Brett M. Scott

paul wheaton wrote:My first thought about the journal stuff ...
If you don't keep a journal, then you are dependent on the notes from other books and videos and classes and stuff.   And efficacy will change DRAMATICALLY depending on location grown, variety, irrigation habits, fertilization, etc.  It is a bit like the landrace stuff in that regard.  

Efficacy is critical.  And no book or course is going to tell you the efficacy of the stuff on your land.  It's like studying the weather in florida and then using that information in montana: what is this white stuff that keeps falling from the sky?  Why do my orange trees keep dying?
So dosage on one property could be quite different from dosage on a property a hundred miles away.   You MUST learn the efficacy for your property.

Grand summary:  journal is required.  Digital is okay.

Efficacy is critical.

So dosage on one property could be quite different from dosage on a property a hundred miles away.   You MUST learn the efficacy for your property.


I LOVE IT and totally agree, mr. paul. Efficacy is so tricky. Maybe just a few words on this for the sand badge first, then step up at a higher level, like stone badge? Personally, I've found certain power spots where, say the sassafrass is 10x more flavorful than anything else i've found in the whole region. To this point, I'd like to insert echinacea root extract... there are a few varieties of it and it seems that they all have an effect but the powerful stuff in the stores is really pinned down to a few areas. Most of the echinacea is a mild potency thats hard to concentrate to a nice 'normal ish' dose especially if youre a beginner and not sure.

Herbalism and first aid and things of health sometimes emergency are much more critical than say, fermenting cabbage, because, well... a mistake could be very high stakes problematic. Or pretty neutral and therefore not helping with the whatever ailment. Therefore I also support a journal or something with a different stress than journaling about other stuff. I've been making medicines for years and i no longer naively plan for my remembrance of the medicine/jar/color/smell/etc. I have lost so many dried herbs and medicines because when you don't know what it is anymore, its hard to place it reliably. So when you make a brandy cayenne infusion for a stroke first aid... if you mess up your recipe or its not strong enough... that could be a brain killing slip up. Literally.  WRITE IT DOWN SOME HOW! (Don't overly rely on electricity via internet for note!!!) A binder sounds really wise imo so gj so far.

Nicole Alderman wrote:

Oooooh! I'd love to know more! What plant(s) would you use for:

  - wound powders
  - flower essence infusion
  - bug spray
  - compresses
  - herbal baths

But, first, I'd love to have the wound powder, compresses, bug spray, flower essence infusions and herbal baths each feature a different plant so people document that they've learned not only about that plant, but also about a preparation, at the same time. What would be good plant(s) for these preparations? More than one plant per preparation is okay!

HERB POWDERS make soooo much sense to me. You bleed, then then it mixes with the blood and forms a cleansing scab that promotes healing and stops some of the nerve ending damage and signaling. Its much better than a slimy salve or even wet plant compress imo. I've used a combination of plantain leaf powder, cayenne pepper powder, turmeric powder and clove powder. This recipe is harder to mess up. its more preferential than strict. I think turm and cayenne are the larger proportions. Clove is more for pain but cayenne is probably plenty for most pain. Plantain is maybe the best skin herb of all time! (opinion)

As far as your question what herbs to use for that.. stuff... It depends so wildly on the person. There is much variance possible.

For baths I like to think of it in terms of what the person is needing... relax and mellow or rest and charge up? Detoxing and drawing or nourishing and rejuvenating?
So... mint, lavender and catnip and raspberry leaf for a relaxing/remineralizing
Maybe a little epsom salt, dandelion leaf, witch hazel, and ginger for a detox/recharge moment
Its tricky because mint can be very charging and enlivening for some while very cooling and chilling/relaxing for others. Right?
I am leery to ramble on about possible herbs used as there are thousands of combos. The internet probably knows better which recipes are most efficacious.

Flower essences, to me is working on a more energetic level with the herbs and this is working more with your state of mind and emotions. Bach flower essences is the poster child.. but lots of physical effects come too.
Flower essences have a small shelf life and really just consists of a sun tea of sorts (at its most basic form).. this is a little different compared to hydrosols which is a steam distillations water based product.

compress idea: easy one: shredded raw ginger root and green tea with an oz of boiling water. while still warm tape it or wrap it up on your skin topically and let it sit until cool to the touch (give or take 30 mins) Super good, healing, pain relieving, enlivening, tonifying. I think an important detail is putting it on hot and letting it cool on you.

One of my teachers was always driving one main point home --- of the thousands of plants out there.. you only need to know 7 or 8 super duper well to service almost every need outside of the doctor or hospital (and extreme first aid). I think that this holds so much water but it also varies from region to region. Every forest has certain plants that occupy certain niches. So maybe the straw and wood badge can focus more on a solid bunch of herbs and really working with them and understanding them deeply. I could ramble a list of hers off here but I think they've all been listed here enough.


I dunno... theres always so much more that can be said.

I Love the elderberry, and witch hazel decoction, rose hips are great for nerve and back pain and the vit. c is killer! I love the list of what we've got so far!
I'd also recommend glycerite and alchol combinations! The glycerine is a bit sweet, and helps with the splibberitiof of the alcohol bite. the glycerine brings out different constituents than the alkaloids and i think its a nicer more well rounded product. The glycerine is hygroscopic (which means sucks up water) so mixing it with mostly alcohol is what helps the shelf life.
Oils go rancid too so helping others understand this may be nice.

I love what joy said about the cayenne and think thats super solid!
And with what Joy was talking about cayenne extracts, I love it!  - greatmedicine for so many things! Nerve pain killer, bloodletter, very cleansing, high in vit. c and helps heal! Blood builder. I referred to this a second ago, but I want to dive deeper. An herbal teacher of mine ALWAYS kept a good brandy with the right amount of cayenne pepper powder in a jar in the fridge at all times. Why? If stroke, the cayenne + brandy is a complimentary thing that reportedly keeps blood to your brain and helps dramatically preserve your faculties while you rush to the hospital. It gives you a few more minutes before catastrophe if you can spot the stroke. (I don't have dosing or anything hard here but I'd certainly recommend it for the pantheon here)

I'm also super glad i've never seen or fixed a ripped scrotum....so thank all you wonderful people for helping the others out! Someone's gotta do it!

Cheers to plants!

Ok so I currently do not have the time for reading alllll the replies so excuse me if there is some redundancy! I see posts of not sure and not studied enough and feel compelled to say a word or two... the jury is out on who really is studied enough ;P

I am a lover of all plant spirits and medicines. The dosing is the hardest thing to really understand in the west (I'm of the west) in my opinion. The goal for me is to really understand and use them symbiotically and holistically.... NOT alopathically. Now, having said that... sometimes alopathic medicine is the first aid bit that truly saves your heart from exploding or your spleen etc. But using a plant for only its primary action at a time of need is not, i'll argue, the most long-term permanent culture sort of way. Truly we need both sides of the coin. So the education should be layered for both.

Herb preparations in terms of badges should be a little flexible to the local flora and fauna that is around. The intelligence of the plants (like research coming out of university of edinburgh) aka the biophotons they communicate with, interestingly enables certain medicine plants to thrive and jive really close to where they are needed. Its a bit of an anecdotal phenomenon but if your presence around plants really gets them 'smiling' and 'glowing' at you and your interest maybe spikes and with different native traditions there is probably something going on here but this is getting into spirituality. tricky to talk and teach about. This is all short handed but I'm just trying to spark some wonder while talking about the overall structure ideas. My point with this one is that there are SO MANY WONDERFUL COMBINATIONS and recipes and preparations and each person is so massively variable to the next that lets leave this one open. We could maybe do a skin salve, a throat losenge or cough syrup, burn creams, wound powders, digestive extracts, oil infusions, flower essence infusions, lip balms, bug sprays. More advanced could be a product for a pet or another person? And rather than specific herbs let the locals tune that for the most part. There are good common plants at this point that can be relied upon. Plantain, cayenne, calendula or chamomile, wild comfrey, goldenseal?, dandelion, rose hips, burdock?, milk thistle!, nettles, witch hazel, pine, basil, thyme, mints, oregano are all very powerful.

Big preparation suggestions to add: overall HERBAL FIRST AID KIT, wound powders, flower essence infusions (water), bug sprays, compresses, BATHS! (herbal baths have roots in every culture world wide and are very . powerful.) So many ideas. Something worth considering here is that plants have 10s of thousands of constituents and oils, alcohols, waters all bring out different flavors or primary/secondary actions and overall different proportions. So familiarizing with different forms and mediums is important.

Foraging is different than wildcrafting. Wildcrafting, at least for me, connotates a little bit more of an herb and medicine specific exchange.. foraging is about food and sustenance more so and doesnt have to be plants.
So I think having a wildcrafting bit and learning proper harvesting practices, where, why etc. is very crucially important. Wildcrafting maintains the virility and power of the herb in the local area. Its about sustainability in large part. Its also about timing of harvest like harvesting flowers 9-11 a.m when the plant has most of its juju in the aerial parts of the plant as opposed 2am roots.

I also think the straw or wood badge should have a focus on creating our own herbalism first aid kit. this is one is usually wildly impactful at the right times. This is also how we tend to think and process in the west (alopathic thing again). I also think that in there a little focus on planting, propagating and transplanting with herbs. Herbs are much trickier than a zucchini (we probly all know this)especially getting the seed to germinate.
Lastly, I think there should also be a focus on the energetics of herbs, if we're truly talking first aid and medicine as a whole. Its tricky to know how far down the rabbit whole to go here because, yes, 'planetary energies' do play into this. Nicolas Culpepper is a wonderful source of info on this. So is TCM (trad. chinese med.) But the basics of hot/cold, wet/dry, astringent/relaxing should be at least introduced.

I dont want to get too long winded here. I would love to talk more on allllla this, esp. formulas and recipes and more technical things but lets just keep the convo going and it'll circle back around.

Together we build it! teamwork makes the dream work YALL, hayyyyyyyyy

Ugh. It's Arkansas, YALL! NW region specifically, (The Ozarks, I proudly declare!) here, the Boston plateau and the some of these quite elderly 'mountains' are eroded and beautifully dilapidated. They also run east/west somewhat what perpendicular to our north easterly trade winds.

The result? Huge boulders and really cool micro climates and pockets and etc. Some places it's down right temperate jungle i like to say. Like the place of our first attempt at earth bag.

Is this just flat out unsuitable for earthbag? Are there any tricks of the trade that I have yet to hear of? We have loads of local lime and clay and sand isn't terribly scarce.

We had a lime, sand, and clay mix with a touch of Portland cement. It was mostly lime aggregate mix (sand size up to 1" range) and clay. If my memory serves  15% pc? Is this a viable option?

Part B: dew point and condensation... Do I just insulate the inside with foam or something to inhibit this or do I just get more ventilation?

I'm fairly novice but I've read a fair amount elsewhere but what does the righteously resilient and adapting permie group think?

Thanks
Brett

i like it i like it, keep it coming!

I'm on here learning and studying so I really don't have much to weigh in as far as affirmation and confirmation goes...my mind goes to a small series of 2-3 smaller ponds connecting into the the pond (close to sppillway) and have its own spillway into the drainage of the big pond. So, 1-2-3 ponds with the third having both mouth to big pond and a spillway connecting to pond spillway drain. Definitely using every bit of that 220 ft.

My poke here is to ask,

I get the feeling its full sun, but just to be clear and fresh: How much sun? Any partial shade? What is the coldest in winter time (rough)?

And how close is the ditch from the pond?
What grade or slope are we talking?

Regards

every single one of ya's are dynamic badassaderos y deras ... just wow. wouldjyalookathat? JUst look at it!

Thanks for logging. It was a true treat. Inspiring in ways i can't yet comprehend. Go go go! I'll do the same. Together we are but fruit bats in jam.
Small psa:: Water is life!!!

Ahhh yes. I truly discovered mulled wine not long ago from an herbal friend.
Nice highlights to those above!!! Juniper berries great idea. Black pepper?!?! Hm!

Im a bit of an herbalism junkie and foodie and not a massive sweets guys so I took on a red / dry table wine.

I added pear slices and blood orange juice (2-3 oranges) and apple (A little fresh apple and dried apple for flavor).
I threw in some star anise.
Cardamon , FRESH GROUND nutmeg, whole cinna sticks and shaved a little off one, vanilla and a sprinkle of coriander powder.

Then, I took a healthy does of herbalism and added Ashwaghanda root(horse root) and blue lotus petals (used in egyptian wine making) and rose petals and hibiscus petals and Nettles!>> I also added some slippery elm and astragalus root lightly.
With these flowers and adaptogens, my intention was flavor but also happy bodies too for a sustained warmth and buzz It made the tea spiced, fruity and earthy all at once. Mmmm yes.

I threw most of these herbs in a cheesecloth pouch or tea bag. Left the fruit whole and open. Threw it all in a crock pot and let it be warm until it was gone.
I sweetened it to taste with some good local honey.

MMM!!! It was mighty and the whole slew of us were delighted.

(Note: I do not list proportions here. Follow your nose! My tea making and medicine mixing over time has tempered my idea of amounts to add depending on volume. I listed all this for ingredient ideas)

I'm there with you on Microgreens and or sprouts. Sprouts are so easy. Let the chlorine evaporate if any! And add a good salt if you can (not iodised).

PC is great because there are so many possible ways to better your immediate environment. And a good way to learn to observe and read the microclimate. You get to see the different element gradients!!!(And if you mess up on a project which is rare, OF COURSE you will just leave in a little bit (but i didn't really just say that). Any meet so many permies out there in their different ways. PC is about the web and the grassroots to the core! Go karma up and help someone in the area develop ian improved grey water system. Or play with wind turbines. Or an herb spiral. or black soldier flies and compost!! or  mushroom  something. Who knows the possibilities!!

Call me an optimist but PC is quite philanthropic by nature and design.

I think it would be fun and easy to do some rock work and gather little microclimates with wind breaks and sun rocks and shade and maybe water runoff channeled in and hugel kulture. Maybe a small raisebed or two in the mix. Polyculture! And what a treat to get to see the results of a polyculture from every other environment you go. Like a friend of mine who does little hanging terrariums of lichens or moss or plants from different forests and countries and states etc.

This might be redundant for your I'm not sure what you know or don't know but I hope I helped somehow. The rambling life has its perks, just as its counterpart.
Ramble ramble ramble Ramble ramble

Aha! Truth rings in my knees with some of this. Words well spoken. Thanks.

Very good points and that is probably one of the most practical ideas of opening that door. I like it. Grounded : P
>>
So if said scenario with trunk hauling away solids, what would one do with both the water pond and the separated solids???
(The preface of this question here is that one person is in full control and has full say to design a system.)

make large gradient and ultimately series of biofiltering?> (water)

for solids, biodigest then turn to composting?

Hmm

PERMACULTURE PUZZLE FOR ALL OF US CHAPS AND CHAPETTES WHO LOVE THIS STUFF!

Critical details: Arkansas is the setting.
CAFO (they went operational sneakily and behind the publics back through dptm environmental quality corrupt bs )
- Astonishingly close to headwaters of a major and albeit undammed river (yes, we've already found algae overblooms down stream )
- Yes, its making headlines and its a political affair. Yes, we need help. Help?
ALSO: PIG AFFLUENT. They are doing the standard leach field system. Overusing it. They've also got ponds we hope to god don't run off downstream.
Why? Another conversation.

So how can we pitch a close loop on a massive near commercial scale? Cause they're scaling up in the months/years to come.

I'm asking for brainstorm ideas and feed back and critiques because I need more heads to solve my deadends. I'm dreaming big here without much expertise.

There's several approaches and possibilities. Practical and easy and low maintenance is most ideal. Similar to nature and pc 101.
Biogas, Mushroom farming, vermiculture, and others?

A big part that lead me here is mycology and mycoremediation. We'll need it to transmute the antibiotics and other silly additives like dewormer. We'll also need to predigest it in preparation for the mushrooms, yeah? It'll be way too hot and quite possibly anaerobic for the fungi kingdom right off the get go. And how long will/should it sit before involving it in other forms of life? Its not going to attract or sustain a nice wide range of microbes? So then there's the issue of avoiding rain runoff on big piles that sit for weeks. Bunker spawn of oyster mushrooms is a possibility with great efficacy (biofiltering rain runoff) but this is intensive labor. Perhaps let it lie and at one point add a good compost to introduce good bacteria? Should we let it lie in a thin 4-8 inch layer so that weight and compaction does not create a massive anaerbic zone? How much methane and other gasses will it even produce? I mean, we are talking a large volume and I have very minimal experience with biodigesters. And then there is BSFL.

SO, let it sit and lasagna with farmers donating really old hay bales. Thus, LOTS LOTS of carbon layers. ---> inject good compost tea slurry --> BSFL --> mushrooms --> reg wigglers --> soil sampling and selling ,perhaps fixing pH with natural organic additives. Overall time, 1.5 year rotations with a 2-4 ton batch size.

Add in bio digestor if feasible?
My goal here is an expanded and more environmentally sane business model for these farmers that is much more closed loop and doesn't massively destroy watershed.

Your thoughts, critiques, zany ideas, stats, facts, experience and stories are all very Very welcome.

Thanks so much.
Biscuit