On inspiration our health care debate, I thought I’d start this thread. What natural solutions to problems does anyone know from their cultures? They don’t have to be medical related, as long as they’re cheap and can be taken from nature. I?ll start to show an example.
[Disclaimer: Before taking any of the remedies that might be brought up in this thread, consult your doctor first. Even natural remedies can have side effects. For instance, ginseng can cause hypertension, which can be fatal if you already have high blood pressure.]
Sarsaparilla: Increases physical endurance (running, etc), helps eyesight, helps circulation. Can be taken in pill or tea form.
Cedar: Place a cedar log in your closet to repel spiders and moths. Can be cut straight from the woods. Fresher logs are more effective.
Osage Orange (Hedge apple) fruits repel spiders. I also have blueberry bushes as hedges in front of my house instead of the useless shrubbery most have planted here. I eat dandelions instead of using weed killer on them.
I pick the flower heads and get as much of the green off as I can and still have the flower stay together. I then soak them in salt water for at least an hour then flour them and fry them in butter. You can eat the leaves as “greens” but they are a bit bitter for my taste. Besides everything is better fried in butter!
You can eat the leaves as they are, in fact - but use only small, young leaves. The older, “mature” ones are very bitter. In some places they cover the plants from light, to make the leaves mild and almost white. I am told in France there is a salad using dandelion leaves - the salad is called “pis-en-lit”, which means “pee-in-the-bed”. It is diuretic.
One of my co workers immigrated to the US from China. He is a great guy, extremely smart as well as funny. When i was talking to him about the different foods at the Olympics, he calmly told me, “If it has legs and you don’t call it a table, I eat it. If it flys and you don’t call it an airplane, I eat it. If it swims and you don’t call it a submarine, i eat it.”
Sounds interesting. Gotta try that as it might be a good camping/survival snack
I have found in a book about natural remedies that dandelion is good for all sorts of stuff, especially heart problems.
Whether it is as good as it was claimed in the book, I don’t know, but its certainly not bad and I have tried the following and was pleased with the result:
Dandelion Honey/Sirup
300 dandelion blossoms (collect at around noon, so that they are fully open)
2kg brown sugar
3 Lemons
1l water
boil the blossoms with the lemons (cut in half) for about half an hour
pour it through a cloth and then simmer the liquid with the sugar for about an hour *
until you reach the desired consistancy. fill into classes and enjoy.
*you may want to dance naked around the kettle, if you are into that kind of thing ;D
Cloves are a remedy for tooth ake. Just bite on a clove with the tooth that akes until the tooth and gum around it feels numb. Tried that one too, works for minor or medium tooth ake and can bridge the gap till you get to the dentist. Does not taste very well though, but it saves you an aspirin.
Survival skills: pine needles (or others like fir, spruce, larch), especially the young sprouts, contain oodles of vitamin C, which can be a major factor when you get lost in the artic circle (scurvy). simply boil some needles in water to make a tea.
spinach substitute: stinging nessel can be prepared as spinach. Also said to be very good for health. Its one of the oldest known medical plants. google it to find what its for. the tried leaves are used for tea.
Charcoal from you campfire can be used as a remedy for stomack problems and purifying water when used in a filter (after which you still boil the water).
Cherries can be used for some forms of gout arthritis. Girl I dated found that one for me a while back.
When it starts to flare up, you can eat a cup full of cherries, or drink cherry juice. 100% cherry juice can be pretty expensive though and not always available, so I had to resort to cheaper methods. I’ve found that drinking the Cherry Juicy Juice believe it or not works just fine. Done on the first day or two of inflamation, it almost works overnight.
Before he passed away, my uncle found this little rememdy quite useful.
;D