Making Your Own Candle Wicks For Oil Candles, the Hard Way and the Easy Way

Just so you know, I spent an absolutely inordinate amount of time researching this topic.
THE HARD WAY

According to the Internet, these are the best DIY candle wicks.  There are other methods for making wicks that take a little less time and slightly less work.  But they don't burn as brightly while consuming the same amount of fuel, so ultimately, these are more cost-effective by offering the brightest bang for the buck.  The borax and salt solution strengthens the wick and helps it burn brighter and longer while producing less ash and smoke.

Candle Wick Solution
1/4 cup borax
2 tablespoons salt
1.5 cups water
Butcher's twine, cotton yarn, or embroidery floss--just make sure it's 100% cotton

Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan.  Add the borax and salt and stir to dissolve.    Place your cut cotton twine or yarn in the solution and soak for a day.  After soaking, dry the twine thoroughly.  It may take up to three days in a humid area.  (I put mine in the dehydrator because I was really impatient.)

After the yarn is completely dry all the way through, melt paraffin wax or old candles, or even cheap crayons, in a double boiler (perhaps an empty, rinsed vegetable can).  Dip the strands of cotton lengths for your wicks in the melted wax three times.  Dry the wicks on waxed paper or use clothespins to hang from them from a clothesline.  You might be tempted, as I was, to skip this step. But for research purposes, I didn't.  

If you are using these wicks to make wax candles, you'll also want to reuse aluminum wick tabs from tealight candles or fashion your own from heavy-duty aluminum foil.  If you are using these for oil candles, you'll also need a bit of thin wire to hold the wick up out of the oil.  Fine gauge crafting wire is ideal (yeah, I don't actually have any lying around, either), paper clips (not so great), or Christmas tree ornament hangers (wish I'd done this before putting all the Christmas stuff away) could all be pressed into service.  The tabs and wire holders are not needed if you are making these candles with canning jars and using the spent lid for the support (after you make a hole in it).

Evaluation:  These wicks work just fine.  They usually light right up and don't appear to smoke or make much ash.  But in the interest of full disclosure, I should state that I am not a candle aficionado.

THE "THROW-MONEY-AT-IT" WAY

If you've got the money and would rather buy than DIY, you can get these handy little things called floating wicks.  Lydia got me a box of fifty for Christmas, and I finally pulled them out today to give them a whirl.  Stick a little wick in the center of the cork-based floating tab (coated with foil on top so that the cork doesn't burn), place it in the oil, and light.  And it just lights right up.  It doesn't need time to pre-soak in the oil or anything like that.  Burns perfectly.  They run about seven dollars for a hundred.  I got the small ones, and they tipped over sometimes as I was trying to place and light them.  After reading the reviews on Amazon, I'd get the larger ones if I ordered again.  These floating wicks burn up to ten hours.

Evaluation:  I liked them.  They're cute and clean, no smoking and no ash.  If I had more dollars than sense, I'd definitely just get these.  They burned just as brightly as the other wicks.

THE EASY WAY


The easy way is to just get cotton yarn, the heavier stuff like for crocheting washcloths, not the very thin stuff for crocheting tablecloths.  Soak it in oil.  I swear I cannot tell any difference.  I have been using the plain yarn and the yarn soaked in borax and salt, with and without being coated in wax.  I'm afraid to write this, scared that I will offend the candle-making gurus.  But really, I can't tell any difference.  I've been using ten-year-old rancid vegetable oil and current stock (well, close enough) olive oil.  I honestly can't detect any difference, even though The Internet Says that olive oil burns cleaner.  I'm just sad that I wasted so much time soaking the yarn, drying it, dipping it in wax.  For naught.  Except that now you don't have to waste your time.

Evaluation:  As far as I can tell, plain cotton yarn works just as well, without the muss and fuss.  This is what I'm using.

I will add that the soaking in borax and salt and dipping in wax might be important if the wicks are being used to make wax candles.  I'm not interested in testing that out, at least not for another year or two.  Why?  I've got loads of rancid oil and cotton yarn to go with it. 

One final, very important note, which nobody mentions online.  Maybe because they all have common sense and know this already and figure everyone else does as well.  But I didn't.  And I was so frustrated because my wicks would work, and then they wouldn't.

So here it is:   The wick actually has to be close to the oil.  Of course, in my world, it would quite acceptable to have an inch gap between the surface of the oil and the top of the wick, which is supported by the canning jar lid.  However, this does not make for a candle wick that burns well on planet Earth.  So make sure the base of the wick is pretty close to the oil. Then you can be happy and not frustrated as I was. As the oil burns down, just replace it with more oil, or add in water if you're only putting an inch or so of oil in the jar. 

Links to related posts:
Oil Candles
Uses for Rancid Oil
Salt  

For further reading:
https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Candle-Wicks
https://candles.lovetoknow.com/Homemade_Candle_Wicks
https://www.redtedart.com/how-to-make-a-candle-wick/

Wash Your Hands!

Really, just washing your hands properly can halt the spread of many illnesses. Unfortunately, far too many people do not wash hands. And even more unfortunately, we have to use the same doorknobs as they do, and sometimes we also have to shake hands with them. So even if we are meticulous about washing our hands, we have to do it well and frequently for the best protection.

We've all seen those people leaving public bathrooms without washing at all, or children who try to get away with a quick rinse. Statistically, only sixty percent of women and less than forty percent of men wash their hands after using a public bathroom. Disturbing, isn't it? Sadly, we can't really do anything about it. At least, not safely in a society where a whole lot of people are absolutely bonkers.

But we can wash our own hands properly, and we can teach our children exactly how to do it and why. There are five steps:

• Wet hands with clean, warm (it's more comfortable), running water, and then turn off the tap. Having running water makes you rush because you don't want to waste water. 
• Lather hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Be sure to cover the hands, wrists, between the fingers and under the nails--especially under the nails. The undersides of fingernails are like miniature Petri dishes perfect for breeding microbes. Keeping nails trimmed and using a nail brush will automatically eliminate a lot of opportunities for infection. (Side note: Artificial nails of any kind can harbor all sorts of microbes. Keeping with the natural look is safest. And cheaper and easier, too.)
• Scrub hands vigorously for 20-30 seconds. Teach children to sing "Happy Birthday" slowly, all the way through, twice, making sure all the while that they wash between their fingers, the knuckles, and under the nails.  
• Then rinse well under running water. Rinsing in standing water risks recontaminating your hands. Use a paper towel to turn off the faucet.
• Finally, dry the hands using a clean towel or an air dryer. Also, use the paper towel (or the hem of your shirt) to open the bathroom door to avoid recontaminating your hands. 

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention lists when hands should be washed:

• Before and after preparing food
• Before and after eating
• Before and after caring for anyone who is sick
• Before and after treating any injury or changing bandages
• Before touching your face, especially the eyes, nose, or mouth 
• After returning home
• After using the toilet or helping a child use the toilet
• After changing a diaper
• After blowing your nose, or coughing or sneezing into your hands
• After touching any animal, including pets, animal waste, or animal feed
• After handling garbage or taking out the trash
• After touching any surfaces in an ill person's room

Washing hands thoroughly and every single time it is called for will dramatically reduce the spread of contagious disease.  

Links to related posts:

Quarantine

Isolation

Cleaning and Disinfecting

Sterilizing 

For further reading:

https://www.cdc.gov/handhygiene/providers/guideline.html

https://www.cdc.gov/handhygiene/patients/index.html

https://www.cdc.gov/handhygiene/science/index.html

The Medicinal Uses of Cayenne

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on an item you might wish to have available if needed so that a physician can treat you and your family as best as possible.  No medication, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care.  A qualified, licensed physician or other medical provider should be consulted before beginning any herbal or conventional treatment.

This was by far the most frustrating item to research and write about to date.  Six or eight years ago I read a very detailed article on the medicinal uses of cayenne.  I even saved it to the hard drive of a laptop long since deceased.  Of course, I can't find it online now.  Regardless, I thought the information should be rather simple to track down.

Not so.

While cayenne has been used for thousands of years for medicinal purposes, there isn't a lot of detail to be had.  Historical use of cayenne in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres shows it was used for treating indigestion, confusion, tremors, hemorrhoids, menorrhagia, tonsillitis, scarlet fever, sore throat, flatulence, gout, fever, nausea, heart attacks, and the list goes on.  But how exactly was it administered?  How effective was it at treating diphtheria?  What dosages were prescribed when it was used in conjunction with penny royal for expelling the retained dead tissue of a miscarriage?

It is fortunate that some scientific research is being and has been performed, but even that isn't too helpful if it is only conducted in a laboratory, which is the case with many of the articles I posted links for below.  In the case of internet jockeys and self-professed gurus, the information may even be dangerous.  Anecdotal evidence of cayenne pepper powder stopping bleeding does not mean using cayenne to stop a serious bleed is a good idea.  Would the bleeding have stopped anyway with a little direct pressure?  Is pouring cayenne into a wound creating a greater potential for infection?  After all, doesn't the cayenne need to be washed out before closing that wound?

On the other end of the spectrum, striving to care for our loved ones in a post-apocalyptic world (PAW) may have us willing to throw anything and everything at a problem.  As the physicians leading the off-grid medicine courses I attended taught us, CPR is for dead people only.  When society has completely collapsed and there is no higher medical care, you don't perform CPR, except in cases of drowning, lightning strike/electrocution, and choking.  Those people were healthy before the accident.  Everyone else has a medical condition that brought on the heart attack and that will not be able to be diagnosed and/or treated without modern medicine.  I can accept that.  It's easy to say now.  But what if the heart attack patient is my husband, who as a type-1 diabetic is in the do not resuscitate (DNR) group?  Can I just let him go?  Probably not.

Would I be willing to try giving him some cayenne tea if he were able to swallow or cayenne tincture under his tongue if he were not (supposedly used on someone who had just expired, with miraculous results)?  Yeah, I'm kinda attached to him, so I'd do it.

Unfortunately, these kinds of things have only anecdotal stories attached to them.  There's no scientific research to back them up.  Treating a heart attack patient with cayenne pepper when more civilized care is available would be considered malpractice, at least in this country.  No one's going to do it.  Does drinking a strong tea of cayenne pepper help stop internal bleeding?  Heck if I know.  But Dr. Patrick Jones, a veterinarian and herbalist, has used it on dogs hit by cars, and he says it has worked.  That's another one that isn't likely to be researched for a long time.  Would I be willing to try it on someone who was suspected to have internal bleeding?  Well, of course that's going to depend on a few factors, but I'd probably be open to the idea.

With that said, here are some suggestions for using cayenne. 

Infusion:  1/2-1 teaspoon of cayenne in one cup of boiling water.  Drink warm, about one tablespoon at a time (16 sips per cup), for indigestion, fever, gout, arthritis, rheumatism, and sore throat and cold.  For internal bleeding, use one teaspoon and drink it as quickly as possible. 

Powder: Pour it on and apply pressure.  Honestly, the "apply pressure" part is the most important.  If the bleeding is that serious, I'm going to go with a commercial clotting agent like Celox or QuikClot, if it's my family.  Everyone else can have cayenne. Yes, cayenne in a wound is going to burn.

Capsules:  One capsule, one to three times daily, for indigestion.  (I've been doing this for six years, and I have no problems with heartburn, unless I run out.  That happened once.  Now I keep a better supply.)  Also, and there is more research on this (web addresses posted below), cayenne pepper does not cause gastric ulcers.  On the contrary, it helps heal them.

Cream:  Add 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder or a couple of drops of cayenne tincture to some body lotion and rub over the affected area for arthritis and rheumatism.

Cayenne oil:  In a glass jar, place 1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper, 2 tablespoons of crushed mustard seeds, and 2 teaspoons of grated ginger root in one cup of carrier oil such as olive or almond.   Allow to infuse for one week, then strain.  Use as a massage oil for treating muscle, joint, and arthritis pain.

Cayenne tincture:  Fill a one-quart jar with fresh cayenne peppers (or halfway with cayenne powder) and top off within 1/2 inch of the rim with grain alcohol (95% percent) if possible, or the highest proof you can get.  (You may substitute apple cider vinegar or glycerin for the vodka, but the tincture won't be as strong and will only have a shelf life of six months.)  Place lid on top and store in cool, dark place for six to eight weeks.  Strain to remove peppers and store tincture in dark glass bottle.  Shelf life--three to five years.

For further reading:
http://www.holistic-research.org/uploads/1/1/3/8/11385972/cayenne_pepper.pdf (Accessed on 28 December 2018)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5785894/ (Accessed on 28 December 2018.  Chronic disease, inflammation, and spices)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19919287 (Accessed on 27 December 2018.  Cayenne inhibits bacteria)
https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/antimicrobial-properties-of-chili-peppers-2332-0877.1000145.pdf (Accessed on 27 December 2018.  Effect of various hot peppers on various strains of bacteria and viruses)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16621751 (Capsaicin and gastric ulcers.  Accessed on 27 December 2018)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21104944 (Accessed on 27 December 2018).  Capsaicin cream in treatment of chronic pain) 

The Medicinal Uses of Pine

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on an item you might wish to have available if needed so that a physician can treat you and your family as best as possible.  No medication, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care.  A qualified, licensed physician or other medical provider should be consulted before beginning any herbal or conventional treatment.

  

You can't spend much time hanging out on prepper forums or reading self-reliance books before coming across the suggestion of drinking pine needle tea for vitamin C.  And it's true, pine needles are full of vitamin C.  And while pine isn't my first choice for tea (I just don't have that refined palate that makes me want to drink or eat things that taste like Pine-Sol) or wound treatment (honey and sugar are easier to use than pine pitch), it's good to know how pine can be used.

While Scotch pine has a rich history of use in herbal preparations, almost all pines are effective to some extent.  In the east, Eastern white pine is the go-to pine species.  In the desert southwest, pinyon pine is favored.  All yews and Norfolk Island pine are toxic.  Ponderosa pine was used medicinally by Native Americans, but there are also claims that it is toxic, so if you've got a choice, it's best to go with something else.  Pine may cause dermatitis in sensitive people.   

In all cases, use new, green needles.  Remove the brown sheath at the base of the needles, wash well, chop the needles into 1/2 inch pieces.

PINE NEEDLES

Fresh needles:  Simply chew a few and swallow to meet your daily vitamin C requirements.  Yum.  /sarc off

Tea:  Steep a tablespoon of chopped needles for 5-10 minutes, no longer, or the vitamins are gradually lost.  Pine needle tea not only provides vitamin C but also vitamin A. This tea is great for thinning mucus and thus works well as an expectorant. 

However, for the greatest medicinal effect, add one tablespoon of chopped needles to boiling water; cover, boil 2-3 minutes, remove from heat, and steep until cool enough to drink.  (It will probably taste like turpentine, so now if you're craving a little turpentine because you didn't store enough and you're fresh out, you know how to satisfy your appetite.)  Drink several cups each day, freshly prepared.

Wound wash:  Use cooled tea as a wound wash to prevent infection.

Tincture:  Fill a wide mouth jar with whole pine needles (or cut in half if using very long needles) and then add apple cider vinegar to the top.  Let sit for six weeks.  Apparently it tastes a lot like balsamic vinegar.

Poultice:  Crush green needles to use as a poultice for wounds.

PINE SAP/PITCH

Fresh pitch:  Native Americans chewed pine pitch to help alleviate arthritis pain.  They also dabbed the sap onto skin above and around a splinter;  the splinter would then come out on its own in a day or two.  (I don't know that I could wait that long.) 


Wound salve:  Collect pine pitch in a small jar, about half full (that's why it's a small jar) and then fill to top with olive oil.  Set in a warm place, like a sunny windowsill or by a wood stove, and shake daily.  After the pitch has softened, stir it into the oil, and then run it through a fine strainer.  Use alone as a natural antiseptic and drawing salve to remove a splinter, or use as a base for making other healing salves.


Tincture:  Collect pine sap in a small jar.  Barely cover the sap with Everclear or other 190 proof grain alcohol.  Label and date and the tincture will be ready in 6-8 weeks.  Use five to ten drops per cup of boiling water for treating colds and bronchitis.  Use five drops per tablespoon of carrier oil, such as almond or coconut, for massaging into sore muscles or arthritic joints.

Contraindications:  Pine needles should not be consumed by women who are pregnant.


Other uses of pine:  The inner bark is eaten raw or cooked, most often though ground into a powder and dried for later use in thickening soups or added to flour for making bread.  Pine needles are woven into baskets.

Links to related posts:

Introduction to Tinctures

How to Make a Salve

For further information:
http://www.wildwomanrising.com/26-making-pine-pitch-salve-from-pinon-pinus-edulis/
https://ethnobiomed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1746-4269-5-5  (Interesting article on history of scurvy and treatment with pine needle tea in colonial Canada).
http://www.susunweed.com/Article_Pine-Keeps-You-Fine.htm
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18957177 (herpes viruses)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21086644 (Alzheimer's anxiety, depression)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9212985 (reducing triglycerides)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2830409/ (general information article)

28 january 2019

Comfrey-Calendula Salve for Cramps, Sprains, and Fractures

Disclaimer. I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on an item you might wish to have available if needed so that a physician can treat you and your family as best as possible.  No medication, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care.  A qualified, licensed physician or other medical provider should be consulted before beginning any herbal or conventional treatment.

This comfrey-calendula salve is a beautiful thing when it comes to stopping charley horses in their tracks.  It also works well for healing fractures and sprains, burns, and contact dermatitis, like from poison oak.

Comfrey-Calendula Salve
1 cup olive or coconut oil
1 1/3 cups dried comfrey leaves
1 1/3 cups dried calendula petals
1 oz beeswax

In a double boiler, melt the beeswax and olive oil together, and then add the comfrey and calendula.  Simmer for 3 hours. A crockpot that can be set to "warm" will also work, and it can be left overnight.

Put a canning funnel in a 12-ounce canning jar and line it with a few layers of cheesecloth.  Pour in some of the oil and herbs and press it through gently.  Continue until all of the oil and herbs have been strained through the cheesecloth, wringing the last of it through to get every last bit.

Links to related posts:

Coconut Oil 
The Medicinal Uses of Comfrey
How to Make a Salve
Calendula

When Milk Goes Bad: Several Culinary Uses for Spoiled Milk

Due to the move, I quit making yogurt in an effort to clean out the refrigerator, and in the bustle of trying to unpack and organize, it took me awhile to get started again at our new location.  Part of the problem was due to the yogurt starter.  I couldn’t find the official starter tablets, though I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them.  I still have to wonder where they could be, because they should only be in the refrigerator or freezer.  And I couldn’t locate the probiotic capsules either.  I know they’re somewhere….  What I did manage to have unpacked in the right location was some children’s probiotic powder designed to be added to milk.  Vanilla flavored single-serve packets.  I picked it up to try as a yogurt starter.  I thought I had used it before and that it had worked. (Maybe I used two packets instead of one.  Not sure.)

It did not work this time.  I let the milk culture all day and still only got lumpy milk.  I was going to add more of the probiotic packets and try again the next day.  But that day never came.  Instead, the lumpy milk just took up valuable real estate and went sour in the refrigerator.  My family would have a collective heart attack if they knew what I did with that sour, lumpy milk.  But we don’t want you and your family to experience any stress.  So here’s how to use spoiled milk, instead of just pouring it down the drain.  It’s kinda like making lemonade out of lemons.  There’s nothing to fear here.  It’s all good.

 

The first step to using spoiled milk is to re-brand it, so to speak.  The whole family will raise a stink about consuming spoiled milk.  After all, it smells nasty.  It tastes nasty.  Therefore, nothing good could possibly come from using it.  So trust me here, do not tell them you are using spoiled milk.  It is re-branded as homemade buttermilk.  Of sorts.   

The bacteria that are naturally present in milk have been consuming the natural sugars in milk all along.  But as the use-by date approaches, the bacteria swell in numbers, such that when you hit that magic date (or maybe a little afterwards depending on how cold the refrigerator is, how often it is opened, and how long the milk is left out before being returned to the refrigerator), the bacteria reach a point where their presence is known by smell and taste.  

From a baking and cooking standpoint, cultured buttermilk from the store is basically the same thing as spoiled milk, but the bacteria were purposefully added in extra numbers to produce the sour taste quickly.  Sour milk that you accidentally made at home will perform the same as store bought buttermilk in your recipes, and the same as your other DIY substitute for buttermilk using dry milk and lemon juice/vinegar. 

Because the re-branded buttermilk (formerly known as the soured milk) acts as a leavening agent, it’s a great choice for quick breads that use baking powder. 

•  Biscuits
•  Scones
•  Pancakes
•  Waffles
•  Cornbread
•  Quick breads

It also makes perfectly divine caramel dip for apples or caramel syrup (known by some as buttermilk syrup--but you know caramel syrup sounds much tastier) for pancakes and waffles.

Finally, it is perfect for dipping for vegetables before coating with bread crumbs for deep frying. 

And for those who wonder about the safety of consuming spoiled milk, remember that this is basically buttermilk.  It’s sold in stores for people to drink and use in recipes.  Also bear in mind that spoiled food rarely causes food poisoning.  Spoiled food usually makes people gag.  Food with bacteria, viruses, and protozoa that cause food poisoning usually tastes perfectly fine, and that’s why people eat it, and then get sick later.

These are the recipes I used that failed yogurt/now spoiled lumpy milk in just the past two weeks:

• Whole wheat sandwich bread
• Lemon quick bread
• Chocolate zucchini quick bread
• Buttermilk biscuits
• Caramel syrup
• Yogurt banana pancakes 
• Pumpkin waffles
• Caramel apple cupcakes
  

Nobody noticed.   They all scarfed it all down, except for the quick breads, because I'm freezing some for later.

Links to related posts:

Food Poisoning Overview

Basic Food Storage—Dry Milk

Caramel Syrup

Making Thick, Creamy Yogurt

Yogurt Banana Pancakes

Biscuits

References:

https://www.bonappetit.com/story/sour-milk-tips?utm_source=pocket-newtab  10.07.22

More Breakfast Cereal--Muesli

As for breakfast cereal that I like to eat, now we're getting somewhere.  Once you've got the homemade Grape-Nuts and the homemade Wheaties, it's a cinch to put your own muesli together.
Apocalyptic Muesli
4 cups quick cooking rolled oats
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup crunchy wheat cereal
1 cup wheat flakes
1 cup dried apples, apricots, raisins, or other fruit

Mix together and put in covered container.  Most recipes I've come across say to add the fruit when you're ready to serve.  The cereal manufacturers don't seem to do that, so I don't know why we need to.  But if you want to keep your grains really dry, add the fruit when you're ready to serve.

Yeah, that was easy, too.

Links to related posts:
Wheat
Homemade Grape Nuts
Homemade Wheaties   

No Meat, No Ammo, No Problem

One of my other interests that I really enjoy is family history.  And as I was packing up some of my binders in anticipation of a possible move, I happened upon some newsletters from my Grandfather Banks' family.  He was born in Missouri in 1914, and in this particular newsletter was an account his younger brother, Norman, shared.


"During the Depression, in the early 30's, money was hard to come by.  We had plenty of rabbits on our farm, but with money so scarce, we couldn't afford to buy ammunition to shoot the rabbits.  So, one day my dad picked up the crosscut saw, a can of black paint and a brush, and he told me to come along with him.  I couldn't figure out what he was going to do.   I had learned from past experience that I shouldn't question him about anything.  We went into the woods on our farm and cut down a few trees, and then cut them into logs.  After that was done, he painted a black spot, about six inches in diameter on the ends of the logs.  Then, he told me to get the dogs and start chasing rabbits.  Well, the rabbits ran for the 'hollow' logs, knocked themselves out, and we just picked them up.  We had rabbit for supper that night."

"This story won me first prize in a liar's contest in 1987, but I felt awful guilty taking the money, because it wasn't really a lie.  If anyone is in doubt, just ask Omar Thomas... he was there."

Hopefully we will have prepared well so that we aren't facing starvation from lack of food and ammo.  However, this possibility of being able to save money and ammo seems intriguing, and even children could be sent out to do this kind of "hunting."

Cheating (Premature) Death

"Preparation does not guarantee success, but lack of preparation guarantees failure”--Japanese proverb.

All the preps in the world won't guarantee that our family members and we will survive coming festivities. Death is a part of life. When you pick up one end of the stick (birth), you pick up the other (death). For some, it comes sooner rather than later, no matter what we do. For many, it will come sooner rather than later because of so much they could have done, but failed to do.

It is essential to understand this deep down and be at peace with it. It absolutely boggles my mind the number of people who cannot accept death, even for the extremely ill and aged. I visited with our veterinarian about this very issue and the vast numbers of people he sees in his practice who are hysterical and inconsolable and angry about the deaths of their pets. They're mad at him for not saving them, even when their pets are old and in pain. They're angry at God and the world.

In considerable measure, how our loved ones and we fare post-collapse will reflect on our relationship with God and our ability to accept death. And how we choose to prepare to prevent premature and unnecessary deaths. Because there really is a lot we can do, even if we have no training whatsoever in medicine. It all boils down to preparation.

• Food. Store and be able to grow food. More people die during war from starvation than from bullets.
• Water. Store water. Know how to and have the means to purify water. Know how to keep water sources free from contamination.
• Sanitation. Know how to dispose of sewage, where to dig the latrine, how to do laundry, and how to do the dishes and keep food preparation areas safe. And have all the supplies to do these things.
• Known medical conditions. Have all the supplies and knowledge to manage our known medical conditions--diabetes, hypothyroidism, asthma, allergies.
• Historical killers. The number one killer for women until the 1900s was childbirth. The number two killer was burns (skirt gets too close to the fire, cotton is pretty flammable, suddenly there are third-degree burns on the legs). Communicable diseases, especially childhood ones. Make sure you have the medical supplies, vaccines, whatever, to deal with these.
• Infections. Be able to treat sepsis (blood poisoning), pneumonia, influenza. Got antibiotics?
• Vector-borne illnesses. While mosquito-borne diseases tend to be confined to more tropical areas, mosquitoes have been known to migrate northward when conditions are favorable. Ticks are pretty much everywhere. Lyme disease is being found in new areas all the time. Even here in the high desert where we have never, ever seen ticks, we found a few last year. Fleas and rats don't care how cold it gets--they'll find you. Do you have insect repellents, mosquito netting, and insecticides?
• Common injuries. Do you have the supplies to manage lacerations, burns, and broken bones?
• Dental hygiene. Ten percent of ER visits are for dental care. Do you practice good dental hygiene? Have you got adequate supplies to last the duration of the crisis?
• Risky behavior. Don't take foolish risks. Avoid danger. While the nanny state has been pretty good at making sure stupid doesn't hurt, that time is coming to an end. Stupid will be painful once again.

Making sure you've got these basics covered will go a long way towards cheating a premature death when our society collapses. There's not much point in learning what to do in a case of appendicitis if you haven't even got enough food or means to purify water. The same goes for pneumothorax and pneumonia. Food and water first.

Links to related posts:
Hypothyroidism
Acquiring Antibiotics
Diabetes
Tick-Borne Bacterial Diseases
Water Purification
Water Purification Methods in One Easy Chart 

The Scoop on Hand Sanitizer

Somehow you find yourself in a position where you have no soap and water, but you've got hand sanitizer. You've heard people say that it works just as well. But are they right? Is hand sanitizer as effective as washing hands? Is it better? Is it worse?

The answer: Well, it all depends. It actually depends on several factors.

First, whether hand sanitizer is effective depends on whether the alcohol content of the hand sanitizer is adequate. The hand sanitizer must contain 70% rubbing alcohol. Fifty percent alcohol is not strong enough. Ninety-one percent alcohol will evaporate before it penetrates into the microbes and kills them. The alcohol content should be indicated on the hand sanitizer label. However, if the hand sanitizer is older, some of the alcohol content may have evaporated, and it may not be as strong as when it was manufactured. This is one of the few instances in medicine where the use-by date should be taken seriously. Maintain a careful inventory of your hand sanitizer and rotate it well. If older hand sanitizer is all you have, make sure to apply it two or three times and rub it in well.

Secondly, the hand sanitizer must come into direct contact with the microbes. If there is visible dirt or other waste on your hands, it must be removed first. So use a baby wipe, washcloth, or clothing if necessary to remove all visible dirt and particles. Then apply the hand sanitizer.

Next, hand sanitizer that is applied and rubbed in like lotion is not sufficient. To do its job, hand sanitizer should be applied liberally and rubbed in vigorously for at least twenty seconds, just as for washing hands with soap and water. However, that is just for regular, garden-variety viruses, not the real bad guys (which is what you really want protection from). A study published just last month by researchers in Japan showed that hand sanitizer being rubbed in for two full minutes did not kill the influenza A virus. It took four full minutes of rubbing in hand sanitizer to completely disable that virus. We can't get a lot of people in this country even to wash their hands for a few seconds after using the bathroom. Taking four minutes to use hand sanitizer probably isn't going to work.

Finally, hand sanitizer really should not be used as a substitute for routine handwashing. Yes, in some cases hand sanitizer works just as well as soap and water. But in others, like with influenza A, it definitely does not. Other microbes that hand sanitizer does not kill include:

• Protozoan cysts (like giardia)
• Bacterial spores (like botulism, tetanus, or C. diff)
• Cryptosporidium
• Poliovirus
• Hepatitis A virus
• Foot and mouth disease virus

In addition, the alcohol in hand sanitizer is very drying to the skin, and excessive use may result in dry, cracked skin. And dry, cracked skin is vulnerable to infection. Hand sanitizer should not be used in place of regular washing in the home. Washing with soap and water is the gold standard and should be used whenever possible.   

Links to related posts:
Hand Washing

For further reading:
Armageddon Medicine, p 85.
https://www.cdc.gov/handhygiene/patients/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/handhygiene/science/index.html
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-09/asfm-tbh091119.php

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com 

17 october 2021

Civil War Antibiotics in Georgia

Learn to use what's in your area.  That's my focus for learning the different medicines that can be obtained from plants.  Yes, there might be something stronger from China or the eastern half of the US, but how likely am I to be able to get these herbs in a collapsed society?  Not very likely.
In May of this year, an interesting article on the use of plant medicines in the Civil War was published in Scientific Reports and summarized in Science Alert.  The articles shared a bit of the history of a Confederate physician, Francis Porcher, who was experiencing his own TEOTWAWKI, along with the rest of the South.  Medical supplies were running out and due to lack of funds and supply lines being cut, there was no hope of re-supply.   Dr. Porcher had to go into the great outdoors to find the medicines needed to save soldiers' lives.

Porcher compiled a list of thirty-seven plants he employed in treating his patients.  Researchers selected just three of these native plants for testing:  white oak (Quercus alba), devil's walking stick (Aralia spinosa), and tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera).  All were able to inhibit some common and troubling bacteria, including MRSA.  In fact, the modern researchers testing extracts from these herbs believe that these herbal remedies may have spared many men from having their limbs amputated, and may even have saved their lives.  However, the advent of modern antibiotics caused physicians to all but forget about these plant medicines.

Unfortunately, many pathogenic bacteria have evolved, and in the words of one writer these bacteria "swap resistance genes like recipes at a bake sale."  (It's true.  Bacteria have massive gene-swapping parties.  And then, when they get their new genes, they like to go out and show off.  And usually, we're the ones they choose for their experiments.  I guess it's payback for everything researchers do to them.)  Anyway, some physicians and researchers recognize that there might have been something more than witch-doctoring or luck when previous generations used herbal medicine.  And so they look to history, to what great-grandparents and their doctors used to treat illnesses and infections.  That's why I list historical uses for herbs even if we don't know exactly how they were used in the articles I write on herbal medicine.  Desperate times call for desperate measures, and if we have no other choices, we might wish to give herbal medicine a try. 


The white oak and tulip tree tinctures worked well against Staphylococcus aureus, inhibiting growth and preventing the bacteria from forming a biofilm.  Devil's walking stick prevented S. aureus in another way.  Unfortunately, it takes researchers a long time to work out dosages and understand side effects.  And just because a medicine worked one hundred and fifty years ago, doesn't mean it was safe or without side effects.  For example, the tulip tree bark extracts seem to have been toxic to mammalian cells, but those experiments were conducted in Petri dishes.  Such may not be the case in people.

Dr. Porcher had thirty-seven herbs he was using at the time.   There was at least one good reason for each.  How many herbs do we need to learn to care for our families?  I have no idea, but my goal is to eventually learn twenty to thirty herbs so well that I know how to use them without looking them up.  And it's critical to learn about what grows around us.  I've read about the benefits of using oak (Quercus) in medicine.  It sounds wonderful.  But it doesn't grow in my area.  I live in a desert.  Fortunately, there are a lot of great plants here that I can use.

Learn what grows around you.  The best choices in Francis Porcher's Georgia aren't likely to be found growing in New York, or Michigan, or Oregon.  What grows in swamps won't be found in the Rockies.  Herbal Antivirals and Herbal Antibiotics are great references that cover some plants that grow everywhere in the US.  In addition to those volumes, find a good guide book for your area. Sam Coffman's The Herbal Medic is good and has a lot of herbs more common to Texas.  Charles Kane's books focus on the western US. 


If you know of a good herbal guide book for your area, please post it in the comments for your fellow readers.

Links to related posts:
Herbal Antibiotics, by Stephen Buhner
Herbal Antivirals, by Stephen Buhner 
The Herbal Medic, by Sam Coffman

For further reading:
https://www.sciencealert.com/medicinal-herbs-used-in-the-civil-war-found-blast-drug-resistant-bacteria-in-the-lab
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-44242-y
Charles Kane, Medicinal Plants of the Western Mountain States.

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com 

14 december 2021