MONDAY MIX AND MATCH

Sumac-Ade, Plantain Oil, and Drying Herbs
By Handmaiden

Here are a few of the foraging/herb projects I’ve currently got going: A lemonade substitute made from Sumac berries, plantain oil that will become plantain salve when it is time, and lots of herbs drying, waiting to become teas, salves, and tinctures.

Sumac-Ade is quite tasty, a nice tart drink, refreshing on a hot day. And it couldn’t be easier to make. Just gather a bunch of sumac berry clusters (staghorn or smooth sumac--the *red* berries--white berries from a sumac growing in marshy wet areas means poison sumac and you do not want that). You need about 4-10 berry clusters for a gallon or so of sumac-ade. Once you’ve got the berries, fill a big pot with about a gallon of water, rinse off the berry clusters, then put them in the pot. Crush the berries with your hands to ensure that the flavor of the berries will dispense into the water. The berries have lots of vitamin C in them. Let the water sit for a day or so--the longer it sits, the more flavor it will have, of course. When you like the taste, strain the mixture through a couple of layers of cheesecloth or a bandana to remove all the fine hairs and berry stuff from the liquid. And voila, sumac-ade. Refrigerate it or freeze, and serve it sweetened to taste. I like it just as it is, but most will like it sweetened.

An oil or salve made from plantain is just what you need for summer’s ills of bug bites, rashes, skin disorders or any small wound. Plantago major is a wonder-herb, and I’ll bet you will find some not far from your door. The stuff grows everywhere and is easy to identify. And it is very useful to the human family. Gather the leaves for wound-healing and topical uses. If you have an bug bite, mash up some leaves and slap them on the bite. Do the same for any rashes, small wounds, stinging nettle rash or any other problem with your skin. Plantain has been used for so many different problems and symptoms that it has been considered a panacea. You want to get to know this plant. You can eat the young leaves in early spring, especially as a potherb with other foraged greens. The whole plant can be used: roots, leaves and seeds. Read the first link in this paragraph for how what a good ally plantain can be.

To make the plantain oil is easy--gather a slew of the leaves (I take the ubiquitous plastic bag from grocery stores with me when I forage, so a slew is a bag full). Chop up the leaves and stuff them into a quart mason jar. (In this case, it is recommended that you do not wash the leaves first, because the moisture on the leaves could cause mold to form. I read this after I washed the plantain leaves, so we’ll see.) Pour olive oil to cover the leaves, cover tightly and set aside in a dark place for six weeks. Check on the jar occasionally and shake it. After six weeks, strain the oil and add the plant matter to the compost. To make a salve, heat the oil in the top of a double boiler, add in about an ounce or so of grated beeswax (1 ounce beeswax to 1 pint oil), stir with a wooden spoon. Pour it into wide mouth small jars (or a baby food size jar).

Currently we have lots of wild plants and herbs drying in various paper bags: maidenhair fern, mullein leaves, wood nettles, stinging nettles, mugwort, horsetail, lemon balm, plantain, and yarrow. Also there are dandelion root and yellow dock root, cut up and dried. All of these will be used in the winter for teas and the roots for tinctures. This winter we discovered nettle tea and we really like it, so rather than buy it from the bulk herb section of the health food store, we’ve got our own ready to go. The other teas are for more medicinal purposes: maidenhair fern and mullein for coughs and colds; the mugwort I will use in a small pillow to aid sleep and dreams, or a decoction in the bath to relax muscles; the horsetail contains a lot of silica and is useful as a diuretic and to inhibit wound bleeding. Lemon balm is a nice flavorful tea, helps to reduce stress, and is considered a “calming” tea. Useful for TEOTWAWKI, yes? Plantain is good for just about anything, and yarrow is a premier herb for wound-healing. The dandelion and yellow dock roots will be made into a tincture for spring-cleaning--of the body that is. These aid the liver, strengthening and detoxifying.

Another project I will start soon is to collect and dry many forage edible and medicinal plants, dry them and add them to a “Greens Jar.” I read this somewhere and it sounded like a good idea, since all of these plants have vital vitamins and minerals, including trace elements. I will probably use a half-gallon canning jar. The idea it to collect many different herbs and edibles, dry them and put them all mixed up in the jar. Then, when you’re making soup or stews, just add a handful of the greens. Even if dried, they’ll lend their vitality to the soup or stew, and you’ll be getting some good nutrition, especially if you’re living on your stored rice and beans. I will do this with all the “safe” herbs and plants. If an herb or plant comes with cautions-- “don’t use if pregnant or have a heart condition” or anything like that, you might not want to add it to the greens jar. But that leaves a host of plants that you can and should add to the jar. Consider it a low-cost and easy way to add good nutritional value as well as tastiness to your food.
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And from the Drudgereport:


Plant Drops Labor Day For Muslim Holiday
More Than Half Of Tyson Plant's Workforce Muslim
POSTED: 12:18 pm CDT August 1, 2008UPDATED: 3:06 am CDT August 2, 2008

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. -- Some workers at a local plant will no longer to be able to take their Labor Day holiday because of religious reasons. Workers at the Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day but will instead be granted the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr. According to a news release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a new five-year contract at the plant included the change to accommodate Muslim workers at the plant. Tyson's director of media relations Gary Mickelson said the contract includes eight paid holidays -- the same number as the old contract. Eid al-Fitr -- which falls on Oct. 1 this year -- marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting. Union leaders said implementing the holiday was important for the nearly 700 Muslims, many of them Somalis, who work at the plant that employs a total of 1,200 people. Nineteen-year plant veteran William Pentecost doesn�t agree with the decision. "I don�t think it's right. I really don't think it's right," he said. Tyson company spokeswoman Libby Lawson said by phone that, "This isn't a religious accommodation, this is a contractual agreement. The majority asked for it." The change didn�t bother some workers. "I think it's fine. I don�t have any problem with it. There's a whole bunch of them here, so they've got to do something for them," said worker John Smith. "It shouldn't happen. I mean, I think, we're in America, you're in America, I think that they should go with our holidays," Pentecost said. Channel 4's Cynthia Williams could not reach any of the plant�s Muslim workers, because Channel 4 News' crew was not permitted on the property. Former employee and Shelbyville resident Anthony Proctor said he thinks what's happening is wrong. He said he helped build a special Muslim prayer room that's located inside the plant and that no other Tyson facility has been that accommodating for any other religion. "If we want to go pray, we don�t have one for Christians," he said. Tyson is headquartered in Arkansas. Lawson said they consider religious accommodations on a case-by-case basis. She said that so far, no one has asked for any other type of religious prayer room. No one at the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union�s regional office answered phone calls placed by Williams on Friday. A representative in New York said that no one there knew specifics about the new contract with the workers, but a person in research told Williams that holidays aren't usually replaced and are more likely to be added on. The decision will only apply to workers at the plant who are union members. All other employees at the plant will still have their normal Labor Day holiday.
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And from Vlad Strelok:

http://www.congresscheck.com/2008/08/03/connecticut-cops-grab-guns-in-precrime-scheme/---

On Mon, 8/4/08, Vlad Strelok wrote:
From: Vlad Strelok strelok60@yahoo.com

Subject: seizure warrantTo: strelok60@yahoo.comDate: Monday, August 4, 2008, 9:03 AM
http://tinyurl.com/5v2jwy

Using a unique state law, police in Connecticut have disarmed dozens of gun owners based on suspicions that they might harm themselves or others. The state¢s gun seizure law is considered the first and only law in the country that allows the confiscation of a gun before the owner commits an act of violence. Police and state prosecutors can obtain seizure warrants based on concerns about someone¢s intentions.(see also scifi movie Minority Report Tom Cruise law enforcement carried to its logical extreme.)
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One more thing I would like to add is that The Hermit down in Tennessee has told me that when the dollar finally tanks you will prpobably see the price of Silver and Gold go down. All those people with bills to pay and no money that is any good will be dumping their precious metals on the market in order to pay up. Thus, the market will be flooded for a while and the price will go down. Life in the market!

Stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net