Feverfew is not the be all and end all. In fact for many people (like myself) it will make it worse and send you to the hospital. As someone else mentioned if you migraines can be relieved normally by heat then give feverfew a try if you use cold DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TAKE FEVERFEW!! if you are not sure try using a ice pack or heating pad first. For those of us that can't take feverfew here are a few other herbs that may help: Ginger as a tea, candy etc. (I am currently testing this out) vitamin B2 (riboflavin) not only does this vitamin help with nausea it helps with sensitivity to light. Lavender, drop real lavender oil on a bandana and wrap around your forehead, and/ or massage into your temples. This also helps with headaches from crying and other pressures. I am not a doctor, these are things that have worked for me and may not work for you, please do your research and talk to a professional.

Nat, I wouldn't eat any herbs that have been treated with chemicals to get rid of insects. The only thing that I use occasionally on my herbs is a sea weed-fish emulsion feed. I grow lemongrass here in south Texas as a year round clump of "grass". Lots of people grow pampas grass and other ornamental grasses for landscaping, but I like lemongrass the best because it looks good, and it is a culinary herb. Mine grow to about 5' and will put out flowers every year. I have a large yard, and I have two planted up against the fence. I also have several growing in pots in my greenhouse. They make nice presents for my "herbie friends"! Here are some more recipes that I have picked up here and there. I just can't remember where here and there came from. TOM KA GAI (Chicken coconut soup) 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk 1 cup chicken broth 3 to 4 thin slices galangal root (some recipes substitute ginger, but others say absolutely do not substitute) 3 kefir (kaffir) lime leaves 1 stalk lemongrass, lower portion cut into 1-inch lengths and crushed 6 straw mushrooms 4 ounces chopped chicken 1 tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons lime juice Cilantro Ground chili powder (optional) In saucepan, combine coconut milk, chicken broth, galangal, kefir lime leaves, lemongrass and straw mushrooms and heat over medium until boiling. Add chicken; simmer about 2 minutes, or until chicken is cooked. Mix in sugar, salt and lime juice. Garnish with cilantro. If desired, add ground chili powder to achieve desired spiciness. Makes 2 servings. THAI TURKEY SAUSAGE From Sunset Perfect for campouts, you can cook up a big batch of patties at home and freeze. Heat them in camp for a great breakfast with eggs or hash-browns (Wilderness Cuisine author Carole Latimer uses sweet potatoes), tangerine juice, and papaya wedges. Notes: It's easiest to mince lemon grass in a food processor or minichopper. For best texture, mince the remaining ingredients with a knife. 1 pound ground turkey 1/4 pound green beans, ends and strings removed, minced 8 green onions, ends trimmed, minced 1 stalk (5 to 8 in.) fresh lemon grass, tough outer layers, stem end, and coarse leaves removed, minced 3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro 2 to 3 teaspoons fresh serrano chilies (2 or 3), stemmed, seeded, and finely minced 2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce (nuoc mam or nam pla) 1 large egg 2 tablespoons cornstarch 1/4 teaspoon sugar About 2 tablespoons olive oil 1. At home: Mix turkey well with beans, onions, lemon grass, cilantro, chilies (lesser amount for mildest flavor), fish sauce, egg, cornstarch, and sugar. Divide into 16 equal portions and shape into 16 patties, each 1/2 inch thick. 2. Pour oil into a 10- to 12-inch nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add a few patties, without crowding. Cook until brown on each side and no longer pink in center (cut to test), about 7 minutes total. Remove as cooked and drain on paper towels; add more patties to pan. 3. When patties are cool, freeze in a single layer in a metal pan until hard, then seal airtight in plastic freezer bags. Transport in an insulated chest. 4. In camp: Place frozen patties in a 9- to 10-inch nonstick frying pan over low heat, cover, and cook until warm, 3 to 5 minutes; turn at least once. Nutritional analysis per patty. Yield: Makes 16 patties; 8 servings NUTRITION PER SERVING CALORIES 73(53% from fat); FAT 4.3g(sat 0.9g); PROTEIN 5.9g; CHOLESTEROL 34mg; SODIUM 107mg; FIBER 0.3g; CARBOHYDRATE 2.4g HOT AND SOUR SOUP 6-1/2 cups chicken stock 1 heaping tablespoon tom yam hot and sour paste 4 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped (optional) 1 stick lemongrass, tender inner part only, roughly chopped juice of 1 lime 4 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla) 2-3 small jalapenos or fresh red or green chilies, finely chopped 1 teaspoon sugar 1-1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons straw or button mushrooms, halved or quartered according to size 1 pound 2 ounces peeled raw shrimp, thawed if frozen 5 small scallions, cut into short lengths and then into strips small bunch cilantro, chopped Heat the stock and tom yam paste in a decent-sized saucepan with the lime leaves, lemongrass, lime juice, fish sauce, chilies and sugar. Bring to a boil, add the mushrooms and simmer for a couple of minutes, then add the shrimp and scallions and cook for a further 2-3 minutes, or until the shrimp are cooked but still tender. Sprinkle with a little cilantro and put more on the table for people to add themselves as they want. Serves 4-6. LEMONGRASS CHICKEN (2) 1kg whole chicken 1 1/4 cups water salt and pepper to taste 6-8 lemongrass leaves, roughly chopped 1 tablespoon cornflour milk Place the chicken on a saucer in a saucepan. Add the water, sprinkle salt and pepper over and heap the lemongrass onto the breast. Cover and bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours, basting occasionally with the liquid. To eat hot, remove chicken and keep warm. Strain the liquid into a small saucepan and stir in a tablespoon cornflour blended to a smooth paste with a little milk. Stir until thickened and pour over the chicken. To eat the chicken cold, put it into a deep bowl and pour the strained liquid over it. Cool, then chill overnight. The liquid will have jelled and there will be a layer of fat which should be removed. LEMONGRASS COCONUT SORBET 10 stalks lemongrass 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup lemon juice 1 cup coconut milk (stir before measuring) Peel the tough outer layers from the lemongrass and discard them. Cut the remainder into 1cm lengths. In a saucepan over high heat, combine lemongrass, sugar, salt and 2 cups water. Stir until liquid comes to the boil. Reduce heat, simmer, stirring occasionally, until light golden, about 20 minutes. Pour through a fine strainer, pressing on the solids to extract moisture. Discard solids. Place the bowl in a larger bowl of ice water and stir syrup until cool, about 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Whisk in the coconut milk. If mixture is lumpy, pour through a fine strainer. Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze. Or freeze in a suitable dish until just firm , 2-4 hours. Scoop into bowls, or scrape with a large form to form a slushy ice. Serve immediately. TOMATO LEMONGRASS SALSA 2 stalks lemongrass 2 green or red chilles, finely chopped 1 large tomato, coarsely diced 1 small red onion, finely diced 2 tablespoons chopped coriander 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons rice vinegar 1 tablespoon sesame oil salt Combine all ingredients and let sit at room temperature for about one hour, then refrigerate. Use within one day. LEMONGRASS SYLLABUB 4 stems lemongrass, chopped finely 20g chopped fresh ginger 120g castor sugar 200ml water 300ml thickened cream 1 tablespoon brandy 2 tablespoons lime juice Place the lemongrass, ginger, castor sugar and water in a saucepan, stir over heat until sugar has dissolved. Boil for 10 minutes, then leave to cool. Strain. May be stored in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. Delicious spooned over ice cream. To make the syllabub, add the syrup, brandy, and lime juice to the cream and whisk together until soft peaks form. Serve in glass dishes with a few gratings of lime zest if desired. The syllabub can also be used as a filling for Pavlova. Fill a pavlova case with the syllabub, sprinkle over some cubed mango. Sweeten some passionfruit pulp with a little sugar, then drizzle over the mango. KAFFIR LIME AND CHICKEN STIRFRY 1 onion, chopped 1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste 3-4 Kaffir lime leaves 3-4 chicken thighs or breasts, cut into bite-size pieces 1 cup coconut cream 1-2 tablespoons fish sauce juice of 1 lime 1 cup chopped pineapple chopped coriander or parsley to garnish Fry onions until lightly browned, remove from pan. Stirfry curry paste and Kaffir lime leaves together over high heat for 1-2 minutes. Add chicken, fry for 1-2 minutes. Add coconut cream, fish sauce, lime juice and onions. Add enough water to barely cover the mixture, simmer for about 10 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Add pineapple, simmer a further 2-3 minutes. Serve on a bed of boiled rice and garnish with coriander. KAFFIR LIME AND GINGER MELON SALAD 1/2 red pawpaw 1/2 honeydew melon 1/2 yellow rockmelon 3 fresh kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded 1 1/2 cups water 3/4 cup castor sugar 2 tablespoons julienned fresh ginger juice of one lime 6 kaffir lime leaves, roughly torn Greek yoghurt to serve. Combine water, sugar, ginger and lime leaves in a saucepan, heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove leaves, set aside to cool. Peel and slice melons into wedges of the same size. Place in a serving bowl and drizzle the syrup over the fruit. Garnish with shredded kaffir leaves and serve with chilled yoghurt. THAI CHICKEN AND LEMONGRASS SOUP From the Frugal Gourmet 6 cups chicken stock 4 slices dried galangal root 1 slice fresh ginger, the size of a quarter 2 cloves garlic, peeled & sliced 3 shallots, peeled and sliced 7 dried kaffir lime leaves 3 stalks lemongrass, peeled and the bottom 5 inches chopped 1 tsp Thai red curry paste 1 tbls sugar 1 14 oz. can coconut milk 3 tbls Thai fish sauce 3/4 lb. thinly sliced skinless and boneless chicken breasts 2 small jalapeno peppers, seeded and thinly sliced 2 tbls freshly squeezed lime juice Salt and Pepper to taste Fresh coriander for garnish. Place chicken stock in 6 quart kettle and add the galangal root, ginger, garlic, shallots, lime leaves, lemongrass and red curry paste. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Drain the stock and discard the solids. Return the stock to the pot, add the sugar, coconut milk and fish sauce and bring to a simmer. Add the chicken and bring to a simmer again. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients except garnish and bring to serving temperature. Garnish with fresh coriander if you wish. Note: many Thai cooks prefer to leave the solids in the soup stock and do not drain it at all. This gives a bit brighter flavor, if you wish. Linda

I have to agree about the misguided info on raw diets, however the other stuff seems accurate. I think you have to look at what's species-appropriate and a most likely scenario in the wild - that's where dairy sounds questionable, but if it works for your pet, more power to you. You don't see many dogs and cats milking cows or goats. It 'works' for us (and many argue we shouldn't really have dairy either) because of a much longer history of genetic tolerance, I guess in dairy-heavy cultures, if you got IBS or other sorts of reactions from dairy, you weren't so likely to breed... I firmly believe one of the reasons vets are so opposed to raw diets is the level of funding the pet food industry puts into vet training and resources etc. It would appear to be something of a conflict of interest, and it's documented in the below link. I should also point out that outside of North America, eg Australia, the BARF diet for dogs (raw food) is looked upon very favourably by many vets. I think if you feed your pet garbage, then yes, it may make them sick. The commercial raw food I feed our dog, I would be (not gonna try it though) confident would be fit for humans (if you like ground up bone and organ meat with your chicken) because it's prepared hygienically. Remember also dogs have a much shorted gi tract than us and can eat stuff that really would make us sick, it passes through dogs much more quickly. I hate to admit we started our dog on kibble and didn't change til she developed some big gastric problems, I knew it wasn't the best thing for her, but it was cheap. I don't know if the Kirkland food was implicated in the melamine scandal, but I'm glad we changed - I don't think she would have survived on kibble anyway. If non-cooked food really wigs you out, then your own home-cooked pet food is almost certainly better than commercial dry or wet food, especially the larger scale stuff. Some of those ingredients are just not species appropriate, and some are blaming the increase in carbohydrates in dogs' diets for the higher incidence of diabetes.. Avocados, though, I didn't know about. We did give ours some the other day. A dog in the wild would definitely eat fallen fruit, which was my reasoning. I don't see any prohibition on bananas, which seem to be one of her favourite things.... http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/health/rawdogfood/index.html

So, now that I've had a chance to go through all the packs, I can announce that we have a third winner, Treasa! Treasa gets a prize for most generous, as she sent in many commercial packs! Super sweet of you, Treasa. I know that everyone will be thankful for the great commercial packs. Now for a bit of business: I was able to put together 5 bonus pack for everyone, so whether you sent 12 or 100 packs, you'll be getting an extra 5. Shawn, Dawn, Treasa part of your prize includes live plants, so please be sure to attend to your packs as soon as they arrive. I do hope the plants travel well. There will also be 3 commercial packs paper clipped together, for each of you. Shipping... Only two people sent stamps, instead of cash, so I went ahead and shipped everyone first class. The packs will be dropped off at the PO tomorrow. Here are the tracking numbers. Jennifer: 9400109699938439487611 Destiny: 9400109699937554954138 Tasha: 9400109699939915410840 Shawn: 9400109699939915681493 Treasa: 9400109699939915686153 Dawn: 9400109699939915691652 Thanks so much to everyone who participated. I hope you all enjoy your packs! Wishing you all many smiles and good health, Erica