Dandelion Chip Recipe: Eat Your Weeds and Improve Your Health

[Editor's Note: Dandelion is the scourge of many a homeowner. Monsanto to the rescue. Millions of dads dutifully grab their Roundup and kill these pesky weeds - unwittingly reeking havoc on their family's health. John Robb of Resilient Communities says that we spend $30 billion a year maintaining a trillion square feet of yard space in the US alone. Staggering!

What's a better solution? Eat your weeds. Caroline Cooper posted this excellent article recently at Eatkamloops. Thought you might want to try this recipe.]

Delicious Dandelion Control

Posted on May 16, 2013 by publisher

“The common dandelion, enemy of well-kept lawns, is an exceptionally nutritious food. Its leaves and root contain substantial levels of vitamins A, C, D, and B complex as well as iron, magnesium, zinc, potassium, manganese, copper, choline, calcium, boron, and silicon.”
Dandelion Leaf by Mountain Rose Herbs

Dandelion Green Chips are a wonderful spring snack. If this snack caught on it would improve everyone’s health while reducing lawn herbicide!

Are you looking for a non-toxic dandelion control? Eat your weeds and improve your health at the same time!

This winter I discovered Kale Chips. Kale Chips have become my favorite snack food. I couldn’t seem to get enough. As the winter progressed my husband started complaining about the cost of organic kale.

My husband has since planted kale in the garden and will try to overwinter the plants to satisfy my winter comfort food. While in the garden, I was looking at the tiny kale plants and wondering when I could have my first snack. A bright yellow flower caught my eye and said: “Why not Dandelion Green Chips?” It’s times like this that I realize I am walking through my days only half awake.

6-8c garden dandelion greens, remove stem end
1-3T organic extra virgin olive oil
1/2tsp sea salt, ground
pinch of bird’s eye chili or other hot chili, ground

I got a large bowl and started pulling out leaves. I filled the bowl and returned to the kitchen. I removed the stem ends. I tossed the dandelion greens with some extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt and a very small amount of bird’s eye chili. I thought the chili might counter-act the bitterness of the dandelion greens. I cooked the dandelion greens at 300°F for about 10-15 minutes.

About 50% of the people in the household loved the Dandelion Green Chips and the other 50% found the chips too bitter. Of course, I have been eating kale all winter so the dandelion didn’t taste bitter to me. Give the recipe a try and tell me what you think.

Wild Food Survival: Can I Eat Those Mother’s Day Flowers?

[Editor's Note: After Mother's Day, florists must be taking the day off. So how many of the blooming plants are actually edible? Crunchy Mama (See her full bio below) gives us a detailed analysis of a popular plant that you may have in your yard that's pretty and nutritious. I hope you enjoy the second post in her Wild Food Series here on our blog. Leave her some feedback please.]

Reprinted with permission from  Crunchy Mama’s Urban Homestead.

Gorgeous, Delicious and Nutritious Violets! My Wild Food Adventures Series

BY THECRUNCHYMAMACHRONICLES

I’ve said that ostrich fern shoots are my favorite wild edible but violets are a super-close second.  They are so lovely!  On my property, I have lots of Viola odorata.  

The young leaves are mild and great in salads.  The flowers are mild-tasting with a hint of sweetness; you can just pluck and eat or gather some for a beautiful addition to your salad or sprinkle on your cooked and plated food.

 In this photo, I have a base of cut-up turnips topped with an avocado slice, tomato slices, garlic mustard leaves, and violet flowers and young leaves.

Here are some close-up photos that I took:

  

In this photo, you see a violet plant growing all by itself and so I just used some scissors to harvest the leaves.   

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Here is the itemization of the violet:

Identifying Features:

Flowers have 5 petals in a butterfly shape.  They grow as a single flower at the end of the stem.  There is a sharp bend where the flower and the stem join.

Leaves are heart-shaped; the sides often curl toward the juncture of the stem and the leaf.

Roots are fibrous and are NOT edible and actually toxic according to Teresa Marrone.

Time of Year: mid-spring to early-summer for the flowers and leaves (before they become tough from the summer heat)

Environment: Preferably moist soil with some shade.

Method of Preparation: You can eat the flowers and young leaves (lighter green) raw.  You can also cook the young leaves as well as older leaves as you would spinach.

Medicinal uses? Yes! Two Herbal Mamas has a video on how to make an oil infusion with violets. And on their blog they have a post which lists the medicinal qualities of the plant: “Violet…contains saponins, salicylates, alkaloids, flavonoides and volatile oils. The actions of this shy plant are anti-inflammatory, expectorant, diuretic, anti-rheumatic, laxative and stabilizes capillary membranes. Violet contains an enormous amount of Vitamin A. Chew on a violet leaf and spit it out on to your hand. Give the leaf a good rub. You will feel the slippery mucilage contained in this powerful plant. Mucilaginous herbs are moist, and soothe skin ailments and internal mucous surfaces.”

Poisonous look-alikes?  Larkspur and Monkshood– there blooms look similar perhaps to an untrained eye but you can absolutely tell the difference between them and violets in short order.

The larkspur bloom has a long spur on the rear of the bloom.  There are good photos here. The leaves are very different as well.  And, lastly, there are multiple blooms coming from one stem (unlike the violet which is one bloom on the end of the stem).

There are some good photos and information on monkshood here. Again, the leaves are very different from violet leaves; monkshood leaves are palmate while violet leaves are heart-shaped. While the blooms can be the same color as violets AND have 5 petals they are shaped differently.  According to the Wikipedia link at the beginning of this paragraph, “[the flowers] are distinguishable by having one of the five petaloid sepals (the posterior one), called the galea, in the form of a cylindrical helmet; hence the English name monkshood.”

According to Abundantly Wild by Teresa Marrone, you would be wise to collect violet leaves only when the plant is in bloom because the leaves can resemble some poisonous plant leaves.   When the plant is in bloom, it will be easy for you to recognize and gather the correct leaves.

As with anything that you put in your mouth, you need to properly identify the plant. Here are more resources on properly identifying and eating violets:

Green Deane’s Eat the Weeds;

Eating Violets by The Urban Forager (Ava Chin);

Wild Man Steve Brill (great illustrations and close-up photos);

Elias and Dykeman’s Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide (pages 95, 96, 116);

Abundantly Wild by Teresa Marrone;

Edible and Medicinal Plants of the Great Lakes Region by Thomas A. Naegele

Author bio: The Crunchy Mama is a libertarian unschooling mama to three sons, married to her husband since 1998.  They live on their Midwestern homestead of 2 ½ acres with chickens, ducks, dogs and an ever-growing organic vegetable garden.  She is an avid wild food eater.  In general, she’d rather be outside enjoying creation.  She can be followed on Twitter @thecrunchymama or on her blog Crunchy Mama’s Urban Homestead.

 

Hunt-Gather-Eat Wild Foods: Ostrich Fern Shoots

Editor’s Note: Today we’re pleased to have a guest post by The Crunchy Mama on eating wild foods. We look forward to further value adding posts by her in the future. Before going out to gather a basket of weeds to eat, make sure you have properly identified the plant before eating. This is a valuable skill in a pre and post SHTF world. 

This article originally appeared on her blog Crunchy Mama’s Urban Homestead. See her full bio below. 

My wild [food] adventures — ostrich fern shoots

BY THECRUNCHYMAMACHRONICLES ON APRIL 29, 2013

My journey with wild foods began when I first became aware that socio-economic collapse was possible (and probable).  I bought several wild edible field guides and began to look for the plants.  For the past few years, I have added a few wild edibles to my knowledge base and diet.  Last fall, I found a revolutionary set of books on wild food that my set of wild food adventures on fire!  Those books are John Kallas’ (KAY-less) Edible Wild Plants and Samuel Thayer’s The Forager’s Harvest and Nature’s Garden.  I’ll be talking about the books in coming posts but I want to dive into some great and ready-right-now wild foods that are easy to find and identify.  In the meantime, you should check out their reviews on amazon.com.

So, let’s take some wild food adventures together!  Spring is a great time to learn about, find and eat wild foods because there is not too much vegetation to overwhelm you — at least in the Midwest and northern part of the US.  Once the heat of late spring and summer comes, it might be harder because so many things are growing.

The first and tastiest wild vegetable that I want to urge you to go out and find is ostrich fern shoots and fiddleheads.  Oh my goodness, if people were to be introduced to wild foods with ostrich fern shoots and fiddleheads rather than dandelion leaves, we might have more wild food eaters.  And, one more thing before we begin: I will only post about wild edibles that I have personal experience with.

Green Deane, who runs the most watched foraging channel on YouTube called EatTheWeeds (http://www.youtube.com/user/EatTheWeeds), teaches us to itemize a wild food.  ITEM = identification (be sure the plant is what you think it is by examining its features), time of year (is it the right time for eating a particular plant part?), environment (where does it like to grow; under what conditions?), and method of preparation (can you eat it raw or must you cook it a particular way?).

So, we are going to itemize ostrich ferns because there are some fern species that you don’t want to eat.

Identifying features of Ostrich ferns during the edible season for this plant which is spring when the trees are leafing out:

• The ostrich fern shoots are either green, smooth and shiny or have a thin whitish powder covering the stalk. The ones that I’ve enjoyed are the ones with a very fine whitish powder.
• They have a tightly coiled top (called a fiddlehead).
• They have a deep groove running up the middle of the shoot (think of a celery stalk groove) and, according to Samuel Thayer on page 80 of The Forager’s Harvest, this groove is what distinguishes the ostrich fern from other INEDIBLE fern shoots.
• They taste crisp and sweet.

Time of year for collecting and eating ostrich fern shoots:

• Mid-spring; about the same time as when the leaves begin to emerge on the trees

Environment:

• The Midwest and Northeast of the US in river bottom forests and “places prone to erosion by floods or human disturbance” because they need bare soil its spores to germinate.
• Mine are in a flood plain of a creek.  Unfortunately, I do not have large population of them so it is a rare spring treat to have a few servings of them in the spring.

Method of Preparation:

• Pick the stalks near the base when the stalks are between 8 and 28 inches tall AND they still have the tightly coiled top (the fiddlehead).
• Only pick 1/3 to ½ of the stalks from one rosette so as not to kill the entire plant and only do this once per season for each rosette.
• They can be eaten raw but boiled or steamed until tender and served with butter is a very tasty way to eat them.
• Thayer lives near a super abundance of them and collects enough to freeze and pressure-can some so that he can enjoy them throughout the year.
• 

Here is a video of ostrich fern shoots growing on my property:

Remember that “knowledge weighs nothing” and, even if your food storage is stolen or destroyed, you can still have food by knowing the foods that nature supplies!  Practice eating wild foods now so that should you ever need to rely on them for short-term or long-term you will have confidence in foraging for them.

Author bio: The Crunchy Mama is a libertarian unschooling mama to three sons, married to her husband since 1998.  They live on their Midwestern homestead of 2 ½ acres with chickens, ducks, dogs and an ever-growing organic vegetable garden.  She is an avid wild food eater.  In general, she’d rather be outside enjoying creation.  She can be followed on Twitter @thecrunchymama or on her blog Crunchy Mama’s Urban Homestead.

 

Slippery Elm Bark and its wonders

A week ago I came down with 24 hour stomach bug with a 102 fever – the day before DRG and I had planned to leave on our mini-vacation. Fortunately it was only a 24 hour bug. The fever broke the next morning and we set sail. The effects of the bug had me pulling over several times for ‘rest stops’ since I had to ‘go’ 6 times on what would have been a 5 hour trip.

That was probably too much info. However, the article below is another example of how nature provides so many avenues for healing our bodies – not only when pharma drugs aren’t available, but in place of the local pharmacy.

Source: Totally Organic

 by MedicineMan

The Wonders of Slippery Elm

 

 

 

 

Traditional Use

Slippery elm was one of the most useful medicinal plants of the American wilderness. Native Americans from the Missouri River Valley used a tea of the fresh inner bark to make a soothing laxative. Among the Creek, a poultice of the bark was a toothache remedy. The Osage and other groups applied bark poultices to extract thorns and gunshot balls. Surgeons during the American Revolution used bark poultices as their primary treatment for gunshot wounds, and a soldier, separated from his company, survived for ten days in the wilderness on slippery elm and sassafras barks. During the War of 1812, when food was scarce, British soldiers fed their horses on slippery elm bark. Nineteenth-century physicians recommended slippery elm broth as a wholesome and nutritious food for infants and invalids, and the tea has long been the herbal treatment of choice for acute stomach ulcers and colitis.

 

How to make a “moc” chocolate milk drink with slippery Elm.

 

The Recipe:

Take 10 oz. Hot Milk

2 tblspns Slippery Elm Bark Powder

1 tspn spoon honey

This can be added to fruit juices and create a freshness / earthy flavor. It adds a healthiness to a good quality fruit juice or add it to a freshly juiced juice e.g. apple celery carrot  or sprinkles some throughout your cereals hot or cold. Watch the difference!!!

So why is it so Great !!!

Slippery Elm was also used by native americans to remove the gamey taste out of their meats. It was also used to gel certain kinds of foods. this is because slippery Elm will absorb almost 20 times its volume and becomes like a liquid oatmeal ( this is also known as a gruel).

Read the rest here

Making Herbal Tinctures from Lawn Weeds

[SS Note: Plantain is my go to herb/weed for all stings/bites and poison oak rashes. I simply chew it for a few seconds and secure it on the effected area with tape, band aid, or whatever is available. Instant relief!]

Source: Catastrophe Network

by Travis Waack

We, like most of the country, have been experiencing drought the past few weeks, so the lawn hasn’t been mowed in a some time. While the grass is dead, there are several weeds (herbs) that are thriving. Two of them that I have identified are of course plantain and yarrow. Today, I decided to make a tincture out of those beneficial herbs before I mowed the grass and destroyed them all. To do this, I picked a quart jar full of each kind of herb and then dropped them in the food processor with a little vodka. After pulverizing them, they now fit in a nice little pint size jar, which I then filled to about a quarter inch from the top with vodka. In a few weeks, or maybe a month or two, I can strain out the pulverized leaves and I will be left with a very potent herbal tincture of plantain and yarrow.

Plantain tincture can be applied externally to:

• Act as an antidote for stings, bites, poison ivy, etc.
• Stop bleeding and promote healing
• Pull out puss, slivers, dirt, etc. from wounds.

Plantain tincture can be taken internally by putting a few drops of tincture in water and drinking it to:

• Serve as a general antiinflammatory and antiallergenic
• Heal urinary tract infections

Yarrow tincture can be applied externally to wounds to quickly stop bleeding or taken internally by putting a few drops of tincture in water and drinking it stop bleeding of the digestive system, such as a bleeding ulcer.

Topical Home Remedies the Easy Way

By Tess Pennington
Source: Ready Nutrition
August 2012

What will you do when tubes of triple antibiotic cream is no longer as close as the pharmacy department of the nearest Wal-Mart?

With a little study and preparation, you’ll make your own, of course. I have a child with numerous allergies and sensitivities, so even now, with the commercial salves readily available, I prefer the peace of mind that comes from making my own topical remedies so that I know every single ingredient contained within.

Salves and balms are very simple and can be made in a few easy steps.  They have two basic components – the base and the healing herbs.

Step 1: Create a Base for Your Salve Base

• Petroleum Jelly – I’m not a fan – if you are going to the effort of using natural non-chemical products, you might want to reconsider a base made from petroleum.
• Beeswax (not good for people with pollen allergies). Also added to salves to harden the oils more easily. For two cups of plant based oil, use 1 1/2 ounces of beeswax. For smaller quantities of salve: one ounce of oil will need about 1/2 teaspoon of beeswax to harden the salve.
• Lanolin
• Plant oil (grape seed oil, coconut oil, olive oil) – these are rich in vitamin E
• Honey (has the benefit of being a natural antibiotic)

Typically, for a larger quantity of salve, you will use around 1/2 to 1 cup of oil. Keep in mind that you want to use enough oil to cover 1 inch above the herbs while they are heated. Once you have chosen your base, then it is time to select your “herbal medicinal” ingredient or ingredients. (See below for a directory of some commonly found medicinal herbs.)

Step 2: Add the Healing Herbs or Essential Oils

If you have essential oils available you can skip the step for extracting the medicinal qualities from the herbs. Otherwise, use this process to extract the healing properties of the herbs.

1. On a double broiler, stir the 1 cup of plant-based oil and herb or herbs on low heat for one to two hours, stirring often. Ensure the oil is covering the herb blend. The longer you cook the herbs in the oil, the stronger your mixture will be.
2. Alternatively, use your crockpot on a low setting to extract the medicinal qualities from the herbs.  In the crock pot the process takes 3-5 hours but the mixture does not have to be tended and stirred.  It takes longer to extract the healing qualities from roots than from leaves.
3. Using cheese cloth or an extremely fine mesh colander, strain the herbs from the oil. Place the oil back into the top of the double boiler and add beeswax to harden the salve. Stir until completely melted.
4. Check to see if the balm has hardened sufficiently by dipping out a small amount in a spoon and allowing it to cool. If it is still runny, you need to add more beeswax.
5. Pour the mixture into a sterile container and add essential oils or vitamin E oil (if desired), stirring well.  Store in a cool dry place.
6. Always test a skin patch before wide use, and then, if there is no reaction, most salves can be used as needed several times per day.

Using the directions provided above many different salves can be created. Try some of the following combinations or refer to the 30 Most Popular Herbs for Natural Medicine for more examples of herbs that can be used medicinally.

• Aloe Vera and Vitamin E – great for burns and sunburns
• Calendula and Comfrey – soothing for rashes, burns and minor irritation
• Aloe Vera and Vitamin E – great for burns and sunburns
• Goldenseal, Comfrey and Echinacea – antibacterial
• Black Walnut, Burdock, Echinacea and Tea Tree Oil – fungal infections
• Eucalyptus oil and Camphor oil – Chest rub (like homemade Vick’s)
• Arnica Flower – sprains, sore muscles and bruises
• Tea tree oil and Lavender oil – antibiotic
• Chamomile and comfrey – soothing for rashes and insect bites
• White willow bark – mild analgesic

One day you may be looking to nature for your pharmaceuticals.  As well, consider planting the herbs (many of these are perennial) and/or locating places in your area where they grow wild. Do some research – find out what bounty nature provides in your locale and find out how the items can be used in your natural medicine cabinet.

 

For more homemade salve recipes, click here.

 

Author: Tess Pennington
Web Site: http://www.ReadyNutrition.com/
Date: August 3rd, 2012

Related Categories: Featured, Homesteading, Medical Emergencies, Natural Alternatives, Recipes

Edible Wild Plants – Sassafras

Source: Sensible Survival

DISCLAIMER:  Don’t believe anything I or any body else tells you about edible wild plants.  Don’t eat edible wild plants based on what you see in a book or on the inter-net.  Get a qualified instructor to show you the plants, and don’t eat them until the instructor shows you how to prepare them, and then eats them him or herself.  Be aware that you may be allergic to a plant that someone else can eat without harm.  Be sure that any plants that you gather have not been sprayed with pesticides or herbicides.

In the “old days” it was common practice for pioneer families to imbibe a spring tonic.  This ritual was part medicinal and part psychological.  It was medicinal in that the tonic in question usually had some medicinal benefit, either real or imagined; and it was psychological in that it was an acknowledgment that the natural world was renewing itself and man, by the act of taking this purifying herb, was to be part of this renewal.  In the South, one of the most common spring tonics was Sassafras tea.

The Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) is a fairly small tree, sometimes up to 40′ tall, which grows throughout the Eastern United States.  The easiest way to identify the Sassafras is by its leaves.  You will find that the Sassafras has three distinctly different shaped leaves on the same tree.  Some of the leaves are oval shaped, some of the leaves are mitten shaped, and some of the leaves are three lobed.  All of the leaves have smooth edges, and are shiny on the upper surface.  Pictured below: The three different shaped leaves found on the sassafras tree

 

If you have any doubts about whether you have correctly identified a Sassafras, all you have to do is dig up a small root and smell of it.  Sassafras root smells exactly like rootbeer.

To make Sassafras tea, dig up several small roots and wash the dirt from them.  Bring a pot of water to a boil and throw the roots into the boiling water.  Let the roots boil for a few minutes until the water begins to turn a deep red.  Remove water from heat and let the tea steep.  Serve hot or cold.  Add honey or sugar if you like.  Native Americans added maple sugar.

Old timers referred to Sassafras tea as a blood thinner.  They said that it helped a person tolerate the coming summer heat better.  Modern science tells us that Sassafras contains a mild narcoleptic, a drug that induces drowsiness.  The Food and Drug Administration also warns us that Sassafras can cause cancer if given in large doses to laboratory rats over extended periods of time (so don’t give your pet rat a washtub full of Sassafras tea every day).

Apparently mosquitoes do not like the smell of Sassafras.  Take some of the tea and rub it on exposed areas of your skin to repel these pesky little critters.

Yet another use of Sassafras is as a thickener in stews.  You may remember the Hank Williams song about “Jambalya, crawfish pie, and filet gumbo.”  Well, filet is the substance used to thicken gumbo, and filet is made from dried and powdered Sassafras leaves.  If you make your own filet be careful to remove the sharp stems and veins after the leaves have been crushed.  These can cause major stomach problems.  Also, be sure and don’t give your pet rat too much gumbo.

I have read that Sassafras can be used to make a fire-bow-drill, but I have had no success with this.  The wood seems to be too hard.  I have intended to try and dig up a large Sassafras root, let it dry for six months and see if that wouldn’t make a usable fire-bow-drill.  The root of the Cottonwood is the only part of that tree that I have ever been able to start a fire-bow fire with, and I was thinking that the same may hold true for the Sassafras, but I haven’t got around to trying it yet.  Maybe you’ll try it first and let me know.

8 Ways Your Phone Doubles as a Wilderness Survival Tool

Source: Mashable.com

No one can predict when they’ll be in a survival situation, but it’s never too late to be prepared. When you’re lost in the middle of nowhere with limited resources, everything you have on your person becomes important — including your smartphone.

We’ve combed through outdoorsy smartphone apps to find the ones that would be most appropriate for a survival situation where internet connections and phone signals are nonexistent.

1. Flashlight

First, there’s the trusty flashlight. The aptly named Flashlight (download for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad) and Brightest Flashlight (download for Android) are simple apps that use your phone’s tiny LED flash to illuminate as well as any small modern flashlight you’ll find in the camping aisle of your favorite retail store.

We chose these two apps for their simplicity and ease of use in a situation where getting light is more important than any unnecessary extras that are included in other light-up apps.

2. Map

Your map is the ultimate tool for making it out of a lost situation, and app stores are swimming with choices. For the sake of this article, we’re going to take a look at two of our favorite apps that can be used completely offline. TomTom USA and Canada (download for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad) and Navigon (download for Android or Navigon North America for iPhone and iPad) both use preloaded maps and your phone’s GPS to track your current location. You can also set a path to track your movement, so you don’t have to worry about walking around in circles.

3. Compass

An essential partner for your map is a compass, and thanks to a simple magnetometer within your phone (which doesn’t require an Internet connection), you can find your direction quite easily. Spyglass (download for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad) is an app that has more bells and whistles than you’d normally want to use, but they’re all helpful features. Smart Compass (download for the Android) is a slightly less feature-rich version for Android that gets the job done reliably and easily.

4. Wild Edibles Database

In addition to these real-world archetypes, there are also some very useful research apps that will help you survive in the wild. Foraging for wild edibles is an important first priority for survival, and the Wild Edibles app (download for iPhone and iPod Touch or Android) has everything you’ll need to help identify which plants are friends and which are foe.

5. Hunter’s Helper

If you’re more into the meaty side of the food chain, you have several options to help you trick and trap your next meal. Qwik Hunting Calls and Sounds (download for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad) contains 35 of the most popular calls and sounds from animals you may encounter in the wild. Critter Call (download for Android) is another great choice with 30 animal calls and sounds and the added ability to play up to five sounds simultaneously.

6. Animal Tracking Tool

A wide variety of animal tracking apps can help you better identify what types of animals are in your area. MyNature Animal Tracks (download for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad or Android) is the most comprehensive tracking app out there, with databases for front and hind animal feet, scat identification, gait patterns, animal sounds, range maps and much more.

7. Fisher’s Friend

If you’re near a large body of water, fishing is also a viable choice for survival. MyNature Fishing Knots (download for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad or Android) is an invaluable resource for tying the 13 most common knots used in modern fishing. The app features illustrations, detailed instructions, and even animated videos to make sure you won’t have to worry about the one that got away.

8. First-Aid Resource

A large part of survival involves more than just food and navigation. Safety and first aid is essential to making it out alive, and First Aid (download for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad and Android), an app from the American Red Cross, walks you through any injury or accident. With comprehensive step-by-step instructions, videos and preventive safety tips, this app is full of the expert advice you’ll need.

Keeping Your Phone Charged

Now, you may be looking over this list and wondering how on earth your smartphone’s battery could possibly keep up with all of these apps. Luckily, there are a few products that will recharge your battery — but with a twist.

Vodafone Booster Brolly

The Vodafone Booster Brolly might look and feel like a normal umbrella, but it’s actually a solar charger and signal booster in one.

It uses an antenna and low-power signal repeater to connect phones to its networks, with the added bonus of boosting the signals of all phones around the device. Solar cells are literally sewn into the umbrella material, allowing the product to be both lightweight and sturdy. Unfortunately, the Vodafone Booster Brolly isn’t available for purchase just yet, but don’t fret! There’s another option on the current market that we absolutely love: the BioLite Campstove.

Campfire Charger

The $129 BioLite Campstove is a lightweight gadget that allows you to charge your USB devices by burning wood. Cook up your soup or boil your tea while charging your smartphone’s battery, all through the use of renewable biomass like twigs or pine cones. In a wilderness survival situation, this stove would prove more reliable than solar, since it can be used day or night.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, gaspr13

Home Remedies for Poison Ivy (Including Plain Hot Water?)

Source: The Survival Doctor

Poison ivy, with its “leaves of three.”

by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

Lately, several desperate-sounding readers have asked about home remedies for poison ivy. I feel sorry for them. Poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac—whichever grows in your neck of the woods—can cause some of the worst itching known to mankind. And it can last as long as a couple of weeks.

And all you who brag you can wallow in the stuff without as much as a scratch: Your day may be coming. As with other allergies, you can not be allergic all your life and, wham, one day you feel the itch and see the blisters. After that, you’ve become one of the chosen—allergic for life.

There’s no vaccine and no surefire cure for rashes from poison ivy and the like. But here are some things you can do.

 

1. Know what the poison plant looks like and avoid it.
If you know you’re allergic, first thing is you better dang-well know what the plant looks like and stay away from it. Leaves of three, let them be.

I know, I know. Not all leaves of three are poison ivy, oak, or sumac. But, if you’re like me and not really an expert in plant identification, I’d advise not taking a chance. Even vines and stems without the leaves can cause the rash, so unless I’m sure, I’m staying away from vines also.

A flowering spotted jewelweed. This plant is a natural home remedy for poison ivy.

2. Look out for jewelweed too.
If you do get into poison ivy, oak or sumac, find some jewelweed. Grab a bunch, crush it up, stems and all, and smear it on your skin. Apparently jewelweed likes growing in some of the same places the three-leaf stuff likes—boggy, wet bottomland. Know what it looks like. No, I mean really know. I’d hate to have you smearing a bunch of poison ivy all over you.

3. If you wash the oil off soon enough, you might not get the rash.
The oil that causes the rash is called urishiol. A brush against a leaf, a vine, whatever, and it’s on you. Sometimes I think it hops on some people who even dare venture nearby. I know it can get in smoke because I’ve see some bad cases of poor souls who inadvertently burned some with other brush.

The sooner you can wash it off the better—hopefully within fifteen minutes. Maximum is probably about four hours. Use soap and water, or rubbing alcohol. Some people swear by Tecnu products for poison ivy/oak/sumac, such as Oak-N-Ivy. Jewelweed soap can be super too.

Don’t forget to wash your clothes, and your dog. But, a word of advice about the latter: Be sure to bathe your furry pal with gloves so you don’t the poison ivy back on you. You’ll probably want to jump back in the shower after you’re done, just in case.

Where to Find the Poison-Ivy Remedies

The links below are for your information. I’m not vouching for the companies, and I don’t make any money if you buy from them.

Here’s where you can get the pharmaceutical products:

• You can find some Tecnu products at the Tec Labs store.
• Oak-N-Ivy is available in various places, including REI, or you can order it from your choice of companies.
• Pharmacies sell hydrocortisone cream, calamine lotion and oral antihistamines (Benadryl) over-the-counter.

You can buy or make these poison-ivy remedies:

• Jewelweed soap: Hard to find. You can order it from the Alternative Nature Herbal Online Store.
• Witch-hazel astringent: Widely available at pharmacies.
• Quercetin drops: Hard to find. I’m not positive you can make it, but it does come from onions. You can order the drops from Source Naturals.
• Oatmeal baths: Widely available, including at Walmart.

Home Remedies to Treat the Rash and Itching

The rash is normally red and raised, with blisters. It usually occurs in the spots where you’ve come in contact with the plant. I say usually because some rashes start that way and seem to spread to other parts of your body. That’s rare, and it’s not the open blisters or soap you use. Blisters don’t spread the rash. Rather, it’s a more severe, systemic allergic reaction you’re having. The treatments are the same.

For the rash and itching, you can try more jewelweed soap and maybe some witch–hazel astringent. Quercetin drops have anti-inflammatory effects and can be taken orally and rubbed on the rash. Cool baths, cool compresses, and oatmeal baths can help the itching.

Here’s one you may not know: If none of the other is working and the itching is driving you crazy, try getting in the shower with the water as hot as you can stand it. (Obviously don’t burn your skin.) Apparently this depletes your body’s supply of itch-causing histamines and can give you relief for a few hours.

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Conventional At-Home Treatments

Hydrocortisone cream may help. The strongest you can get over-the-counter is one percent. Calamine lotion is an option. Don’t get the Caladryl since it can cause its own allergic reaction. Oral antihistamines like diphenhydramine (Benadryl) ease the itching but can make you drowsy (sometimes a good thing.)

Doctor Treatments

A shot or course of oral steroids, or both, may help—even shorten the course of the rash. (No matter what, you’re likely in for a few days to a couple of weeks of the misery.) You might also get a stronger steroid cream from the doctor.

If you run fever or there’s pus in some blisters, or you’re having any other signs of infection, get to the doctor. If that’s not possible, start on antibiotics if you have them.

What Home Remedy Works for You?

There are probably about as many home remedies as there are people with poison ivy. Some work for some; nothing works for everyone. Trial and error is the name of this game.

So, please help all our readers and do tell. What’s your favorite home remedy?

And while you’re at it, please share your worst horror stories regarding those pretty green leaves.

Poison ivy photo by Jan Miller, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Jewelweed photo by Dr. Thomas G. Barnes, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Lambs Quarter: A great edible plant

Source: Preparedness Advice

Lambs Quarters (pigweed, goosefoot, wild spinach) is seen by most people as a common weed.  They don’t realize that it is a tasty and nutritious green vegetable that can be enjoyed, free for the picking.

Lambs quarter, is sometimes referred to as goosefoot because of the shape of its leaves.  Like any edible wild plant don’t eat it unless you are positive of its identification.  Be sure it has not been exposed to chemical sprays or pollution, especially if it is alongside the road.

The leaves and stems are edible and delicious. They have a flavor similar to spinach or chard.  If you enjoy leafy greens such as kale, collards, and spinach you will like lambs quarter.

The easiest way to cook lambs quarter is to simply steam the leaves and stems in a small amount of water until tender.  The greens cook quickly and turn a dark green color as they shrink down during cooking.  The young leaves and smaller stems are good eaten raw in salads.

Michael Pollan who wrote “In Defense of Food.” advocates calls lambs quarters and purslane “two of the most nutritious plants in the world”.

Lambs quarter is high in Vitamins A and C, riboflavin, niacin, calcium, manganese, potassium and iron. The crushed fresh roots are a mild soap substitute.

The plants can grow as tall as three and a half feet.  The leaves alternate and are often mealy or powdery on the underside. Leaves are wedge shaped at the base, and pointed at the tip with toothed edges.  The flowers are arranged in spikes or small dense clusters.

This is a very common plant and well worth your time to investigate.  There are look alike plants that are similar in appearance that can be harmful.  Be sure o you know what it is before you eat it.

Howard