“Born with a silver spoon in his mouth” indicated someone whose table was furnished with silver utensils, silver bowls and silver plates and silver was recognized to be an important health blessing. Stainless steel “tableware” has only been around for a century or so. Plastics are recent inventions. But historically, “silverware” was literally made of silver.
Silver was the original antibiotic. Silver nitrate was (and still is, in some places) routinely used in hospitals to treat the eyes of newborns, just in case their mothers were infected with a venereal disease that might render them blind). A piece of silver would be placed in a jug to keep the milk fresh.
As recently as 1978, the March issue of Science Digest published an article entitled “Silver, Our Mightiest Germ Fighter”. The author reported that a majority of airlines used silver water filters to purify their onboard drinking water. These airlines included British Airways, Lufthansa and Air France. NASA chose a silver water purification system for the space shuttle after evaluating 23 different competing systems. In Japan, they use silver air purifiers.
Throughout history, silver was extremely effective, used with no known deleterious side effects. However, no one can make a great deal of money off colloidal silver, because it is simple enough to make at home. Therefore, the medical and pharmaceutical industries waged a public relations war against colloidal silver, while encouraging the use of their own proprietary products.
There are a few blue-skinned “poster children” whom the industries point to when they want to discourage us from considering the use of colloidal silver. However if you study the cases of these blue-faced people, you will find that it required a great deal of overexposure to silver – and low quality, incorrectly made silver – to attain the discoloration.
Now the pharmaceutical company is in a little bit of a quandary. New products on the market contain silver. Healing salves, for one. Bandages infused with silver for another. Yet they use very little silver (for very little is needed) in the bandage itself and weave in strands of aluminum to make the bandage shiny. (I read the fine print.)
A few small, independent companies still make colloidal silver. They make their products seem so specialized that you will be discouraged from trying to make your own silver at home.. Only they can make it “this good”. But remember that for thousands of years, humans didn’t have extremely high tech equipment and their homemade colloidal silver still worked very well. The good news is, you can still make colloidal silver with simple equipment in the comfort of your own home. And you can use it for a plethora of complaints. In this article, I will show you how.
It is imperative that you use the very highest quality of silver for your colloidal silver experiment. Since pure silver bends easily by itself, sterling silver is only 92% silver and the rest is usually copper. Do not use sterling silver. Silver alloys are what may have caused the blue-skin effect. So, use only real silver, 99.99% pure silver, in your colloidal silver.
You can buy a foot of 99.99% pure silver wire – and all the equipment you need – then make gallons of colloidal silver – for less than a small bottle of colloidal silver from the store. And that is the most expensive part of your project. Yet it is a remedy that you can use for many conditions and that you can make over and over again, so the initial investment is quite small in the long run.
You can find 99.9% fine round silver wire at jewelry supply stores – a thicker gauge is best – in your town or on the Internet. The silver will last for a very long time. Let’s figure out how much it would cost to make it yourself.
My pure silver rods are approximately six inches long and I’m not certain of the gauge. I have had them for several years and after making gallons and gallons of colloidal silver, they are still doing well. You can use any gauge, but a thicker gauge will last longer, as a little bit of silver is lost with each batch you make.
The cost of silver varies according to the price of silver on any given day, but you can, as of this writing, buy two 99.9% pure silver rods for $15 – or $20 with shipping. Today, December 6, 2012, .999 Fine Round Silver Wire is $49 per ounce and one ounce of 12 gauge is 2 feet, 10 inches; 14 gauge is 4 feet, 8 inches.
What exactly will you need to make colloidal silver at home? I will estimate, using the “worst case scenario”.
- $20 to 25, including shipping, for one foot of 99.9% pure silver rods [see http://www.ccsilver.com/silver/fines.html]
- $ 9 – two alligator clips [see Radio Shack Model: 278-1156 | catalog #278-1156 – 14″ Insulated Test/Jumper Leads]
- $12 – four 9-volt batteries [might as well pick them up while you’re at Radio Shack – they will last for years]
- $ 2 – one gallon of distilled water [grocery store]
- Glass jars with lids (best to not store CS in plastic)
Then you need to figure out a way to support the two silver rods and hold them apart so they don’t touch when they are in the water and the electricity is running. I use a square of wood with two holes drilled in it and a stiff wire (redesigned paperclip) on the alligator clips to hold them securely apart. I have seen others use chopsticks and rubber bands.
This photo shows connectors from the 9V batteries to the alligator clips but I have since discarded the collectors and attached the alligator clips directly to the batteries – one to the negative pole and one to the positive pole… and now it works even better!
Here is a photo of my setup. Notice that each battery is connected to the others directly – negative terminal to positive terminal, and that the remaining two terminals are connected to the silver rods by alligator clips.
Equipment
Equipment – top and side view
You will know when the batch of silver is finished when it turns a pale yellow-brown color. It only required about 30-45 minutes for the last two batches I made, with the alligator clips directly clamped on to the battery terminals. This is a photo of my finished product. Yours might look different, but the test is in the taste. Put a drop on your tongue and you will be able to taste the silver.
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Cold feet? Cold hands? Try this…
Posted: December 1st, 2012 | Author: admin | Filed under: Chilblain, Cold, Feet, Fingers, Frostbite, Greens, Hands, Toes | Tags: chilblains, cold feet, cold fingers, cold hands, frostbite | No Comments »All my life I had cold hands and feet and would stay awake at night, no matter how many blankets I used, unable to sleep. I have reversed that condition. Perhaps what I learned will be helpful to you.
Remember all those cute pictures of fruits and vegetables that resemble body parts and – amazingly – they are beneficial for those same body parts? I now know which food is good for keeping the capillaries that feed the extremities, open and flowing, regardless of temperature.
I ate ‘raw’ for several years and although it seemed logical to me to eat raw in the hot summertime, when it would start to get cold, I’d think about soups – to “warm” myself. I’d made a yummy soup and my tummy would be happy and warm, but my hands and feet, fingers and toes got colder than ever and I was sleepless again.
Watching the deer walking around in the snow as comfortably as they did in the summer, eating the same plants and bushes, it appeared they didn’t suffer from the cold… and they didn’t eat soup. So as a bold and daring experiment, I returned to eating all ‘raw’ foods again – and my hands and feet were WARM again – and I slept again, with warm hands and feet.
Since the dear deer eat almost 100% greens, I started thinking that it might be the greens that air-conditioned me – kept me cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Dark, green, leafy vegetables that love the cold also make my body ok in the cold.
Take a peek at any leaf. There is a main vein down the center, but then there are lots smaller veins that lead to tiny little capillaries that then extend all the way to the ends of the leaves.
Not only are the veins and capillaries reminiscent of our own, but the chemical formula of chlorophyll is only one ion different than the chemical formula of hemoglobin – the foundation of blood. Ingesting chlorophyll is like getting a shot of hemoglobin. And in fact, during war, when they have run out of blood for transfusions, they have successfully used chlorophyll juice. Greens are quite literally the life blood of plants and contain everything we humans need for healthy blood.
I have not experimented further. I do not know whether cooked greens are as beneficial as raw greens. It is my guess that cooked greens are better for you than no greens at all. And I remember that a friend, many years ago in Kansas, said that when she felt a cold coming on, she’d eat an entire package of frozen spinach and she’d never get the cold. Another bit of anecdotal information is that when even carnivorous animals are sick, they eat grass and other leaves.
And the good news is: you can make raw greens as or more delicious than cooked. There is something called “massaging” the greens. and it can be done with your hands, even with wooden rice paddles or in your food processor if you have a dough-kneading attachment. If you have made bread and know how to knead bread, you can do the same to greens. Just fold them over and lean your weight onto them, and continue until they are nice and soft. Whatever method you use, just work the greens until they are relaxed, limp, sensuous – and then put a lovely dressing on them… or start with the dressing on them and massage it into them.
Or you might prefer to slice them into ribbons and marinate them in olive oil and lemon juice (or apple cider vinegar) and salt – maybe with sliced onion or garlic – for a couple of hours before dinner. Honestly, I can eat an entire bouquet of collards or kale prepared in this way – they are so delicious. And if you wish, you can put them in the frig in a covered container and marinate them for days.
Another wonderful way to eat greens is to make kale chips. Throw into your blender or food processor: a tomato or two, a large red bell pepper, some garlic, a little olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper – and then add as much brewer’s yeast as you wish – 1/4 to 1/3 cup – to make it taste somewhat like cheese. Wash your kale in a large bowl – any type – curly, italian, plain – and drain it well. Then add the cheesy mixture and work it through every leaf. I use a dehydrator at 105°F (43°C) for several hours or even a day – until the chips are crisp, but some people use their oven at the lowest temperature possible,, and it takes only a few minutes. This is a crisp, healthy, tasty, nutritious alternative to corn and potato chips. Kids love them!
At any rate, I hope that we all can soon grow organic food forests all over the globe so that we can have kale and chard and collards and herbs, etc growing right outside, ready to pick at any time.
Outside my front door is a large planter box with oregano, thyme, rosemary, mint and parsley. As I leave the house, on my way to a meeting or the store, I have been known to pick a sprig of an herb and chew it in the car. If you do this, just remember to check your teeth in the mirror before you get to your destination… to prevent that “spinach between your teeth” phenomenon, you know.