I keep absinthe for situations of the worst kind of pain in an emergency. Without mentioning specific kinds of accidents that could happen, the absinthe faerie could be very helpful in place of a proper anesthetist during surgeries.

I was thinking along the same lines.

There's a certain segment of the population, I think, who's first thought in Sit x would be 'Whoo! Party!'

Of course, they wouldn't last that long...

Originally posted by Pellevoisin

I keep absinthe for situations of the worst kind of pain in an emergency. Without mentioning specific kinds of accidents that could happen, the absinthe faerie could be very helpful in place of a proper anesthetist during surgeries.

I've read a bunch of your posts and know you know a lot about a lot of things. When I read what I quoted here from you I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I hadn't thought about what would happen without doctors and surgeries and so on. I suddenly felt really helpless and tearful.

I haven't really prepared for any of this. Is there any point? With all you know do you think we can survive sit-x?

I haven't really prepared for any of this. Is there any point? With all you know do you think we can survive sit-x?

I'll be blunt, and say that a lot of people won't survive... but then, that's why we call it Sit. X in the first place.

But cheer up. Most of those deaths will be people who wouldn't or coudln't survive. (You're worried, so you probably aren't one of them.)

Some people will be killed in or as a result of the initial "event." That's just chance, their own bad/good luck, depending how you look at it.

Others who survive that will probably lose their will to live, or turn to suicide, simple because they don't have the strength to face such change. Like the banker in "Alas, Babylon" who shot himself because his life didn't have meaning when he coudln't imagine life without they currency system that made him important.

Still others will make it to the "wild" but die becaue of some injury or illness that is simply to strong to be cured.

But ultimately, "We" will survive. That being we as a species, but perhaps not me and you personally. Man has lived on the earth without technology now; the only thing preventing a return to that is that we don't feel that we have to.

Really though, living in fear of dying is no way to go about it. It takes a lot of spiritual discipline, for some, but the best way to prepare for anything is to accept your mortality--that way, NO ONE has any power over you.

Not an Herb, but I think one of the best things we all could do to help each other survive:

Save information.
even stuff you don't understand.

put it on your hardrives and flashdrives and jumpdrives and store them safely.

I've seen those 'One Laptop Per Child' laptops, they can run on solar or hand cranked energy.

no hand crank jokes please.

so if we keep alot of stuff on our external drives, we can resurrect the computers as information sources, until we get enough of an civilization built up to have some kind of internet.


even if we never wire the world back up or turn the satellites back on, we'd have technology and information.

like how to grow food, irrigate, medical treatments and surgeries, industrial knowledge, spiritual knowledge.

with a 360 GB hardrive, think of how many 50-1000k documents you could store.

even PDFs, videos, all of it.

store that stuff. that's the stuff that's hard to get back.

because books will be burned for fires and religious extremism.

I thought of this because a few years ago I started storing rare and controversial documents, things that the Bush Regime has no respect for, that most citizens have no respect for.

I even started cataloging PDFs and Docs about the cultivation of illegal plants.

why? no, I'm not a druggie, but if you eliminate the information, we won't have it if we ever need it.

same for firearms, explosives info.

if the Golden Shield goes up like it has in china, we won't be able to access this stuff.

I guess I've too much of a hacker mentality about information. it should be freely available in one form or another, no matter what it is, because you never know what may save your life.

one more POV: if the soldiers all die or are too far apart to help us, then we need to know how to defend our towns and villages when Sit X goes down.

I'm glad somebody revived this thread!!!

medical herbalism + survival is what I'm all about!! I'm slowly building up a good collection of tinctures for inclusion on my med kit, things for cuts and pain relief and some more delicate matters that may very well pop up with a poor diet / unclean water!

hmm having read through this thread I've noticed some very good potions, as I like to call them! I've a couple I am developing at the moment to help with anxiety (which could be a problem due to over excretion of the adrenal glands on a sustained basis) and just human nature in the event of sit X.

It's very simple and I find makes a brew that is very easy to take down without any extra sweetners!

(this potion formula is been tweaked based on my own experiences in dealing with health and general anxiety and not liking the SSRI's previously prescribed!)

its actually very similar to Pellevoisin' "NERVE TONIC"

I'll use the common names for the herbs for ease of reading

2 parts Passion flower (this also features in an Asthma / Respiratory system potion I'm formulating)
1 part Valerian root
1 part nettle
2 parts true lavender
1 part hops


but i add the nettle as its an amazing herb full of nutrients and helps with high BP (again a side effect from the presentation of anxiety with me)

I find the taste very pleasing and so far it has had a very positive effect on me, it started off with just True Lavender, Valerian root and hops but the more I learn the more I want to try

I take this as an evening tea as it also helps drift off into a relaxing sleep! with some very vivvid dreams.

I've noticed there's not many points about contra-indications and side effects so I'd just like to state a couple for this potion

1) headaches - some people can experience headaches with Valerian root, if you try and suffer then stop taking
2) vivid dreams! I've had some very crazy dreams not nightmares just really strange but it makes my day far more interesting when I can think about how crazy it was lol
3) as always if pregnant / breast feeding then don't take unless you've sought professional medical herbalist / medical advice, the risk just isn't worth it.

Now onto another little gem or two in my natural pharmacy!

FeverFew (Tanacetum parthenium) - this is perfect for headaches, migraines and high BP.
Ginger root - I include this for its anti-emetic uses, and thermogenic actions and its expectorant actions so covers a wide range of ailments
Cayanne pepper - for its use with heart attack victims, thermogenic and expectorant actions and its a good cardio-vascular tonic. It too can also act as an anti-emiticand diaphuretic in the case of fevers.
Thyme - this herb is amazing, it has "thymol" which is a potent antiseptic and is very good for the chest. It's part of my Asthma potion. I'd use this to cleaning wounds prior to being able to wash and properly dress them, as well as for upper respiratory tract infections and to treat infections of the mouth.


I could go on all day about herbs and their amazing actions! but as a last note, I'd just like to indicate I'm still a student so please, anybody with far greater knowledge in this field, feel free to correct any mistakes I make!

cheers


** please remember though, herbs are natural but still have effects on the body. If in any doubt don't take any or discuss with a qualified medical herbalist. And unless you've a lot of experience I wouldn't try to field craft any remedies

cheers

Oddly enough, a culinary herb garden is pretty much also a medicinal herb garden, as many of the same herbs have dual uses.. I'm in the process of planning our herb garden with an eye for plants that 1) can be used in cooking, 2) can be used in herbal medicine and/or 3) that are ornamental (such as flowering, etc.). This garden will go around a koi pond we're putting in by the house entrance (my wife's gnome garden, as she has several small gnome figures to be hidden in and around the plants). Mostly just waiting for winter to be over before putting it all in place, we've already prepped the soil, etc.

Catnip, Chamomile, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, etc., etc.

We already have plenty of aloe and roses growing around the outside of the house too, along with some other pretty medicinal plants.

This is different than our planned vegetable garden. The idea with the pond garden is to look like it's there for looks, when really, it's also about function.