Goldenrod: Flower Of Gold

“Along the roadside, like the flowers of gold That tawny Incas for their gardens wrought, Heavy with sunshine droops the golden-rod.”
-Netje Blanchan “Wild Flowers Worth Knowing” (1917)

I love the Golden Rod, the way it looks, the way it smells…all of it, it’s blossoms, it’s leaves, it’s stems.  But, most of all, I love how very helpful it is in controlling my allergy induced asthma that always occurs during this time of the year.  I often get hay fever in the fall and I do not take pharmaceuticals for it (I have not taken pharmaceuticals in close to 15 years!) but instead I drink golden rod infusion and it helps tremendously in controlling the secondary lung congestion that I always inevitably get.

Not only does it effectively clear up lung congestion but it is also a diuretic/urinary tract strengthener.  It causes excess fluid to quickly and efficiently be expelled from the body (which can be so helpful for premenstrual bloating…) and when used on a daily basis makes it an effective treatment for clearing out kidney stones and stones in the urinary tract.

It is also a sovereign wound herb effective for treating inner wounds like ulcers or any interior bruising or bleeding and when made into a poultice it can be applied to external wounds to promote healing.

And to make an infusion is really really easy…

First pick your flowers.  Follow the bees to find the best ones and pick them with about 6-8″ of stem attached.

Bring them home and cut up the blossoms and leaves and put them in a 1 qt. mason jar.  Fill the mason jar 1/2 – 2/3 full of lightly packed cut blossoms and leaves.

Fill jar to the top with boiling water, screw on cap and let steep at least 4 hours before drinking.

My favorite way to drink this is to strain the infusion into a pot and reheat till hot but not boiling.  Then I add a bit of raw honey and a squirt of lemon.  The taste is similar to chamomile but whereas chamomile has undertones of apple to it, goldenrod has more undertones of honeysuckle.  Paired up with lemon balm and catnip it makes a really satisfying tea to drink for pleasure rather than medicinal purposes.

To make an easy poultice to apply to a bruise, scrape, cut etc.  Just chop the blossoms and leaves and wrap in double thickness of paper towel or clean cotton cloth, wet with boiling water, let cool slightly (just enough to be able to touch it) wring out slightly and apply the still warm paper towel encased herbs to the wound.  When it gets cold and starts to dry out, remove, pour more boiling water on the poultice and repeat procedure until herbs are spent.

“Venus claims the herb, and therefore to be sure it respects beauty lost. Arnoldus de Villa Nova commends it much against the stone in the reins and kidneys, and to provoke urine in abundance, whereby also the gravel and stone may be voided. The decoction of the herb, green or dry, or the distilled water thereof, is very effectual for inward bruises, as also to be outwardly applied, it stays bleeding in any part of the body, and of wounds; also the fluxes of humours, the bloody-flux, and women’s courses; and is no less prevalent in all ruptures or burstings, being drank inwardly, and inwardly, and outwardly applied. It is a sovereign wound herb, inferior to none, both for the inward and outward hurts; green wounds, old sores and ulcers, are quickly cured therewith. It also is of especial use in all lotions for sores or ulcers in the mouth, throat, or privy parts of man or woman. The decoction also helps to fasten the teeth that are loose in the gums.”
Nicholas Culpeper, 1653

Infusion of fresh Goldenrod blossoms and leaves, harvested from my own backyard.

The “Harvest” is at the END of the Season

I have always been one of those rare kinds of people that fully believes that the words and parables of Jesus in The New Testament give full knowledge and understanding of everything we need to know…if only, one has ears to hear. “Ears to hear” meaning a number of things, from overcoming one’s own pride and puffed up sense of knowledge to quite simply just lacking the proper context to understand a thing fully because the thing was said in a completely different world and time frame than what one grew up in.

We have an issue of the latter here.  Over and over again Jesus stresses that his parables are meant for those with “ears to hear, and eyes to see” those looking through the lens of faith and receiving the understanding that only The Holy Spirit can give.  For me personally, Jesus’ words have always been the last word on any subject, including disproving the pre-tribulation rapture theory.  I grew up in a southern baptist church that fully believes this fallacy and it was ingratiated into me from a very young age.  When I became an adult however and began to really study the scriptures for myself, the rapture fallacy was the most easily disproved and the first mainstream institutional “church” deception that I was freed from and many more deceptions fell away in increasing speed after that…my hope is that it will do the same for you!

Let me show you some parables, all from the lips of Jesus.  (My in-verse comments are blue)

Matthew 13:10-17

“And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?

He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

(he is speaking here of faith, faith is required to understand these parables…for whosoever exercises faith to him shall be given more faith and in abundance but whosoever does not exercise faith from him shall be taken even the gift of faith that God gave to him in the first place…)

Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith:

By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; (they are not exercising faith…)

Lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; And to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”

Matthew 13:24-30

“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying:

The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

So the servants of the householder came and said unto him:

Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

He said unto them, An enemy hath done this.

The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers:

Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.”

Matthew 13:34-43

“All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables;

I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house:

And his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

He answered and said unto them:

-He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man

-The field is the world

-The good seed are the children of the kingdom

-The tares are the children of the wicked one and the enemy that sowed them is the devil

-The harvest is the end of the world

-The reapers are the angels.

As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

And the Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;

And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

He who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

And there is your proof, The Harvest is: The End Of The World.   And there is only ONE harvest of wheat in a season, any average person of Jesus’ day would have understood this!

You DO NOT, let me repeat, YOU DO NOT harvest some wheat part-way through the season and then come back at the end of the season and harvest the rest of it, that would be retarded. 🙄

No, you wait until the kernels are fully ripe and you harvest it ALL at one time!  And at that same time you tear out the weeds (tares) and burn them…that is how it works.

This would have been plain and simple common sense to the majority of the people throughout the history of the world from the time that this parable was first uttered.  Most of whom who grew their own food year after year after year after year for nearly two thousand years. This is why I say time and again that our main interface for developing proper spiritual understanding is through “tending and keeping the garden” which is the FIRST commandment of the WHOLE Bible!

Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Joel 3:13

Let me continue:

Matthew 24:29-31

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.“  (which sounds an awful lot like 1 Thessalonians 4:16, the “pet verse” of the rapture people)

Immediately AFTER the tribulation…well, you really can’t much clearer than that…Jesus HIMSELF said that he would come AFTER the tribulation and AT THAT SAME TIME his angels will gather his elect.

Plain as day, right there, read it again if you have to.

So it seems, that not only will there be angels gathering the children of the devil (the tares) to be burned but there will also be angels gathering his children and this ALL occurs at the END of the world.   The wheat and tares grow TOGETHER until THE HARVEST (which is the end of the world).

And he will say to the reapers, which are the angels, gather FIRST the tares…

Matthew 24:32-42

“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

But as the days of Noe (Noah) were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe (Noah) entered into the ark,
And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.”

When you plant a crop, you usually know the season in which it will be harvested but you can never know the specific day or hour of the harvest, that’s just simply impossible.  And by looking at the crop (represented here by the fig tree) you can have some idea of where you are in the growing season..is it still early spring? summertime? late fall?

By looking at the maturity of the crop you can judge the season, the generation that sees “the crop” reach full maturity shall witness the harvest (the end of the world), again that is just plain common sense.  But just as the harvest of the crop can be early or late in the season dependent upon the conditions in which it was grown (ie. The Parable of The Sower) so to is the “end of the world” more a fluid thing that cannot be pinned down to a specific date or hour because ONLY God the Father in Heaven knows when his specific expectations, known only to himself, have been met and when to declare the crop mature and ready to be harvested.

But Jesus here, gives us a hint, he takes us back to Noah and the flood. The atmosphere of that time period in which people were so spiritually and morally debased, caring only for the things of this present physical world, that they could not hear Noah’s warning them of the flood to come “..by hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand..” Caring only for what tasty thing they might eat or drink next, at a party or a club having specially selected the clothing to look as trendy or fashionable as possible, getting drunk and gossiping, caring only for frivolous things like which celebrity has married whom and who has divorced whom and who is da baby daddy? etc. etc. etc. 🙄

Yeah, sounds all too familiar does it not?

And they knew not that it was the end of “their world” until the flood came and took them all away!

What? WHOA! Wait a minute, let’s back up right there, let’s take a look at that verse again:

“And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

WHO did the flood take away?  The evil people!  And so shall ALSO the coming of the Son of man be.

“Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.”

The one taken is the TARE.  Let me repeat that just for effect:

The one TAKEN is the TARE.

And he will say to the reapers, which are the angels, gather FIRST the tares…

And the modern harlot “church” with it’s pre-tribulation rapture fallacy has duped millions of professing “christians” into hoping they are taken out of this world FIRST…which, if that happened, would make them a tare!

So, here we have millions of christians (so-called) hoping and praying and wishing to a be a tare!

WOW just WOW, the deception involved here would be amazing if it weren’t for the twisted perverseness of it all.

Look, I personally do not care what you believe, living in a fallacy only hurts the believer.  But, after reading ALL of this, if you still wish to persist in your pre-tribulation rapture fallacy then, by all means, continue…you’ll just end up exactly where you belong. 😀

What’s Taters Precious?

Boil ’em, mash ’em, stick ’em in a stew! Potatoes are the staple crop of our homestead, they have only slightly fewer calories than corn or wheat and produce many times more actual nutrition per acre than any other staple crop, except for maybe rice.  But potatoes have the advantage in that they can be grown in a relatively small space, and they will give you a crop even in poor clayey soil and even in partial shade…not as good a crop if conditions were ideal, mind you, but you’ll still get a few good sized taters per plant even in the worst of conditions!  They also have the added bonus of being a “stealth crop”, which makes them most excellent for an “end of the world as we know it” survival type situation.  Most people know what corn and wheat look like, but fewer than most know what a potato plant looks like and the crop is grown underground so that even if would be bandits or looters tried to steal your crops (or raze them and if your crop got razed the potatoes would be protected underground..) more than likely not fully understanding agriculture, they would never think to dig below the plant to look for something edible, ’cause after all, most people are stupid…and when it comes to potatoes you can use that to your advantage! 😀

From this year’s harvest: Red Pontiac, Adirondack Blue and Yukon Gold Potatoes

Potatoes are also easily prepared and paired up with something like homegrown eggs for breakfast or with a nice homegrown roast chicken for dinner, maybe with some steamed homegrown snap beans and a homegrown green salad on the side maybe with homegrown hardboiled eggs on that salad and you have a 2 very full and filling meals!  They also pair well with our goat’s milk and cheese that we produce and can be utilized in so many diverse and numerous ways that there really is no excuse to NOT grow potatoes (unless you don’t have the climate for them ’cause they don’t really like super hot dry weather..) Potatoes are very easy to grow!  I have been growing potatoes every year since the summer of 2008 and the most we have ever grown is about 30 pounds but I hope to grow a lot more than that in the future.   My most favorite is Yukon Gold but I also like Red Pontiac and the good ol’ reliable Kennebec potato.

chitting potatoes on windowsill

They are most often planted in spring, but can be planted in early summer for a late fall harvest.  About 4 weeks before your last frost take your seed potatoes and cut them so that there is at least 2-3 eyes per potato piece and stick the pieces in an egg carton or on a tray and put them in a sheltered brightly lit cool, but not freezing, area like near the window of an unheated room. After about 2 weeks they will have grown little sprouts (this is called “chitting” by the way). About 2-3 weeks before your last frost, a few days before you plan to plant them, dig some very deeply dug rows (at least 12″ but down to 24″ is not unheard of, the deeper the better!) in moderately fertile soil with some compost worked in.  Space the rows about 36″ apart on the center and plant the chitted potato pieces about 6″-8″ apart and 4 inches deep in the rows, but you wanna dig the trench about 1 foot deep and pile the soil to the side in between the rows ’cause we wanna bury the plants as they grow…this way we get way more potatoes per plant! In a few weeks the little potato plants will sprout up out of the ground, when they get about 4 inches tall bury the bottom 1-2 inches with soil and every time the plant grows a few more inches keep filling in the trench with soil never burying more than 1/2 of the plant at one time.  Keep doing this until the trench is filled and even mound the soil around the plants once they begin to grow out the the trench.  All of the potatoes always grow above the seed potato so the more space between the seed potato and the top of the soil, the more room there is for potatoes to grow. After the plants flower and then die back to the ground it’s then time to dig your potatoes…and it’s as simple as that! 😀 Besides the obvious baked potato or mashed potatoes, or the classic “snap beans and taters”, my favorite way to eat our homegrown potatoes are as fried potatoes (also called homefries) fried in chicken fat from some homegrown chicken sometimes with added homegrown onions, peppers, garlic and parsley. I love it for breakfast with fried eggs!

snap beans and potatoes cooked together in the same pot

homegrown fried eggs and taters

There is also potato salad, of course, made with homemade mayo using fresh egg yolks from our hens along with homegrown onions and a mixture of homegrown sweet and mildly hot peppers, with finely chopped homegrown hardboiled eggs and sometimes I add in finely chopped homegrown cucumber too.

chopped boiled taters ready to be made into potato salad

And then there is the deluxe supremo of potato dishes: Scalloped Potatoes!  Thinly sliced homegrown potatoes covered in a medium white sauce made from our homegrown goat’s milks and finely chopped homegrown onions and garlic, with a bit of flour and butter added for thickening and baked in the oven until the sauce is all gooey and the potatoes are falling apart tender *drool*

potatoes sliced and ready to be made into scalloped potatoes

the finished scalloped potatoes

As you can see, when using potatoes as your staple crop, you can get many meals for little work and without needing a whole lot of growing space.  Livestock will also eat cooked potatoes and chickens will eat potato peelings (although I really don’t ever peel the potatoes unless I absolutely have to ’cause doing so removes half the nutrition..) as long as they are not green, compost any green peelings along with the dead potato plants once you dig the potatoes.