Natural Medicine For Survival???
Do You Have A Natural Medicine First Aid Kit?
Today, I've been asked (peer pressured, really... just kiddin River, you did talk me into it though) to take part in an amazing challenge hosted by @NaturalMedicine.
The challenge is an excericise in survival medicine. What natural medicines would you bring along with you if you were only allowed a maximum of 3 items?
I always dreamed of being stranded on a deserted island, so I'll use that scenario as to why I'd chose the medicines in my kit.
Yeah for some reason, the Robinson Crusoe story has followed me through the years... my mother told me the other day that I used to want to live like that. This makes perfect sense, in everything I want to do on our Homestead, I want to know how it would have been done before the industrial age!
The Natural Kit
I'm not yet very versed in the world of foraging or herbal medicine, but I am learning and little by little I try to create my own concoctions like Reishi Tinctures which got lost somewhere between the first and second extraction or using the magic of Mugwart by making tea and smudge sticks.
This is my survival medical kit:
(Not sure if it fits into the good saviour in emergencies category, but at least it's a good exercise for me!)
Garlic Cloves
Stranded on my island... I look into my bag, I'm searching for garlic, because I went swimming and playing in the waves a bit too long gave me an earache.
Cutting up a piece of garlic in its length just small enough to fit snug in my ear canal for a couple hours. After dinner, I cut myself a new piece to leave in the ear overnight while I sleep.
So that's what I do everytime I have an earache. And you know what, it seems to work. Initially it burns a little, but I get used to it pretty quickly. It works on me, and my wife claims it works for her too, there must be something there!
Here are some of the benefits and medicinal properties of Garlic thrown around the internet:
- Helps you live longer
- Cures ear infections
- Fights common colds
- Regulates blood pressure
- Improves cholesterol
- Contains antioxidants
This list goes on, and on… Just pick your search engine, type benefits of garlic into it and see a the thousands of articles in the subject.
And I believe a lot of it to be true, I use garlic for many ailments and I feel that it helps me everytime.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Now that my ear feels better, I can keep on setting up my Robinson Crusoe kitchen, fish a little and maybe make a nice meal with whatever I can forage… Hopefully there's a few leafy greens to make a salad with 😁!
Besides the obvious deliciousness of an apple cider vinaigrette (I mean let's face it, the real reason salad is so good is because of the dressing right?), when I feel a cold coming on, I gargle with garlic. It burns for sure, but it sure tastes mmm so good!
If I have the time I'll make myself a concoction with hot water, finely chopped garlic, cayenne pepper, lemon, cloves, ginger, and a little honey. It’s a strong drink to take in, you can almost feel the fire do it's work!
We use distilled vinegar as a disinfectant for our last rinse when we do our dishes (The Permaculture of Washing Dishes), and I'm sure apple cider vinegar can do the same job!
As a kid, my grandma used to wash my hair and rinse it with a mixture of warm water and apple cider vinegar…she said it was good for healthy hair. Maybe that's where my love for vinegar comes from, I used to lap it up as it poured down to my face!!!
Let's see what the inter-webs say about it:
According to Healthline:
- Kills harmful bacteria
- Lowers blood sugars therefore can fight type 2 diabetes
- Helps with weight loss
- Lowers cholesterol and the risk of heart disease
- May protect against cancer
From my own personal experience vinegar has helped me go through life mostly without taking any traditional medicine for a cold. We make our quick version of fire vinegar and it seems to work great. It may take a few days depending on the kind of cold it is I guess, but what feels good is not taking anything made from Big Pharma!
I would like to thank the whole team @NaturalMedicine for putting out excellent content continuously and creating contests that help us learn! Love you guys… I wish I knew speed reading so I could read more content coming out of this community!
Once again here's the challenge this post is written for: NATURAL MEDICINE CHALLENGE #5: SURVIVAL MEDICINE!
Spread your wings and fly to 'where your heart takes you.
So you would like to live like Robinson Crusoe? Your homestead could be your island and you could learn to live off it - great to work towards! I had tried the fire cider once when I was trying to figure out what to do with all this horse radish we had. Unfortunately I got carried away with the horseradish so it got left in the fridge with the idea it would knock out any cold but it was way too strong and turned me off of fire cider. I checked out the info you gave and it sounds like a good thing to try again. Learn something new every day.
Jules Verne wrote a book called Mystery Island, that's another good one for ispiration when it comes to living off the land.
I'm happy to hear you will give fire cider another go. Some of it can be really tasty too. We had a bottle from a garlic festial that was so good we wanted to use it as salad dressing.
I remember reading that when I was younger. I never thought to look to those books for living off the land. Good one!
H-m-m a garlic festival sounds like fun! My daughter-in-law grows awesome garlic so she grows all the garlic for the family! I'll have to try to refine my recipe to level of using it as a salad dressing. thanks for the inspiration so now I can start putting all that horseradish to use.
You're welcome, I'm hapy to hear that you were inspired to try it again. Never give up! 😉
Great choices!!!! We make ACV and ACV fire tonic too. And wow you too with the drinking vinegar hair rinse water!!! My Mum ALWAYS used to do that to us as kids and I used to suck the wet vinegar water from my hair waiting for second rinse! Whenever I tell people about this people think I'm crazy!
Im so glad you entered....! I couldn't survive with garlic or vinegar! I guess if I was on a desert island witj coconuts I could make coconut vinegar hehe.
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You're not crazy and that vinegar water was so good to suck on before she rinsed it off! That's pretty amazing, I've never heard anyone else having this dine to em. Maybe way back somewhere we're from the same tribe 😀!
Coconut vinegar sounds good. Hey do you have a post on making ACV? I'd love to make my own. We ure to make red wine vinagar as a kid but that's it
I don't... hmm.. maybe @walkerland does???? Otherwise I can tell you how...
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@Walkerland, if you hear (read) this message, I'm looking for a steemit recipe for making ACV. Thanks River!
https://steemit.com/food/@walkerland/raw-apple-cider-vinegar-acv-recipe
Awesome!!! Thanks
Garlic and ACV are two of my favourites - great choices! I too find fire cider to be a great immune boosting tonic. There really are so many great @naturalmedicine posts, I find it hard to keep up. This was really great @senorcoconut!
Ah thank you so much @walkerland. Writing for the challenge made me remember something I hadn't though about in a long time, like my grandma using vinegar on my hair!
Thanks
Good choices. I mean garlic and apple cider vinegar. I don't know if garlic in the ear is a good choice...🤔
Thanks. The garlic? It's all good 😁.
Interesting choice.... and quite basic. Here I was contemplating different types of herbs... never even considered really basic fundamental stuff like foodstuffs that have medicinal properties.
Thank you @metametheus. I guess lots of our food has medicinal properties too
Though I really don't have a natural first aid kit but I do believe in natural herbs and I love taking them.
@manka
content creator
It is a good survival kit :D Garlic and apple vinegar have really a lot of uses and benefits 💚
Thank you @zen-art.
I kinda like the garlic for ear infection...it might come in handy for kids in the house. As for the ACV, i mix my water with it as it helps the taste plus its' benefits.
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My roommate just syarted mixing a little hot with ACV before bed. Garlic may be too strong for the kids... I would only do it little at a time maybe?
For ear ache?
Amazing! I had no idea garlic could help with ear infections! I knew about onions helping in similar ways, but not garlic. Its so funny to grow up eating a food and then learning it is medicine too :) Thanks for sharing!