Sunday July 18, 2010 Wild Plants and their uses

Patriot Resistance Plant Usage
This is the first chat regarding primitive survival skills and wild and cultivated edible, medicinal and utilitarian plants
when one is using a plant for food, medicine or for some use like making string or rope identification is the key
no matter what you are using it for if you Do Not Have 100% identification Don't use it eat it or try to fix/mend something with it
People who are allergic to certain plants may be allergic to other plants in the same family an example is strawberries, if you are allergic to strawberries you may also be allergic to elderberries or some other type of berry, if you are in a survival situation regardless of how or why you got there you should know at least 3 plants that will lessen the effects of Diarrhea, cramping, vomiting and pain
there are many plants that will reduce fevers some are available year round others are not and some of the best are cultivated plants so those are not available in the wild
fever, diarrhea, vomiting will be major problems during a shtf event there could be many die for the lack of knowledge on how to avoid them, how to safely dispose of waste (or avoid it) and contagious diseases that being said lets talk fever
fevers are caused by all sorts of things, infections, contagious viruses, teething, stress response to sunburn and more
what plant works for mosquito repellent garlic Willow, alfalfa and self heal are three easily identified wild plants that reduce fevers, if you are allergic to aspirin do not use willow bark for any reason as it contains salacytic acid aka aspirin
garlic's good but has to be eaten to be effective and more so when u sweat
QUESTION: what is self heal?
PlantDoc: Self Heal is a common weed Prunella vulgaris , found from east to west coast from Mexico to Canada
small plant with a thick flower head
QUESTION: what plants can be used for mosquito bites?
PlantDoc: mints either rubbed on fresh or boiled in water for 5 min cooled and strained actual cloves work best
QUESTION: ever heard of a plant some people call lambs ear
PlantDoc: Lambs Quarters is Chenopodium album, Lambs Ear is Stachys officinalis, Lambs Quarters can be eaten safely and has many uses, Lambs Ears can be used as a tea but it is bitter Ears however makes a good toilet paper replacement.
PlantDoc: Cloves has many uses but are not indigenous and can not be grown in most area of north America
lambs quarters leaves, seed fresh cooked like spinach seeds dried contain a burnable oil but takes tons, stems dried as fire starter, has a high vitamin C content, lambs ears are used heavily in restorative broths when your sick or recovering from injury broths made with ingredients that are easily digested, full of vitamins etc the plants with the most vitamins and minerals are usually the least medicinal
Lemon Balm is useful as mosquito repellent and good for tea in a survival situation, either one that is man made, or natural the problem with wild edible plants are; do you know what you are looking for, and do you have the time to harvest it...
QUESTION: willow is an aspirin substitute
PlantDoc: no willow has the same compound as aspirin actually the sap was used to make the synthetic, if you are allergic to aspirin you will have the same reaction if you use or eat any Salix family, aka willows
QUESTION: lemon balm.......can u find that out in the wild?
PlantDoc: sometimes, old frontier and pioneer habitats, some escapes into fallow fields, etc.
lambs quarters is good either way and it dries there are more febrifuges (plants that reduce fevers) than others
all the mints can be used as a fever reducer
Frankeschien: people need to understand that EVEN under the most terrible survival situation that mankind faces there will still be supplies out there we don't live on a distant remote planet many culinary spices can be used as medicine as well as cooking in the lower 48 you cant get away from people, cities, or other survivalist with proper planning everything will be okay having friends around to help will be much better to it's damned nice to be able to harvest what nature provides he thing with plants is that if you know what you can use for this or that the immediate OMG knee jerk reaction to an emergency disappears
RESPONSE: but I damned sure gotta have MEAT in my jest from time to time
PlantDoc: primitive survival skills go hand in hand with modern survival skills and what is available in the spring may not be available in the winter and some require hard work to dig up in the dead of winter, Survival trick: if you need a root and the ground is frozen build a small fire on top of the root allow the fire to die down grounds thawed enough to retrieve enough to use and if you feed the fire longer it comes out already cooked skill are skills whether you use a magnesium fire starter or flint and steel or fire bow fires fire problem with fires is that it attracts attention
in the middle of winter small ones like the type needed for a specific root won't not that large and won't burn long we are not talking campfire here lol
RESPONSE: I like the Dakota fire hole is better way to cook (http://www.survival-training.info/Library/Firerelatedinformation/TheDakotaFireHole.PDF)
PlantDoc: when getting a root out of frozen ground the fire about 4" across just enough to soften ground but if you have a kid with gastrointestinal flu raspberry root makes the entire family better was not talking cooking but how to retrieve a needed root for medicinal purposes in the dead of winter
QUESTION: hey doc........is there a good book out there to get to carry i the field about edible plants
PlantDoc: the ones currently available cover only one part of a plant medicinal guides to wild plants by Peterson
been out of print since mid 90s MFreebyrd will be offering them here when I am done with the new revision the original was written after my grandmother crossed over and I realized she would never answer that phone again I have since written a few ebooks and will be finishing the 2nd edition of Mother Nature's Emporium
HTTP://www.survival-homestead.com/sunshine-brewer.html
plants can be used for other things as well, hedge bindweed for example Convolvulus sepium, that white vine plant thing that many people call morning glory loves to creep into gardens flower beds etc.. Are most of these safe for small children most are which should be avoided I find that for most children s problems, I raised six by myself, there are only about 10 you would need to know many children do not have conditions like adults so their needs are different they used to get chickenpox oak bark (all oaks some are more potent) are great for itchy pox and shingles since adults are usually the only people who get shingles you add some comforter to a poultice to take away the sting/itch 0 for children more than that to avoid but the ones that you should avoid are usually pretty identifiable at least once spring has passed Wild Carrot for example is identical to Poison Hemlock in the spring even I can't tell them apart most get into poison ivy one is great to eat the other kills speak for yourself Lt some of us don't get poison ivy the problem with wild plant identifications is that certain plants grow in certain areas--what grows in KY will not grow in AZ or AK--one needs to learn three plants from three different regions--and Then try to learn plants the specialize for different areas of medicine.
RESPONSE: poison sumac can be made into tea with three changes of water but it doesn't grow in the desert or Alaska
PlantDoc: Poison sumac is not what you should make tea from that is Smooth Sumac,Smooth Sumac, Rhus glabra is a small tree that produces a cluster of hairy, red, fruits on a stem above the leaves,
poison sumac is a vine that produces white grape like fruits smells great tastes awful poison sumac Rhus vernix same family as poison ivy
PlantDoc: the ebook Coast to Coast lists 20 that do grow from coast to coast with the exception of 2 which do Not grow in the desert are of the four corners region
PlantDoc: during a drought most edible plants become bitter take for example the plethora of survival shows on TV--everyone of them LEAVE OUT FOOD why would anyone venture into the jungle without food or supplies damned stupid idea survival planning is the key, knowing primitive survival skills and having some place to go when SHTF
the new one DUAL Survival sin bad but again they tell people to go unprepared if you have children teach them teach them 3 ways to make fire, matches or lighter, either flint (or fuel-less disposable lighter) and steel and fire bow
survival fishing wild animal snares shelter building tactical survival remember--you aint gonna be out there alone
tells about flint and steel supply cache along the route to the safe area teach them three ways to obtain safe water, some plants like teasel, Dipsacus fullonum, have deep wells where the leaves meet the stem every morning it will have collected a good sized drink from evaporation grape vines produce enough water from a stem the size of a finger cut in half to get you another 1/2 mile you can use an old lighter with tender just as well using sane, ashes, rocks, to purify water then boil it and their shirt or bandana can filter water
RESPONSE: yep as long as it hits 212 degrees for three minutes
PlantDoc: most trees even conifers produce enough sap to provide enough moisture to prevent dehydration as do most cacti but some sap has tannic acid too as do some nuts like hickory good for dyes and skin prep while I'd rather drink sycamore sap than pine if all that I had was pine
RESPONSE: I'd drink it, pine sap makes for a good glue and tinder and polishing agents the nut hulls crushed polish metals like steel birch sap is a natural antibiotic also high in vitamin C but needles taste better hickory shells can be burnt down into ashes then ash spread onto a pool of water it will make he fish drunk and float to the top so can corral
PlantDoc: black water, the dark water near seeps, bogs and other wetlands the natural tannins from the decaying leaves produces antiseptic water wild animals even take a dip in them when they get fleas ticks and mites will go in until nose is only thing sticking out then slowly come out shelter, warmth, water, food in that order any conifer for wound care with the fluff from cattails can be used for 1st aid
as I walk to wherever I am picking this or that stopping to shove a rock or two or five in pocket snatching the plants that make cord so when I get wherever I can tie my shelter nothing wrong with a cool silver tarp that fits in my pockets
RESPONSE: And I keep a poncho in the pack with my cords already attached nah don't come in my size
and I know that ten miles away is a buried food cache that i can draw from
PlantDoc: flounder in those keep my wool shawl and my utility plastic lol
RESPONSE: can make soap out of cattails and will right
PlantDoc: I don't make soap out of cattails
RESPONSE: I eat them from spring to spring
RESPONSE: I know you can eat the root but that's all I know about it they grow in rhizomes like grass
Plant Doc: the shoots are edible when real young in the spring the first shoots that push through the water are like water chestnuts, can be eaten raw or cooked, next come the seed pods, before cattails flower the leaves get fat at the top whats inside is great, break off, steam or drop in boiling water or raw, better cooked, is like corn on cob without the cob or kernels next comes the pollen, primitive grains are gray in color
QUESTION: What’s the best way to prepare the root?
PlantDoc: pollen from cattails makes them nice to look at, when the stalk dies down that's when you gather the roots best if you wait for a good hard frost the starch in the roots get sweeter after the frost those can be cooked like a potato in all ways boiled, fried, stewed, mashed etc... the older the plant the more fibrous they get so look for new growth
Question: how long will the roots last after harvest
PlantDoc: they are not that sweet is easier to use different plant, sycamore trees or sap from all maples sugar of course being the sweetest sap from sycamore trees is sweet naturally now for the utilitarian uses of cattails
RESPONSE: I don't think we have that here
RESPONSE: pretty sure you do am checking, you have cattails and sycamore trees
if you are wondering if something grows in your area this site:
http://plants.usda.gov/
will show you pictures and maps of where specific plants are found won't tell you anything else lol
plus cattail leaves can be used to weave with in 16 hours two 12 year old's can tie enough cattail fronds to cover a 10x12 long house from ground to mid-wall they also can be fashioned into baskets, containers mats shoes hats skirts
he size allows them to be split and woven into smaller things do they naturally split like ceder along natural lines or do they have to be cut the stem that holds the pod once a hard frost has occurred is strong enough to be the center stick for a fire bow the part that is turned to create the friction to make a coal cat tail fronds split like paper cedar is hard compared to them cattail stems can be used any way you would use a dowel as a hanger to dry things one usually cattails will split down the middle then those sections will split down its middle etc curtain rods, joiners for small woodcraft I have used them to make poultry cages with HTTP://plants.usda.gov/ each person should know three ways to obtain safe water, some plants like teasel, Dipsacus fullonum, have deep wells where the leaves meet the stem every morning it will have collected a good sized drink from evaporation he brown pod that is how many identify cattails is the best part, if unopened it is sterile so packing of wounds, menstrual care, baby diapers, incontinence, the fluff also floats so can be used to create life vests and primitive life preservers, since its so abundant they can also be used as filler for jackets, quilts and beds if you dip the stem with the pod still intact into grease it becomes a torch doesn't last long but is handy in a pinch if covered in beeswax (which around here is like gold) they last longer but since there are more important ways to use beeswax I mention it only in passing that's about all I know about cattails other than they make great hides for waterfowl hunting hiding from other humans and where water snakes like to hang out along with BIG fishes if you can rip them out when they are dormant before the new shoots hit the surface of the water you can kill them enough to make a dozen beds life vests a couple dozen quilts feed a small army and diaper every newborn in 3 counties? any farmer would be happy to allow you to take a bunch making sugar and producing enough to be useful are two very different things your body produces sugar but if I distilled you down your fluids would not be sweet good question there are three types of cane around Lake Cumberland as well as escaped Bamboo you would need to take a specimen to your local extension office for positive identification or use plant books or take a specimen to a park ranger can't guarantee they'll know but is a place to start blowguns, flutes and houses can also be made with bamboo and many grazers love it goats will destroy it if they find it in the neighbors yard it will it can adapt here easily fiber meat milk I spin lol not that type with a spinning wheel to make yarn to make socks blankets sweaters etc many plant fibers can be spun with a wheel as well as animal hair people hair as well have considered using long locks of those fallen I get mine in the rovers from time to time white wool with strands of dark lol let me toss in a culinary before we wrap things up rosemary the spice most have in their kitchens most culinary spices can be used for medicine and for dyes and adhesives
i have none except in my wap seasoning sage for example is great for a deep unproductive cough add a leaf or two with some mint and raspberry and you have a great soothing tea add some lemon balm and willow and the aches and pain of a nasty cough will lessen yes nicotine is dangerous stuff use it with animals for parasite flushing Plantains have more iron and vitamin A than domestic spinach they come up early sometimes in winter when you get a few nice days leaves picked on Monday will grow back by Thursdays making it a renewable food and medicine source my grandmother called plantago lancelotta (lance leaf plantain) snake bite as it was what I was supposed to use for any bite including snake lance leaf has a long thin flower stalk that has a conical top if you pick the stem at the base you can bend it over and shoot the top like a pop gun, its a good game for old and young alike to see if you can get it inside a circle drawn on the ground, I am talking about the plant known as plantain, Plantain the fruit is not the plant I am referring to, the plant plantain grows from coast to coast in North America and into Mexico and Canada while stevia has many uses and is sweet it doesn't grow well north of Tennessee or where its too damp plantain is sorta like a dandelion in shape leaves are different but its not a grass and the flowers are dull and green it rarely reaches leaf length of 5" base to tip plantago major, what my ancestors called white mans foot as it arrived in an area 18 moths to two years prior to their arrival, has a knotty flower stem and weird shaped seeds there is an upside if you really want good detailed pictures of plants head to a feed and grain store, the chemical companies put out full color glossy brochures on many of the useful, edible and medicinal plants never used chemical pesticides and no need for herbicides as most of the invasive weeds are edible if not for humans for animals like rabbits a companion planting is great marigolds are my most useful flowers and rue and lemon balm and goats all those deter pests
plant a few between garden vegetable plants and bugs will leave them alone, not to mention the fact that if you hand pick bugs off your garden plants your chickens and ducks will sing your praises 24/7
QUESTION: how can I get rid of sugar ants?
PlantDoc: solancea, the family of tomato's and deadly nightshade, kill internal parasites, two ways to deal with ants first is to feed them sugar in a generation they will die take half of a citrus fruit, lemon lime orange etc... scoop out the pulp fill with sugar, they eat the sugar the queen become sterile and no more ants the second method is to use rue water, rue is a cultivated herb that keeps all types of insects away, boil a 1/4 cup dried in water, cool strain spray pennyroyal and peppermint boiled in water strained and put into a spray bottle will work but not as effective but safer if there are young children in the house rue can be dangerous for those who still put fingers and hands in their mouths was told as a child if you can't beat them feed them in reference to many animals and insects easier to plant bee friendly plants than have them buzzing about the prep table, easier to prevent, if you put the cuttings from a good bushhogging in a goats pen they will not eat it, but leave it just outside their fence and they will work all day to get to it, rue is good for roaches its very hardy as well meaning properly mulched it will survive northern MI WI and lower Canada winters and thrive in southern climates also sets easy from seed unlike many herbs Some seeds need a soak in vinegar then tender loving care for weeks to germinate and become seedlings As much as we have covered we have barely scratched the surface of these topics, anyone have any questions?
while all the standard modern survival stuff is good it needs tempered with sound practical skill and knowledge
a base oil to use for making salves creams I prefer walnut as its healing and doesn't go rancid safflower is OK but will go rancid if not kept cool sweet oil and pure 100% olive works but is thick so not as easy to use 99% alcohol for making tinctures with (the type you drink) absolute vodka works but is expensive doesn't take a lot to make a tincture about 1/4 cup so cheap vodka would work too, not gonna taste it
plants, well they are found everywhere, echinacea is common flower planted in medians of major highways everclear will work, grain alcohol is a substitute for vodka, a pound of beeswax as it is used for making salves can use Vaseline but... that's a byproduct of petroleum so not as healthy Vaseline also makes some pretty spiffy fire starters with dryer lint never have dryer lint don' don't own a dryer or a washing machine the basic supplies needed to make things with the medicinal and usable plants are important to have the knowledge or the plants can easily be found or purchased many of the greenhouses and sellers of plants have their herbs and flowers on sale tinctures are ways to preserve medicinal herbs for use later if you need to use a tincture on a small child or someone who is a recovering alcoholic you just pour a 1/4 cup of boiling water on top of it the alcohol evaporates leaving the medicinal part behind and dawn is a tanners best friend, dawn dish soap will cut the grease from braintainned hide in one washing versus 5 or six with lye soap
it is also good to use to keep ticks from crawling on you and fleas splash some on exposed skin before you head out
yes plain old blue dawn is also how they are cleaning the waterfowl in the gulf just squeeze some on the hide work it in rinse done vinegar is another option for storing herbs in a liquid medium white is more potent than cider but cider has medicinal uses that white does not most animal preparations use vinegar as a base as it is safe for them to lick etc...white vinegar will kill bacteria and fungus in laundry use it to rinse cloth diapers with cider vinegar is antibacterial on skin a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water kills more viral and bacterial agents than bleach without the smell takes swelling out of ankles due to pregnancy, overweight, diabetes, compromised circulatory issues white is more potent since its been distilled but you can make your own cider vinegar in a clean 5 gallon bucket once you have one batch you can make more faster since there is more mother left over
How to make vinegar press apples take that juice and allow it to ferment in a crock or clean plastic bucket when its done working strain, the crude at the bottom is mother, yes when wine is allowed to go "bad" the stuff in the bottom is mother, that stuff and apple juice will over the course of a few weeks produce cider vinegar the brown vinegar you find in stores poultices can be made using vinegar instead of water more potent and if they are being used for serious breaks, bruises and swelling reduces those faster than a poultice made with water about a month temps no lower than 70 I have no central ac or heat and I use June apples (first to appear full of pectin) to make mine with fall is a good time you do however need to cover the container with an open weave cloth to keep bugs out that cloudy stuff is mother you can save it or allow it to dry out the result is a substance that can be used like cream of tartar it is safe to use the sediment is very valuable mother nature had a plan for her children every one of every species we humans have just forgotten by the way cream of tarter is used in making bread, candies and confections and will thicken broths soups and stews
QUESTION: it is a thickener?
PlantDoc: it can be used as such once dry yes after you carefully pour off the majority of the liquid leaving a very opaque substance that's poured into a bowl covered with a cloth and allowed to evaporate what remains is a form of cream of tarter your welcome Anon3109 next scheduled session Tuesday 1900 hours central (7:00pm) [img][/img][img][/img]