Griffin's Ark Animal Ranch

08/15/2025

🌿 Myth vs. Method: “Natural Antihistamines” from Onion & Thyme

MYTH:
“Onion and thyme cure allergies because they’re natural antihistamines.”

METHOD:
Let’s unpack what’s really happening in your tincture.

🔬 What’s Inside?
Your 50/50 dried onion + thyme tincture (1:5 in 100 proof vodka) contains:
- Quercetin (from onion): Stabilizes mast cells, reducing histamine release
- Thymol & carvacrol (from thyme): Antimicrobial, not antihistaminic
- Rosmarinic acid & luteolin: Modulate cytokines and reduce inflammation

🧠 How It Works
- Mast Cell Stabilization: Quercetin and luteolin help prevent histamine release—not block it after the fact like pharmaceutical antihistamines.
- Cytokine Modulation: Rosmarinic acid may reduce IL-4, IL-5, and other Th2 cytokines linked to allergic responses.
- Respiratory Support: Thyme’s essential oils loosen mucus and ease coughs, but don’t directly affect histamine pathways.

⚠️ What It’s Not
- It’s not a fast-acting antihistamine like diphenhydramine or loratadine.
- It won’t “cure” allergies—but it may reduce inflammatory load over time.

A lot of why? Being answered. We have traditional knowledge, we have access to lots of science knowledge, it's time they met.

08/14/2025

🌿 Myth vs. Method: Plantain Tincture for Histamine & Healing?

MYTH:
“Chew a plantain leaf and your allergies, wounds, and gut issues vanish.”

METHOD:
This year I made a tincture using Plantago major (common plantain) and Plantago lanceolata (lance-leaf). Not just tradition—strategy.

🔍 Why Both?
- Common Plantain: Cooling, mucilaginous, gut-soothing
- Lance-Leaf Plantain: Astringent, respiratory-toning, and possibly histamine-modulating

🧪 What’s Inside?
- Aucubin: Anti-inflammatory, may stabilize mast cells
- Flavonoids & tannins: Support cytokine balance and tissue tone
- Mucilage: Soothes irritated membranes—gut, lungs, skin

🧠 Histamine Angle
Lance-leaf plantain is gaining attention for its potential to regulate mast cells and cytokines like IL-6 and TNF-α. It’s not a pharmaceutical antihistamine—but it may help reduce inflammatory load over time.

✅ Field Use
- Bug bites, scrapes, dry cough
- Gut irritation, seasonal allergies
- Mild histamine overload symptoms

⚠️ What It’s Not
- Not a cure-all
- Not a fast-acting antihistamine
- Not a substitute for emergency meds

📚 Why I Made It
To create a modular, dual-action remedy—soothing + toning, internal + external, with real-world utility. It’s a blend of tradition, fieldwork, and emerging science.

03/01/2023

I'm liking Black birch more and more! Wintergreen oil!

12/09/2016

Many of you have seen that we are trying to upgrade to a slightly bigger farm. The process is stressful. At any point we can lose our deposit. We have been working with a mortgage company that has been very understanding and amenable to our needs. The sellers and their agent have been very awesome and supportive of us. I'm still stressed! And then we have a ton of supportive friends that have been helping out with a "Safety Net" on a Go Fund Me account that Tina set up. I wasn't supportive of that decision, but it could be a saving grace. So to EVERYONE that has helped, is going to help or wants to help, Thank You! Your prayers and words of encouragement have been and continue to be a blessing. We maybe should charge for our animal services, but then we wouldn't be Us!

12/03/2016

Just putting up a few pictures.

12/02/2016

Tina AndChris Griffin has posted a new update!

12/01/2016

New kids on the farm!

02/19/2015

Visit our new site!

we sell homemade goat milk soap that we make right here on the farm. our soap is made with over 30% real goat milk and all plant butters and oils

01/25/2015

I just saw an interesting glass cutting technique using string, lighter fluid and a bottle. This something I have to try. I will maybe post about it if it is successful!

01/12/2015

This is one of those things you have to use at your own risk!

http://earthweareone.com/this-is-the-most-powerful-natural-antibiotic-ever-kills-any-infections-in-the-body/

The basic formula of this powerful tonic dates back to medieval Europe, that is, from the era when people suffered from all sorts of diseases and epidemics. This master cleansing tonic is actually an antibiotic that kills gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. It has also a powerful antiviral an

08/28/2014

I haven't been keeping up with much online lately (since June anyway). We have had a lot going on here with some really bad parasite issues with both the dogs and the goats. We have been working hard to beat the problem down without using harsh de-wormers, but sometimes you just gotta use them for the sake of the animal. I think we have a handle on everything for the moment, but it has set us back in getting other things done on the farm. September is on us and hunting season is coming quick and so is winter. This year we aren't going to let the extreme weather surprise us!