Aloe Vera

From my memory of growing up, my family have always had an aloe Vera plant in the house. There was a time we rented this big house with ample land in the backyard one could literally turn into a garden, and that's what we did. We had tomatoes, oranges, paw paw, vegetables and of course, aloe Vera. Its like a signature plant for us. We use it in our household for various reasons: hair washing when mixed with sesame leaf, this is a local way of washing hair which not only makes it longer, but also shinier and softer and of course, cleaner. I still stick with this method because i prefer it to modern shampoos and hair moisturizers. We also use aloe Vera in some occasions for cooking. Luckily for us, the type of aloe Vera which is edible is predominant in my region. We use the succulent part in soups at times, and some times we eat it on its own, no doubt in can be bitter but aloe Vera is very medicinal.

Another thing it is very good for is the skin. I bet you've seem aloe Vera skin care products with their soaps before. I prefer to go natural on it all an mix my skin lotion with some aoe Vera gel I obtain from the plant, it works just fine. I have once made a soap out of it too by mixing pieces of cut soap with aloe Vera then mashing them together, it is a quite difficult process so I don't engage in it often. Sometimes I'd just run it on my face them wash with soap some minutes later, helps alot with pimples, dark spots and acne.

We used to decorate our former houses with tall aloe Vera pots that were up to the height of a small tree at that time, unfortunately whenever we move to a new house my mother always insists that we should leave them in the old house, That we can always plant another. We have only been 8 months, old in our new house but the new aloe Vera plant seems to be doing really well even if I hadn't been putting much effort into growing it. The usually takes care of the watering aspect as I only serve as a regulator to make sure the soil doesn't become water logged due to excess water.

As of now, it is old enough for use. One thing I love about aloe Vera plants is that you don't have to wait so long before using it. As long as they are mature enough and removing a petal or two wouldn't stunt its growth, then you can do so. Also, the younger plants are the best for consumption because they haven't acquired that bitter taste which they acquire much later in life.

I had wished we had a much bigger house so that we could have more aloe Vera, we have very few aloe Vera plants in this one, it's all crammed.

Nana.