Natural medicine from common "weeds". (remedies)

[NVplumber]

I'm sorta starting on a journey with natural remedies. Come to find out there are a bunch more plants around here that I didn't have a clue about. Here I thought I had a decent bank of knowing. A gal here showed me a bunch more very useful flora growing right in my yard and usually being treated as a nuisance.

One that really piqued me is one that is mixed up on the edges of ironweed patches. Ironweed IS a nuisance. But all around the edges she showed me "wild lettuce.. A prickly tough stalked plant that bleeds like milkweed. Which I would have took as a no go but it's not. The stuff makes a wicked painkiller. It doesn't impart a "high" like opiates but damn it is effective. I tried some of my friends and it did work great.

I've got some going of my own now. Experimenting with method for making. She showed me hers and I've watched a few vids on it. It's not hard to make but I'm still learning about cook times temps all the techie stuff. There's a bazillion ways to process the stuff. I can whip up a years supply of medicine that's way more effective than OTC pain meds in a day. That would cost me for OTCs over a year. I have serious pain issues.

I'll admit I never had a lot of confidence in the whole "natural remedy" thing (some of it can be pretty out there) but I'm coming around. Learning a lot. My first batch of wild lettuce extract is on it's final leg. I should know how I did by tomorrow.

[Ghaati]

Originally Posted by NVplumber

I'm sorta starting on a journey with natural remedies. Come to find out there are a bunch more plants around here that I didn't have a clue about. Here I thought I had a decent bank of knowing. A gal here showed me a bunch more very useful flora growing right in my yard and usually being treated as a nuisance.

One that really piqued me is one that is mixed up on the edges of ironweed patches. Ironweed IS a nuisance. But all around the edges she showed me "wild lettuce.. A prickly tough stalked plant that bleeds like milkweed. Which I would have took as a no go but it's not. The stuff makes a wicked painkiller. It doesn't impart a "high" like opiates but damn it is effective. I tried some of my friends and it did work great.

I've got some going of my own now. Experimenting with method for making. She showed me hers and I've watched a few vids on it. It's not hard to make but I'm still learning about cook times temps all the techie stuff. There's a bazillion ways to process the stuff. I can whip up a years supply of medicine that's way more effective than OTC pain meds in a day. That would cost me for OTCs over a year. I have serious pain issues.

I'll admit I never had a lot of confidence in the whole "natural remedy" thing (some of it can be pretty out there) but I'm coming around. Learning a lot. My first batch of wild lettuce extract is on it's final leg. I should know how I did by tomorrow.

German chamomile is a weed that grows in a lot of areas in the USA. You can steep the plant to make tea to settle the stomach. You can also mash the fresh plants to use as a poultice to soothe irritated (not broken) skin.

[SimplySagacious]

How did your extract turn out? Wild lettuce has a long history of uses.




Plant/herbal medicine is Traditional Medicine (traditional knowledge that developed over generations) and has been used for far longer than modern medicine.

The term "weed" is just a plant that is invasive outside of its native region. Ironweed is native to some parts of the US but sounds like you are in a region where its invasive. Wild lettuce is invasive outside of its native regions also. Non-natives are more than a nuisance because they damage native flora (often killing and replacing it) and disrupt the ecosystem.