Plant of the Day

Doomsday Prepper Forums

Help Support Doomsday Prepper Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

rainingcatzanddogs

A True Doomsday Prepper
Joined
Mar 5, 2022
Messages
2,319
Reaction score
10,289
Location
Tx
We have quite a few homesteaders, gardeners, herbalists and ranchers here. I thought it might be useful to post some consumable OR useful plants that might be helpful to people after SHTF beyond the usual “garden varieties”.

Things like growing conditions/zones, soils, uses, identification/foraging, nutritional, medicinal uses and share experiences growing them, eating them or using them.

Since now is planting season for a lot of people, I thought it might give people some new ideas to try!

I’ll start with a fairly common one: Osage Orange/ hedge-apple/bodark/ monkey balls/bois-d'arc/ bowwood, and naranjo chino
Maclura pomifera (Raf.) Schneid.

It does not produce huge amounts of useable timber but enough that it was used extensively as fence posts and ox yokes during the settlement of the western US because of its natural pest repellant properties and strong flexibility. Osage-orange heartwood is the most decay-resistant of all North American timbers and is immune to termites.

It is also quite drought resistant! Saves time and effort on watering.

Old adages about the fruit causing death in livestock, have been disproven in recent times by feeding experiments.
1650997852516.png


As you may have guessed from the common names, Native Americans found the wood good for making bows. It is also useful in producing yellow dyes and tannins.

It grows well in 39 of the lower US States. The commercial range includes most of the country east of the Rocky Mountains, south of the Platte River and the Great Lakes, excluding the Appalachian Mountains. Osage-orange is hardy as far north as Massachusetts but succumbs to winter-kill in northeastern Colorado and the northern parts of Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. It grows well in 39 states.

It does have thorns and is credited to giving birth to the invention of barbed wire; it was planted as a fence to keep animals in. The thorns, 1.3 to 2.5 cm (0.5 to 1 in) long, are modified twigs.
1651000224332.png

In a very ideal location it can reach 70 feet in height, though most do not.

It is related to the mulberry but the fruit pulp and skin tastes....well...just yuck. The seeds however are decent. They taste a little like orange seeds to me.

I have seen where some people have said it made them "loopy", and caused tingly lips but that was not my experience. Some suggested the loopy reaction might be an indication of a latex allergy reaction, which it very well could be!

Other people said the seeds made into a tincture and put into a tea it eased their chronic pain and inflammation better than some of their prescriptions. Researchers are currently exploring the anti-bacterial, high flavonoid/antioxidant properties.

The jury for me is still out as to whether I would consume the seeds in anything other than very small medicinal amounts.

I would advise caution and see the tree for it's benefits outside of consumption! (that goes for any plant you would consume for the first time)

As a topical, I found this commercial product " rosacea, eczema, psoriasis, athlete’s foot, cystic acne, hormonal acne, scars, diaper rash, stretch marks, sun spots, blusters, white patches, cold sores and herpes HSV-2 outbreaks. It repairs collagen, regulates melanin and controls pigmentation. It heals cuts & burns and relieves bug bites, is Antibacterial & Anti-Fungal" it is combined with almond oil, jojoba and vit. e.

1650999205295.png




The "juice" from the fruit is high in latex so it is very sticky...I have used it to keep ants off the bark of newly planted trees. Layered and dried it makes things water resistant.
 
Last edited:
We have quite a few homesteaders, gardeners, herbalists and ranchers here. I thought it might be useful to post some consumable OR useful plants that might be helpful to people after SHTF beyond the usual “garden varieties”.

Things like growing conditions/zones, soils, uses, identification/foraging, nutritional, medicinal uses and share experiences growing them, eating them or using them.

Since now is planting season for a lot of people, I thought it might give people some new ideas to try!

I’ll start with a fairly common one: Osage Orange/ hedge-apple/bodark/ monkey balls/bois-d'arc/ bowwood, and naranjo chino
Maclura pomifera (Raf.) Schneid.

It does not produce huge amounts of useable timber but enough that it was used extensively as fence posts and ox yokes during the settlement of the western US because of its natural pest repellant properties and strong flexibility. Osage-orange heartwood is the most decay-resistant of all North American timbers and is immune to termites.

It is also quite drought resistant! Saves time and effort on watering.

Old adages about the fruit causing death in livestock, have been disproven in recent times by feeding experiments.
View attachment 16082

As you may have guessed from the common names, Native Americans found the wood good for making bows. It is also useful in producing yellow dyes and tannins.

It grows well in 39 of the lower US States. The commercial range includes most of the country east of the Rocky Mountains, south of the Platte River and the Great Lakes, excluding the Appalachian Mountains. Osage-orange is hardy as far north as Massachusetts but succumbs to winter-kill in northeastern Colorado and the northern parts of Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. It grows well in 39 states.

It does have thorns and is credited to giving birth to the invention of barbed wire; it was planted as a fence to keep animals in. The thorns, 1.3 to 2.5 cm (0.5 to 1 in) long, are modified twigs.
View attachment 16084
In a very ideal location it can reach 70 feet in height, though most do not.

It is related to the mulberry but the fruit pulp and skin tastes....well...just yuck. The seeds however are decent. They taste a little like orange seeds to me.

I have seen where some people have said it made them "loopy", and caused tingly lips but that was not my experience. Some suggested the loopy reaction might be an indication of a latex allergy reaction, which it very well could be!

Other people said the seeds made into a tincture and put into a tea it eased their chronic pain and inflammation better than some of their prescriptions. Researchers are currently exploring the anti-bacterial, high flavonoid/antioxidant properties.

The jury for me is still out as to whether I would consume the seeds in anything other than very small medicinal amounts.

I would advise caution and see the tree for it's benefits outside of consumption! (that goes for any plant you would consume for the first time)

As a topical, I found this commercial product " rosacea, eczema, psoriasis, athlete’s foot, cystic acne, hormonal acne, scars, diaper rash, stretch marks, sun spots, blusters, white patches, cold sores and herpes HSV-2 outbreaks. It repairs collagen, regulates melanin and controls pigmentation. It heals cuts & burns and relieves bug bites, is Antibacterial & Anti-Fungal" it is combined with almond oil, jojoba and vit. e.

View attachment 16083



The "juice" from the fruit is high in latex so it is very sticky...I have used it to keep ants off the bark of newly planted trees. Layered and dried it makes things water resistant.
I have lots of hedge apple trees. They are so hard to cut and will ruin a chainsaw blade or ax. The only animal I have found that eats them is a chicken.

The are said to keep spiders and bugs out of crawlspaces. When they decompose, they stain wood, etc with a orange red color that is close to impossible to clean.
 
Today I’m picking jewel weeds and making a tincture. I was foolish a few weeks ago and went crazy on a large area of brush. Well, I ended up getting poison Oak all over me. Ugh. Have been put on a pack of prednisone, a steroid shot, steroid cream and many other things I’ve tried. Thought for awhile that it had turned to scabies. Yep, I freaked out. So I took NuStock and combined it with baby lotion to lower the Sulfer content (it’s 74% in NuStock and humans can only use 10%). It stinks to high heavens. It wasn’t scabies, but at least I know how to treat those now! Doctor finally prescribed some clobetesol that is working!
 
I have lots of hedge apple trees. They are so hard to cut and will ruin a chainsaw blade or ax. The only animal I have found that eats them is a chicken.

The are said to keep spiders and bugs out of crawlspaces. When they decompose, they stain wood, etc with a orange red color that is close to impossible to clean.
Osage orange. The wood is prized by bow makers, it's probably the best bow wood in the US.
Also known as "bois d’ arc" (wood of the bow)
 
Plantain for me is a plant harvested every year for making salves and oil. It is a low growing weed found along roadsides and areas where soil has been disturbed. I like to harvest young leaves and allow to steep in olive oil or any quality oil then strain and make a salve by adding beeswax. Greatest treatment ever for bug bites and stings. Immediately takes away the pain. Works better than anything I have ever found OTC.
 
I have lots of hedge apple trees. They are so hard to cut and will ruin a chainsaw blade or ax. The only animal I have found that eats them is a chicken.

The are said to keep spiders and bugs out of crawlspaces. When they decompose, they stain wood, etc with a orange red color that is close to impossible to clean.

I wonder if it would make a good dye for leather or textiles?
 
Plantain for me is a plant harvested every year for making salves and oil. It is a low growing weed found along roadsides and areas where soil has been disturbed. I like to harvest young leaves and allow to steep in olive oil or any quality oil then strain and make a salve by adding beeswax. Greatest treatment ever for bug bites and stings. Immediately takes away the pain. Works better than anything I have ever found OTC.

I was always scraped and bruised as a Tom-boy kid. My grandmother used to take Plantain leaves and chew them up, then rub it over my bruises to help them clear faster, much like people use arnica cream today.
 
What does it do for dogs? Haven't heard of that one yet.
Have no idea on the dog supplement !

When I was a kid and got stung by bees my Grandmother used to chew up tobacco leaves from a cigarette pack she kept in the kitchen drawer and saliva and place it on top. It pulled the stinger out supposedly. It worked lol
 
Have no idea on the dog supplement !

When I was a kid and got stung by bees my Grandmother used to chew up tobacco leaves from a cigarette pack she kept in the kitchen drawer and saliva and place it on top. It pulled the stinger out supposedly. It worked lol

I used tobacco after I was bitten by an assassin bug once, it did work! Took away the pain and swelling.
 
The osage orange tree sap is a tooth ache remedy used by Native American " or so I was told ". I have skinned back an about quarter size area of bark . A white sap oozes out very quickly . Take a finger dip it in the sap and apply to the painful area . The deadening effect is immediate and very powerful . Honestly it is so effective . it is scary . What else it might do to your body other than deadening your mouth , I have no idea . This effect could possibly be seasonal as I once sent someone with a tooth problem to a specific osage orange tree that I had used in the past . He reported the tree had no effect on him . Then again perhaps he went to the wrong tree .
 
The osage orange tree sap is a tooth ache remedy used by Native American " or so I was told ". I have skinned back an about quarter size area of bark . A white sap oozes out very quickly . Take a finger dip it in the sap and apply to the painful area . The deadening effect is immediate and very powerful . Honestly it is so effective . it is scary . What else it might do to your body other than deadening your mouth , I have no idea . This effect could possibly be seasonal as I once sent someone with a tooth problem to a specific osage orange tree that I had used in the past . He reported the tree had no effect on him . Then again perhaps he went to the wrong tree .
I wonder if it is similar to eugenol in cloves...
 

Latest posts

Back
Top