He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herbs for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth…Psalm 104:14

I have been spending the last two years trying to help my stepdad through an illness which led to his death and then helping my mother make the transition from her home in Clarksville to a South Boston house. Also, I spent the last couple of years taking over the packing and cleaning of the house she moved from and unpacking and putting everything away in her new house and tending to her needs. My mother is 82 years old and at this time is having her own health issues. I am trying very hard to get her to do healthy things so she can feel better and have a quality life outside of the medication world. She has spent many years going her own way — yes, we butt heads regularly.

Years ago, I became interested in finding alternative ways of healing the body after having my own illnesses and being prescribed medications that had serious side effects. I began learning about herbs and whole foods and supplements and started making some of my own remedies. I was determined to get off the medications and do something better for me. Some of these remedies were from a renown herbalist and proved to be very effective in healing some of our family’s ailments. Since beginning my adventure of growing some of my own herbs and vegetables organically, I have learned many things. I have not had the time lately to make my herbal preparations. Hopefully, I can get back to doing this soon.

On another note, sometime last summer I began noticing that my good neighbor was having a trash, wood burning just two minutes walking distance from me. Whenever I would hang my clothes on the line, the smoke would get all over the clothes. I am ever a lover of opening my windows when it is nice enough outside to do so, but with all the trash burning, since I am very allergic to smoke of any kind, I would have to quickly shut my windows and doors to keep from breathing the never-ending smoke. Then one day when going to my car I saw white pieces of small trash particles all over the car. At first, I had no idea what this was, but quickly realized it was from the trash burning. A few months later I began to realize that this good neighbor has started a huge trash pile that contains all manner of evil-looking debris that he calls recycled materials, and once this pile grows large enough, a huge fire with black smoke that looms skyward dispersing into the air. It really makes me angry. I am hoping and praying that something can be done about this. Our health depends on it.

Until next time!

Alice Russell can be reached at letstalkherbs@gmail.com.