Announcing: A Year's Worth of Herbs and Preparedness with the Independent Herbalist!

September is National Preparedness Month, sponsored by the CDC, so this month I am going to kick off a year's worth of posts on herbalism for emergency preparedness! Not only will I be presenting a wide range of topics and resources over the coming year, but I will also be blogging about my gardening adventures as I create an herbal garden focused on preparedness.

Why herbs for preparedness? Most guides on putting together emergency kits discuss what pharmaceuticals should be included, but little, if any, attention is given to one big problem: what happens when your supplies run out?

Being able to turn to herbs in such a scenario makes sense. Unlike pharmaceuticals, herbs are a renewable resource.  As long as they are being sustainably harvested, then running out shouldn't be an issue. Also, certain herbal preparations have a long shelf life that makes them better suited  for long term storage than pharmaceuticals: a properly prepared herbal extract can remain viable for ten years or more. Additionally, herbs are versatile, with a long historical record of use and safety.

Unlike having a selection of point-and-shoot pharmaceuticals at your disposal, however, herbs require more finesse when being applied in any given situation. Thankfully, the basic skillset associated with using herbs is simple and rewarding to master. Over the next several months, we will explore specific herbs and ways to prepare them, first aid topics, and gardening and foraging skills that would be useful in a preparedness setting.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy the upcoming articles for this year!

Stay tuned, the next post will be: Twelve Herbs Every Prepper Should Know  

Elder (Sambucus Canadensis)

Open elder blossoms. More plump and tightly packed than poisonous things.

 The last post I wrote was about spring's deadly beauty, Water Hemlock. I mentioned then that there are other plants blooming at the same time that look a lot like hemlock, but that were useful, health supporting botanicals. I am delighted to introduce you to one of them, Sambucus, better known as Elderberry. 

Elders blossom in stages. These buds haven't opened yet.

 The flowers of elder have a more graceful and less "fire cracker" in appearance than hemlock, and the leaf shape is also quite different. Technically, the leaf and bark of elder are poisonous, but rather than causing seizures and death they usually only cause vomiting or diarrhea. NOT that this is a good thing, but it explains the traditional uses for those parts of the plant for those purposes, (traditional healers used purging as an acceptable form of therapy in certain instances) and also gives you a good excuse to avoid using them. Hint, hint. Don't use them.

Elder old growth trunk and newer growth branches.

 This particular elder is pretty sturdy looking, and now that the brush has been cleared away from it and it can get more light it has been putting out a tangle of new growth over the last couple of years. It is probably Sambucus canadensis, which is a native plant so closely related to the European Sambucus nigra that they are interchangeable for most herbal purposes. Awesome, because most of our extant literature on Sambucus refers to S. nigra.

As I mentioned, the bark and leaves are no longer used internally, but the leaves can still be made into an excellent salve to promote healing of wounds and ulcers and to help clear bruising. The flowers have a traditional role in helping the body deal with fevers, especially when made as a tea with yarrow and mint, and to clear the lungs when there is a lot of inflammation and mucus. 

The berries are the most commonly used portion nowadays, especially during cold and flu season. Some studies indicated that they may help stimulate the immune system against viral challenges. Traditionally, they were used for their expectorant qualities, as a food, and to "build the blood", or increase iron levels, in anemia.

Perhaps the most interesting herbal uses for Elder, to me at least, is the record of its use for infants and children. A tea made from the flowers was given to infants in two types of cases: the first was if the newborn was having difficulty transitioning from the womb into the world. In other words, the baby, for whatever reason, was having difficulty getting all of its systems online- the kidneys and liver were stressed and couldn't cope with suddenly having to perform all of the necessary functions without the mother's help it had come to expect. Elderflower was also a valued remedy for seizures in children and infants. Considering Elder's affinity with fevers, it would make sense especially if they were febrile seizures- this was before modern drugs that can be routinely given to suppress dangerously high fever, and febrile seizures would have probably been more common.  That, however, is mostly speculation on my part. The old literature doesn't give any more information than just infantile seizures in general. Older children were given elderflower tea for chronic respiratory afflictions- things like asthma, and blocked hearing from mucus and fluid build up.

Besides the historic and traditional value, Elderflowers and berries are also just plain tasty. The flower buds can be made into pickles (who needs capers, fancypants?), the flowers are great for wine, "champagne" (a bubbly, lightly fermented soft drink), or syrup. The berries make lovely syrup, jelly, pie, or cordial, or even a fruity sort of gourmet ketchup. Just make sure the berries are fully ripe and dark blue or purple before you indulge- green or red ones will give you a bellyache! 

 

Elder trunk with honeysuckle vine and baby blackberry plants- trifecta of awesome!

Water Hemlock: Cicuta maculata

There are many beautiful herbs blooming this time of year. Honeysuckle, dog roses, black berries, sweet shrub and too many others to name. Queen Anne's lace, one of my personal favorites, is especially pretty right now, but did you know that it has a beautiful and deadly look alike?

I'm not exaggerating. Both plants are in the Apiaceae family, so they have quite the family resemblance to the unaccustomed eye. However, the root of one can kill you within fifteen minutes, while the other is a harmless (and edible!) "wild carrot." Oh, and throw Elder (Sambucus canadensis) into the fray as well. Our fatal beauty can be confused for Elder, also.  

So what is this plant, of such beauty and such deadliness? Meet Cicuta maculata, the Spotted Water Hemlock.

 Hemlock is a great example of why any responsible forager or herbalist will look at you like you are nuts if you tell us that you like to use your "instincts" and nibble on plants you know nothing about. "Surely, if it is bad for me, my body will tell me so! It will taste bad, or I will simply 'know' not to eat anymore," you so naively defend your position.  

No, you won't. And if you insist on doing it anyway, then you deserve the painful, horrible death that awaits you. Here's a no-punches pulled description by the CDC of a case of hemlock poisoning. For the record, most things won't kill you quite as dead quite as quickly as hemlock, but most things won't taste as nice doing it, either.

 
Because, that's the tricky thing about Hemlock. The smell of the leaves and roots are similar to parsnips, or anise. On the rare occasion that someone survives ingestion, they say that it wasn't bad at all. Livestock eat it without a second thought.

 Plants like Hemlock are why we try so hard to explain that 'natural' doesn't necessarily mean safe. They are the reason we always tell people to check three identification guides, and learn from a real live expert. Just in case. . . So please, be safe out there! Use good sense and several field guides, and find an experienced forager to show you the ropes.

Further reading:

Elderberry or Hemlock? A blog post at Eat the Weeds

USDA PLANTS database for Spotted Water Hemlock

USDA PLANTS database for Queen Anne's Lace