Herbal Medicines

A guest post by Beladonna.

There will always be medical emergencies that can be treated by having ability in, and knowledge of, first aid; this is what usually keeps the patient safe until the professionals arrive, but if and when the SHTF, there probably wont be any professionals to attend, even if there are communications will be difficult to say the least. First aid can be complimented by having a rudimentary understanding of how the body works and a little insight into how pain relief and healing of the body can be achieved. Of course providing heart or brain surgery is beyond the scope of herbal medicines, but a great deal can be done to heal and alleviate most common ailments and accidents.

There are many ways of using herbs to make medicines; however, taking into consideration the need to plan ahead, the shelf life of whatever medicines may be required must be a consideration. Most ways of making herbal medicines include isolating the constituents of said herb to release its potency to heal; its relatively easy to take a walk, pick the herb required, bring it home and either make an infusion or a decoction using boiling water and drink it three times a day, but an infusion or decoction doesn’t keep well; to be effective a herbal medicine made in this way is best made and drunk immediately.

One way of removing the constituents of herbs that has a virtually unlimited shelf life is to make tinctures using as high a percentage of alcohol as is possible to find. The best alcohol for making tinctures is vodka and it’s available to buy at around 80 to 100%, although it isn’t cheap a little goes a long way providing somebody doesn’t drink it!! Herbs extracted using alcohol provide a tincture that will last as long as you need, providing it’s stored in a dark coloured container and is kept in a relatively dark, cool place.

Tinctures can also be made using vinegar or glycerine but aren’t as good at preserving or extraction as is alcohol.

It goes without saying that 80% vodka may be in short supply, the key here is thinking and planning ahead.

Once tinctures are made and stored they can be the base of many medicines including ointments, salves, rubs, oral medicines etc, and the shelf life makes it ideal for storing away for when it’s needed. Information on how to make tinctures is offered further down this essay.

Some herbs grow wild in Britain; we cut some down when mowing the grass and pull some up for weeds, without knowing what they really can be used for. Other herbs originate from countries other than Britain and can only cultivated by sowing seed; some of these are well worth cultivating.

It’s worth thinking about which herbs might be useful and using a good wildflower book to source where they grow, I have my own list and either wild craft them or grow them from seed, most herbs only need to be sown once and they come up year after year. Although its doubtful that growing vegetables in the garden will mean we have fresh vegetables and fruit to eat, herbs that look like wild flowers will probably be ignored when the powers that be, or those that would want to be, come looking for food to eat. They may well stand on or trample a few but herbs are very resilient and will come back again and again once they have established themselves.

How to make a tincture
Gather the fresh herb and pick through it removing anything that crawls or isn’t herb (don’t wash it), chop it up roughly (not too fine, around 1” long is best)
Put the herb in a glass jar with a screw top lid and squash the herb down gently.
Add enough vodka to cover the herb material and put the lid on tight.
Leave the jar in a warm place for around 2 weeks shaking the jar every day.
After 2 weeks strain the contents of the jar through muslin cloth and squeeze the cloth until you have removed all the liquid.
Put the liquid (tincture) into dark coloured bottle or bottles and keep it in a cool dark place. It will last literally for years, even after opening as long as the lid is screwed back on tightly.
The material that’s left in the muslin square makes great compost, and the muslin square can be washed and used again.

If you cant find the time to make your own tinctures they are readily available to buy, although it is more expensive to buy them off the shelf. An online source I would recommend is Baldwins although if you are buying in bulk there are other sources I have that are cheaper. It may be worth getting together and buying in bulk to share if anyone is interested.

Another ingredient that’s useful to have ready made is macerated oils, which again can be the basis for medicines, especially ointments and rubs. These are really easy to make.

How to make macerated oil
Almond oil is best, although you can use any oil you have – you can buy almond oil in most supermarkets cheaper than anywhere else.
The herb you need – for instance St Johns Wort is a flower you can find growing wild in Britain and is used extensively as a basis for healing ointments. Gather the flowers only, and pack a jam jar or similar with the flowers.
Pour over the Almond oil until the flowers are covered; leave it on a sunny window sill for two to three weeks shaking it at least once a day and twice if you can manage it.
At the end of the two to three weeks pass the oil through a muslin square and bottle the oil, it will keep for years if kept in a dark, cool place.
St. Johns Wort oil makes an excellent rub on its own for tired muscles and sprains, just the thing for when the hunters come home.

A box or container of medicinal herbs may be a little time consuming to get together, but it will certainly be worth the effort. The list below contains items that are worth making up, which last indefinitely and can be easily put together ready to produce effective medicines for first aid in case of accident and treatment of simple ailments and illnesses.

Some Essential Oils are included on the list, not for making a room smell pretty, but for using in medicines as required.

Please note that this is my list, you might want to add to it or remove some things and it’s a matter of finding what each herb does and compiling your own list of possible needs. For instance, I use a mixture of Valerian, Hops and Passion Flower if I can’t sleep, someone else might prefer adding lavender and leaving out Valerian as Valerian can give a headache if used too much.

Oils: (usually called ‘macerated oils’)

• St. Johns Wort oil
• Calendula oil
• Olive oil

Tinctures:

• Wild Indigo
• Liquorice
• White Horehound
• Valerian
• Echinacea

Essential Oils:

• Pine
• Eucalyptus
• Benzoin (preservative)
• Bergamot
• Myrrh
• Lavender
• Thyme

Bottle of Witchhazel – cheaper to buy than to source from the wild.

Petroleum Jelly
Lanolin is nice although it can be substituted for any fat, including animal fat, which can be sourced from any animal you may bring in to eat.

Beeswax is a necessity, if you buy in bulk it will last for a long, long time. Never ever use paraffin wax for healing, it’s not the same and could do more harm than good.
Honey is a healing substance all on its own, when mixed with lemon it’s a good sore throat remedy, but honey is much more than this, well worth stockpiling.

As above, lemons also have constituents that have much to recommend them, its worth buying lemon juice in bottles, they will keep in a dark cool place for quite a while.

Brown bottles and jars for storing medicines
Muslin – can be bought from most haberdasheries, I buy mine from the local dress material shop

I have given the name the herbs are best known by as well as the Latin names, it’s important that when buying seed or plant, or wild crafting herbs what you have is exactly what you need. For instance, when buying the herb Calendula, it’s also known as Marigold; there are various flowers in the garden centre with the name Marigold, but only the one with the name Calendula officinalis can be used for herbal medicines; the rest can do more harm than good. You can’t beat buying a good wild flower book for wild crafting, and if buying seed make sure you check the Latin name is correct. The best book I have found is The Wild Flower Key, I never ever go wild crafting for herbs without this little book in my pocket.

Herbs I source by wild crafting (herbs available depend on where you live and what grows there) so can be gathered when needed or when in season and stored by drying are:

Herbs I grow by seed, not usually available in the wild in Britain, although this depends on where in the country you live:

Ginger has a vital use in medicines, it’s one of the best remedies for an upset stomach, its difficult to grow and to keep when fresh; the best way is to buy ginger ready preserved or make it yourself using fresh ginger root and sugar.

A last herb I wouldn’t be without is Aloe vera, the plants sit on the window sill looking very decorative, but within the lush leaves hides a gel that’s brilliant for sunburn or burns of any kind. It’s not native to Britain but it’s readily available in any garden centre, well worth keeping.

Its relatively easy to browse the internet to find what herb is recommended for what ailment, but looking towards a time when the internet wont be available, you cant beat a good book, The Holistic Herbal by David Hoffmann, is a myriad of information on herbs, how to use them and what to use them for.

Those who survive any kind of catastrophe, be it natural or man made will be the ones who have planned well and who are fit enough to remain standing.