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Katherine Smith, a local from Pinebluff, is an Alaskan greenhorn and accidental poet. She’s currently working in Chugach National Forest, living to make life that is art. THROUGH THE MUSCADINE continued THROUGH THE MUSCADINE continued Wild Medicine by Katherine Smith Dandelion, that insolent weed with its shovel-length tap root and greedy, toothed leaves, made me an herbalist. For three years I have fought and overmedicated chronic, oftentimes monthly, urinary tract infections. The first landed me in the hospital for a week, and each subsequent infection escalated from mild to an emergency room trip in a few hours. I quit coffee, drank a gallon of water a day, limited sugar and lactose, and still the infections persisted, with antibiotics close behind. This year, I expanded my preventive measures to include herbs, specifically dandelion root, raw cranberries, and fir cone essential oil, all notorious for toning and nourishing the kidneys. This year, I’ve experienced a single infection, treated it with higher doses of my choice herbs, and eradicating it in less than a day. Herbal medicine uses the whole plant with its natural balancing agents to nourish the whole body and fortify the immune system. Allopathic medicine separates and enhances a desired part of a plant, devastating many unpleasant symptoms but rarely addressing the root cause, all the while depleting the body’s innate immunity. We would be wise to adopt the 3,000-year-old method of Asclepius of Thessaly, forefather of ancient medicine. “First the word. Then the plant. Lastly the knife.” The knife of the pharmaceutical is a powerful and effective one, perhaps too effective. Homeopathic medicine and exercise is insufficient for preventing or curing some diseases, but herbs can always be used in harmony with drugs, strengthening and nourishing what they deplete. Dandelion is used world-wide for its preventative and remedial qualities, specifically as kidney and liver tonic. Make an infusion by pouring boiling water over the leaves and flowers and sealing in a mason jar overnight. Or make a decoction by boiling water and adding the fresh or dried root, covering and simmering for 20 minutes. Plantain is the “white man’s footprint” according to Native Americans, because it seems to grow every where he steps. Plantain, like poison ivy, consumes the vacuum created in disturbed soil. Young plantain leaves taste like swiss chard and can be eaten raw, as well as crushed for topical treatment of sunburn, stings, bites and blisters. Heat plantain leaves and apply them to sore and swollen places. Nettle, with its needle hairs underside its leaves, is one of the highest sources of digestible iron in the plant world. As all it takes for palatability is a minute in two changes of boiling water, I ate my share of nettle soup in Ireland and drank dozens of cups of the tea. Medicinally it is used for anemia, menstrual difficulties and allergies. Mint is often found growing wild. I grow a couple varieties in a large pot outside, as it grows easily and spreads relentlessly. Spearmint, peppermint and catnip are excellent for upset stomachs, to improve digestion or soothe colds and fever. Skullcap, a member of the mint family, is one of the best treatments for headaches and nervous stress. Motherwort, lovingly and aptly named medicine in the mint family, eases tension, anxiety and cramps in new and expecting mothers. Garlic, wild or otherwise, is my favorite antifungal, anti-viral, antibiotic medicine. A clove eaten daily is the “poor man’s penicillin,” except lucky for we poor, we never develop resistance to it. Valerian is considered the primary herb to relieve nervous stress and tension. I use it for insomnia and anxiety. It is easily cultivated in the garden, grows well and tastes lovely with chamomile. Stray out of your neighborhood and into the woods, and you’ll find some wild, powerful gems for foraging. The first, of which I am most jealous, is elderberry. North Carolina is home to American elderberry, Sambucus canadensis, and black elderberry, Sambucus nigra, whereas Alaska bears Sambucus racemose. Here, the berries are red and their seeds toxic, but in North Carolina, the berries are blue or black, edible, nutritious, and lovely as syrup or wine. The flowers of all varieties are edible and “like eating lace,” according to master herbalist Rosemary Gladstar. Flowers are used for treating colds, flus and headaches. Enjoy your elderflower medicine in cordial or syrup form or dip the whole flower cluster into pancake batter for a delicious treat. Cramp bark, (Viburnum opulus) grows prolifically in Alaska and its relative, Black haw (Viburnum prunifolium), grows well in North Carolina. The variations of these plants’ chemical makeup are so slight that they are used interchangeably by herbalists. Both are unparalleled uterine antispasmodics, from soothing painful menstrual cramps to preventing miscarriage. Dig the root of Black haw in fall, shave the inner bark and use as a tincture or decoction. Willow and its over 300 species are tenacious trees that grow everywhere in North America. The active ingredient in willow bark is salicin, the raw material used to make acetylsalicylic acid in aspirin. Salicin is present in every willow species, though in varying amounts. Chew on a willow branch for pain relief, or use the inner bark, fresh or dry, for teas or tinctures. Be sure to harvest any plant away from pollution or anywhere that may be sprayed with pesticides or fertilizers. Harvesting local weeds and growing a kitchen garden is the most cost-effective, efficient, and empowering way to make medicine. When I extract spruce tips in apple cider vinegar, bottle high bush cranberries, or dehydrate peels of devil’s club cambium, I am partaking of the plant’s wildness, its harmony with its ecology, and its ancestry from seed to element-spread THROUGH THE MUSCADINE con't. next column THROUGH THE MUSCADINE con't. next column seed. When I make a tea with a sprig of lemon balm growing on my porch steps or a salve with the cayenne growing in my greenhouse, I am cultivating and recreating that wildness. This cocreation gives me place and purpose in the earth and a daily thanksgiving for the small miracles growing everywhere, even in my backyard. �� Above: Inner Cramp Bark for Tea. Below: Shaving Inner Devil's Club Bark. "I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth." ~ God. No. 127 The Pinehurst Gazette, Inc. p.33


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