Heritage Acres Homestead

Chas - Homemaker, Homesteader & Mother Hen

With the changing of seasons…

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We are about to have a big weather shift this coming weekend. Our weather has been very warm around here, not blazing hot (thankfully) but still, much warmer than I would like on September 20th. I would like a nice cool breeze and maybe ‘light jacket’ weather. I am excited about the weather change coming. It is also supposed to bring a little rain with it. I hope to get some of my starts in the garden today before the swing.

I’ve been doing a little re-vamping my apothecary cabinet to bring in a few new herbs that I have gathered and some tinctures I am starting.

I am so bad. When I start a project, it is not good enough for me just to start the project. I have to pull everything out. Clean the area and then put it all back in.
It’s a lot of work, but I am usually very satisfied with the end results, so it is totally worth it.

One of the newest remedies that I am going to give a try is a recipe for cough syrup. You know I have shared with you about our Elderberry Syrup before and it is good for coughs, but I like to use it for when you are starting to feel a bit sickly. It is great for helping boost those immunities back up, to get you feeling more like yourself, quickly.

But it is nice to have alternatives. So you don’t get burned out on the same thing.

By the way, I found all my herbs here at 
Beautiful quality and great prices too!

This recipe is taken from Crystal Miller’s The Family Homestead website:

FAMILY COUGH RECIPE
1oz. of wild cherry bark
1oz. of mullein (leaf)
1oz. of slippery elm (powder)
1/2 oz. of coltsfoot (leaf)
1/2 oz. of lobelia (leaf)
1/2 oz. pleurisy (root)
1/2 oz. elecampane (root)
1/2 oz. Licorice (root)
Here are some directions on how to make a syrup:
STEP 1/ –Combine the herbs and add to 1 quart water. Simmer liquid over a low heat, condensing the liquid down to a very thick concentrated tea (about 1 pint).
STEP 2/ –Strain herbs. Place liquid back into the pot. Compost the herbs.
STEP 3/ –To the liquid herb concentrate add either 1 cup of honey, (for children over 2 years of age) or 1 cup of white grape juice concentrate and warm the liquid/tea mixture together, stirring well for about 20 minutes over low heat.
STEP 4/ –Cool to lukewarm. Add Brandy (or vodka or whiskey) to flavour and preserve. Brandy relaxes and sooth the throat muscles and calms spastic coughing.  If you are uncomfortable about having your family ingest alchohol, add the chough medicine to hot tea, and the heat of the tea will burn off most of the alcohol.
STEP 5/ –Completely cool and then pour cough mixture recipe into clean bottles. Syrups stored in the refrigerator should last for 4-6 months. If refrigeration isn’t available, increase sweetener content to 2 cups.

I will let you know how we like this one. It will be our first try with it.

It’s always good at about this time of year, when the weather is beginning to shift and change to get your herbal shelf or apothecary cabinet stocked and ready for whatever the season may hold.

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