Easy and Natural Bee Sting Remedy!

Bee stings...they're bound to happen to everyone sometime in their lives.  We live with nature and nature includes stinging things; which means bees and wasps.  My own stings only amount to three which is pretty amazing considering how much I'm around them in the garden.  The interesting fact is that only one of my stings was connected to gardening.

This goes to show you how mild-tempered most honeybees and bumblebees are.  They are very occupied in gathering nectar and pollen and are very uninterested in human beings for the most part.  Most stings that occur from them are connected to their hives or if they feel like you are going to harm them.  Case in point: One of my stings was from gathering some leaf mulch in the spring while not wearing gloves.  A honey bee was in the mulch and I kept disturbing it until it finally stung me.  Ouch.  Learned a lesson there. 

The next one was from me walking barefoot (I think it was the only time too) in the yard.  There was white clover all around in the grass and that's where this honeybee was hanging out.  Needless to say, I limped for a bit that day.

The most obnoxious sting was from yours truly (pictured up above.)  I was minding my own business, sitting on our front door stoop when this yellow jacket kept hanging around my hand.  I did what I could to deflect it but it chose to sting me right then and there.  I think it was attracted to my shiny wedding band...at least that's my theory.  

So what did I use for all these bee stings?

Yep.  Plain old, free, readily available, all natural mud.  The very best remedies of all are the easiest ones and this does not disappoint.  I've used it for all my stings, my husband's stings, and our two sons who seemed to get stung quite a bit.  

Yes, I know you can use baking soda, cornstarch and flour (to name a few) but I was always stung outside, usually away from our house with no resources to these items.  (Oh, and if you have bee allergies...use the mud but also use your EpiPen!) 

While driving with the windows down to a trip to a local park, a bee came into our car and promptly stung our youngest son.  While everyone contemplated going home, I had my husband pull over to the side of the road where I gathered as much loose soil as I could find.  We had a water bottle in the car and I made up the mud and applied it...wall - la!  In a matter of 2-3 minutes he was feeling perfectly normal.  He washed off the mud with soap and water when we got to the park and we had a great afternoon together.

Another sting occurred while hiking during a camping trip.  First I applied plantain to the sting but the pain didn't go away.  So, we went to the mud poultice and within a very short time, the pain and the swelling were gone.  The faster you apply it, the less swelling and pain you'll encounter.

Why does this work?  Well, mud has amazing "drawing" abilities and it actually draws the poison into itself.  We've used this remedy countless times and it's simple...tried and true.

Okay, there's no rocket science here but I was able to take care of screaming kids on a playground within a minute from yellow jacket stings all from the most humble remedy of all...mud.

Blessings!

What's your favorite bee sting remedy? 

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Homemade Deodorant: Does it Really Work?

Here we go; it's a deodorant throwdown.  Don't let the Speed Stick bottle fool you...it's only serving as a useful vessel to hold our natural homemade deodorant.  It's recycling and making your own product in one package.  Okay, so does this stuff work?  This is another favorite item going around Pinterest and on blogs.  I actually heard of this years ago from my niece, but I'll admit, I was highly skeptical.  

So, I came across the recipe on the blog, Homestead Revival (a great blog to check out btw), I was casually telling my husband about it.  He was even more skeptical and resistant to the idea.  I dropped the subject: totally understanding his feelings, but thought I may try it out on one of my teenagers. Well, all these years of being married must have done something, because he went ahead and made his own simple version of it, fairly certain it would be a bust. He just combined baking soda and coconut oil.   Not only was it NOT a bust, he was completely amazed!  He couldn't believe it and made up a small batch to use.  Of course this prompted our 16 year old to try it and try it he did and was in shock.  Well, maybe shock is a little strong, but you get the idea.  He was complaining only the day before how his regular deodorant wasn't strong enough and after using the natural version he was fresh smelling and his clothes were too!  

So amazed was he, that he began to tell his friends about it and THEY were interested.  As a matter of fact, all I heard for days was how great this stuff was.  That's pretty impressive folks.  I mean, to have any product work so well is something to be happy about, but one that is natural and only cost pennies?  This was too good to be true, but it really does work.  I have already been using natural store bought deodorants, so when those run out, I will make up my own batch.  But for now, this stuff is a wonder working product!

Store bought deodorant completely knocked out of the ring...!

When I would do the laundry before, their shirts would be difficult to wash. The waxes and whatevers in the store bought deodorant not coming clean in the wash.  It would actually hold in the odors in their clothes.  Now, with this all natural version, their clothes smell great and even fresh.  Incredible!

So save those old deodorant bottles, let them soak overnight in soapy water and you can put your own homemade deodorant in them.  The natural product is much softer and you only need a light application for it to work. It costs literally pennies, much cheaper than any natural product out there AND this one has no chemicals...perfect.

The cons?  Well, remember it's deodorant, not anti-perspirant, so you WILL perspire, but that's a natural function of the body anyway.  We need to sweat to detox, so preventing it is actually hurting us.  It's better to layer a t-shirt under clothing to help with perspiration.

Here's a basic recipe to get you started.  We changed our formula a bit by adding less oil to make it stiffer to put in the deodorant containers.  It's all depends on you.  The tea tree oil is anti-bacterial; it will help kill the odor causing bacteria and gives it a pine-ish scent.  It's not necessary, but it does help the overall effectiveness of the deodorant.

Here it is: 

1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup cornstarch
4--6 Tbsp of Coconut Oil (Depending on how stiff you want the product to be)
Tea Tree Oil  (You don't need this to get started, but you'll love it.  Tea Tree oil can be found at Walmart.)

Mix together throughly and put in your container. If you're already using this, pass this review along to others, it's a great product....just ask my teenager!

What are your thoughts on homemade deodorant?  Blessings!

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