the toxic alkaloids comfrey has. It is actually sold as a salad green in some places.
Leslie Russell wrote:Does anyone know a natural remedy for receding gums?
Michael Moreken wrote:When you stop digging up dandelions and start letting go to the wind. Chickens LOVE dandelion leaves.
Tooth problems start several generations back. The weakness of calcium deficiency is passed from parent to child. By following the same parental pattern of "poor food selection," each new crop of babies becomes weaker. "The sins (of omission and of commission) of the parents are passed on to the third and fourth generation." While the baby is being carried in the womb, Mother Nature is interested in that which is being produced more than the one producing. She is continually trying to upgrade humans and animals by drawing on the mother to supply the child. How often do we hear the expression, "Well, I'm carrying another child, that means more varicose veins and loss of more teeth - I don't see why mothers have to suffer this way." Please don't blame the Lord for these conditions, rather blame the use of pastries, soda pop, candy, sugar, ice cream, etc. The sugar leaches the calcium out of the body. Pregnancy is a strain on body calcium, because the mother must have enough calcium in her body for both her and the baby being formed, and later for nursing. If there is not enough calcium for her, because of this leaching process by the sugar (of past and present), the fetus draws on the mother's body. The calcium it now takes is from the bones, muscles, and the teeth, etc. Sometimes so much is taken from the mother that she will, after a number of babies, have bone and muscle problems from a great lack of calcium.
When a child is being formed and there is not enough calcium being supplied to the fetus, the jaw of the child will not form fully. It will be narrow instead of broad. When it is time for the child to cut teeth, they cannot come in "Straight" because of a crowded jaw space. So, naturally, they will come in crooked. Later as there is not enough room for the wisdom teeth, they must often be extracted before coming through. When the day comes that the jaw is adequately large and well-shaped to accommodate all thirty-two teeth without crowding them to crookedness, and the wisdom teeth can remain until old age (and in comfort), it will mean we humans have "gained enough wisdom" to keep them!
The basic cause of calcium loss, of course, as mentioned, is leaching out the calcium with sugars and a toxic body condition. Nearly all tooth decay comes from the blood stream, saliva, and the inside of the teeth, not only from the external surface. The teeth deteriorate but it is from the toxic blood stream and the enamel-destroying toxic saliva which is a result of an impure (toxic) blood stream. If a child has good wholesome food and has been given a "good solid start in life" with a full healthy set of teeth and jaws, he can go through life without tooth problems. The condition of perfect teeth is, of course, dependent upon a continual use of wholesome and proper foods.
Calcium is a "must" throughout life. It is needed for the formation of good teeth and strong bones.
Children need calcium if bones and teeth are to grow strong and well-formed. Adults need an adequate amount of calcium every day. During periods of pregnancy and lactation, women require much more calcium than normally, as they must also furnish extra calcium for the baby.
Botanical or herbal sources for calcium are: arrow root, comfrey, camomile, chives, dandelion root, flaxseed, horsetail grass, nettle, okra pods, oat straw, plantain, shepherds purse (and, of course, eat good foods rich in calcium).
Calc Tea (Calcium Formula)
Comfrey Tea and Organic Calcium: After the doctor has set the bone, drink three or more cups of comfrey tea each day--the more the better. With each cup of tea take the calcium combination.
Ingredients:
Calc-Tea is made of horsetail grass, oat straw, comfrey leaves and lobelia. As explained in the book "Biological Transmutations" the silica in horse tail grass converts to calcium, and the other herbs work in close conjunction with this master calcium herb.
6 parts horsetail grass
4 parts comfrey root
3 parts oat straw
1 part lobelia
Testimonials:
1. Tooth Grows Back: My oldest daughter age 13 now, had a dental cavity at age 7 (the only dental cavity among our six children). We had the cavity drilled out and a filling put in by our local dentist. Two years later, the filling came out and a hole was left in her tooth. Nothing more was done about it except the herbal calcium formula Calc Tea that you recommend in your book, School of Natural Healing, made up of: comfrey, horsetail, oatstraw, and lobelia. This combination of herbs has been used very consistently by the entire family over the last two years. We have recently discovered that the hole where the filling was is now completely grown over and is absolutely unnoticeable even under close inspection. [NL 1-9]
2. Insomnia Cured: I have found great relief by taking Dr. Christopher's calcium formula and thyroid formula through the night which was recommended in his "How Important is Calcium" newsletter. I have recommended this treatment to others and to my mother and they all have found it helps their insomnia also. -A.R., Williston, ND [D. Christopher]
Dr. Christopher used Comfrey in many of his formulas. He recognized the benefits, and powerful healing agents of Comfrey. A good majority of his formulas contained Comfrey. However, recently the FDA and the FTC decided that Comfrey was a dangerous herb, because when it is a young plant it has a high Pyrrolizidine alkaloid content. This has led the FTC and the FDA to believe that Comfrey is dangerous. Dr. Christopher never had a problem with Comfrey, and we have yet to hear of someone who has been damaged by it. Nevertheless, the Dr. Christopher Company had to remove Comfrey from the internal formulas. Comfrey is still used in the external formulas.
3. I was introduced to herbal medicine, quite by accident...literally.
I was attending a seminar on some health related issue when an elderly woman I knew fell in the parking lot breaking a bone in her shoulder.
She was taken to the emergency room of a local hospital for x-rays which confirmed that the bone was indeed broken. In fact, it was the ball of the bone that fits in the rotator cup of her shoulder that was affected. She had three hair-line fractures that radiated from the center of the ball.
After consulting a highly regarded, local orthopedist, she refused his medical treatment which was to include immediate surgery. When she refused, the MD told her that without his professional help, she would never have full motion of that joint again. He predicted that 10% to 20% motion would be the most she could expect without his help. She thanked him, but told him that it was her body and she wasn't going to allow him to perform any unnecessary surgery on it.
Instead, she asked that I go to a garden where I found fifty large comfrey plants growing. I knew them only because of the excellent directions she gave on how to get to the garden and what the plants looked like.
I quickly gathered a 5 gallon bucket of the leaves and under her direction, used a double boiler to prepare a combination of steamed leaves and a tincture of the herbal active ingredients.
When the leaves were steamed for a few moments, I let them cool, then placed them over her affected shoulder. Over this, I then placed a cotton diaper. Then I poured the rest of the cooled liquid from the double boiler to saturate the diaper. She may even have drunk some of it as tea, but I really don't remember the details. Next, I placed a sheet of flexible plastic over the diaper so that her bedding would not be damaged by the green juices. I then placed a heating pad over these layers ( leaves, saturated diaper and plastic ) and she sat there for probably a good half-hour while her skin slowly absorbed the herbs.
To relieve her pain, I would hold points on her hands and feet as she refused to take any pain medication.
I ended up moving in with her as this treatment took a good two to three weeks to be effective. However, after new x-ray's were taken three weeks later, no one could find the original fracture lines. To top this success, this elderly woman had retained the full 360 degree motion of her arm. It's pretty amazing that this "bone knitting" herb discovered by the American Indians had accomplished such wonderful results. It was amazing to me, but apparently not to her. However, she made a believer out of me and I've never looked back.
4. Damaged Eye: A woman fell while descending stairs to the basement and struck her head on the overhang above the staircase. She fell on her elbow and hip as well, but she had hit her eye so badly that it was oozing blood down her face. She found her way upstairs, and "dumped a pile of Cayenne into her hand and pressed it against her wounded eye" (Herbalist:March, 1978:30). She also took Cayenne internally and applied an ice pack. By this time the bleeding had stopped, and she applied Dr. Christopher's Comfrey Poultice, made with wheat-germ oil and honey, to her eye wound and other facial wounds. When she went to the doctor, he cleaned out the wound and told her that she would bruise very badly and that, if she wished, he would recut the wound and stitch it, as she had passed the eight-hour limit for stitches.
She kept taking the Cayenne and rubbing wheat-germ oil and other oils and herbs on the wound. She also applied wet hot packs for the itching associated with healing. After a few days, the marks of the accident were nearly cleared up, although the doctor had predicted many days of discolor and discomfort. This lady--who has teenage grandchildren--credits her quick healing to Cayenne.
5. Dr. Charles MacAllister, M.D., was interested in the use of comfrey as a healing agent. He had written a paper in the 1896 edition of the British Surgical Journal, Lancet. In it, he gave his philosophy concerning the bloodstream and irregular cell growth. Dr. MacAllister wanted to look up his paper and noticed an article in the same issue by a Professor William Thompson, President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Thompson recorded a case of a man who had been diagnosed as having a malignant tumor on his face. The patient had undergone surgery of the palate in an attempt to remove the cancer.
A month later, the cancer returned. This time it ran rampant throughout the patient's head. They gave up on cutting it out. It had gone too far, and they sent him home. Three months later he returned to Thompson's office and was examined. Thompson noted that the cancer had completely disappeared. The patient told Dr. Thompson that he had been applying comfrey poultices to the swelling and that it had gradually disappeared. The patient had a custom-made palate to fill in the hole left by surgery of the hard palate. Thompson states in the report that although he knows nothing of the use of comfrey, he does not believe that it would remove a sarcomatous tumor.
MacAllister was inspired by that article of Dr. Thompsons and began to wonder if there was actually anything in comfrey that would control or stabilize cell growth. He began an extensive study of comfrey although he had never before heard of its use as a medicine. Beginning with old books on materia medica (substances used medicinally), MacAllister found that after the mid-nineteenth century, comfrey or Symphytum was referred to as obsolete as a healing aid. He then began to search through the ancient and medieval herbals which told the history of the use of comfrey. There were several varieties of the plant used, one was known to Turks and Saracens for use in healing battle wounds. [There is much more to read about the comfrey and the components that MacAllister discovered.
From a letter to Dr. Christopher: A few years ago, about 2, I wrote to tell you that I used the black ointment for skin cancer and got perfect results. The Hershey Medical
Center doctor wanted to refer me to a Skin Cancer Specialist, but I told him I was going to try the home remedy that an Herbalist Doctor recommended. Needless to say, he was persistent, and wanted me to go to the Specialist, but I was also persistent and told him it was my body and I would try the remedy you recommended, first. Praise the Lord-in 6 weeks it was all cleared up and that was over 2 years ago. My husband is presently using the Black Ointment on his nose for Skin Cancer.
6. Third Degree Burns: One of our school of Natural Healing staff members (we call him "Professor Cayenne") accidently scalded his hand with burning olive oil during a kitchen fire. He acquired Third Degree burns from this misfortune. There was no one around to properly dress the wound, so he went to the local emergency room to have the toasted, dead flesh cut away. They cleaned the burn and informed him that he would need skin grafting if he wished to regain the use of his hand. He said, "No, thank you. I don't want flesh cut from anywhere on my body!" The hospital assured him that the skin grafting was the only route to go. He still refused. But when he got home, he asked a friend to 1) take pictures of the hand for documentation, and 2) make up the comfrey burn paste and apply it to the hand. After a few weeks of using the comfrey paste, he was able to move his hand. The hand is still scarred somewhat, but new flesh has grown in and he has total use of the hand. With dry skin brushing and use of the Cayenne and BF & C Ointment, he began improving the circulation as soon as the skin grew back. The comfrey paste had turned an almost mummified-looking hand to one that is now living again.
7. No Root Canal: After breaking a tooth from biting my fingernails, I had to have a crown put on one of my bottom front teeth. This tooth aches all the time. Sometimes it's from the weather, sometimes from eating something, and sometimes from headaches. My tooth was so sensitive I couldn't eat corn on the cob! When I complained about the pain, my dentist told me that if it keeps bothering me we might have to do a root canal. I started using Dr. Christopher's Herbal Tooth Powder to brush my teeth once or twice a week. As long as I remember to brush with the tooth powder, my tooth doesn't hurt. Whenever I forget to use it, my tooth starts to hurt again. I love the tooth powder, because it helped me avoid a root canal.
Contentions with the Comfrey Studies
We sent a large stack of documentation to the FDA and the FTC refuting their claims that Comfrey is harmful. The following is a list of problems we saw in the studies that the FDA and FTC used to make their decision. Click on the #s to find how we responded to them, or follow the links across the top.
Contentions:
1. Studies pointing to harmful effects of Symphytum officinale were performed with the root which has a higher Pyrrolizidine alkaloid content and is not used internally in Dr. Christopher formulas.
2. Studies were performed with extremely concentrated extracts or single constituents of the herb containing higher Pyrrolizidine alkaloid content than the whole plant.
3. Studies were performed by injecting plant constituents under the skin or in tissue cultures, exhibiting an unrealistic scenario of this plant's use.
4. Many studies cited in literature related to harmful effects of Symphytum officinale were performed on related species with higher Pyrrolizidine alkaloids content than Symphytum officinale.
5. Symphytum officinale has been shown to act as a cell proliferant and have analgesic effects in clinical studies.
6. Symphytum officinale has been clinically proven not to have carcinogenic effects.
7. Symphytum officinale contains hepatoprotective constituents that help protect the liver from damage, these substances are not included in tests of this plant and would effect the outcome of these tests.
8. Symphytum officinale has been used as a feed and forage crop for centuries without incident. 9. Symphytum officinale has demonstrated its safety through thousands of years of documented
traditional use.
10. Symphytum officinale use has low incidence of hepatic problems.
11. Case studies that seem to show harmful effects from consuming Symphytum officinale reflect poor application of the scientific method.
12. Symphytum officinale has demonstrated its safety through 43 years of use in Dr. Christopher's formulas without incident.
1. Most skin sores can be aided by the use of comfrey. Use three parts comfrey with one part lobelia to relieve pain and restore the skin.
If a doctor is not available, apply fresh or dry comfrey root, powder or leaf, powdered, to help stop the bleeding. The comfrey can be put right into the wound; if it is powdered, pour over the area, if fresh, tear up finely and apply. Fresh or dried comfrey can be applied directly over the damaged area--just keep adding additional amounts as needed. Cover with gauze, bandage lightly to hold comfrey in place and so the area can breathe. Comfrey paste can also be applied directly over the damaged area as with burns.
Healing Ointment: Made of comfrey, marshmallow, marigold, beeswax, and oils, this is an antiseptic that has been used historically on lesions, eczema (dry), poison ivy, soothes inflamed surfaces, abrasions, burns, hemorrhoids, for bruises and swellings. May be used whenever needed. Good to have on hand at all times.
2. Comfrey placed over a wound will stop the bleeding quickly and as the healing proceeds there will often be no scar showing at all. Stories of many hundreds of healings have been related to us, using this amazing comfrey plant. Another life saver is cayenne pepper. This will stop bleeding by applying it directly to the wound, and again--most often--no scar! Another way cayenne will stop bleeding (exception: bleeding from uterus) or a hemorrhage, is to take a teaspoonful of cayenne, put it into a glass of preferably hot water (or any other temperature will do if hot is not available) and drink it right down. As I have taught for over thirty years, if you will drink a cup of cayenne tea it will stop any unnatural hemorrhage due to injury, etc., by the time you can count to ten. One patient contradicted me on this, laughing as he said it, "You said a cup of cayenne tea will stop a hemorrhage by the time you count to ten--you were wrong. I tried this when I had a "nose bleed" and I started to count, but I only got up to six instead of ten."
3. A great aid in anemia is comfrey. This herb can be used in the form of comfrey tea, tablets, capsules, in salads and in comfrey green drink. Make the green drink by blending into apple juice (or some pleasant-tasting vegetable juice, such as fresh carrot), comfrey, marshmallow root (mallow), parsley, spinach, and other greens. Sweeten with honey and use a cup morning and night (children in proportion). The use of grapes, grape juice and raisins in an abundance is excellent in rebuilding an iron-deficient bloodstream. Each mouthful of the juice should be "chewed" thoroughly (swished in the mouth) and mixed well with saliva before swallowing.
4. Boils: Paint the part with pure olive oil to prevent sticking, then saturate a thick layer of cotton with comfrey mucilage and apply to the affected parts. Cover with plastic or waxed paper, bandage, and leave on until nearly dry. Make a fresh application by following the same process. If pus is present, paint the part with oil of garlic instead of olive oil and take 1 teaspoonful of the oil, internally. This will prevent or stop putrefaction and pus formation, which will hasten the healing process. Give fomentation wrung out of a strong decoction.
5. Dr. Christopher's Black Ointment: This is an excellent drawing ointment. For use externally on old ulcers, tumors, boils, warts, skin cancers, hemorrhoids, excellent for
burns and as a healing agent. This is made with chaparral, comfrey, red clover blossoms, pine tar, mullein, beeswax, plantain, olive oil, mutton tallow, chickweed, poke root.
6. Breast Infection When Nursing: Some women use a hot compress of parsley herb, but this can cut down the supply of milk. A hot compress of comfrey leaves, or of marshmallow roots are excellent; the latter is especially good to draw out poisons and infection. Echinacea and garlic can help up an infection; take these internally. My midwife has suggested that a calcium imbalance in the system can cause breast infection; instead of taking calcium tablets, take Dr. Christopher's Calc formula, which consists of four parts comfrey root, six parts horsetail grass, three parts oat straw and one part of lobelia. This can be taken in tea, tablets, or capsules. Take lots of liquids, take hot baths, and be sure to get plenty of rest. Many breast infections result from an exhausted mother. Vitamin C-rich foods, such as rose hip tea or, my favorite, hot lemon toddy, which you make by squeezing the juice of one lemon into hot water and adding honey to taste, can help heal you up.
7. Burns: Cleanse the wound and use Dr. Christopher's burn ointment, which is made by blending equal parts of wheat germ oil and honey in a blender, and adding comfrey leaves, fresh or dried, until the mixture becomes thick. I sometimes add a little slippery elm. This mixture is fantastic.
8. Mucilage of Comfrey: Diarrhea, dysentery, and cough [delicate children]. Give the mucilage sweetened with honey in teaspoonful doses frequently (it helps strengthen, nourish, sooth and heal).
9. Herbal Tooth Powder: Dr. Christopher's Herbal Tooth Powder: This herbal food combination consists of oak bark, oat straw, comfrey root, horsetail grass, lobelia, cloves, peppermint. This
formula is used to help strengthen the gums (bleeding and pyorrhea-type infections of the gums), and assist in tightening loose teeth. This type tooth powder will help brighten the teeth's luster and make for a healthier mouth. For severe cases place this powder combination between the lips and gums (up and lower) around entire tooth area and leave on all night, six nights a week (as well as brushing regularly) until improvement is evident. Then continue on with regular tooth brushing with this herbal food combination.
10. Comfrey for Hemorrhage of the Lungs: Give the mucilage of comfrey often and in large doses or give 1 teacupful of the decoction or mucilage (1 mouthful at a time and mix well with saliva). Rest 1 hour, then repeat until all soreness is gone and blood is not in the sputum. If the patient sleeps, awaken and continue with the same dosage for two hours and administer every three hours thereafter. Do not give food for at least twelve hours.
11. Bone, flesh and cartilage (comfrey combination fomentation). This is an aid for malfunction in bone, flesh, sinews, etc. Make a tea of the following herbs: six parts oak bark, three parts marshmallow root, three parts mullein herb, two parts wormwood, one part lobelia, one part scullcap, six parts comfrey root, three parts walnut bark (or leaves), three parts gravel root. Soak the combined teas in distilled water, then soaking four to six hours, simmer thirty minutes, strain and then simmer the liquid down to 1/2 its volume and add 1/4 vegetable glycerine (if desired). Example: One gallon of tea simmered (not boiled) down to two quarts and add one pint of glycerine.
Soak flannel, cotton, or any white material other than synthetics (never use synthetics). Wrap the fomentation (soaked cloth) around the malfunctioning area and cover with plastic to keep it from drying out. Leave on all night six nights a week, week after week, until relief appears.
Drink 1/4 cup of finished concentrated tea with 3/4 cup of distilled water three times in a day.
Heather Sharpe wrote:
He has some great info I wish I'd found earlier in my journey to feed chickens. His book "The Small Scale Poultry Flock" is excellent. His website has good portions of it available for free here: https://themodernhomestead.us/poultry/feeding-the-flock/
I'd think the black soldier fly larvae would be a good option in the meantime, if feeding meat directly to the chickens didn't work. I don't think they have nearly the risk of disease because their growth is more aerobic, so the organisms that cause botulism don't have the anaerobic conditions they need to flourish. I recall Sean had a BSF set up at one point, but hasn't made any follow up videos. I wonder why. They seem pretty cool and the chickens adore them. There's an article about them in the link above.
My system isn't generating many bugs yet, just lots of sprouted grains, which in itself is pretty nice for the chickens. I have been surprised how effective just leaving rocks or logs in there and turning them over periodically is. Always lots of bugs hiding out underneath. But nowhere near the amount of worms Sean has. One day...