Hi,

I have been blessed with a gorgeous olive tree that has an abundance of leaves that will be falling soon for the winter. I want to use them for anti-viral purposes.

Which is more effective a tea made from the leaves or a tincture made using vodka?

I like the idea of using the tea or putting the leaves in a broth and I don't like the idea of consuming vodka but if the tincture is more medicinal then I would be interested.

Anyone make or combine their own "medicines?"

Apple Cider Vinegar, tumeric, cayenne pepper and cinnamon made into a drink is great.

Aloe vera drink perhaps?

Julia

With olive leaf all that is requried is to powder the leaf and put it in capsules.. It tastes bad so you will not want to be taking a tea on any regular basis. Up to 6 to 12 capsules 00 a day may be requried.

The products found in stores are ususally concentrated to about 20% of the active factor which I don't recall what it called... for the stongest medicinal quality. But whos got the machines to figure all that out? I think they use a spectragraph or spectrascope to deterimine % of any one part

I think you can get around that by taking larger dosages..

I had a friend who treated some microbial issues with just the powedered leaf for which she took for about a year...

People need to be aware that many herbal cures take a long time.. she monitored her pathogen load with a biofeed back device that a naturopath had that she knew. Her health greatly improved..

If illness is very acute I think you would be better off with a tincture. Using a mix of vodka and everclear is good as it is very strong in its extractive properties. The dosages is just drops in juice or whatever. Since you have a whole tree of leaves you can do both.

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Olive tree: being greek, I am quite jealous. Sounds great!

I think that some people use either glycerine or vinegar as an alternative to alcohol, the tincture is more potent with the alcohol though. Be sure that the tree hasn't been treated with any pesticides or insecticides.

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Letting a solid substance simmer in hot water, stirring every now and then for a good duration is a better option than an alcohol based tincture. This method is called an infusion. Unfortunately many health supplement companies prefer the alcohol tincture method because it is quicker and cheaper so they can make more money.

In the last six months I've become aware of natural sources of nutrients right in my neighborhood. I feel a sort of "awakening" and empowerment.

In my surrounding area I've discovered a fig tree, wild artichoke, wild fennel, stinging nettle, dandelion, rosemary and an olive tree. Once I began to look for natural sources of nutrients I found them.

There is a gallon of olives curing right now in my kitchen but when I opened one there was a worm in it and it GROSSED me out! lol

We also have a lot of pine trees around. I wonder if the bark provides pyncogenol. It's not the French Maritime Pine so maybe not.

What an adventure!

I've been looking into the pine tree thing for a while.. there is not a whole lot of information out there but many experts feel that white pine may be the best but not to avoid any pine that is available to you. The native peoples of Utah used pine teas, etc in their healing and it certainly was not maritime.

I have found it to be a great remedy for many things and I keep a 150mg product from source naturals around all the time.. it can help will allergies as well as vascular issues. I have info on making tinctures with it somewhere... can't get to it today though..

The problem with infusions as opposed to tinctures is that they often do not store for a long time and many can go moldy etc. What is made with alcohol will store for a long time and be there ready to go when you need it. If you have time and the ingredients are on hand there is nothing wrong with an infusion. With an infusion you will need more product and need to take more of it. Tinctures often only need a few drops or a dropper or two depending on what it is.

When I got my Omega juicer last Christmas I was surprised to see in the recipe book an entry for juicing pine needles. I have a book somewhere that talks about pine trees and it's uses. I need to find that.

I've spent hours reading and looking at all the supplements that the health food store sells only to discover many of them are derived from things we throw away. For example, bioflavonoids. How many people do you know eat the white pith of lemons or limes? Grapeseed extract. I can hardly find a grape these days that have the seed in them. Quercitin is found in the paper-like peel of onions.

I've tried to make an eye drop for my dogs eyes that are chronically crusted over. (I've been using the colloidal silver every other day - my dog doesn't like it) But making a fresh infusion of fennel seed and sea salt is a bit of a pain to do daily. It sure would be nice though to have that instead of the store bought eye rinse with god knows what preservative is in there.

I'd like the recipe if you find it. I wonder if you used vodka as the liquid medium you would get the stuff for a tincture...

or if you juiced it up, extracted it with vodka in a thick pulp for 3 weeks then placed it in a dryer you could have something you could stuff into capsules?

Maybe. Recently I attempted to make citric acid by dehydrating lemon juice. I may have had the dehydrator on too low because after 48 hours it was a sticky goo. Next time I'll put the temp. higher and not worry about protecting enzymes. When I find my book I'll post what's in it about pine. I think I need to go online to Herbal Healer and buy a capsule filler. It's too tedious manually.

I've been wanting to make an aloe vera drink to take with my meals to help with constipation (sorry TMI) but I keep forgetting. I have several aloe vera's that I've been growing but they're not doing me any good just looking pretty in their pots.

There are alcohol extracts and water extracts. They are somewhat different with the alcohol extracts having more of the compounds insoluble in water.