Everything Crafted from Earth is Nature’s Best Medicine. The world of health and healing is all around us. We need to start looking at the store shelves for nature’s best medicine.
I grew up in Seattle, in the Ballard neighborhood. I graduated from Ballard High School in 1967. The house we grew up in was in an area that had large yards and trees. We had a greenhouse in the backyard, and our father was really into gardening and nature. We had a BBQ built by my father, a compost pile for scraps, and growing worms for fishing in Shilshole Bay. We would rent a boat from Rays Boathouse and go fishing.
Our medicine cabinet was filled with Vicks VapoRub, Tincture of Green Soap, Hydrogen Peroxide, Macromere, and other natural products. Mustard packs, Lavender, and various herbal teas. I feel that these were being influenced by my mother, Jackie, and by being raised by my great-grandmother, Carrie.
Between what we grew at home and what we came from Grandmother Carrie, we had most every kind of vegetable and fruit available to can and preserve. Freezers weren’t available; they were too small for anything except ice cubes. Groceries were bought from the local small stores, of which there were two located within walking distance of us. I learned how to preserve and can most everything, as well as make pickles and pickled sauces. We used very little sugar, and when we did, it was raw sugar. People didn’t tend to develop diabetes. My kids seem to think I lived in the olden days.
We had a cellar at Grandma Carrie’s that stored much of the canned food. We would have fresh-baked pies and vegetables, rabbit, or various meats at a Sunday dinner every couple of months. The family would gather and enjoy a nine-course meal made with all-natural ingredients. We were able to get to know our family through these gatherings. Grandma taught me how to make mint and peppermint tea, along with cowboy coffee, even though I have never been a coffee drinker. Over the years, Grandma lost Grandpa, and she moved to Cashmere, Washington, close to Grandpa Myron. He helped take care of her along with our cousin Eddy. She still had gardens and fresh flowers everywhere until her passing.
I would go stay at my grandfather Myron’s for a month during the summer. My sisters stayed home. When we were younger, my parents both worked, and we had a high school student living with us. She helped with all the chores around the house and would babysit us. Her name was Esther. She was very quiet and very religious. She didn’t have any boyfriends, and her mother and sister lived in West Seattle, which was a 45-minute bus ride away. She would sometimes go stay with her family on the weekends, if she had any free time. That is how I got familiar with the bus system at an early age. We used to ride our bikes around Ballard, either to Green Lake or to Golden Gardens.