joseph vandyck

Poison Oak gets healed from oak acorns?!

"While the season for poison ivy is just about behind us, the season for acorns is in full swing. Many people have heard that acorns can be eaten, and a few have actually put them in their mouths, only to spit them out while their faces puckered up. This is due to the tannic acid in the acorns, which much be leached out. To do this, bring a large pot of water to a boil, then dump in the shelled acorns. Let them boil until the water turns a dark color, then remove the acorns and put them into another pot of clean, boiling water. Continue this process until they no longer have the puckering effect when you chew on them. Then use them for snacks, grind into flour, or use any way you please. It is important to put them into boiling water for good-tasting acorns, as putting them into a pot of cold water, then bringing it to a boil tends to lock in the tannic acid. Don't throw out the water, as it is naturally astringent (contracts or tightens up tissues) and great for the skin. By now you might be curious how this relates to poison ivy. The connection is that acorn water is amazingly effective in eliminating it. A recent discussion with a quick-witted summer camp director from Pennsylvania confirmed my anecdotal evidence. I was informed that it had eliminated symptoms in 95% of cases at his camp within three days. The method used in this case was to pour the acorn water into ice trays and freeze, then rub the ice on the affected area. Cold also helps with inflamed tissues, making the ice an ideal delivery mechanism. If you grind the acorns into flour you can make delicious and nutritious acorn bread."

what you guys think about that?

I've been reading about this eating of the poison oak leaves and guessing that the same works with poison ivy? I've been hesitant to try this. I also have found an interesting remedy for treating poison oak. If you have Oak trees you can harvest the acorns for eating. To make them palatable you can boil the shelled acorns in water for about ten minutes and the water turns brown from the tannic acid released. This tannic acid water can be used instead of thrown away as a way to heal poison oak. Heres a quote I read recently, does anyone have experience with this?

"While the season for poison ivy is just about behind us, the season for acorns is in full swing. Many people have heard that acorns can be eaten, and a few have actually put them in their mouths, only to spit them out while their faces puckered up. This is due to the tannic acid in the acorns, which much be leached out. To do this, bring a large pot of water to a boil, then dump in the shelled acorns. Let them boil until the water turns a dark color, then remove the acorns and put them into another pot of clean, boiling water. Continue this process until they no longer have the puckering effect when you chew on them. Then use them for snacks, grind into flour, or use any way you please. It is important to put them into boiling water for good-tasting acorns, as putting them into a pot of cold water, then bringing it to a boil tends to lock in the tannic acid. Don't throw out the water, as it is naturally astringent (contracts or tightens up tissues) and great for the skin. By now you might be curious how this relates to poison ivy. The connection is that acorn water is amazingly effective in eliminating it. A recent discussion with a quick-witted summer camp director from Pennsylvania confirmed my anecdotal evidence. I was informed that it had eliminated symptoms in 95% of cases at his camp within three days. The method used in this case was to pour the acorn water into ice trays and freeze, then rub the ice on the affected area. Cold also helps with inflamed tissues, making the ice an ideal delivery mechanism. If you grind the acorns into flour you can make delicious and nutritious acorn bread."

Hello,

Here's my take. By no means an expert on this topic.

Apples were grown from seed until recently, and most of the apples did not taste good enough to eat. People grew apples to make cider. I will be planting many apple seeds and letting them grow, no pruning. Planning on using the "spitter" apples to make hard cider. IF they turn out to be delicious apples then I'll use them for eating. I say let them grow naturally and put the yield to some creative use. While everyone is pruning i'll drinking! haha. I figure hard cider is also great for selling/bartering and keeping morale high.

I will also say that cloning and grafting are really limiting the evolution of the apples genetic diversity. What are the consequences of limiting ourselves to just a few different breeds of apple? Is the goal of permaculture to produce delicious perfect apples on every tree? Or should we be more concerned with expanding diversity of our homesteads and farms? Just something that came to my mind. Nature put seeds in those apples for a reason... so i'm gonna go ahead and do the exact opposite of what is accepted as normal in todays apple society.