Thursday, July 29, 2010

Backyard Medicine

The last time the boy wound up moving the lawn (that's one of his not so assigned chores because I pretty much refuse to do it), he wound up burning his finger. I'm not really sure what happened, besides the fact that he touched a part that must have been near the engine and was hot. It luckily wasn't anything too crazy, but it still hurt.

Once he was back inside he wanted to know if I had any lotion with aloe vera in it that could maybe help the burn a little. In something of a girl fail, I didn't seem to have a single lotion that was even aloe scented. But it turns out we had something better!
Aloe Vera Plants
Due to my mom's plant identifying skills I knew that these two cacti-looking plants were actually aloe vera plants. (Although I guess aloe is a type of cactus.) We were able to break off a leaf and use the juice to help out on his finger.
Aloe Steam
Turns out the aloe plant did its job, and the burn wound up healing without even a blister. While the aloe plant might not be as fun as our apricot tree or our fig tree, I guess its a little more useful. I might just have to throw a few steams in my bag for Florida trip at the end of the summer to sooth my sunburns!

~Shoshanah

6 comments:

  1. We grow Aloe Vera in pots in our house. So useful to have around :)

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  2. That's a huge aloe plant! I have one in a pot and it's great to have around!

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  3. You could also try not needing it by wearing sunscreen. :)

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  4. we had an aloe plant in a pot in the kitchen when I was growing up. I loved that thing! I had my mom bring me a piece of it but I was a bad plant mommy and it died.

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  5. Aloe Vera is the best for burns. But did you know that you can drink it and heal all kinds of ailments of the digestive track? Look into a Fresh Frozen Aloe Vera Gel like Stockton Aloe 1.

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