It seemed as if no matter what I went for as a kid to the doctor, I was given an antibiotic. It happened to so many people so often that it changed the way a whole generation or maybe more, looked at the medication. When the time came to raise our own family, when they would say stuff like: we looked at the doctor cross eyed.
“This is a virus. It just needs to run its course.”
Forced to take home the sick child and treat their fever, we started to understand that the golden key in the medicine cabinet was not kept by the physicians. It turns out that when it comes to preventive care, and even recovery, we have as much influence as the doctor. Sometimes, we even have more strength!
Via a mixture of digging out forgotten knowledge and revolutionary raw material availability, people have started to store their own cabinets of medication. Also simple to buy OTC meds are replaced by better natural pain relief methods, infection and recovery in general. You may think that this kind of research belongs in a laboratory, but you would be wrong. Actually, we will go through some medications that you will know how to make at home.
You’ll learn the basics of making your own medicines at home, from Propolis to Poultice.
Tools Of The Trade
Capsules
Many homemade medicines can be produced and made in capsule form for internal use. These capsules are readily available and they are great ways of transporting things like essential oils.
Mason Jars
You are going to need a vessel for your concoctions, decoctions, tinctures and the like. Syrups and ciders all store very well in mason jars.
Bandages
A poultice will always benefit from a bandage covering it. Have plenty bandages on hand; so you can keep your homemade medicines in place.
Mortar and Pestles
The processing of plant material requires a good mortar and pestle. This is also a method that requires no electricity, which will help you out no matter how bad things get.
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Propolis
Propolis is the “glue” that bees use to close holes inside the hive. It is a combination of saliva, beeswax and the bees extracted botanical ingredients. Propolis has incredible health benefits and appears to have just about every ‘anti’ property you can imagine; from antimicrobial to anti-inflammatory.
Propolis may be bought, it is most widely found in tincture form. This tincture can be applied to lard in a ratio of 1 to 15 grams of lard and a little beeswax, to make a perfect ointment for outdoor use.
Triple Antibiotic Ointment
The healing oils and vitamin E in this natural version of Neosporin are going to give you all the benefits of a TAO, but without the antibiotics and the unnecessary ingredients.
If it comes to a SHTF situation, infection of wounds would be a major concern.
You need to have the ability to not only to cover the burn, but also to apply a soothing ointment that will encourage quicker recovery.
Elderberry Syrup
These little berries have the potential to do many things when reduced to a syrup.
They improve immunity, assist with flu recovery, and the nasal passages have also been shown to minimize swelling. Elderberry is no snake oil, so you can keep the syrup around to deal with all the winter ailments in your household.
- 1/2 cup dried or 1 cup fresh elderberries
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup honey
This very simple recipe involves just mixing the ingredients together, getting them to a simmer, reducing the mixture to half and then cooling it up. When the mixture is completely cool, it is ready to use. You should add to your syrup stuffs like turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, and other spices.
A homemade batch ought to last the whole winter season.
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Willow Pain Reliever Fever Reducer
It is a legal pain reliever and fever reducer to contain the active ingredient of aspirin-salicylic acid-willow bark.
Not only is the salicylic acid in there, its also pretty easy to get it out. Willow bark should certainly be a means of pain relief that you can create at home.
- The bark from younger branches will have more salicylic acid than bark from the trunk.
- Start by stripping some bark off these small branches.
- Gather yourself a nice bundle of bark that is about 3 inches in diameter when gathered together, loosely packed.
- The best practice is to let the bark dry out a bit. If you need the medicine now you can make it immediately, but it will produce more if it’s allowed to dry out.
- Add 1 tablespoon of bark for every 1 cup of water.
- Add the bark to boiling water and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Allow cooling and drink with some food as the acid can be a stomach irritant
Fire Cider
Fire cider is a strong mixture of raw apple cider, honey, lemon, chili, and a bunch of onion-like mean roots, garlic, horseradish, and perhaps even some turmeric for good measure.
For issues like colds, it can be a serious treatment, cough, and flu recovery.
The best thing to do is try to adapt a recipe to your taste. Many people are taking it as raw shots, some are drinking it as tea or foundation tea, and some are even marinating food in it! It’s a little potent concoction.
Charcoal Poultice
Highly absorbent Charcoal. There is a reason why the fine activated charcoal is used in water filters of high quality. Charcoal ‘s beauty is that it can be manually processed and pulverized, even in austere environments. What a charcoal poultice provides is an alternative for packing a wound with something which will kill any bacteria or infection.
The charcoal poultice can also be mixed with other easily discoverable wild medicines such as common plantain. It is another perfect ingredient in the poultice to treat wounds.
Combine them at a ration of about 4 to 1 in both a mortar and pestle, charcoal to plantain, and pound the mix up. Cover with the mix over the wound and add a clean bandage.
Related: 10 Medical Home Emergencies and How to Treat Them
Immune Boosting Tea
While it’s hard to find an immune enhancing drug on the market to help boost immunity you can buy things like Emergen C or Airborne. But, you’re probably a short distance from the plants you need to make a quick immune boosting tea.
Vitamin C is king when it comes to immune system. We used to believe that oranges were the holy grail of natural vitamin C. The fact is that a single orange contains only about 70 mg of vitamin C. You want to take about 1,000 mg a day to get the most out of this vitamin! More so when you’re sick.
Pine needle tea is one better source. For this tea, a variety of pines may be used and you only need to pick the youngest needles, wash them thoroughly, then boil 1 tsp in a cup of water for 20 minutes if the needles are chopped. Strain and you’re ready to drink.
Unlike an orange, a cup of this pine needle tea contains almost 350 mg of vitamin C and can be taken many times a day.
Thanks to the oceans of science at our fingertips and the unprecedented access we have today to resources, healing medicine is not just for physicians any more. As you can see, you can treat a whole host of issues with just 7 simple medicines.
I just encourage you to make one. Take and make one of those natural medicines out of this article, use it and repeat it. Be sure to collect the trading tools so you have the stuff you need.
Everything is easier when you have the right tools. You’ll have dried willow bark cabinets and elderberry syrup bottles hanging around the house before long. It could even make you feel like a witch or a warlock!
