This blog post from Nancy Wilson reinforced some good words my friend Harmony gave me a couple weeks ago.
Further Up and Further In February 8, 2010
There is a place that the Christian longs for…the “True Narnia”, the New Jerusalem. Being “shut up in the courtyard of the prison” makes that home so clear, so beautiful. How I wish to run to it’s everlasting goodness!
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Maybe this is the purpose for a season of confinement and a temporary death of earthly plans. Maybe I forget too easily that this is not my home, and that the very life I live, here, is but a shadow of There. Maybe it’s a gentle — if slightly painful — prod, to remind me that God’s goodness is to make me more like Him.
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Because He is not only the Author, but the Finisher of my faith.
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Winter Is A Season February 1, 2010
Sometimes it seems as though a winter of the soul will last forever. Like darkness will prevail and joy is ended. But this isn’t true. It is not true.
1Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time,
while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, 2Thus saith the LORD the maker
thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name;
3Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
Jeremiah 33:1-3
Handiwork October 9, 2009
I just want to add — in relation to, but not specifically about knitting — that “Lizziejank” from the blog FEMINA has an incredibly good post here (and actually, this short post the next day goes with it and is very fun).
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It’s AWESOME and I highly recommend clicking on it and giving it a quick read-through. It will make you smile on everything your hands have embarked upon.
You say Knitting, I say Knotting… October 7, 2009
I have finally become interested in knitting. Thank you to all who have ever tried to teach me to knit (namely Mom, who has the patience of Job, having tried several times to help me out with this). I guess it was all in the timing, because last week — for the first time — I actually WANTED to knit.
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Upon Mom’s advice, I bought size 10 needles (goodwill — $1.00), some garbage yarn (goodwill — 6 skeins grey acrylic, $1.00), and…well, I bought some other stuff, too, but it doesn’t really apply to the knitting theme I have going here. I searched “how to knit” on youtube, and directly began to make a scarf. It’s a hilariously appalling scarf, so far, but it’s fun.
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I have one comment regarding the “calming effect” of knitting, however. I haven’t yet reached that Nirvana. My hands are all knotted up in pain and my eyeballs are dull with straining. But I’ll get there. Just you wait (Henry Higgins).
The Mezzaluna…Chop, Chop September 27, 2009
As you may or may not know from a previous post of mine, I have long wanted a mezzaluna. I saw one at TJ Maxx about a month ago, but couldn’t bring myself to buy it at “full price” (that would be, full TJ Maxx price). Well, last week when Pawel and I found ourselves wandering around in said store once again, I found the mezzaluna on the CLEARANCE cart! I am now the delighted owner of a double-bladed mezzaluna, complete with concave cutting board. Chopped loveliness.
If you visit me, I’ll let you use it.
Black Walnut — Hull, Yeah! September 20, 2009
Hahahaha! Could my wit and humor get any duller or cheesier? Oh, man…that made me laugh. But anyway, onto the issue at hand. Two trees are currently ripe for the medicinal picking: Black Walnut and Wild Cherry (aka Chokecherry or Pin Cherry). Black Walnut is almost over for the season, so I’ll climb this tree today, while we still have a little time.
Black Walnut
The medicine of the Black Walnut tree is found in it’s fruit — mainly the HULL of the fruit. The walnut hull is a thick, hard, rough, green skin that surrounds the actual walnut (shell and all). When it falls off the tree the hull begins to turn black.
The medicinal properties of the Black Walnut hull are mainly anti-fungal and anthelmitic (kill parasites), and these properties are not mild, if I do say so, myself. …Yowza!
A tincture is a great way to draw out and preserve the properties of Black Walnut hull. Don’t bother trying to make this into a syrup or otherwise improve the taste. It refuses to be improved without LOTS of sweetener, and if you’re going to be using this to help kill off something like Candida albicans (yeast), lots of sweetener is just what you don’t need. So when you take some of this tincture, just dump it down the hatch and follow up with ginger kombucha (what? what is kombucha? …that news will break later) or some other equally good goodness.
Below I’ve spelled out a recipe (from Hulda Clark) for making a Black Walnut hull tincture. When you are collecting the walnuts for this recipe, it’s important that the hulls be at least 50% green in order to get the most out of them. Don’t peel the hulls off of the walnuts. This tincture is made with the whole “walnut ball” intact — hull and kernel.
Happy tincturing, and may your parasites shake in their boots.
Black Walnut Hull Tincture Extra Strength
- Your largest enamel or ceramic (not stainless steel, not aluminum) cooking pot,
- Preferably at least 10 quarts Black Walnuts, in the hull, each one still at least 50% green, enough to fill the pot to the top
- Grain alcohol, about 50% strength, enough to cover the walnuts
- 1/2 tsp. vitamin C
- Plastic wrap or cellophane
- Glass jars or bottles
The black walnut tree produces large green balls in the fall. The walnut is inside, but we will use the whole ball, uncracked, since the active ingredient is in the green outer hull.
Rinse the walnuts carefully, put them in the pot, and cover them with alcohol. Sprinkle on half the vitamin C. Seal with plastic wrap and cover. Let sit for three days. Pour into glass jars or bottles, discarding walnuts, and divide the remaining vitamin C amongst the jars. If the glass jar has a metal lid, first put plastic wrap over the top before screwing on the lid. Potency is strong for several years if unopened, even if it darkens.
(taken from page 543 The Cure For All Diseases by Hulda Clark)
Take 2 tsp., all together in 1/4 cup water. Sip it, don’t gulp it. Get it down within 15 minutes. (If you are over 150 pounds, take 2 1/2 tsp. Do not take more than 3 tsp. because no additional value has been observed.)
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A couple extras:
– Instead of ceramic/enamel pot, I used a glass gallon jar for the tincturing process.
– The vitamin C is to preserve the green color of the tincture. If you don’t care what it looks like, you can make it without.
– The less oxygen in the tincture, the better. The jars in which the tincture is stored should be filled almost to the brim, leaving very little air-room.
– The storage jars, if possible, should be amber glass. Store in a dark, cool place — refrigeration not necessary.
– If you don’t want to ingest 2 tsp. vodka every day, put the tincture in some warm (110 degree) water to get rid of some of the alcohol. Make sure the water isn’t too hot or it could damage the parasite/yeast killing properties.
– Black walnuts are a great source of iodine, so there’s lots of iodine in this tincture.
– Black walnuts stain like crazy. Be warned.
