Category Archives: Native fauna and flora

July 4, 2014 · 2:29 pm

Battling Nature—Ants

This year has been particularly good for ants. According to local farm lore, a good ant year means a good crop year, so my husband, along with many others, has begun soil preparation early. Harbinger of good fortune though they might be, we are not totally thrilled with the en masse invasion in La Yacata.

In previous years, ant attacks have stunted our peach and pomegranate trees. Everything would be unfurling nicely in the spring and then suddenly BAM! we woke up the next morning to completely naked trees. The ants had stripped the leaves overnight.

Ant mounds outdoors are easy to spot and just as easy to avoid. Personally, I have nothing against ants and respect their place in the grand eco scheme of things, even when I have accidentally blundered close enough to be attacked. However, when they start invading indoors, biting me even in my bed at night, then it’s time to take up arms.

This year we have a scourge of itty bitty bitey red ants. They slipped right under our doors and windowsills and used our tile grout as a super highway. Not content with the crumbs, they scaled the shelves looking for more. Having most of our food in closed storage containers already, you would think they would back down, but no! They sent out highly organized scouts. Any less than perfectly sealed container was targeted. I have been bitten by scurrying little ants while gathering the ingredients for dinner.

Enough already! My husband, being the traditionalist he is, went and got some sort of powder pesticide and surrounded the house in a fairy ring, on the inside, of course, so that the chickens wouldn’t accidentally be poisoned. This temporarily stopped the invasion. Notice, I said, temporarily…in just a day or two they were back, stealthily avoiding the poison chem trails and burrowing straight through the brick walls.

They also stepped up their attacks outdoors and began bothering our animals. Our poor goats and horses were bitten while they slept. Some had bare patches rubbed raw from ant attacks.

You would think our chickens would keep the ant population down, but the ants are far from tarugos (idiots) and bypassed the chicken corral in the day when the chickens were awake but blitzed it at night. One night an ant attack killed 10 newly hatched baby chicks.

Obviously, my husband couldn’t use the poisoned powder around our animals so I did some internet research. Cinnamon was by the far the nicest recommendation, however, it is an expensive spice here. Borax was also off the list due to limited availability. However, chalk and coffee were definitely on the to-try list. Coffee as a deterrent would also explain why the little buggers left my re-purposed coffee storage containers alone and focused on the Tupperware.

My husband immediately bought a bag of cal and went to work spreading it around the animals area. When the bag ripped, the outdoor corral looked much like a sudden snow squall had hit. The animals sneezed a bit until the dust settled, but it did drastically reduce the number of ants in the area for a time.

Unfortunately, nothing seemed to work as well as promised and we had to wait for the rains to begin for the attacks to finally let up.

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disclosure

Natural Healing–Feverfew tea

These flowers just popped up in our backyard.

With so many wildflowers growing in La Yacata, at times, I am overwhelmed with being so under informed, not being a native and all. I am sure that these plants are useful, and not just another pretty face, but it has been difficult to find anyone that knows herblore anymore. My mother was always interested in herbs and I remember drying and using chamomile flowers. For that reason, when I discovered this plant in my backyard, I thought at first it was a type of local chamomile. Locals call is manzanilla, which is chamomile. However, upon closer examination, it seemed just a little bit different than the chamomile flowers my mother dried. Although the flower was similar, it had a flat center rather than a cone shaped one and thus it was feverfew, not chamomile after all. Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) is also known as also known as altamisa, amargaza, amargazón, arrugas, artemisa, botón de plata, botón de plata común, camamila de los huertos, camelina de los huertos, camomila de Aragón, chapote, flor de la calentura, flor de santos, gamarza, gamaza, gamazón, hierba de altamira, hierba de Santa María, hierba santa, madrehuela doble, madrehuela olorosa, madrehuela rósea, magarsa, magarza, magarza amarilla, magarzuela, manzanilla, manzanilla botonera, manzanilla brava, manzanillo, manzanillón, margaza, matricaria, matronaria, pelitre, Santa María blanca, yerba de Santa María in Mexican Spanich and in Aztec– iztactzapotl or cochitzapotl. Even with all these names, I wasn’t able to find any information in my Aztec medicine booklets. But I was able to find a page in another of my books in my small, but oh so useful library. The name feverfew is misleading since this plant has not been shown to reduce fever. However, it has been used for centuries to prevent or reduce migraines. It also has been shown to relieve muscle spasms and can be used a mild sedative.

Cut and hung feverfew drying for tea.

When I asked around, my local sources told me this plant could be dried and made into a tea. I wasted no time in cutting and hanging. I have periodic migraines, leftover from a car accident some 20 years ago, and my husband constantly complains about hernia pain even after his operation, so I figured this was the perfect tea for us.

Dried feverfew

When the plant was finally dry, I crunched the flowers and leaves, discarding the stems and roots. It had a very strong herb scent, but I was bound and determined to make a tea. I admit the first cup of tea was so very strong that we had to choke it down. (I made everybody drink a cup). So the next cup, I tried adding local organic honey and our own organic raw goat milk to try and cut the flavor. We decided this tea wasn’t a tea for milk, so the third night I just added the honey and we all agreed that it was passably flavored like that. This plant is self-seeding and before we even finished the first batch, there were plants to cut and dry. This time, I am going to try and separate the flowers and leaves and try a tea with just the flowers. The leaves are pungent and make the tea a might bit strong for our tastes.

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Interested in natural remedies? Uncover herbal remedies from traditional Mexican sources for healing and wellness in the Exploring Traditional Herbal Remedies in Mexico series.

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Filed under Health, Native fauna and flora, Natural Healing

Tagged as drying flowers for tea, feverfew, feverfew tea, Mexican native flora and fauna, native healing, natural healing

May 2, 2014 · 7:15 pm

Natural Healing with Lentejilla

With the number of visits we had to make to the hospital in order to get a prescription refill (See Seguro Popular—A model of inefficiency) it was no big surprise that we picked up a stomach bug and brought it home. My husband and I just felt a little under the weather for a few days, but my son ended up with the works, aches and pains, fever, vomiting, diarrhea and headache. Being a champ, he complained a bit, but grimly went to school. However, about an hour later, he called to say that he wanted to be picked up as he had vomited all over his uniform. When he was tucked into bed, I went to talk to my sister-in-law up the hill. I told her about my son’s unfortunate episode at school and immediately she yanked up a plant root and all, from the side of the road next to the house. She told me to make a tea from the root of this plant, she called lentejilla, to help with an upset stomach.

The root of this small plant is a bit stringy and smells sort of like a radish. I washed the root and set it to boil with just a little bit of water. My son did not want to drink it. He said it tasted terrible. So I had a sip. I admit it wasn’t sweet, but it wasn’t terrible. It had an herby, rooty taste. My husband told him he was going to drink it and that was that. The cup was empty in no time and back to bed, he went. He had a second cup in the morning, despite his protests of being “fine now”. Although he still felt weak for the next 2 or three days, there was no more vomiting or diarrhea. Yeah, another herbal cure!

So what is lentejilla? It grows wild all over La Yacata and I had never paid it any attention before. It grows mostly in areas that had been formerly cultivated, but now are abandoned; hence it’s profligacy in La Yacata. It is a small green plant with tiny flat, oval leaves and grows little white flowers. I was unable to find any information about it in my Antiguo Recetario Medicional Azteca book, but it may be there just listed under a different name. In Náhuatl, this herb is called chilacaquilitl or mexixi, in Mazahua it is yo-hi and in Mayan called x-cabal pul. It is also known as lentejuela, pierna de vieja, kuitiski, meshishi, yuku kue eni, lipajna shla, kabal puut or tskam utsun. Botanically it is either Lepidium intermedium Gray or Lepidium apetalum Millar. It is also called Peppergrass. No matter what it might be named, it is a useful herb to have around.

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Interested in natural remedies? Uncover herbal remedies from traditional Mexican sources for healing and wellness in the Exploring Traditional Herbal Remedies in Mexico series.