Well, on Saturday we butchered Gustav. One harsh reality of farm or homestead life is, if you are a meat-eater, you end up butchering animals.Animals you have petted. Animals that made you smile as they romped around. Animals that you may have helped birth. Animals that you knew personally.
It's a lot different than buying meat at the supermarket.
The Girl took him from his pen and we had prepared a site out of the hearing and sight of the other goats. His mama, Gabby, bleated as her kid was removed from the pen and his twin, Gerte, bleated and ran around the pen trying to find a way to follow. Gustav was her favorite playmate.
After the slaughtering, the Girl came in crying. It was more than she expected.
But after a bit, she "soldiered up" and returned to the butchering table and helped cut the carcass up.
We have goat in our freezer now, in neatly wrapped packages. I plan to fix a Greek dinner this weekend with some of the meat.
***************************
While we are talking about "harsh realities", here's another one.
You like traveling and taking vacations?
Don't plan on it if you want to farm/homestead.! Look in the phone book...see any listings for cow sitters in there? Chicken sitters....goat sitters?
I didn't find any such listings, either!
Animals don't take days off. They still need to be fed, milked, watered, have their eggs gathered, etc.
Sure, you can ask a friend or relative to watch the farm while you are gone...but think about it.
Do they know how much to feed? Do they realize that the goats will sneak out the gate anytime they see it open? Do they know the places the hens hide their eggs? And many more details that you know that you can't possibly put down in notes.
You obviously can't go in the Spring when all the little ones are being born. The last couple of months when the mama's are pregnant can be a bit dicey, so their out. So, from March to May is basically a no-go.
High Summer is out...especially if you garden! Have to make sure it's watered and the bugs don't chew up your veggies. Have to keep a constant check on the livestock to make sure they have plenty of water and to make sure they haven't picked up any parasites.So, no trips in June, July or August.
Then you have Autumn. Well, that's harvest time for gardens, making sure you have enough hay and feed to get your livestock through the Winter, etc.Also, breeding some of your livestock. So there goes Septemeber, October and most of November.
Welcome Winter! Surely you can get away for a week or two to visit family or to warm up in a tropical climate then! Uhmmm...probably not...feeding livestock and making sure they are snug and warm in their barns and stalls is paramount.Also, planning next season takes a lot of time and energy! So, there goes December, January and February!
Then there are the day-to-day surprises that crop up to fill your time! Downed fences, roof leak on the barn, storms that come through and knock down a chicken coop, your tomatoes all ripening at once so you spend many a late night canning, etc.
I can assure you that cows don't know when your birthday is, goats don't care about Christmas and chickens never take Sundays off!
We always leave someone at home. If we go out to dinner, or a movie or do anything where several members of the family are going to be involved, someone always stays home.
It sucks, but that is the reality!
Showing posts with label homestead. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homestead. Show all posts
Monday, April 2, 2012
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Last Day, Last Night, Last Morning
So, I am moving. Today will be my last full day here, tonight my last full night and tomorrow morning---my last morning here.
Knowing that it will be my last is bittersweet.
I made many good friends here and I am leaving behind my 27 year old son and his dog (I think of her as also being *my* dog). My son has a job here and is planning on saving his money to move back east.
I am also leaving behind *stuff*.
Being the frugal pack rat that I am, that also hurts!
I have very limited room in the vehicle for my belongings. Clothes, tactical supplies, kitchen tools, sewing machine-- are ALL a must. BUT, I can only fit in about half my food storage.
So, today I call a friend and ask if they want my food storage. I know they'll say yes and most enthusiastically as they have kids and a good food storage of their own. If they cannot use what I leave behind, I am sure they can find someone who can!
A few people suggested I give my food storage to a food bank. I would, but I have a lot of wheat and such things that require a lot of prep and the proper tools---which, unless you already prep, you probably do not have!
My fella has food storage, so I know I won't be *wanting* when I get down to his place...or over to his place...it is 900 miles westward. I have my grain grinder and flour sifter (which I found out he has NEITHER!! Oh my goodness!), he has a good dehydrator and other kitchen tools. Not as many kitchen tools as I have, but the last few years he has lived the gypsy style life of the Army, being transferred from here to there and back again. Thankfully, that is about to change as retirement is on the horizon.
I will also have, for the first time in many years, two teenagers in the house!
As I told the fella, at least they are potty trained!
Teenagers are fun...it is a delight to see them stretching their wings and getting ready for their *solo flight*.
Big difference is, I didn't raise these two and will just be there for the end of their young adulthood.
I hope I can teach them a bit and that I can learn from them as well.
I have met them online...in future posts, if I refer to them, I will call them *Boy* and *Girl* as there is one of each. 15 and 16 respectively. Boy and Girl both seem rather intelligent and very aware of the issues that concern their father and I. Peak oil, sustainable agriculture, etc.
OH! I will be desert gardening! A new experience for me! The house I will be living in is on about an acre. The Fella has already purchased 3 goats...2 nans and a billy, for breeding and milk production. Chickens will be procured after my arrival as the Fella has never had chickens. There are (currently) 2 pups, both German Shepherds. One is a permanent resident, the other is a temporary one he is caring for until the owner can reclaim it. There is (I am told) a fig tree and a pecan tree. Some neighbors have citrus trees.
The plan is to stay there a year or two until all the retirement issues are worked out, then make the final move to the Northeast United States to be closer to some family members.
And that, dear readers, will be my VERY LAST move!
I have moved a lot in my life.
First because of being an Army brat myself., then after adulthood because of marriage, economic and educational circumstances and situations. Then divorce and remarriage and more moves. Then economics raised it's head again and it was a case of moving to where the work was.Divorce and remarriage again and that husband was afflicted with a wanderlust that kept him looking for that *greener grass*.
That last marriage ended and I returned to a place where I had friends and connections and started over again.
Then I met the Fella and things changed. I moved to where he would be able to come see me. Of course, that didn't last long until the Army decided he needed to be deployed half a world away! Since I had a job here, I stayed here and waited for his return.
Well, he is back and our future is together.
So, another move for me.
All told, I think the last time I counted it up...I have lived in---or traveled extensively through--13 countries and 30 states.
Not too shabby!
I have enjoyed it. I have seen things that other people say they only dream of seeing.
I have watched the moon rise over the Grand Tetons and heard the wolves and coyotes howl.
I have danced in an Alabama rainstorm.
I have swam in the Mississippi, the Little Big Horn, the Missouri, Lake Champlain, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. I have dove into the surf of the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans.
I have heard the crickets chirp and watched fireflies sparkle by in Kentucky.
I have seen the tulip fields in the Netherlands and been to the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Sunrises over the Rocky Mountains. Snowstorms in Germany.Summer days in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
And much, much more.
But finally, FINALLY, I am going *home*.
*Home* is where my Fella is and where we will dream and plan together for the rest of the journey we will share.
Take care all...I will be offline for a day or two...my next post...will be from *home*.
Knowing that it will be my last is bittersweet.
I made many good friends here and I am leaving behind my 27 year old son and his dog (I think of her as also being *my* dog). My son has a job here and is planning on saving his money to move back east.
I am also leaving behind *stuff*.
Being the frugal pack rat that I am, that also hurts!
I have very limited room in the vehicle for my belongings. Clothes, tactical supplies, kitchen tools, sewing machine-- are ALL a must. BUT, I can only fit in about half my food storage.
So, today I call a friend and ask if they want my food storage. I know they'll say yes and most enthusiastically as they have kids and a good food storage of their own. If they cannot use what I leave behind, I am sure they can find someone who can!
A few people suggested I give my food storage to a food bank. I would, but I have a lot of wheat and such things that require a lot of prep and the proper tools---which, unless you already prep, you probably do not have!
My fella has food storage, so I know I won't be *wanting* when I get down to his place...or over to his place...it is 900 miles westward. I have my grain grinder and flour sifter (which I found out he has NEITHER!! Oh my goodness!), he has a good dehydrator and other kitchen tools. Not as many kitchen tools as I have, but the last few years he has lived the gypsy style life of the Army, being transferred from here to there and back again. Thankfully, that is about to change as retirement is on the horizon.
I will also have, for the first time in many years, two teenagers in the house!
As I told the fella, at least they are potty trained!
Teenagers are fun...it is a delight to see them stretching their wings and getting ready for their *solo flight*.
Big difference is, I didn't raise these two and will just be there for the end of their young adulthood.
I hope I can teach them a bit and that I can learn from them as well.
I have met them online...in future posts, if I refer to them, I will call them *Boy* and *Girl* as there is one of each. 15 and 16 respectively. Boy and Girl both seem rather intelligent and very aware of the issues that concern their father and I. Peak oil, sustainable agriculture, etc.
OH! I will be desert gardening! A new experience for me! The house I will be living in is on about an acre. The Fella has already purchased 3 goats...2 nans and a billy, for breeding and milk production. Chickens will be procured after my arrival as the Fella has never had chickens. There are (currently) 2 pups, both German Shepherds. One is a permanent resident, the other is a temporary one he is caring for until the owner can reclaim it. There is (I am told) a fig tree and a pecan tree. Some neighbors have citrus trees.
The plan is to stay there a year or two until all the retirement issues are worked out, then make the final move to the Northeast United States to be closer to some family members.
And that, dear readers, will be my VERY LAST move!
I have moved a lot in my life.
First because of being an Army brat myself., then after adulthood because of marriage, economic and educational circumstances and situations. Then divorce and remarriage and more moves. Then economics raised it's head again and it was a case of moving to where the work was.Divorce and remarriage again and that husband was afflicted with a wanderlust that kept him looking for that *greener grass*.
That last marriage ended and I returned to a place where I had friends and connections and started over again.
Then I met the Fella and things changed. I moved to where he would be able to come see me. Of course, that didn't last long until the Army decided he needed to be deployed half a world away! Since I had a job here, I stayed here and waited for his return.
Well, he is back and our future is together.
So, another move for me.
All told, I think the last time I counted it up...I have lived in---or traveled extensively through--13 countries and 30 states.
Not too shabby!
I have enjoyed it. I have seen things that other people say they only dream of seeing.
I have watched the moon rise over the Grand Tetons and heard the wolves and coyotes howl.
I have danced in an Alabama rainstorm.
I have swam in the Mississippi, the Little Big Horn, the Missouri, Lake Champlain, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. I have dove into the surf of the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans.
I have heard the crickets chirp and watched fireflies sparkle by in Kentucky.
I have seen the tulip fields in the Netherlands and been to the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Sunrises over the Rocky Mountains. Snowstorms in Germany.Summer days in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
And much, much more.
But finally, FINALLY, I am going *home*.
*Home* is where my Fella is and where we will dream and plan together for the rest of the journey we will share.
Take care all...I will be offline for a day or two...my next post...will be from *home*.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Illegal Medicinal Plants on the Homestead
I wrote this some time ago and posted it on the Backwoods Home forum. It is posted here for informational/educational purposes. All opinions are my own.
Opium poppies and Marijuana...will you or would you grow them on your homestead for medicinal use?
Lets tackle opium poppies first...
Today, people search the ‘Net for naturally-occurring medicines. A patchwork quilt of information suggests this quest is as old as time. Records indicate a variety of plant drugs were used by early civilizations. These peoples sought out the psychological boost of alcohol, tobacco or opium.
There were several variations of the benefits from a plant-derivative intoxication. The drug-induced state was sometimes used to see visions of the future. As medical knowledge expanded by discovery and conjecture, it was believed that one could remove the mental or physical symptoms that were caused by an imbalance of the Ancient Greek humors of blood, bile and phlegm by cleansing superfluous humors from the brain. One natural medicine in particular can be dated back to the earliest human settlements: the opium poppy Papaver Somniferum.
The earliest relationship between people and the opium poppy dates back to the Sumerians of approximately 3300 B.C. The Sumerians were one of the world’s first organized faming communities. They harvested the opium poppy as one of their many main crops. The Sumerians are credited with the invention of writing in the Middle East. They recorded using the opium poppy Papaver Somniferum for medicine and pleasure. The Sumerians called Papaver Somniferum the “plant of joy”. They used opium from the poppy to induce the same intoxicated and relaxed conditions as the manufacture of beer from barley crops. The poppy plant was also commonly used and traded at this time for its value as a supply of food, animal fodder oil and fuel.
The value of opium from the Papaver Somniferum poppy spread along trading routes from the Persian Gulf all the way to Greece. The records of the Greek physician Hippocrates contain prescriptions for the healing power of opium to cure insomnia. Other physicians would later agree with Hippocrates’ views on opium. Galen advocated eating opium as well as vegetable therapies. Dioscorides described how opium mixed with a liquid was a valuable medicine for added strength. Dioscorides described how the pod of the poppy could be crushed and mixed with the liquid. He is credited with proposing that the word “nepenthes” in a passage from Homer’s Oddessy may have been a drug mixture that included opium.
The apparent magic of the poppy’s ability to induce a drowsy state comes from morphine that is the principal active ingredient in opium. Raw opium contains a concentration of three to twenty percent morphine depending on its cultivation and processing.
The most common means of taking opium was called a liquid elixir. The raw opium milk found in the seed pod was mixed with wine or water. This liquid did not cure the patient but the dreamy euphoric state helped lessen the patient’s pain. The early Greeks believed that the physical world around them was tightly connected to the quality of life provided by the gods. The abundance of poppy seeds in the dried poppy pod was seen as a sign of fertility by the Greeks.
The poppy spread east to India and China along trading routes during the seventh century. The Chinese welcomed the wonder of the poppy seed mixed with bamboo juice. The Chinese felt this mixture offered a tremendous healing power.
Present day findings have classified opium as a drug that dulls the senses and has listed opium as a narcotic. As narcotics opium, morphine and heroin are drugs tat relieve pain, relax spasms, reduce fevers and induce sleep.
Up to this point, the spread of the poppy seed had been very slow over land-based trading routes. The European development of ocean-going sailing ships rapidly expanded the introduction of opium into England and the United States. The wealthy class in Britain regularly consumed opium to relieve pain. Members of the British Royalty took opium to relieve a variety of aliments.
As use of opium spread, it was used to “treat” piles, chitis, cholera, dysentery, bronchitis, earaches and measles. The opium products calmed the patients and the temporary relief from pain caused an appearance of regaining good health. At this time, opium was called a ‘stimulant” because opium was considered to be a jump-start to well-being.
The search for medicines that could at least temporarily relieve pain in the 1700 and 1800s was sought by every developing nation. Opium was commonly consumed to get some relief from dropsy, consumption (tuberculosis) and rheumatism (rheumatoid arthritis). Britain and the United States imported hundreds of thousands of pounds of opium to meet the demand.
In these two countries the people preferred taking opium as a liquid known a s “Laudanum” or “black drop”. Laudanum was usually an opium-alcohol mixture. Another variation of Laudanum, Laudanum Cydoniatum, was made from a mixture of opium and vinegar. In Britain, Laudanum was very inexpensive and could be bought as easily as acetaminophen today. It was even sold in grocery stores as a medically-acknowledged temporary relief from coughing and pain. Records of bills from San Francisco to Vancouver show opium to be considered a grocery staple along with sugar, rice and tea.
Another form of use was a pill composed of opium, sweetened with saffron, castor, ambergris, musk and nutmeg to disguise the bitter opium taste. The opium pill was considered so safe that pregnant women could use it to control morning sickness.
In the 19th century opium was commonly listed as one of the ingredients in a wide range of patent medicines. A product called Ayers Cherry Pectoral contained opium as one of its key ingredients. This product was readily available to thousands of British and American parents to sooth babies who were crying due to teething, hunger or pains of childhood. Cough syrups in the mid-nineteenth century usually contained opium. Opium is still considered to be unsurpassed as a cough suppressant.
In 1931 Louis Lewin recorded opiates as a drug that sedated mental activity. He classified this sedation as “Euphorica”. Today the chemical properties of Papaver Somniferum are well documented, including images of changes to the brain activity
Now, the raw product has been time-proven for thousands of years as a VERY effective medicine to treat:
Severe coughing, severe nausea, pain of all types, insomnia, muscle spasms, severe diarrhea and other ills. Raw opium latex, packed into a wound can stop sepsis and other infections in their tracks!
Opiates are addictive and the unrefined raw form can become addictive as well, though usually not at the rate such refined products as heroin and morphine are. The side effects, when raw opium is used for occasional medicinal purposes, are by far less than the side effects one would or could experience from the use of common OTC (over-the-counter) medications. (Read the back of that bottle of Tylenol or Robitussion sometime)
Will I grow opium poppies when I get my land?
Absolutely.
The benefits far outweigh the risks in my book. I have grown them before and used them for medicinal purposes.
Cultivation and harvesting is simple and the seeds are easily available. A few opium poppies growing even in a suburban neighborhood are unlikely to attract any undue attention from local law enforcement.
A huge field of them on a farm would be another matter indeed!
I don't intend to sell, refine or distribute any of the products derived from growing them, they would be for medicinal use only for myself and for farm animals that needed it.
Now...onto Marijuana...Cannabis Sativa, Herb, Weed, Pot, MaryJane....so many names, so many rumors....
C'mon...most of us tried it...or still use it. I don't, but that is mainly because I don not have a need to and I am not a great proponent of *recreational* use of any intoxicant. When I used it in high school, my grades didn't drop, I had an active social and extra-curricular life and I never went out and committed a crime because of it. So much for the current commercials screaming out of our t.v.s!
And there's this small article (NOT publicized by the DEA or the US gov't....)
Lets look at one section of it again :
Marijuana has been used for recreational and medicinal purposes for centuries, evoking public interest and controversy along the way. As a medicine, the plant is used to ease pain in multiple sclerosis patients, combat nausea in cancer patients, and stimulate appetite in people afflicted with AIDS. It has also been used to treat epilepsy and stroke.
The history of cannabis products and their use has been long, colorful and varied. To the agriculturist, cannabis is a fiber crop; to the physician, it is an enigma; to the user, a euphoriant; to the police, a menace; to the trafficker, a source of profitable danger; to the convict or parolee and his family, a source of sorrow (Mikuriya, 1969: 34). The fact is that cannabis has been held simultaneously in high and low esteem at various times throughout recorded history, particularly in our own times.
The volume of information available on the medical application of cannabis is considerable. Occasionally certain references have been condensed or deleted, but this should not detract from the completeness of the report.
This historical survey of the medical uses of marijuana is introduced by abroad overview of its use, including brief notes on current and projected research, and then considers specific historical settings and circumstances in ancient China, moving on to Egypt, India, Greece, Africa, and the Western World.
Cannabis sativa has been used therapeutically from the earliest records, nearly 5,000 years ago, to the present day (Mikuriya, 1969: 34) and its products have been widely noted for their effects, both physiological and psychological, throughout the world. Although the Chinese and Indian cultures knew about the properties of this drug from very early times, this information did not become general in the Near and Middle East until after the fifth century A.D., when travelers, traders and adventurers began to carry knowledge of the drug westward to Persia and Arabia.
Historians claim that cannabis was first employed in these countries as an antiseptic and analgesic. Other medical uses were later developed and spread throughout the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe.
Several years after the return of Napoleon's army from Egypt, cannabis became widely accepted by Western medical practitioners. Previously, it had had limited use for such purposes as the treatment of burns. The scientific members of Napoleon's forces were interested in the drug's pain relieving and sedative effects. It was used during, and to a greater extent, following his rule in France, especially after 1840 when the work of such physicians as O'Shaughnessy, Aubert-Roche, and Moreau de Tours drew wide attention to this drug.
With the rise of the literary movement of the 1840-1860 period in France (Gautier, Baudelaire, Dumas, etc.), cannabis became somewhat popular as an intoxicant of the intellectual classes.
In the United States, medical interest in cannabis use was evidenced in 1860 by the convening of a Committee on Cannabis Indica of the Ohio State Medical Society, which reported on its therapeutic applications (McMeens, 1860: 1). Between the period 1840-1890, Walton states that more than 100 articles were published recommending cannabis for one disorder or another.
Concern about cannabis as an intoxicant led the government of India to establish the India Hemp Commission of 1893-94 to examine the entire question of cannabis use in India.
Paralleling the question over cannabis use in the latter half of the 19th century was the growing medical use of other medications superior to cannabis in their effects and more easily controlled as to dose. Consequently, medical use of cannabis declined and cannabis began to lose support of the medical profession.
During the years between 1856-1937, cannabis lost its image as a medicine and was left with a disreputable image as an intoxicant. Strong public reaction coupled with a campaign in the public press led to a federal anti-marihuana law in 1937. (The drug was illegal in many states before 1937.) The issue of medical use remained active, however, and Dr. William C. Woodward, Legislative Counsel to the AMA, an opponent of cannabis use and the only physician to be a witness at the Taxation of Marihuana hearings, stated:
There are exceptions in treatment in which cannabis cannot apparently be successfully subsituted for. The work of Pascal seems to show that Indian Hemp has remarkable properties in revealing the subconscious; hence, it can be used for psychological, psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic research (Hearings, House of Representatives, 1937: 91).
Although cannabis drugs are generally regarded as obsolete and rarely used in western medicine today, cannabis is ;still used extensively in the Ayruvedic, Unani and Tibbi systems of medicine of the Indian-Pakastani subcontinent (The Cannabis Problem, 1962: 27). The Pharmacopoeias of India mention cannabis use in the recent past. Two preparations of cannabis, a liquid extract and a tincture, are listed in the 1954 and 1966 Pharmacopoeias of India which contain descriptions of cannabis and its extract and how it is made (Chopra & Chopra, 1957: 9).
A more recent source makes reference to the fact that "in contemporary India and Pakistan, there continues to be widespread indigenous medical, 'quasi-medical,' and illicit use of both opium and cannabis" (Chopra & Chopra, 1957: 12-13). Bouquet notes that hemp resin is occasionally used in the native medicines of the countries where it is collected. He points especially to India where,
According to the Canadian Commission of Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs:
Similar statements regarding cannabis are to be found in Marijuana, edited by Erich Goode, and in the textbook Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics by Goodman and Gilman (1970: 300). Concerning therapeutic uses, the latter states:
The oldest known therapeutic description Of cannabis was by the Emperor Shen-Nung in the 28th century B.C. in China, where the plant had long been grown for fiber. He prescribed cannabis for beri-beri, constipation, "female weakness", gout, malaria, rheumatism and absentmindedness (Bloomquist, 1968: 19).
Egypt
In Egypt, in the 20th century B.C., cannabis was used to treat sore eyes. Additional medical usage was not reported until much later.
India
Prior to the 10th century B.C., bhang, a cannabis preparation, was used as an anesthetic and antiphlegmatic in India. In the second century A.D., a Chinese physician, Hoa-Tho, prescribed it as an analgesic in surgical procedures (Mikuriya, 1969: 34).
From the 10th century B.C. up to 1945 (and even to the present time), cannabis has been used in India to treat a wide variety of human maladies. The drug is highly regarded by some medical practitioners in that country.
The religious use of cannabis in India is thought to have preceded its medical use (Blum and Associates, II, 1969: 73; Snyder, 1970: 125). The religious use of cannabis is to help "the user to free his mind from worldly distractions and to concentrate on the Supreme Being" (Barber, 1970: 80).
Cannabis is used in Hindu and Sikh temples and at Mohammedan shrines. Besides using the drug as an aid to meditation, it is also used to overcome hunger and thirst by the religious mendicants. In Nepal, it is distributed on certain feast days at the temples of all Shiva followers (Blum & Associates, 1969, 11: 63).
The Hindus spoke of the drug as the "heavenly guide", "the soother of grief". Considered holy, it was described as a sacred grass during the Vedic period (Fort, 1969: 15). A reference to cannabis in Hindu scriptures is the following:
Greece
In ancient Greece, cannabis was used as a remedy for earache, edema, and inflammation (Robinson, 1946: 382-383).
Africa
Cannabis was used in Africa to restore appetite and to relieve pain of hemorrhoids, its antiseptic uses were also known to certain African native tribes (O'Shaughnessy, 1842: 431). Various other uses, in a number of countries, included the treatment of tetanus, hydrophobia, delirium tremens, infantile convulsions, neuralgia and other nervous disorders, cholera, menorrhagia, rheumatism, hay fever, asthma, skin diseases, and protracted labor during childbirth.
The 19th Century
Documents of the 19th century report on the use of cannabis to control diarrhea in cholera and to stimulate appetite. In his reports of the late 1830's and early 1840's, O'Shaughnessy (1842: 431) stated that tetanus could be arrested and cured when treated with extra large doses of cannabis.
John Bell, M.D., Boston, reported enthusiastically in 1857, about the effects of cannabis in the control of mental and emotional disorders as opposed to the use of moral discipline to restrain the mentally ill. Similarly, in 1858, Moureau. de Tours reported several case histories of manic and depressive disorders treated with hashish (Walton, 1938: 3).
The Ohio State Medical Society's Committee on Cannabis Indica, convened in 1860, reported that their respondents claimed cannabis successfully treated neuralgic pain, dysmenorhea, uterine hemorrhage, hysteria, delirium tremens, mania, palsy, whooping cough, infantile convulsions, asthma, gonorrhea, nervous rheumatism, chronic bronchitis, muscular spasms, tetanus, epilepsy and appetite stimulation (McMeens, 1860: 1).
The India Hemp Commission (1894: 174) likewise was informed of similar medicinal uses for cannabis. Specific reports included the use of cannabis as an analgesic, a restorer of energy, a hemostat, an ecbolic, and an antidiaretic. Cannabis was also mentioned as an aid in treating hay fever, cholera, dysentery, gonorrhea, diabetes, impotence, urinary incontinence, swelling of the testicles, granulation of open sores, and chronic ulcers. Other beneficial effects attributed to cannabis were prevention of insomnia, relief of anxiety, protection against cholera, alleviation of hunger and as an aid to concentration of attention.
MEDICAL USES IN THE 20TH CENTURY
Despite the fact that marijuana was made illegal in the United States in 1937, research has continued on the medical uses of marijuana. The findings include various possible medical applications of cannabis and its chemical derivatives.
One of the most recent and interesting findings (Frank, 1972) concerns the effect of cannabis in reducing interocular pressure. It was found that as the dose of marijuana increased, the pressure within the eye decreased by up to 30%. This occurred in normal persons as well as in those with glaucoma, a disease of the eye in which increased interocular pressure may cause blindness. Much more research is necessary in connection with this experimental clinical finding before final judgment can be passed on such a possible therapeutic value.
During the past 20 years in western medicine, marijuana has been assigned antibiotic activity; as a result, several studies relating to this possibility have been undertaken. H. B. M. Murphy (1963: 20) reported investigations in Eastern Europe. He stated that it is alleged to be active against gram positive organisms at 1/100,000 dilution, but to be largely inactivated by plasma, so that prospects for its use appear to be, confined to E. N. T. (ear, nose and throat) and skin infections.
Dr. J. Kabelikovi (1952: 500-503) and his coworkers carried out tests on rats, which were similar to tests carried out with penicillin in vitro. The alcohol extract of cannabis was bacterially effective against many gram-positive and one gram-negative microorganisms. It was also found that a paste form of external application was successful. According to Kabelikovi, from a study of 2,000 herbs by Czechoslovakian scientists it was found that cannabis indica (the Indian Hemp) was the most promising in the realm of antibiotics.
In a 1959 publication of Pharmacie, Krejci stated: ;From the flowering tips and leaves of hemp, cannabis sativa var indica bred in Middle Europe, were extracted a phenol and an acid fraction. From the acid fraction, two acids were obtained, of which one preserved its antibiotic properties (p. 349). In another Czechoslovakian publication, Krejci (1961: 1351-1353) referred to two additional samples with antibiotic activity.
Kabelik, Krejci, and Santavy (1960: 13) include in Cannabis as a Medicant, the various microorganisms against which cannabis is effective.
Proof could be furnished that the cannabis extracts produce a very satisfactory antibacterial effect upon the following microbes: staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, steptococcus alpha haemolyticus, streptococcus beta haemolyticus, enterococcus, diplococcus pneumonia, B. anthracis, and corynebacterium diptheriae i.e., all of them gram-positive microorganisms. Noteworthy is the effect upon staphylococcus aureaus strains, which are resistant to penicillin and to other antibiotics.
Currently, several states have become more *enlightened* as to the medicinal uses of marijuana...California being prominent among them and Cannabis Sativa is prescribed for the many ills for which it is effective, from glaucoma to pain management and many more.
From Time Magazine:
So...without boring you to tears by posting more accounts of doctors and scientists that praise the medical efficacy of cannabis...let us continue...
It is easy to cultivate. Effects vary wildly of the end product due to cultivation.
However, this is one plant that will NOT pass as a decorative accent to your flower bed! A single plant growing in mid-cornfield can be spotted by searching LEOs due to it's unique heat signature on infra-red cameras.
Growing this for your medicine chest usually requires a little indoor horticulture. And a great deal of discretion.
I have always preferred to prepare this herbal treatment as a tea, rather than smoking it. As a tea, it focuses the effects on the body and doesn't give one the *head high* experienced by smoking.
As seen in the previous medical accounts, the uses are widespread...from glaucoma to arthritis to migraines to epilepsy...all legitimate conditions that could be treated by marijuana, if not for the gov't. crusade against it.
Will I grow it?
Again, absolutely.
I have seen first hand how effective a treatment it can be for several conditions, and since arthritis runs strong in my family, I plan on being able to sip a cup of tea to help out with the aches and pains of that condition should it ever strike me. As with opium poppies, the side effects are far less than those of medically prescribed treatments or even OTC medications.
People...if the crap hits the fan, you better realize that all those alphabet soup agencies such as the DEA, FBI, etc. will go kaput. So will your local pharmacy.
Get your knowledge NOW...you may need it later.
Maybe you don't want to go out and be *Johnny Poppyseed*...but don't you think it more advisable to have the knowledge but not need it than to need the knowledge and not have it?
Opium poppies and Marijuana...will you or would you grow them on your homestead for medicinal use?
Lets tackle opium poppies first...
Today, people search the ‘Net for naturally-occurring medicines. A patchwork quilt of information suggests this quest is as old as time. Records indicate a variety of plant drugs were used by early civilizations. These peoples sought out the psychological boost of alcohol, tobacco or opium.
There were several variations of the benefits from a plant-derivative intoxication. The drug-induced state was sometimes used to see visions of the future. As medical knowledge expanded by discovery and conjecture, it was believed that one could remove the mental or physical symptoms that were caused by an imbalance of the Ancient Greek humors of blood, bile and phlegm by cleansing superfluous humors from the brain. One natural medicine in particular can be dated back to the earliest human settlements: the opium poppy Papaver Somniferum.
The earliest relationship between people and the opium poppy dates back to the Sumerians of approximately 3300 B.C. The Sumerians were one of the world’s first organized faming communities. They harvested the opium poppy as one of their many main crops. The Sumerians are credited with the invention of writing in the Middle East. They recorded using the opium poppy Papaver Somniferum for medicine and pleasure. The Sumerians called Papaver Somniferum the “plant of joy”. They used opium from the poppy to induce the same intoxicated and relaxed conditions as the manufacture of beer from barley crops. The poppy plant was also commonly used and traded at this time for its value as a supply of food, animal fodder oil and fuel.
The value of opium from the Papaver Somniferum poppy spread along trading routes from the Persian Gulf all the way to Greece. The records of the Greek physician Hippocrates contain prescriptions for the healing power of opium to cure insomnia. Other physicians would later agree with Hippocrates’ views on opium. Galen advocated eating opium as well as vegetable therapies. Dioscorides described how opium mixed with a liquid was a valuable medicine for added strength. Dioscorides described how the pod of the poppy could be crushed and mixed with the liquid. He is credited with proposing that the word “nepenthes” in a passage from Homer’s Oddessy may have been a drug mixture that included opium.
The apparent magic of the poppy’s ability to induce a drowsy state comes from morphine that is the principal active ingredient in opium. Raw opium contains a concentration of three to twenty percent morphine depending on its cultivation and processing.
The most common means of taking opium was called a liquid elixir. The raw opium milk found in the seed pod was mixed with wine or water. This liquid did not cure the patient but the dreamy euphoric state helped lessen the patient’s pain. The early Greeks believed that the physical world around them was tightly connected to the quality of life provided by the gods. The abundance of poppy seeds in the dried poppy pod was seen as a sign of fertility by the Greeks.
The poppy spread east to India and China along trading routes during the seventh century. The Chinese welcomed the wonder of the poppy seed mixed with bamboo juice. The Chinese felt this mixture offered a tremendous healing power.
Present day findings have classified opium as a drug that dulls the senses and has listed opium as a narcotic. As narcotics opium, morphine and heroin are drugs tat relieve pain, relax spasms, reduce fevers and induce sleep.
Up to this point, the spread of the poppy seed had been very slow over land-based trading routes. The European development of ocean-going sailing ships rapidly expanded the introduction of opium into England and the United States. The wealthy class in Britain regularly consumed opium to relieve pain. Members of the British Royalty took opium to relieve a variety of aliments.
As use of opium spread, it was used to “treat” piles, chitis, cholera, dysentery, bronchitis, earaches and measles. The opium products calmed the patients and the temporary relief from pain caused an appearance of regaining good health. At this time, opium was called a ‘stimulant” because opium was considered to be a jump-start to well-being.
The search for medicines that could at least temporarily relieve pain in the 1700 and 1800s was sought by every developing nation. Opium was commonly consumed to get some relief from dropsy, consumption (tuberculosis) and rheumatism (rheumatoid arthritis). Britain and the United States imported hundreds of thousands of pounds of opium to meet the demand.
In these two countries the people preferred taking opium as a liquid known a s “Laudanum” or “black drop”. Laudanum was usually an opium-alcohol mixture. Another variation of Laudanum, Laudanum Cydoniatum, was made from a mixture of opium and vinegar. In Britain, Laudanum was very inexpensive and could be bought as easily as acetaminophen today. It was even sold in grocery stores as a medically-acknowledged temporary relief from coughing and pain. Records of bills from San Francisco to Vancouver show opium to be considered a grocery staple along with sugar, rice and tea.
Another form of use was a pill composed of opium, sweetened with saffron, castor, ambergris, musk and nutmeg to disguise the bitter opium taste. The opium pill was considered so safe that pregnant women could use it to control morning sickness.
In the 19th century opium was commonly listed as one of the ingredients in a wide range of patent medicines. A product called Ayers Cherry Pectoral contained opium as one of its key ingredients. This product was readily available to thousands of British and American parents to sooth babies who were crying due to teething, hunger or pains of childhood. Cough syrups in the mid-nineteenth century usually contained opium. Opium is still considered to be unsurpassed as a cough suppressant.
In 1931 Louis Lewin recorded opiates as a drug that sedated mental activity. He classified this sedation as “Euphorica”. Today the chemical properties of Papaver Somniferum are well documented, including images of changes to the brain activity
Now, the raw product has been time-proven for thousands of years as a VERY effective medicine to treat:
Severe coughing, severe nausea, pain of all types, insomnia, muscle spasms, severe diarrhea and other ills. Raw opium latex, packed into a wound can stop sepsis and other infections in their tracks!
Opiates are addictive and the unrefined raw form can become addictive as well, though usually not at the rate such refined products as heroin and morphine are. The side effects, when raw opium is used for occasional medicinal purposes, are by far less than the side effects one would or could experience from the use of common OTC (over-the-counter) medications. (Read the back of that bottle of Tylenol or Robitussion sometime)
Will I grow opium poppies when I get my land?
Absolutely.
The benefits far outweigh the risks in my book. I have grown them before and used them for medicinal purposes.
Cultivation and harvesting is simple and the seeds are easily available. A few opium poppies growing even in a suburban neighborhood are unlikely to attract any undue attention from local law enforcement.
A huge field of them on a farm would be another matter indeed!
I don't intend to sell, refine or distribute any of the products derived from growing them, they would be for medicinal use only for myself and for farm animals that needed it.
Now...onto Marijuana...Cannabis Sativa, Herb, Weed, Pot, MaryJane....so many names, so many rumors....
C'mon...most of us tried it...or still use it. I don't, but that is mainly because I don not have a need to and I am not a great proponent of *recreational* use of any intoxicant. When I used it in high school, my grades didn't drop, I had an active social and extra-curricular life and I never went out and committed a crime because of it. So much for the current commercials screaming out of our t.v.s!
And there's this small article (NOT publicized by the DEA or the US gov't....)
Quote:
A synthetic substance similar to ones found in marijuana stimulates cell growth in regions of the brain associated with anxiety and depression, pointing the way for new treatments for these diseases, according to University of Saskatchewan medical research published today in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Xia Zhang, an associate professor in the U of S neuropsychiatry research unit, led the team that tested the effects of HU-210, a potent synthetic cannabinoid similar to a group of compounds found in marijuana. The synthetic version is about 100 times as powerful as THC, the compound responsible for the high experienced by recreational users.
The team found that rats treated with HU-210 on a regular basis showed neurogenesis - the growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus. This region of the brain is associated with learning and memory, as well as anxiety and depression.
The effect is the opposite of most legal and illicit drugs such as alcohol, nicotine, heroin, and cocaine.
Most 'drugs of abuse' suppress neurogenesis, Zhang says.Only marijuana promotes neurogenesis.
Current theory states that depression may be sparked when too few new brain cells are grown in the hippocampus. It is unclear whether anxiety is part of this process, but if true, HU-210 could offer a treatment for both mood disorders by stimulating the growth of new brain cells.
But Zhang cautions that HU-210 is only one of many cannabinoids. His previous work with marijuana shows that while the plant may contain medicinal compounds, they come in the same package as those that cause symptoms such as acute memory impairment, addiction, and withdrawal. Also, the HU-210 used in the study is highly purified.
This is a very potent cannabinoid oil, Zhang says. &It's not something that would be available on the street.
Marijuana has been used for recreational and medicinal purposes for centuries, evoking public interest and controversy along the way. As a medicine, the plant is used to ease pain in multiple sclerosis patients, combat nausea in cancer patients, and stimulate appetite in people afflicted with AIDS. It has also been used to treat epilepsy and stroke.
Zhang's work is the latest product of the U of S Neural Systems and Plasticity Research Group, a multidisciplinary effort by researchers from the Colleges of Arts and Science, Engineering, Kinesiology, Medicine, Pharmacy and Nutrition, and Veterinary Medicine. The group collaborates to study the function of neural systems, from nerves to brain, in living organisms. In particular, they look at how these systems change over time with experience.
Zhang's research is supported by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), as well as a CIHR New Investigator Award. The Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation provided funding support to establish the Neural Systems and Plasticity Research Group, as well as post-doctoral fellowship awards to research team members Wen Jiang and Shao-Ping Ji. -- ©University of Saskatchewan
Lets look at one section of it again :
Marijuana has been used for recreational and medicinal purposes for centuries, evoking public interest and controversy along the way. As a medicine, the plant is used to ease pain in multiple sclerosis patients, combat nausea in cancer patients, and stimulate appetite in people afflicted with AIDS. It has also been used to treat epilepsy and stroke.
The history of cannabis products and their use has been long, colorful and varied. To the agriculturist, cannabis is a fiber crop; to the physician, it is an enigma; to the user, a euphoriant; to the police, a menace; to the trafficker, a source of profitable danger; to the convict or parolee and his family, a source of sorrow (Mikuriya, 1969: 34). The fact is that cannabis has been held simultaneously in high and low esteem at various times throughout recorded history, particularly in our own times.
The volume of information available on the medical application of cannabis is considerable. Occasionally certain references have been condensed or deleted, but this should not detract from the completeness of the report.
This historical survey of the medical uses of marijuana is introduced by abroad overview of its use, including brief notes on current and projected research, and then considers specific historical settings and circumstances in ancient China, moving on to Egypt, India, Greece, Africa, and the Western World.
Cannabis sativa has been used therapeutically from the earliest records, nearly 5,000 years ago, to the present day (Mikuriya, 1969: 34) and its products have been widely noted for their effects, both physiological and psychological, throughout the world. Although the Chinese and Indian cultures knew about the properties of this drug from very early times, this information did not become general in the Near and Middle East until after the fifth century A.D., when travelers, traders and adventurers began to carry knowledge of the drug westward to Persia and Arabia.
Historians claim that cannabis was first employed in these countries as an antiseptic and analgesic. Other medical uses were later developed and spread throughout the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe.
Several years after the return of Napoleon's army from Egypt, cannabis became widely accepted by Western medical practitioners. Previously, it had had limited use for such purposes as the treatment of burns. The scientific members of Napoleon's forces were interested in the drug's pain relieving and sedative effects. It was used during, and to a greater extent, following his rule in France, especially after 1840 when the work of such physicians as O'Shaughnessy, Aubert-Roche, and Moreau de Tours drew wide attention to this drug.
With the rise of the literary movement of the 1840-1860 period in France (Gautier, Baudelaire, Dumas, etc.), cannabis became somewhat popular as an intoxicant of the intellectual classes.
In the United States, medical interest in cannabis use was evidenced in 1860 by the convening of a Committee on Cannabis Indica of the Ohio State Medical Society, which reported on its therapeutic applications (McMeens, 1860: 1). Between the period 1840-1890, Walton states that more than 100 articles were published recommending cannabis for one disorder or another.
Concern about cannabis as an intoxicant led the government of India to establish the India Hemp Commission of 1893-94 to examine the entire question of cannabis use in India.
Paralleling the question over cannabis use in the latter half of the 19th century was the growing medical use of other medications superior to cannabis in their effects and more easily controlled as to dose. Consequently, medical use of cannabis declined and cannabis began to lose support of the medical profession.
During the years between 1856-1937, cannabis lost its image as a medicine and was left with a disreputable image as an intoxicant. Strong public reaction coupled with a campaign in the public press led to a federal anti-marihuana law in 1937. (The drug was illegal in many states before 1937.) The issue of medical use remained active, however, and Dr. William C. Woodward, Legislative Counsel to the AMA, an opponent of cannabis use and the only physician to be a witness at the Taxation of Marihuana hearings, stated:
There are exceptions in treatment in which cannabis cannot apparently be successfully subsituted for. The work of Pascal seems to show that Indian Hemp has remarkable properties in revealing the subconscious; hence, it can be used for psychological, psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic research (Hearings, House of Representatives, 1937: 91).
Although cannabis drugs are generally regarded as obsolete and rarely used in western medicine today, cannabis is ;still used extensively in the Ayruvedic, Unani and Tibbi systems of medicine of the Indian-Pakastani subcontinent (The Cannabis Problem, 1962: 27). The Pharmacopoeias of India mention cannabis use in the recent past. Two preparations of cannabis, a liquid extract and a tincture, are listed in the 1954 and 1966 Pharmacopoeias of India which contain descriptions of cannabis and its extract and how it is made (Chopra & Chopra, 1957: 9).
A more recent source makes reference to the fact that "in contemporary India and Pakistan, there continues to be widespread indigenous medical, 'quasi-medical,' and illicit use of both opium and cannabis" (Chopra & Chopra, 1957: 12-13). Bouquet notes that hemp resin is occasionally used in the native medicines of the countries where it is collected. He points especially to India where,
the medical systems . . . make much use of cannabis as a sedative, hypnotic, analgesic, anti-spasmodic and anti-hemorrhoidal(Bulletin on Narcotics, 1962:27).
According to the Canadian Commission of Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs:
There is no currently accepted medical use of cannabis in North America outside of an experimental context. Although cannabis has been reported to produce an array of possibly useful medical effects, these have either not been adequately investigated, or can be replaced by using other more readily available and convenient drugs. The natural product's variability in potency and instability over time are among the factors which have led to its disfavor in Western 20th century medicine.... cannabis has often been employed in the past, and is currently used illicitly in North America, to reduce the secondary symptoms and suffering caused by the flue and the common cold. These . . . alleged therapeutic properties of cannabis have not been adequately studied in a scientific context, and their general medical potential remains a matter of conjecture(1970: 74).
Similar statements regarding cannabis are to be found in Marijuana, edited by Erich Goode, and in the textbook Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics by Goodman and Gilman (1970: 300). Concerning therapeutic uses, the latter states:
Although cannabis was once used for a wide variety of clinical disorders and has even been demonstrated to have antibacterial activity, there are at present no well substantiated indications for its use. It is no longer an official drug. Preparations are rarely available (cannabis preparation and synthetic THC are obtainable only for research purposes), and prescriptions are regulated by special tax laws.
The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare report to Congress in 1971, Marijuana and Health, repeats the statement of the Canadian Interim Report of Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs, and states: There is no currently accepted medical use of cannabis in the United States outside of an experimental context (DHEW: 1971: 27). Allen Geller and Maxwell Boas (1969: 4) think that cannabis' unsavory reputation has largely stymied further research.
Despite the many statements discounting cannabis' therapeutic usefulness, some authorities maintain that its medical value might be reborn through further research and/or use. David Solomon, in his foreword to The Marihuana Papers (1968: xxi) argues that:
In a 1970 article,Pot Facing Stringent Scientific Examination , reference is made to Dr. Par who states that there are three areas in which chemical and animal experiments are under way:
(1) Analgesia-mood elevation plus analgesic power may make useful drug.
(2) Blood pressure reduction-hypertension may be helped by new drugs which lower the blood pressure by what seems to be action on the central nervous system.
(3) Psychotherapeutic-new compounds are antidepressants and antianxiety drugs (Culliton: 1970).
Mikuriya cites it studies concerning cannabis funded by the National Institute of Mental Health in 1961. The studies were either specialized animal experiments, part of an observational sociologic study of a number of drugs, or explorations of chemical detection methods(Mikuriya, 1969: 38).
Feinglass has pointed to four general categories into which the clinical studies of marijuana could be divided (1968: 206-208). They are:
1. Anticonvulsant effects-treatment of tetanus, convulsions of rabies, epilepsy, and infant convulsions.
2. Psychotherapeutic actions - appetite-stimulation, treatment of depression, and as a sedative and hypnotic in reducing anxiety; treatment of addiction.
3. Antibiotic properties.
4. Pain-affecting power.
Grinspoon suggests:
Mikuriya lists many possible therapeutic uses of THC and similar products in his paper Marihuana in Medicine: Past, Present and Future.
He includes:
Analgesic-hypnotic, appetite stimulant, antiepileptic, antispasmodic, prophylactic and treatment of the neuralgias, including migraine and tic douloureaux, antidepressant-tranquillizer, anti-asthmatic, oxytocic, anti-tussive, topical anesthetic, withdrawal agent for opiate and alcohol addiction, child birth analgesic, and antibiotic (1968: 39).
ChinaDespite the many statements discounting cannabis' therapeutic usefulness, some authorities maintain that its medical value might be reborn through further research and/or use. David Solomon, in his foreword to The Marihuana Papers (1968: xxi) argues that:
Marihuana should be accorded the medical status it once had in this country as a legitimate prescription item. After 1937, with the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act and subsequent federal and state legislation, it became virtually impossible for physicians to obtain or prescribe marihuana preparations for their patients. Thus, the medical profession was denied access to a versatile pharmaceutical tool with a history of therapeutic utility going back thousands of years.
In a 1970 article,Pot Facing Stringent Scientific Examination , reference is made to Dr. Par who states that there are three areas in which chemical and animal experiments are under way:
(1) Analgesia-mood elevation plus analgesic power may make useful drug.
(2) Blood pressure reduction-hypertension may be helped by new drugs which lower the blood pressure by what seems to be action on the central nervous system.
(3) Psychotherapeutic-new compounds are antidepressants and antianxiety drugs (Culliton: 1970).
Mikuriya cites it studies concerning cannabis funded by the National Institute of Mental Health in 1961. The studies were either specialized animal experiments, part of an observational sociologic study of a number of drugs, or explorations of chemical detection methods(Mikuriya, 1969: 38).
Feinglass has pointed to four general categories into which the clinical studies of marijuana could be divided (1968: 206-208). They are:
1. Anticonvulsant effects-treatment of tetanus, convulsions of rabies, epilepsy, and infant convulsions.
2. Psychotherapeutic actions - appetite-stimulation, treatment of depression, and as a sedative and hypnotic in reducing anxiety; treatment of addiction.
3. Antibiotic properties.
4. Pain-affecting power.
Grinspoon suggests:
(1969: 24).
Very little research attention has been given to the possibility that marihuana might protect some people from psychosis. Among users of the drug, the proportion of people with neuroses or personality disorders is usually higher than in the general population; one might therefore expect the incidence of psychoses also to be higher in this group. The fact that it is not suggests that for some mentally disturbed people, the escape provided by the drug may serve to prevent a psychotic breakdown
Mikuriya lists many possible therapeutic uses of THC and similar products in his paper Marihuana in Medicine: Past, Present and Future.
He includes:
Analgesic-hypnotic, appetite stimulant, antiepileptic, antispasmodic, prophylactic and treatment of the neuralgias, including migraine and tic douloureaux, antidepressant-tranquillizer, anti-asthmatic, oxytocic, anti-tussive, topical anesthetic, withdrawal agent for opiate and alcohol addiction, child birth analgesic, and antibiotic (1968: 39).
The oldest known therapeutic description Of cannabis was by the Emperor Shen-Nung in the 28th century B.C. in China, where the plant had long been grown for fiber. He prescribed cannabis for beri-beri, constipation, "female weakness", gout, malaria, rheumatism and absentmindedness (Bloomquist, 1968: 19).
Egypt
In Egypt, in the 20th century B.C., cannabis was used to treat sore eyes. Additional medical usage was not reported until much later.
India
Prior to the 10th century B.C., bhang, a cannabis preparation, was used as an anesthetic and antiphlegmatic in India. In the second century A.D., a Chinese physician, Hoa-Tho, prescribed it as an analgesic in surgical procedures (Mikuriya, 1969: 34).
From the 10th century B.C. up to 1945 (and even to the present time), cannabis has been used in India to treat a wide variety of human maladies. The drug is highly regarded by some medical practitioners in that country.
The religious use of cannabis in India is thought to have preceded its medical use (Blum and Associates, II, 1969: 73; Snyder, 1970: 125). The religious use of cannabis is to help "the user to free his mind from worldly distractions and to concentrate on the Supreme Being" (Barber, 1970: 80).
Cannabis is used in Hindu and Sikh temples and at Mohammedan shrines. Besides using the drug as an aid to meditation, it is also used to overcome hunger and thirst by the religious mendicants. In Nepal, it is distributed on certain feast days at the temples of all Shiva followers (Blum & Associates, 1969, 11: 63).
The Hindus spoke of the drug as the "heavenly guide", "the soother of grief". Considered holy, it was described as a sacred grass during the Vedic period (Fort, 1969: 15). A reference to cannabis in Hindu scriptures is the following:
(Snyder, 1970: 125).
To the Hindu the hemp plant is holy. A guardian lives in bhang ... Bhang is the joy giver, the sky filer, the heavenly guide, the poor man's heaven, the soother of grief ... No god or man is as good as the religious drinker of Mang. The students of the scriptures of Benares are given bhang before they sit to study. At Benares, Ujjain and other holy places, yogis take deep draughts of Mang that they may center their thoughts on the Eternal . . . By the help of Mang ascetics pass days without food or drink. The supporting power of Mang has brought many a Hindu family safe through the miseries of famine
Greece
In ancient Greece, cannabis was used as a remedy for earache, edema, and inflammation (Robinson, 1946: 382-383).
Africa
Cannabis was used in Africa to restore appetite and to relieve pain of hemorrhoids, its antiseptic uses were also known to certain African native tribes (O'Shaughnessy, 1842: 431). Various other uses, in a number of countries, included the treatment of tetanus, hydrophobia, delirium tremens, infantile convulsions, neuralgia and other nervous disorders, cholera, menorrhagia, rheumatism, hay fever, asthma, skin diseases, and protracted labor during childbirth.
The 19th Century
Documents of the 19th century report on the use of cannabis to control diarrhea in cholera and to stimulate appetite. In his reports of the late 1830's and early 1840's, O'Shaughnessy (1842: 431) stated that tetanus could be arrested and cured when treated with extra large doses of cannabis.
John Bell, M.D., Boston, reported enthusiastically in 1857, about the effects of cannabis in the control of mental and emotional disorders as opposed to the use of moral discipline to restrain the mentally ill. Similarly, in 1858, Moureau. de Tours reported several case histories of manic and depressive disorders treated with hashish (Walton, 1938: 3).
The Ohio State Medical Society's Committee on Cannabis Indica, convened in 1860, reported that their respondents claimed cannabis successfully treated neuralgic pain, dysmenorhea, uterine hemorrhage, hysteria, delirium tremens, mania, palsy, whooping cough, infantile convulsions, asthma, gonorrhea, nervous rheumatism, chronic bronchitis, muscular spasms, tetanus, epilepsy and appetite stimulation (McMeens, 1860: 1).
The India Hemp Commission (1894: 174) likewise was informed of similar medicinal uses for cannabis. Specific reports included the use of cannabis as an analgesic, a restorer of energy, a hemostat, an ecbolic, and an antidiaretic. Cannabis was also mentioned as an aid in treating hay fever, cholera, dysentery, gonorrhea, diabetes, impotence, urinary incontinence, swelling of the testicles, granulation of open sores, and chronic ulcers. Other beneficial effects attributed to cannabis were prevention of insomnia, relief of anxiety, protection against cholera, alleviation of hunger and as an aid to concentration of attention.
MEDICAL USES IN THE 20TH CENTURY
Despite the fact that marijuana was made illegal in the United States in 1937, research has continued on the medical uses of marijuana. The findings include various possible medical applications of cannabis and its chemical derivatives.
One of the most recent and interesting findings (Frank, 1972) concerns the effect of cannabis in reducing interocular pressure. It was found that as the dose of marijuana increased, the pressure within the eye decreased by up to 30%. This occurred in normal persons as well as in those with glaucoma, a disease of the eye in which increased interocular pressure may cause blindness. Much more research is necessary in connection with this experimental clinical finding before final judgment can be passed on such a possible therapeutic value.
During the past 20 years in western medicine, marijuana has been assigned antibiotic activity; as a result, several studies relating to this possibility have been undertaken. H. B. M. Murphy (1963: 20) reported investigations in Eastern Europe. He stated that it is alleged to be active against gram positive organisms at 1/100,000 dilution, but to be largely inactivated by plasma, so that prospects for its use appear to be, confined to E. N. T. (ear, nose and throat) and skin infections.
Dr. J. Kabelikovi (1952: 500-503) and his coworkers carried out tests on rats, which were similar to tests carried out with penicillin in vitro. The alcohol extract of cannabis was bacterially effective against many gram-positive and one gram-negative microorganisms. It was also found that a paste form of external application was successful. According to Kabelikovi, from a study of 2,000 herbs by Czechoslovakian scientists it was found that cannabis indica (the Indian Hemp) was the most promising in the realm of antibiotics.
In a 1959 publication of Pharmacie, Krejci stated: ;From the flowering tips and leaves of hemp, cannabis sativa var indica bred in Middle Europe, were extracted a phenol and an acid fraction. From the acid fraction, two acids were obtained, of which one preserved its antibiotic properties (p. 349). In another Czechoslovakian publication, Krejci (1961: 1351-1353) referred to two additional samples with antibiotic activity.
Sample I in Fig. 1 has been sufficiently identified as cannabidiolic acid and sample 9 as cannabidiol. Both fractions show antibiotic activity. The results of tests lead us to conclude that the antibacterial action of cannabis sativa is not identical to the hashish effect found, for example, in tetrahydrocannabinol. However, it was established that cannabis sativa is effective as an antibiotic for local infections.
Kabelik, Krejci, and Santavy (1960: 13) include in Cannabis as a Medicant, the various microorganisms against which cannabis is effective.
Proof could be furnished that the cannabis extracts produce a very satisfactory antibacterial effect upon the following microbes: staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, steptococcus alpha haemolyticus, streptococcus beta haemolyticus, enterococcus, diplococcus pneumonia, B. anthracis, and corynebacterium diptheriae i.e., all of them gram-positive microorganisms. Noteworthy is the effect upon staphylococcus aureaus strains, which are resistant to penicillin and to other antibiotics.
Currently, several states have become more *enlightened* as to the medicinal uses of marijuana...California being prominent among them and Cannabis Sativa is prescribed for the many ills for which it is effective, from glaucoma to pain management and many more.
From Time Magazine:
While 13 states permit the limited sale of marijuana for medical use, and polls show a steady increase in the number of Americans who favor legalization, federal law still bans the cultivation, sale, or possession of marijuana. In fact, the feds still classify marijuana as a Schedule I drug, one that has no "currently accepted medical use" in the United States.
But supporters of legalization may have been handed their most convincing argument yet: the bummer economy. Advocates argue that if state or local governments could collect a tax on even a fraction of pot sales, it would help rescue cash-strapped communities. Not surprisingly, the idea is getting traction in California, home to both the nation"s largest supply of domestically grown marijuana (worth a estimated $14 billion a year) and to the country"s biggest state budget deficit (more than $26 billion).
So...without boring you to tears by posting more accounts of doctors and scientists that praise the medical efficacy of cannabis...let us continue...
It is easy to cultivate. Effects vary wildly of the end product due to cultivation.
However, this is one plant that will NOT pass as a decorative accent to your flower bed! A single plant growing in mid-cornfield can be spotted by searching LEOs due to it's unique heat signature on infra-red cameras.
Growing this for your medicine chest usually requires a little indoor horticulture. And a great deal of discretion.
I have always preferred to prepare this herbal treatment as a tea, rather than smoking it. As a tea, it focuses the effects on the body and doesn't give one the *head high* experienced by smoking.
As seen in the previous medical accounts, the uses are widespread...from glaucoma to arthritis to migraines to epilepsy...all legitimate conditions that could be treated by marijuana, if not for the gov't. crusade against it.
Will I grow it?
Again, absolutely.
I have seen first hand how effective a treatment it can be for several conditions, and since arthritis runs strong in my family, I plan on being able to sip a cup of tea to help out with the aches and pains of that condition should it ever strike me. As with opium poppies, the side effects are far less than those of medically prescribed treatments or even OTC medications.
People...if the crap hits the fan, you better realize that all those alphabet soup agencies such as the DEA, FBI, etc. will go kaput. So will your local pharmacy.
Get your knowledge NOW...you may need it later.
Maybe you don't want to go out and be *Johnny Poppyseed*...but don't you think it more advisable to have the knowledge but not need it than to need the knowledge and not have it?
Monday, April 6, 2009
Organization Impaired?
Me, too!
My pantry looks great. I obsess over keeping it organized.
My personal room...Ugh.
I don't know why, but my personal space always seem to be last on my *to do* list.
So, my April *to do* list has my room at the top.
Some of my food storage (long term) is in my room. Right now it is under my bed and taking up most of the space in my book case.
My books are scattered here and there. Bookcase, night stand, another small bookcase.
My sewing corner is a disaster. Seriously, that area needs a major overhaul!
I am finding that my lack of organization is impeding my completing projects, like sewing projects, art projects and the like. It sucks.
So...this month, as I get it organized, I will post any *good things* that helped me and might help others.
My issues are
1) Food storage. My long term supplies include 16 cases of MREs, 16 cases of #10 cans that won't fit in my pantry and the excess water supplies. (2 liter bottles)
2) Sewing area. I end up piling fabric in boxes, baskets and even bags. My tools (scissors, etc) are on the small table my sewing machine is on and my notions (thread, etc) are in a small plastic dresser I picked up at the dollar store.
3) My personal hygiene stuff (shampoo, make up, etc) is, again, on shelves in my crowded bookcase.
I live in a 15 x 15 room. So, I have to get this placed organized and stream-lined for the most efficient use of the space.
I am down-sizing my bed, from a king-sized to a full-sized. That will give me much more floor space, but will limit my under bed storage area. I am building a closet. I have no closet! So my clothes are on display hanging from a *make do* open closet I created in here. I plan on building shelves in the bottom of my closet for my shoes.
We'll see how it goes!
My pantry looks great. I obsess over keeping it organized.
My personal room...Ugh.
I don't know why, but my personal space always seem to be last on my *to do* list.
So, my April *to do* list has my room at the top.
Some of my food storage (long term) is in my room. Right now it is under my bed and taking up most of the space in my book case.
My books are scattered here and there. Bookcase, night stand, another small bookcase.
My sewing corner is a disaster. Seriously, that area needs a major overhaul!
I am finding that my lack of organization is impeding my completing projects, like sewing projects, art projects and the like. It sucks.
So...this month, as I get it organized, I will post any *good things* that helped me and might help others.
My issues are
1) Food storage. My long term supplies include 16 cases of MREs, 16 cases of #10 cans that won't fit in my pantry and the excess water supplies. (2 liter bottles)
2) Sewing area. I end up piling fabric in boxes, baskets and even bags. My tools (scissors, etc) are on the small table my sewing machine is on and my notions (thread, etc) are in a small plastic dresser I picked up at the dollar store.
3) My personal hygiene stuff (shampoo, make up, etc) is, again, on shelves in my crowded bookcase.
I live in a 15 x 15 room. So, I have to get this placed organized and stream-lined for the most efficient use of the space.
I am down-sizing my bed, from a king-sized to a full-sized. That will give me much more floor space, but will limit my under bed storage area. I am building a closet. I have no closet! So my clothes are on display hanging from a *make do* open closet I created in here. I plan on building shelves in the bottom of my closet for my shoes.
We'll see how it goes!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Mother...MOTHER?
Today a little blog about :
Vinegar Mother
We all use vinegar. In salad dressings, as a seasoning, in cooking, etc.
Most of us use white vinegar and apple cider vinegar.
Some of us get a little fancy and use wine vinegar or rice vinegar.(I personally adore rice vinegar!)Balsamic vinegar, too, is becoming de riguer in the home gourmets battery of necessary condiments to have on hand.
How many make their own vinegars? Show of hands, please? Anyone? Anyone....?
Well, we are going to learn how to make flavored vinegars and our own vinegar today!
Tasty, healthy and with many more uses than most imagine!
First, the flavored vinegars...
Flavored vinegars are easily made using store bought white, apple cider, rice or wine vinegars.
It is good to have a supply of quart canning jars on hand to make these. If you want to *gift* someone with your creation later, get a fancy bottle.
VINEGAR BASE
1 small bunch of parsley
1 teaspoon of peppercorns
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1 quart of your choice of vinegar: cider, white distilled, rice
wine, white wine, or red wine
Place the parsley, garlic, salt and pepper in a 2 quart ceramic or glass bowl.
Bring the vinegar to a boil. Pour the vinegar over the herbal mixture in the bowl.
Cover and let the mixture stand for two days. Strain the mixture and decant into a sterilized bottle. Add one to three sprigs of the herbs of your choice. Seal the bottle with a cork or lid. Let stand for two more weeks before using.
FLAVOR COMBINATIONS
Tarragon and lemon in white wine vinegar
Chives, basil, and parsley in white wine vinegar
Oregano, rosemary and thyme in red wine vinegar
Lemon and dill in cider vinegar
Garlic, chives blossoms and chervil in red wine vinegar
Cilantro, jalapeño pepper and lime in white distilled vinegar
(this one is hot)
Lavender blossoms in cider vinegar
Ginger root and cilantro in rice wine vinegar.
Use herb vinegar in salad dressings, marinades, or to deglaze pans.
Basil, Lemon, Chive Vinegar
1 cup white wine vinegar
3 large strips of lemon zest
3-4 whole leaves fresh basil
10 stalks fresh chives
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basil Peppercorn Vinegar
1 cup white wine vinegar
4-5 leaves fresh basil
1/2 to 1 tsp. whole black peppercorns
3-4 whole peeled garlic cloves
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dill Peppercorn Vinegar
1 cup red wine vinegar
4 sprigs fresh dill
1/2 to 1 tsp. whole black peppercorns
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Garlic Green Onion Vinegar
1 cup red or white wine vinegar
4-5 peeled whole garlic cloves
2-3 stalks green onions
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosemary Garlic Vinegar
1 cup red or white wine vinegar
4-5 peeled whole garlic cloves
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spicy Chile Pepper Vinegar
1 cup red or white wine vinegar
1 or 2 whole jalapeño peppers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Use the following ingredients in any combination you see fit.
garlic
green onions
chives
basil
rosemary
fresh mint
fresh oregano
fresh cilantro
whole peppercorns
lemon zest
lime zest
orange zest
chile peppers
fresh tarragon
bay leaves
The process is simple. Cut your ingredients to a size that will be completely submerged in the liquid. Put ingredients into clean quart jars and pour red or white wine vinegar over them. Cap the jars and store in a cool, dark place for at least three weeks. If you don't have that much time, you can speed the process up somewhat by heating the vinegar till it's lukewarm and pouring it over ingredients that have been chopped or crushed. Store this in a cool dry place for at least ten days, then strain and discard the chopped or crushed ingredients from the vinegar. Return the vinegar to a cleaned jar and add new "whole" ingredients.
BLUEBERRY VINEGAR
1 1/2 cups white wine vinegar
1/2 cup canned blueberries plus
1/4 cup blueberry syrup from can
OR
1 and 1/2 cups white wine vinegar
1 cup FRESH blueberries, slightly crushed.
1/4 cup honey
Pour into a quart jar with an airtight seal. Seal and store in a cool dark place at room temperature at least 1 week. I would go for two weeks on this (but that's just me)Strain at the end of 2 weeks into a clean quart jar.
A serving suggestion is to add some extra virgin olive oil and dress a salad of pears, Gorgonzola, walnuts and mixed greens.
Makes 20 ounces.
DILL VINEGAR
Fill jar with dill blossoms. Cover with cider vinegar. Let stand 3 weeks in sun; strain.
MINT VINEGAR
Fill jar with sprigs of mint. Cover with cider vinegar. Let stand 3 weeks in sun; strain.
CELERY VINEGAR
Fill jar with fresh celery leaves and tips. Cover with cider vinegar. Let stand 3 weeks in sun; strain.
Fruit Vinegar
1 cup red raspberries or other fruit (Any berry is good, also Peaches are yummy for this!)
1 quart red wine vinegar
Place clean fruit in a sterilized jar. Warm the vinegar in a non-reactive pan, then pour it over the fruit. Seal the jar. Let it stand for 1 month, then strain out the fruit and bottle the resulting vinegar in sterilized jars. For a refreshing summer drink, put a couple of teaspoons of Raspberry vinegar in a glass of club soda!
Makes 1 quart.
GARLIC VINEGAR
4 to 6 minced garlic cloves
1 quart cider vinegar
Put minced garlic cloves in cider vinegar. Let stand 20 days.
Strain and bottle.
HOT HOT VINEGAR
9 chilies de árbol
7 cascabel chilies
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro leaves
2 fresh scallions
3 garlic cloves, halves
3 3/4 cups cider vinegar
In a dry cast iron skillet, toast chiles briefly over medium heat, just until fragrance begins to be released. Place the chiles in a quart bottle or jar. Add cilantro, scallions and garlic, using a wooden spoon handle to help position the ingredients.
In a saucepan, bring the vinegar to a boil, and pour as much of it over the chilies, vegetables and herbs as will fit in the bottle or jar. Cool to room temperature, cover, and store in a dark place for at least 5 days before using.
CITRUS VINEGAR
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 small orange or tangerine, peeled and segments pulled apart.
1 and 1/2 cups rice vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
1 tablespoon honey
Put segments, honey and zest in quart jar. Heat vinegar in non-reactive pan until very warm but not hot. Pour vinegar over fruit/zest/honey and tightly cap jar. Store in dark place for 1 week. Strain and store in clean jar.
This is wonderful on summer fruit salads!
ROSE PETAL ALMOND VINEGAR
Around 2 to cups loose fresh rose petals.
1/2 cup crushed raw almonds (Just get some raw almonds and crunch them up good by beating them with a rolling pin or a pan while you have the almonds in a ziplock bag or something)
1 quart white wine or rice vinegar
Fill a quart jar with loose rose petals.Add crushed almonds.
Add vinegar, tightly seal and store in dark place for 2 to 3 weeks.
Strain into clean quart jar.
This stuff is heavenly! Mixed in ginger ale, it makes a lovely summer drink.
Deglaze a chicken pan with it and add it to the sauce...drooooool. Mixed with a oil to make a salad dressing, it is wonderful on chicken salads, fruit salads, etc.
Now that you have seen all the variations of vinegar...okay, SOME of the variations, use your imaginations, there are many more...lets make our own vinegar.
The yeast spores that make vinegar are all around us. They float through the air, just looking for a friendly place to land and begin reproducing.
Your job is to *corral* those spores and give them a happy place to reproduce and start up their own little living community.
They like sugars, they like wine. (Little boozers!)They even like honey!
And honey vinegar is a *soft* vinegar. Tart, but not to the point of *ewwwwww...puckerface!*
So, here is how to make your own Honey Vinegar. This is a recipe altered from one in a 1905 cookbook. I have altered it so you can make your vinegar faster. (Otherwise it is a good 3 month process!)
HONEY VINEGAR
You will need a ONE GALLON container. A glass canning jar or a crock is best.NO METAL AT ALL! Also, if you use a crock, make sure it does not have a glaze that will interact with the vinegar.
You will also need some cheesecloth to cover the top of the jar/crock. You can tie it on with string or fasten it with a rubber band.
Now, for the ingredients:
1 cup RAW Honey. No pasteurized or blended honey.
7 cups distilled water or bottle spring water. You do NOT want to use chlorinated, fluoridated treated water from a municipal system.
1/2 cup natural apple cider vinegar. They carry this at most Whole Foods or other organic grocers. Some main-stream grocers carry it as well.
Pour the honey into your gallon jar. Heat the water to very warm and pour it in the jar slowly, mixing it with the honey (use a wooden spoon!). Let cool 20 minutes or so, them mix in the vinegar.
Now comes the fun part!
Cover the top of the jar with the cheesecloth tightly enough to keep out bugs, but not, repeat, NOT *airtight*. Air HAS to be able to reach the mixture!
Now, set it outside. Picnic table, back porch, in a window-box, where-ever. Just make sure it will get plenty of fresh air and some sunshine!
Don't do anything except perhaps add a bit of water (if it seems to be evaporating) for two weeks.
By the end of two weeks, the mixture should have a slimy, soupy mixture in the bottom and the contents should smell *vinegar-y*.
The slimy soupy thing is your *mother*. You can use portions of that to make more vinegar whenever you wish!
Now, get a clean gallon jar or 3 or 4 clean quart jars with tightly sealing lids.
Remove the *mother* and put it in one jar. Cover it with wine, a honey/water mixture or apple cider. Put the lid on this one LOOSELY and store in dark place.
Strain the vinegar in your gallon container through fine cheesecloth into the quart jars. These you can cap tightly and store in the fridge, OR you can pour in a pan, bring to a quick boil for a minute or two and then pour into jars that you tightly seal and put in the back of your pantry.
Your *mother*, as long as it is fed, will continue to grow and produce vinegar.
Here's a couple videos I found on youtube about making vinegar....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEwOzhyVYyc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JZMNaT_J8o
Vinegar Mother
We all use vinegar. In salad dressings, as a seasoning, in cooking, etc.
Most of us use white vinegar and apple cider vinegar.
Some of us get a little fancy and use wine vinegar or rice vinegar.(I personally adore rice vinegar!)Balsamic vinegar, too, is becoming de riguer in the home gourmets battery of necessary condiments to have on hand.
How many make their own vinegars? Show of hands, please? Anyone? Anyone....?
Well, we are going to learn how to make flavored vinegars and our own vinegar today!
Tasty, healthy and with many more uses than most imagine!
First, the flavored vinegars...
Flavored vinegars are easily made using store bought white, apple cider, rice or wine vinegars.
It is good to have a supply of quart canning jars on hand to make these. If you want to *gift* someone with your creation later, get a fancy bottle.
VINEGAR BASE
1 small bunch of parsley
1 teaspoon of peppercorns
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1 quart of your choice of vinegar: cider, white distilled, rice
wine, white wine, or red wine
Place the parsley, garlic, salt and pepper in a 2 quart ceramic or glass bowl.
Bring the vinegar to a boil. Pour the vinegar over the herbal mixture in the bowl.
Cover and let the mixture stand for two days. Strain the mixture and decant into a sterilized bottle. Add one to three sprigs of the herbs of your choice. Seal the bottle with a cork or lid. Let stand for two more weeks before using.
FLAVOR COMBINATIONS
Tarragon and lemon in white wine vinegar
Chives, basil, and parsley in white wine vinegar
Oregano, rosemary and thyme in red wine vinegar
Lemon and dill in cider vinegar
Garlic, chives blossoms and chervil in red wine vinegar
Cilantro, jalapeño pepper and lime in white distilled vinegar
(this one is hot)
Lavender blossoms in cider vinegar
Ginger root and cilantro in rice wine vinegar.
Use herb vinegar in salad dressings, marinades, or to deglaze pans.
Basil, Lemon, Chive Vinegar
1 cup white wine vinegar
3 large strips of lemon zest
3-4 whole leaves fresh basil
10 stalks fresh chives
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basil Peppercorn Vinegar
1 cup white wine vinegar
4-5 leaves fresh basil
1/2 to 1 tsp. whole black peppercorns
3-4 whole peeled garlic cloves
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dill Peppercorn Vinegar
1 cup red wine vinegar
4 sprigs fresh dill
1/2 to 1 tsp. whole black peppercorns
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Garlic Green Onion Vinegar
1 cup red or white wine vinegar
4-5 peeled whole garlic cloves
2-3 stalks green onions
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosemary Garlic Vinegar
1 cup red or white wine vinegar
4-5 peeled whole garlic cloves
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spicy Chile Pepper Vinegar
1 cup red or white wine vinegar
1 or 2 whole jalapeño peppers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Use the following ingredients in any combination you see fit.
garlic
green onions
chives
basil
rosemary
fresh mint
fresh oregano
fresh cilantro
whole peppercorns
lemon zest
lime zest
orange zest
chile peppers
fresh tarragon
bay leaves
The process is simple. Cut your ingredients to a size that will be completely submerged in the liquid. Put ingredients into clean quart jars and pour red or white wine vinegar over them. Cap the jars and store in a cool, dark place for at least three weeks. If you don't have that much time, you can speed the process up somewhat by heating the vinegar till it's lukewarm and pouring it over ingredients that have been chopped or crushed. Store this in a cool dry place for at least ten days, then strain and discard the chopped or crushed ingredients from the vinegar. Return the vinegar to a cleaned jar and add new "whole" ingredients.
BLUEBERRY VINEGAR
1 1/2 cups white wine vinegar
1/2 cup canned blueberries plus
1/4 cup blueberry syrup from can
OR
1 and 1/2 cups white wine vinegar
1 cup FRESH blueberries, slightly crushed.
1/4 cup honey
Pour into a quart jar with an airtight seal. Seal and store in a cool dark place at room temperature at least 1 week. I would go for two weeks on this (but that's just me)Strain at the end of 2 weeks into a clean quart jar.
A serving suggestion is to add some extra virgin olive oil and dress a salad of pears, Gorgonzola, walnuts and mixed greens.
Makes 20 ounces.
DILL VINEGAR
Fill jar with dill blossoms. Cover with cider vinegar. Let stand 3 weeks in sun; strain.
MINT VINEGAR
Fill jar with sprigs of mint. Cover with cider vinegar. Let stand 3 weeks in sun; strain.
CELERY VINEGAR
Fill jar with fresh celery leaves and tips. Cover with cider vinegar. Let stand 3 weeks in sun; strain.
Fruit Vinegar
1 cup red raspberries or other fruit (Any berry is good, also Peaches are yummy for this!)
1 quart red wine vinegar
Place clean fruit in a sterilized jar. Warm the vinegar in a non-reactive pan, then pour it over the fruit. Seal the jar. Let it stand for 1 month, then strain out the fruit and bottle the resulting vinegar in sterilized jars. For a refreshing summer drink, put a couple of teaspoons of Raspberry vinegar in a glass of club soda!
Makes 1 quart.
GARLIC VINEGAR
4 to 6 minced garlic cloves
1 quart cider vinegar
Put minced garlic cloves in cider vinegar. Let stand 20 days.
Strain and bottle.
HOT HOT VINEGAR
9 chilies de árbol
7 cascabel chilies
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro leaves
2 fresh scallions
3 garlic cloves, halves
3 3/4 cups cider vinegar
In a dry cast iron skillet, toast chiles briefly over medium heat, just until fragrance begins to be released. Place the chiles in a quart bottle or jar. Add cilantro, scallions and garlic, using a wooden spoon handle to help position the ingredients.
In a saucepan, bring the vinegar to a boil, and pour as much of it over the chilies, vegetables and herbs as will fit in the bottle or jar. Cool to room temperature, cover, and store in a dark place for at least 5 days before using.
CITRUS VINEGAR
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 small orange or tangerine, peeled and segments pulled apart.
1 and 1/2 cups rice vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
1 tablespoon honey
Put segments, honey and zest in quart jar. Heat vinegar in non-reactive pan until very warm but not hot. Pour vinegar over fruit/zest/honey and tightly cap jar. Store in dark place for 1 week. Strain and store in clean jar.
This is wonderful on summer fruit salads!
ROSE PETAL ALMOND VINEGAR
Around 2 to cups loose fresh rose petals.
1/2 cup crushed raw almonds (Just get some raw almonds and crunch them up good by beating them with a rolling pin or a pan while you have the almonds in a ziplock bag or something)
1 quart white wine or rice vinegar
Fill a quart jar with loose rose petals.Add crushed almonds.
Add vinegar, tightly seal and store in dark place for 2 to 3 weeks.
Strain into clean quart jar.
This stuff is heavenly! Mixed in ginger ale, it makes a lovely summer drink.
Deglaze a chicken pan with it and add it to the sauce...drooooool. Mixed with a oil to make a salad dressing, it is wonderful on chicken salads, fruit salads, etc.
Now that you have seen all the variations of vinegar...okay, SOME of the variations, use your imaginations, there are many more...lets make our own vinegar.
The yeast spores that make vinegar are all around us. They float through the air, just looking for a friendly place to land and begin reproducing.
Your job is to *corral* those spores and give them a happy place to reproduce and start up their own little living community.
They like sugars, they like wine. (Little boozers!)They even like honey!
And honey vinegar is a *soft* vinegar. Tart, but not to the point of *ewwwwww...puckerface!*
So, here is how to make your own Honey Vinegar. This is a recipe altered from one in a 1905 cookbook. I have altered it so you can make your vinegar faster. (Otherwise it is a good 3 month process!)
HONEY VINEGAR
You will need a ONE GALLON container. A glass canning jar or a crock is best.NO METAL AT ALL! Also, if you use a crock, make sure it does not have a glaze that will interact with the vinegar.
You will also need some cheesecloth to cover the top of the jar/crock. You can tie it on with string or fasten it with a rubber band.
Now, for the ingredients:
1 cup RAW Honey. No pasteurized or blended honey.
7 cups distilled water or bottle spring water. You do NOT want to use chlorinated, fluoridated treated water from a municipal system.
1/2 cup natural apple cider vinegar. They carry this at most Whole Foods or other organic grocers. Some main-stream grocers carry it as well.
Pour the honey into your gallon jar. Heat the water to very warm and pour it in the jar slowly, mixing it with the honey (use a wooden spoon!). Let cool 20 minutes or so, them mix in the vinegar.
Now comes the fun part!
Cover the top of the jar with the cheesecloth tightly enough to keep out bugs, but not, repeat, NOT *airtight*. Air HAS to be able to reach the mixture!
Now, set it outside. Picnic table, back porch, in a window-box, where-ever. Just make sure it will get plenty of fresh air and some sunshine!
Don't do anything except perhaps add a bit of water (if it seems to be evaporating) for two weeks.
By the end of two weeks, the mixture should have a slimy, soupy mixture in the bottom and the contents should smell *vinegar-y*.
The slimy soupy thing is your *mother*. You can use portions of that to make more vinegar whenever you wish!
Now, get a clean gallon jar or 3 or 4 clean quart jars with tightly sealing lids.
Remove the *mother* and put it in one jar. Cover it with wine, a honey/water mixture or apple cider. Put the lid on this one LOOSELY and store in dark place.
Strain the vinegar in your gallon container through fine cheesecloth into the quart jars. These you can cap tightly and store in the fridge, OR you can pour in a pan, bring to a quick boil for a minute or two and then pour into jars that you tightly seal and put in the back of your pantry.
Your *mother*, as long as it is fed, will continue to grow and produce vinegar.
Here's a couple videos I found on youtube about making vinegar....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEwOzhyVYyc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JZMNaT_J8o
Thursday, January 1, 2009
A New Year
The new year is here and I know everyone out there is making New Years Resolutions...that they will probably break to shards by February...
I have an easy resolution for you:
Spend $5.00 per week to prepare.
You can use that 5 bucks to buy extra food for your pantry, items for your B.O.B or F.A.K.
I know 5 dollars doesn't sound like a lot, but you can buy a substantial amount of preparation for that 5 bucks per week!
Here's an example of one month...all these items are easily obtainable, either locally or online.
BOB Items
Gym Bag (easily found for $5)
50 ft of clothesline (usually runs about 2.99)
8 x 8 tarp (4.99 at my local surplus store)
Magnesium firestarter (4.99 at local military surplus store)
P-38 (99 cents at local military surplus store)
Emergency blanket (2.00 at local surplus store)
First Aid Kit (I hit the dollar store for this stuff!)
Small bottle of aspirin ( a dollar)
Box of Bandaids (again, only a dollar)
Tweezers ($1)
Bottle of Rubbing Alcohol (a buck)
Bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide ($1)
Bar of Soap (got 5 for a buck!)
Baby-Wipes ($1)
Scissors ($1)
Package of Air Masks ($1)
Roll of Medical Tape ($1)
Box of Gauze Pads ($1)
You get the idea....
For your food storage the possibilities are endless...
Cans of tuna fish or chicken, Spam, dried pasta, box dinners of mac and cheese, oatmeal, rice, flour and on and on....
Think of how much money you waste each week. Five dollars is a small amount, in the grand scheme of things. Cut out a couple trips to Starbucks each week or rent one less movie and get a free one from the library. Curtail your smoking a bit. Carry your lunch instead of getting something at a fast food joint. You'll never miss that 5 bucks, but you will be able to look with satisfaction at your growing pantry or FAK or BOB.
So...HAPPY NEW YEAR!
And shoot for 5 bucks a week for preparation!
I have an easy resolution for you:
Spend $5.00 per week to prepare.
You can use that 5 bucks to buy extra food for your pantry, items for your B.O.B or F.A.K.
I know 5 dollars doesn't sound like a lot, but you can buy a substantial amount of preparation for that 5 bucks per week!
Here's an example of one month...all these items are easily obtainable, either locally or online.
BOB Items
Gym Bag (easily found for $5)
50 ft of clothesline (usually runs about 2.99)
8 x 8 tarp (4.99 at my local surplus store)
Magnesium firestarter (4.99 at local military surplus store)
P-38 (99 cents at local military surplus store)
Emergency blanket (2.00 at local surplus store)
First Aid Kit (I hit the dollar store for this stuff!)
Small bottle of aspirin ( a dollar)
Box of Bandaids (again, only a dollar)
Tweezers ($1)
Bottle of Rubbing Alcohol (a buck)
Bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide ($1)
Bar of Soap (got 5 for a buck!)
Baby-Wipes ($1)
Scissors ($1)
Package of Air Masks ($1)
Roll of Medical Tape ($1)
Box of Gauze Pads ($1)
You get the idea....
For your food storage the possibilities are endless...
Cans of tuna fish or chicken, Spam, dried pasta, box dinners of mac and cheese, oatmeal, rice, flour and on and on....
Think of how much money you waste each week. Five dollars is a small amount, in the grand scheme of things. Cut out a couple trips to Starbucks each week or rent one less movie and get a free one from the library. Curtail your smoking a bit. Carry your lunch instead of getting something at a fast food joint. You'll never miss that 5 bucks, but you will be able to look with satisfaction at your growing pantry or FAK or BOB.
So...HAPPY NEW YEAR!
And shoot for 5 bucks a week for preparation!
Friday, December 26, 2008
First Aid Kits
I have seen folks who have had first aid kits consisted of little more than a box of bandaids and a tube of neosporin. I have seen others that would qualify as a small hospital.
Mine lies somewhere in the middle.
A First Aid Kit (FAK) need not *break the bank*. You can add to it slowly and gradually, similar to your other emergency supplies.
Here are the contents of a basic FAK, I have all this PLUS more items I will not list here.
First Aid Kit Contents
3 drawstring trash bags
5 quart sized ziplock freezer bags
1 box baking soda (unopened, sealed in ziplock bag)
1 bottle white vinegar
1 bottle hydrogen peroxide
1 bottle rubbing alcohol
1 Epi-pen (Dr.'s Rx. Used for immediate treatment of allergic reactions)
1 bottle hydrocodone (Vicoden) 30 pills (Dr.s Rx, strong pain reliever)
1 large bottle aspirin
1 large bottle non-aspirin pain reliever (Tylenol, or store brand)
1 tube Icy-Hot
1 box Benadryl Allergy
1 box Benadryl Cold and Sinus
1 box Tylenol PM
1 box Ex-Lax
1 box Imodium (for diarrhea)
1 tube neosporin
1 tube Benadryl cream
1 bottle iodine
2 bottles Calomine lotion
1 bottle Lubriderm medicated lotion
1 bottle aloe-vera gel for sunburn
1 bottle Poison Ivy extract (homeopathic remedy)
1 bottle Visine
1 bottle Clear eyes
1 bottle Lice shampoo
1 tube Ora-gel
1 bottle Oil of Cloves
1 tube anti-fungal cream
1 hot water bottle
1 ice pack bottle
1 pack air filter masks
4 rolls surgical tape
4 rolls cloth tape
2 large rolls gauze bandage
10 gauze pads (large)
10 gauze pads (med.)
10 gauze pads (small)
Large bag of assorted sized Bandaids (approx. 300)
1 bar soap
2 small packs tissue
1 rectal thermometer
1 oral thermometer
3 pairs of tweezers
1 pocket mask (for administrating mouth to mouth)
1 bag cotton balls
10 adhesive removal pads
25 alcohol pads
1 candle
1 lighter
1 pack of matches (in ziplock w/lighter and candle)
1 EENT light (you know, the little light the doc uses to look in your ears and nose, etc.)
Lets do this by sections:
First:
3 drawstring trash bags
5 quart sized ziplock freezer bags
1 box baking soda (unopened, sealed in ziplock bag)
1 bottle white vinegar
You probably have all those items already. The trash bags are good for myriad purposes. Improvised rain poncho, ice pack, to bind up a wound, dispose of contaminated bandages, etc.
The Ziplock bags can be used for disposal of biological wastes, to take a urine or stool sample to a doctor, to put a severed finger or toe in until you can get to the doctor, to put a knocked out tooth in (with a bit of milk) so you can rush to the dentist (Believe it or not, if that is done and you can get to the dentist within an hour, they may be able to re-implant your tooth!), you can also use the bags to make a hot water bottle or an ice pack, to blend ingredients for a poultice, etc.
Baking soda can be used for bathing to lessen the itching of various rashes and conditions, mixed with a bit of water into a paste to put on a bee-sting, a spoonful in a glass of water will relieve heartburn or to add salt back into the system if severely dehydrated.
Vinegar takes the *burn* out of sunburn, can be used to wash wounds, will lessen diarhhea whe you add a couple spoonfuls to a glass of water, will detach leeches and some other *clingy* vermin such as chiggers.
1 bottle hydrogen peroxide
1 bottle rubbing alcohol
These two items should be in EVERY FAK.
Peroxide will wash out wounds, sterilize (to an extent) tweezers, needles, etc.
Alcohol, again--wound treatment, sterilization of implements, rub downs to bring down fevers, etc.
1 Epi-pen (Dr.'s Rx. Used for immediate treatment of allergic reactions)
1 bottle hydrocodone (Vicoden) 30 pills (Dr.s Rx, strong pain reliever)
These two items can only be obtained with a Doctors prescription.
DO NOT GET EITHER IF YOU OR A HOUSHOLD MEMBER HAS A HISTORY OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE!
I have the Epi-Pen as a few members of my family are allergic to bee stings. If I do not use it within a years time, I take the unused unit back to my doctor and obtain a new prescription. DO NOT RELY ON OUT-OF-DATE MEDICATIONS! They can and will kill you in an emergency situation.
Same for the hydrocodone. I have exactly 30 pills. In the bottle is a piece of paper and a small pen is attached to the bottle. If I need to take this medication (or anyone else in my household), I write down the day, time and reason. Again, at the end of one year, I take the bottle back to my doctor and get a new prescription.
1 large bottle aspirin
1 large bottle non-aspirin pain reliever (Tylenol, or store brand)
1 tube Icy-Hot
1 box Benadryl Allergy
1 box Benadryl Cold and Sinus
1 box Tylenol PM
1 box Ex-Lax
1 box Imodium (for diarrhea)
1 tube neosporin
1 tube Benadryl cream
1 bottle iodine
1 bottle Visine
1 bottle Clear eyes
1 bottle Lice shampoo
1 tube Ora-gel
1 bottle Oil of Cloves
1 tube anti-fungal cream
2 bottles Calomine lotion
1 bottle Lubriderm medicated lotion
1 bottle aloe-vera gel for sunburn
1 bottle Poison Ivy extract (homeopathic remedy)
Here's where it gets pricey! All of these are OTC (over the counter, available without a prescription) Some (such as the aloe-vera gel) need to be rotated pretty regularly (every 6 months to a year). But if you buy only one of item each week or every two weeks, it isn't so bad on the wallet.
The items are self-explanatory. In an emergency situation, especially a SHTF one, all could be quite useful for the normal day-to-day ills of your household.
1 hot water bottle
1 ice pack bottle
1 pack air filter masks
4 rolls surgical tape
4 rolls cloth tape
2 large rolls gauze bandage
10 gauze pads (large)
10 gauze pads (med.)
10 gauze pads (small)
Large bag of assorted sized Bandaids (approx. 300)
1 bar soap
2 small packs tissue
1 rectal thermometer
1 oral thermometer
3 pairs of tweezers
1 pocket mask (for administrating mouth to mouth)
1 bag cotton balls
10 adhesive removal pads
25 alcohol pads
1 candle
1 lighter
1 pack of matches (in ziplock w/lighter and candle)
1 EENT light (you know, the little light the doc uses to look in your ears and nose, etc.)
Some of this stuff is pricey, some not so much.
Most of this is for physical repairs, removing splinters, dressing wounds, etc.
Again, one item bought at regular intervals and added to your FAK is a great way to spread out the cost.
I keep my primary FAK in a large woven picnic basket.
You may want to use a small suitcase or a gym bag. Whatever works for you is fine. Try to keep it as organized as possible and always remember to keep a pad of paper and a pen or pencil.
Here's mine, all packed and ready to go...
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