tiffany thrasher

Usnea lichen is a known traditional medicine for stopping infections and boosting the immune system. It's an effective antibacterial (not so much antiviral or antifungal) and aids in wound healing.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378874120335443

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0753332217319091

Usnea is a grey-green, fruticose lichen that hangs from trees. The easiest way to ID it is by the stretchy central "rubber band" in their thallus. They are also bushy looking, with many small hairy side branches coming off the main stem.

You can make a tincture with usnea or powder the lichen as a poultice. You can collect it from the forest (PLEASE only collect naturally fallen lichen from the ground, do not remove it from trees - it takes an incredibly long time to grow and it's very harmful to their populations to harvest it from trees)

This site is pretty helpful on some background and how to make it, but the linked studies above contradict the claims of antifungal and antiviral capabilities:

http://goodnesstea.com/blog/2018/2/15/the-herb-thats-taken-a-lichen-to-healing

Auxin is a plant hormone that causes cell elongation. It makes the top of the plant expand and grow and also makes roots branch out and grow.

Auxins content is really high in willow and in aloe, so by dipping plantcuttings in liquid from them, the cells in the presence of auxin start to elongate and grow.

I think honey is used as an antibacterial/antifungal to prevent those little guys from infecting/rotting/just generally getting into the fresh cut of the plant.

That is a really beautiful bread! I've been working on making Sourdough rye lately and half the time it turns out great and the other half it barely rises at all. I haven't tried rising/baking in my cast iron, so I'll definitely try that. Thanks!

I've made some moccasins out of old jeans/canvas. A great waterproof upcycled sole is to cut the sole out of old car tire inner tubes (you can get old ones for free at tire shops usually). They are much thicker than regular bicycle innertubes. Rubber cement and stich along the edge. My partners pair is going strong after 10 years 😸


You can also mix old tire shavings with rubber cement and paint a sole on in layers. There's an art store in the bay area that sells the rubber  shavings, but you might be able to get them from a tire shop too.

Vickey McDonald wrote:Love this threads. All great ideas.  The slippers though... Such a super idea. What are the outer soles made from? Are they just soft cloth or do they have a more "solid" bottom?

These are pretty much the only places I buy things from:

Thrift stores
Habitat for humanity ReStores
CSA box
Farmers markets
Craigslist
Ebay
Local Facebook selling groups for city/county
Nextdoor sale page
Grocery Outlet
Ross Dress for Less

It's really hard to find info on what plants grow well with citrus trees, lemon in particular.

I live in a rental place with a fully mature lemon tree, and really want to plant beneficial companions around it so I dont have to deal with the grass and burr clover that are taking over everywhere. The lemon tree is about 50ft. away from a fruitless (so annoying) mulberry tree and like 10ft. from a juniper. There are also rose bushes about every 10 ft. on this property.

So far I've found that these are companions for citrus trees:
dill
yarrow
thyme
marigold
borage
cosmos
calendula
clover, alfalfa, peas (legumes in general)
fennel
lemon balm (or any mints)
parsley
tansy

Anyone know of anything else or if any of these are wrong? Maybe some other perennials?

I want to draw up a little guild map, when I do I'll post it up here..

John Elliott wrote:
I sent some seeds to another Permie in the Los Angeles area. It's definitely hot enough to grow in CA; it's the water that would be the problem. Phyllanthus has lots of shallow roots, and it doesn't like being dried out. On the other hand, it is quite a vigorous weed in a well watered lawn.

Haha, a well-watered lawn is something i definitely do not have. if by "well-watered" you mean "full of burr clover, milk thistle and scarlet pumpernil, which is the only thing that will grow because we are in a never-ending drought" then lol, yes.

I'm moving from the central valley out to the Santa Cruz area this summer, which at least has the awesome ocean fogs to keep things moist. It's a neverending hellscape of heat and dryness here in the central valley in summer, I do not think that cute little tropical plant would like it here ..

John Weiland wrote:don't know if you like nutritional yeast flakes....but note the near double mass amount of lysine to arginine. (On a "per molecule basis", there may actually be more than double the lysine to argine ratio in this mixture.) I haven't had nearly the same number and severity of outbreaks as in earlier years, but it would be difficult to sift out whether that was due to reduced stress, changed diet, the lysine regime, or the discovery of a ninth planet in the solar system

I do indeed love nooch! (it's what the cool kids are calling it these days haha) I put it in most of my salad dressings and soup stocks and make a yummy mac and cheeze sauce out of it.. That's something I always have on hand, never realized it had so much lysine. Good to know! I'd much rather eat a food than take a pill, but will if things get really bad..

PS - I'm in astronomy in college right now and am also super stoked about this mysterious gigantic 9th planet... it just keeps reminding me of this everytime someone calls it Planet 9 tho.. Space Vampires!

John Elliott wrote:Specifically Phyllanthus urinaria. There is quite a bit of research showing that this humble weed is active against herpes simplex virus.
And your request comes at a propitious time, as chamber bitter, mimosaweed, chanca piedra, or whatever you like to call it is just starting to pop up in my garden. Soon I will be harvesting buckets of it, and if you would like to try some, you can send me a PM with your address. It doesn't have much taste to it, but mixed in with chamomile and lemongrass, it makes a nice herb tea.

Wow awesome! That's pretty amazing. I already have a bunch of melissa growing, so that would be great to have another plant I could grow along with it. Do you think this plant will grow in the central CA coast since it looks like it is a tropical plant?... (maybe just in the summer I'm guessing, but since it's an annual that's all it would really do anyways )

How do you prepare it, just make a tea w/ it? Do you think it would work as a tincture? I like tinctures since I can make a bunch all at once and then have it available for months..

The reason I started this whole thread is because all of the herbal products in the stores, as well as lysine pills, are pretty expensive and it would be so great to have an entire section of my garden dedicated to growing plants that can stop HSV. Free drugs! Woo!