Herbs of Utnapisjtim: Arctium

Another good thread here. I studied burdock quite a bit and have still learned new things from this thread about burdock. S&F

There should be a master thread link created for all these threads so they can be accessed later from one main spot.

Survival doesn't have to mean tshtf. This knowledge can help survive in this world without the need for a doctor. I do know some of these things do interfere with medicines, either boosting or cancelling their effect.

Burdock root also contains caffeic acid. It is a chemical present in coffee also. It is in dandelion root. Caffeic acid is also in potatoes and carrots and rutabagas. Call it a root chemical basicly although some things have it that grow above ground. This chemical is an antidote to neutralize some of the aflotoxins of some bacteria and fungus....this takes away their weapons to hurt us. They then can live peacefully in our bodies. Always remember that if you continuously consume caffeic acid, these now beneficial microbes can't help us control other microbes in our bodies. We have a symbiotic relationship with all the microbes in our body(kingdom) We are the ruler of the kingdom and we have to be a fair ruler to the ones who live in our body. They will fight with us if we are and produce many chemicals we need to feel well. I don't fear the microbes, I need their armies in my body.

The part about inulin is of interest to me. I studied that but did not put two and two together. I have hypoglycemic episodes. If I eat or drink something sugary I get the shakes or hypoglycemic spins a couple of hours later. I guess someone put a fire hydrant valve on my pancreas. I found from the pharmacist I need to eat more proteins. If I can identify a large variety of foods, both natural and in our present food supply that have this, I can control it easier.

Like I said before, I haven't found a site that addresses growing these noxious weeds. I looked hard to find a place also. The main thing I found upon searches is how to kill these plants or else information on the benefit of them in the diet. I wanted to help all the dandelions, thistles, and burdock grow better....not exactly what most people think of as a normal desire. Hiding these medicinal properties of these pricky plants is the biggest conspiracy of all. It makes us more dependent on society.

reply to post by rickymouse


Thanks a lot for your insight, and yes, I will put together a master thread at some point indexing the threads in this series, as well as other herbal threads may be found elsewhere on the board. I just thought I'd wait until I have made about a dozen of them, thus including the 12 or so to include what I concider the most important herbs (to my knowledge that is) in the opening post.

Hopefully I can get help from a mod or two to add a link to all the threads I can no longer edit due to the four hour editing window being closed. And perhaps, if these threads continue to be as popular as now, the same moderators could hopefully make that Master thread a sticky.

rickymouse
Like I said before, I haven't found a site that addresses growing these noxious weeds.

I totally agree with what you wrote while I found this a bit amusing... Noxious weeds by definition don't need much to grow on soilwise as long as there is adequate water. Of the ones that you mentioned in your post burdock is probably better grown in a more deciduous setting, for the others even clay will do.

I've only actually researched about a dozen herbs well. I mostly research the common everyday spices we use and the chemical properties of foods and local plants that could be used as foods.

The burdock was purposely brought to this country by many settlers, knowing it was a sustainable emergency food source and they also knew of some of the medicinal benefits of these plants. I have read articles about this noxious weed being introduced into the Americas by seeds stuck to clothing, which may be partially true, but most is found on old farmsteads in patches. There was a patch behind the chicken coop on our farm when I grew up, and another on the far side of one of our fields. Another thing that people sometimes had growing in places was Jerusalem Artichokes. It was a very good foodsource that also did not need much care.

Consumerism does not want us to know that wild food can be abundant, so they create bad information about some of these plants. Look at the bull thistle, a hardy plant. They call it invasive yet it does possess a milder form of the chemistry as that as the milk thistle, or Holy thistle. I have this growing on my land and I respect it as a form of life that can help me someday. The Silimaron is addequate to produce an antidote if needed, but more would need to be consumed. The Pine needle tea from the White pine can help with the flu, it contains the active ingredient in Tamaflu. For free. This pine needle tea should not be taken by pregnant women though, even the Indians know that.

TatTvamAsi

rickymouse
Like I said before, I haven't found a site that addresses growing these noxious weeds.

I totally agree with what you wrote while I found this a bit amusing... Noxious weeds by definition don't need much to grow on soilwise as long as there is adequate water. Of the ones that you mentioned in your post burdock is probably better grown in a more deciduous setting, for the others even clay will do.

I am trying to get a big thick taproot on the Burdock, so I can use it as a veggy. They grow small and skinny when wild. It may be the type of burdock that is naturally here. I don't even know where the burdock originated from here, it may have come from a burr stuck to my clothes long ago. I do not remember it being around here when I built the house.

I had a rock fall apart and from that clay rock sprouted a pile of stinging nettle. How did all of those seeds get in that hard chunk of clay rock. I researched that and found that cultures all over the world long ago stored their seeds in these manmade clay rocks. Even meat and grains were preserved this way before they made clay pots to preserve their foods. Clay naturally kills most microbes because of the electrolytes in it. Depending on the clay, it can either enhance the minerals in the food or can make the food toxic if it contains poisonous minerals. I have no clue how to tell if clay has arsenic, lead, or mercury in it, so I will just not even try to recreate this ancient practice and consume the food.

Which part do you eat?

rickymouse
I had a rock fall apart and from that clay rock sprouted a pile of stinging nettle. How did all of those seeds get in that hard chunk of clay rock. I researched that and found that cultures all over the world long ago stored their seeds in these manmade clay rocks. Even meat and grains were preserved this way before they made clay pots to preserve their foods. Clay naturally kills most microbes because of the electrolytes in it. Depending on the clay, it can either enhance the minerals in the food or can make the food toxic if it contains poisonous minerals. I have no clue how to tell if clay has arsenic, lead, or mercury in it, so I will just not even try to recreate this ancient practice and consume the food.

Two of the greatest arcaeologic discoveries in Norway, the Oseberg and Gokstad ships were sealed in clay. They even found live seeds, cloth and of course wooden artifacts and the bodies of the princesses, quite well preserved.

Funny that you should mention it, for I was just reading the Breaking Alternate News thread about Chinese having found soft tissue inside aeons old T-Rex fossils. My initial thought was that these dinosaurs must have been trapped in quick clay since it would hermetically preserve the dragons. Most important thing about clay is that there is no or almost no oxygen coming through, and since oxygen etch down most materials (oxidise) over time, things locked in clay remain quite intact for quite a while. The old alchemists even believed all acids contained oxygen for this reason.

Didn't know that it was a common pre-freezer way of preserving food and seeds until you made me aware of it here. Thanks four your new-sense yet again.

rickymouse
There should be a master thread link created for all these threads so they can be accessed later from one main spot.

For now, you can use the list of threads in my profile for easy access to "The Herbs of Utnapisjtim"

==> www.abovetopsecret.com...

Cinrad
Which part do you eat?

The root. They sell fresh burdock root at the Coop sometimes here during the season. I don't get down there very often anymore so I haven't seen it there in the last two years. It sort of tastes like a really mild rutabaga or something. It's hard to explain the taste, it is not really like any commercial food.

reply to post by Cinrad


You can also eat the young leaves, young flower buds before they open (a bit like artichoke) and the stem after peeling. Prepare either raw or cooked in salted water much like you would use spinach.

Wow. IIRC, and I may not, since I heard this when I was wee, there's an old Appalachian folk tale that if you step on burdock at midnight during a full moon, when the stem pops back up (guess you can't step on it too hard...) it will point the way to your true love.

Pretty sure it was burdock.

Seems like a legit use.

reply to post by Utnapisjtim


I have never made my own Dandelion and Burdock...though I do make Ginger Beer on occasion, and regular beer. D & B is a traditional English drink and available, in varying qualities, off the shelf. Fentimans is by far the best brand though.

If you search it on line I am sure that there are plenty of recipes available. It is the leaves from the dandelion and root of the burdock that are commonly used I believed. Not sure if it has many health benefits, it would depend on the quanities used and the particular recipe, it is though delicious.

KilgoreTrout
reply to post by Utnapisjtim

 

I have never made my own Dandelion and Burdock...though I do make Ginger Beer on occasion, and regular beer. D & B is a traditional English drink and available, in varying qualities, off the shelf. Fentimans is by far the best brand though.

If you search it on line I am sure that there are plenty of recipes available. It is the leaves from the dandelion and root of the burdock that are commonly used I believed. Not sure if it has many health benefits, it would depend on the quanities used and the particular recipe, it is though delicious.

Interesting, gonna check out all the immigrant shops and see if they have any variants of different herbal drinks, roots, herbs etc. Haven't done that in years, I could probably find quite a few sorts.

A few years ago, I had a skin infection on my legs related to poor circulation and edema (swelling). A friend of mine brought me a jar of fresh burdock root juice (he juiced it himself), maybe 8 fluid ounces or so, and told me to drink it over the course of the day. I did.

I don't know whether it helped the skin infection for sure because I was also on antibiotics. But I had been experiencing hip and low back pain for a while, apparently from arthritis. That night when I got home after a long day of work, a long workout at the gym, and a long drive home, I got out of my car and realized I had no joint pain and moved like I was 30 years younger. It was as much a difference as night and day. I had not felt so pain-free in a long time.

I looked up the properties of burdock root and found it was listed as also being good for arthritis. It's not it's main use, but more of an additional property apparently.

In this case, the arthritis pain slowly returned after a couple days. I have tried taking burdock root capsules and extract since then, but never had the same effect. I suspect it is dose related. It takes between one and two pounds of burdock root to make as much juice as I drank in that one day, so that was a huge dose. I have even tried drinking about the same amount of burdock root juice over several days rather than all in one day, but also did not experience the same effect.

I am not sure whether the burdock root juice simply masked pain or whether it actually treated the cause in some way. I am also not sure whether it would have been safe and potentially curative if I had continued such a large dose longer term. It's a diuretic. I would love to hear if anyone has knowledge about this, as I would love to feel like that again!

reply to post by ikonoklast


You should try Oenothera biennis or 'Common evening primrose' for your arthritis. Article

TatTvamAsi
reply to post by ikonoklast

 

You should try Oenothera biennis or 'Common evening primrose' for your arthritis. Article

Also, garlic is said to have good effect on arthritis...
==> www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by TatTvamAsi


Thank you, I have not tried evening primrose before, I will have to look into that. Do you use just the oil, or other parts of the plant?

reply to post by Utnapisjtim


Thank you, yes, garlic does seem to help. I have been consuming a lot of garlic this winter as it has been a long hard one with many people around me ill with various bad flus and colds. It has definitely helped me avoid the many illnesses around me. It seems to have helped the arthritis too, though not as dramatically as the burdock root juice did that one time I mentioned.

reply to post by ikonoklast



Yes, it should be available as oil. It can in my knowledge be used both externally as well as internally. Probably cannot be made at home, since the oil is extracted from seed. However, the root is edible when cooked as are the leaves. Don't know if the other parts of the plant contain substances beneficial to your condition.

reply to post by ikonoklast


Thanks for sharing! I read the other post about the root-juice and your sudden quickening, sounds like a miracle really, and I'm sorry you haven't been able to replicate it successfully since then. Just for fun, they're not all that expensive, try replicating what I wrote in the OP of my garlic thread about rinsing and handling all those garlic cloves. It was before I learned how to peel them fast, so I used quite a bit of time with each boat, so rinse them carefully with full attention so your astral body focus plays along, I bet some of the chemicals in the onion will be absorbed into your body and bloodstream via the skin, and the fact that I was obviously cured in this manner makes me kind of curious, so try it and see if it works.

Make sure to drop me a line to tell me how it went if you DO try it Looking in retrospect back to my garlic moment, I always see myself with my hands full of rinsed cloves, as in as much as your hands can contain if you put both hands together. Sometimes I hold them under running water, other times not, but there is always some clear oily liquid running or dripping from my hands and the cloves, I can feel some kind of heat coming from them. I often study these retrospectagrams to draw more information from them, so to me-- focusing on positive things in life is vital, for my inner world can sometimes be quite overwhelming especially if fear is somehow involved. Good luck if you decide try it.

reply to post by TatTvamAsi


Thanks, I will have to give that a try.