Hemp's an Amazing Plant

[PFlynn]

Ohio - Over and over again, I am amazed at the way most everything in life has a relationship to plants.During the holidays, in an effort to bring comfort to hard-working hands, I passed along my silver tube of cream to my son. This soothing material had been a gift from my daughter, Danielle, when my own hands had developed painful cracks from the sides of my fingernails. You could call this a winter malady. Each night I would massage this ointment into the tips of my fingers. It offered relief.

In David's restaurant business, hands are continually cleansing, frequently immersed in chemicals. The reddened areas itch and are sore. He found that the cream called Hemp Chanvre eased the irritation. This is what led me to searching for more of the substance.

As I entered its name on the Internet, there was a heap of information about hemp, and photographs of it growing. There are hemp farmers worldwide.

Individuals are searching for organic hemp seeds. I could not help them out on that one. The hemp seed crop can produce as much as 300 gallons of oil per acre. Hemp fiber produces 1,000 gallons of methanol per acre.

Hemp is naturally resistant to pests and weeds. Farmers do not need to introduce toxins to reach happy harvests Hemp fibers are nearly 4 times stronger than cotton.

And guess which nation does not produce hemp. All around the world this crop is growing and being used to soothe.

Okay, I am aware of the drug connotation. When my daughter gave me the Hemp Chanvre it was due to the presence of panthenol which can improve flexibility of nails and even reduce breaking. There is glycerin in hemp derivatives; it is an effective moisturizer, improving softness and maximizing hydration. We should mention the lanolin, too, which offers protection from rough, dry hands. Lanolin is a rich moisturizer -- no news here.

Hemp seed oil contains fatty acids which help repair the skin's moisture barrier restoring suppleness.

In the midst of checking out all of this pro-hemp material, there appears a print of the plant from 1815. It is identified as a drawing of male hemp (chanvre).

Now I know what the "chanvre" terminology on my tube means, sort of, kinda. I will infer that there is a female counterpart. There is a 1735 print by one Johann Wilhelm Weinman, obviously German.

And then, I recall that in the Black Forest region of Germany, on our Rhine River cruise, I strolled through a village and photographed hemp.

The journey has brought me on an interesting path over the garden fence. I did manage to order two tubes an even treated myself to a tiny bottle of essential lavender oil with a hemp base.

Mary Lee Minor is a member of the Earth, Wind and Flowers Garden Club, an accredited flower show judge for the Ohio Association of Garden Clubs, and a sixthgrade teacher.



Source: Telegraph-Forum (OH)
Copyright: 2008 Telegraph-Forum
Contact: hfackler@nncogannett.com
Website: Telegraph Forum - www.bucyrustelegraphforum.com - Bucyrus, OH

[PFlynn]

What an amazing plant!