HEALING REMEDIES & THE SURVIVAL MEDICINE CABINET – by Susan Bree

The focus on the healing powers of wild plants, weeds and trees has been important throughout history. Today, bushcraft is about thriving in a natural habitat, and the use of wild plants in herbal medicine fits in quite nicely. Furthermore, it is also important to have knowledge of for survival situations. 

Although it’s become incredibly popular of late, there’s nothing new about the concept of leading a holistic lifestyle. This is a means of living your life and healing your body using nature’s bounty. After all, this practice has been around for thousands of years, and today, many plants and fungi are an ingredient in modern medicine.

For this post, I’ve chosen to showcase the Celts and their use of plants, weeds and trees for medicinal purposes. If you were poorly way back then, you’d make an appointment to visit the ancient doctors of the Celts. These were the Druids, who used plants/trees and rituals in their healing practices.

Celts & Herbal Remedies

The first thing of note about Celts, is that they practised animism. This is a belief that all things on earth, whether animate or inanimate, contained a soul.  They therefore became great caretakers of nature. The last thing they wanted to do was anger the spirit or soul that resided within any plant or tree! Notice, I didn’t say “weed”, this is because they didn’t exist during this period. No, that’s a more modern term for what is otherwise a perfectly good plant. However, as technology developed, so too did weeds. After all, they’re merely plants that get in the way of humanity’s more modern needs.

In 2017 an ethnobotanical analysis showed that 128 plant species could treat wounds. And, today I’m going to concentrate on 3 of the more “obvious” plants. Meaning they are very common and easy to identify. More importantly, keeping on the theme, the Celts will have used these plants, as well as the wild mushroom I’m adding into my ‘survival medicine cabinet’.  So, here they are:

My Top 3 Plants for a Survival Medicine Cabinet

1. Nettle

The good old stinging nettle (Urtica dioica). If you haven’t heard of or experienced the wrath of a stinging nettle yet, then I have to ask, what planet do you live on? Did you know that during the war, nettle fibres were used to make cloth for clothing? A practice that the Celts, using the fibrous stem, used to produce not only a linen-like cloth but also rope. It’s worth bearing this in mind if you’re facing an extreme survival situation! This plant will have been used extensively by the Celts. They would make use of its ability to heal both internal and external bleeding and to heal skin conditions. Most certainly using it to treat and stop the bleeding wounds of their warriors due to its anti-haemorrhagic effect, when applied as a powder or poultice. 

Super-food

Teas and tinctures will also have found a place in a Druid’s medicine cabinet. The nettles anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-haemorrhagic effects having placed it there, possibly in the No.1 spot! Let’s not forget that nettles have a far higher iron content than spinach. This pretty much ranks it as a “super-food” as well.

Throw a yummy nettle soup together, and the result is special. You’ll ensure that your body is getting all the right nutrients, minerals and vitamins. It can also be used to treat arthritis, sciatica and muscle aches. The Romans are said to have flogged themselves with it for this purpose. This process is known as urtication, and the victim, oops, I mean the patient, flogs their aching joints with the whole nettle plant!

I prefer to take my medicine in a lovely cup of nettle tea. This gives you the same effect, thanks to the Boron in the nettle plant, and no pain whatsoever. To find out more about nettles, take a look at my blog post, “10 Reasons to Love Nettles”.  

2. Dandelions

We may all be familiar with the old playground taunt, “dandelions make you pee the bed”. This came about because they make an excellent diuretic! However, you’d have to eat an awful lot of them to pee the bed, and where’s the fun in that?  

Today herbalists, as did the Celts, use dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) as a detoxifier, blood cleanser and digestive aid. This powerful weed strengthens the liver and aids it in breaking down toxins. It therefore has a positive impact on conditions such as gallstones or kidney stones. Helping your body to break them down and eliminate them (which is pretty damn painful by the way – just saying!).

Quicker recovery time

The hollow stem of the dandelion is home to its milky juice, known as dandelion latex, use this latex to treat and heal wounds.  In a medical study, patients who had their tonsils removed were noted to have a far quicker recovery time when fed soup, which had been made using dandelions as one of the main ingredients.  

Because of its detoxifying “superpower”, dandelions should be in your survival medicine cabinet for sure. They’re a definite friend of the immune system, take them as a tea, tonic or soup. Of course, there are many other ways to include dandelions in your diet; it’s a case of letting your imagination fly! Which I’m guessing you may well have to do in a survival situation, finding new ways and means to cope with the situation you now find yourself in.  If you want to find out more about this rather amazing wild weed, then take a look at this article, which details 14 conditions that the dandelion can help to heal. 

Oh, and another thing, hands up if you remember Camp Coffee! (I have both hands in the air by the way) Well, you can do the same with dandelions! Instead of chicory, which is in Camp, you use the roots of the dandelion to make the coffee. Dig up the roots, wash them, air dry them or rig up a drying system, roast then grind them, and there you have it, coffee, without the nasty caffeine.    

3. Hawthorn

This humble tree/bush has astounding healing properties. If you’re encountering heart disease or problems, then this is the plant you need in your survival medicine cabinet. Its berries, leaves and flowers are packed full of antioxidants. You’ll find that congestive heart failure, hardening of the arteries, high cholesterol, blood pressure, and angina are all treated with a tincture, decoction or tea.

I recently wrote an article on ‘Homemade Herbal Remedies’ which will guide you through the process of making these herbal remedies.  Here’s a study that details the use of hawthorn extract to reduce high blood pressure in patients with Type 2 Diabetes. And, if you’re serious about survival and bushcraft, knowing and learning the many uses of the Hawthorn (Crataegus) is an absolute must. As with conventional medicine, long term use is not advised, with a recommendation of 16 weeks at the most, of 3 doses per day, taken as a tea, decoction or tincture.

Birch Polypore 

The birch polypore is an amazing wild mushroom which you have to make room for in your survival medicine cabinet. It’s readily available and easy to find, and rather than me prattling on about it here, why not take a look at this article, “The Secret Life of a Mushroom”, it’ll tell you everything you need to know about this amazing gift from Mother Nature.

Survival Medicine Cabinet

And there you have it. My top recommendations for the first shelf of the aforementioned medicine cabinet. I must say, if I were in a survival situation, I would want to allocate one person in the group as the “medicine doctor”, just as the Celts did, using the Druids for that very purpose! Said person, should be as knowledgable as possible in the administration and prescribing of the herbal remedies, survival, after all, is about preparation. And it’s always wise to have the right person fully trained and ready to go if necessary. I hope you’ve found my post helpful and I’ve really enjoyed writing it.

If you’d like to sign up to receive my blog posts, then all you have to do is click this link, ‘Subscribe Here’.  

You may also like:

Fruits of the Forest – by Renuka Russell