HEALTHFUL PLANTS FROM NATURE’S BOUNTY

captions, from top: Nyerges examines some lamb's quarter plant; prickly pear cactus fruit in market; a whole carob pod.

Nyerges is the author of “Guide to Wild Foods,” “How to Survive Anywhere,” and other books. He has conducted wild herb walks since 1974. For a free copy of the Talking Leaves Newsletter, which includes a schedule of his various classes, write to School of Self-Reliance, Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041. Or go on-line at www.ChristopherNyerges.com.

We’ve all heard it: The true prophet is never accepted by his own people. By some strange quirk of human nature, we tend to think that only something from a faraway country can be of the greatest value. This blindness also affects us when it comes to herbs and nutrition. We think that the best substances for our health and nutrition are only those herbs and roots imported from faraway China or India or South American rain forests, sold at tremendous costs in small bottles at the herb shop.

When you scan the shelfs of herb shops, it would be easy to come to the conclusion that health can be purchased in a bottle. In fact, many businesses push that very idea: “Buy our (expensive) product and you’ll be happier, live longer, be free of disease, and have a great sex life besides.”

But guess what? In this country, we are surrounded with an unbelievable bounty of nature. Just about everything that you’d want for your health and nutrition can be found in your backyard or in the wild, or it can be easily grown. No money need change hands. Shockingly, many of the most nutritious plants on the planet are despised as common weeds, and at any nursery in town, you can buy poisons to kill off these valuable weeds. Such sad ignorance.

Here are some of the wild and free plants which you can use for your health and well-being.

POOR MAN’S GINSENG

Ginseng seems to be a valuble herb, but it’s not that common in the U.S., and most of it comes from overseas -- which means you have to buy it, and it’s very expensive. On the other hand, just about everyone has dandelions on their lawns. Dandelions are probably better for you than anything in your garden, wild or cultivated. An analysis of 100 grams of dandelion greens by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows 14,000 I.U. of vitamin A, 35 mg. of vitamin C, 397 mg. of potassium, 66 mg. of phosphorus, 187 mg. of calcium, and 36 mg. of magnesium. Dandelion greens are also the richest source of beta-carotene, with 8.4 mg. per cup. By contrast, carrots -- considered an excellent source of beta-carotene -- contain 6.6 mg. per cup. Only young dandelion greens are good in salads, and the older, bitter leaves can be cooked like spinach or added to mixed-vegetable dishes. And the young dandelion roots can also be eaten when cooked.

NATURE’S “MINERAL TABLET”

The health food store shelfs are full of pills, including mineral tablets. But nature provides an excellent “mineral tablet” -- one that you take advantage of by eating. This is lamb’s quarter, a spinach relative found worldwide in the wild. It probably grows in your garden even if you don’t plant it. Used raw in salad or in juice mixes, 100 grams of lamb’s quarter (about a cup) contains about 80 mg. of vitamin C, 11,600 I.U. of vitamin A, 72 mg. of phosphorus, 309 mg. of calcium, small amounts of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and iron. These figures are slightly lower when you cook the lamb’s quarter as a spinach-replacement, or in soups, egg dishes, or vegetable dishes. You could almost survive on lamb’s quarter alone!

CLEAR THINKING WITH GINGKO

Gingkgo leaves and nuts have been used in the Orient for centuries, and are one of the new popular herbal medications. Some researchers suggest that it may help Alzheimer’s patients, and that it should help anyone increase mental alertness. And there are several processed bottles of pills on the shelf with the expensive price tag.

Guess what? Gingko is widely planted as a park and street tree! It is very common, and you can simply take the leaves and brew your own tea. Never mind that the pill manufacturers tell you can’t do this -- you can! Make an infusion of the leaves, or if you prefer, simply powder the dried leaves and fill gelatin capsules if you prefer to take your herbs that way.

And don’t overlook the nuts which fall in September and October. The fleshy outer layer of these nuts have a foul odor, but that is easily cleaned off . The nuts can then be dried or roasted and eaten, and many of the same qualities of the leaves have been attributed to these nuts.

GET YOUR DAILY VITAMIN C

Roses are great to grow in any garden because they provide beauty and fragrance. Also, if you let the fruits mature (referred to as the “hips”), you’ll have a rich source of vitamin C. The only known source of vitamin C that is richer is the acerola. Rosehips contain about 7,000 mg. of vitamin C per pound, a remarkable amount. By contrast, a pound of oranges (depending on the type of oranges) contains anywhere between 100 to 250 mg. of vitamin C.

To use rosehips, you snip off the orange-red mature fruit. Once you cut it in half and remove the fibrous seeds, you could just eat it raw. However, most people find it more enjoyable to simmer it into tea, or to make it into jams, jellies, or blended nutritional drinks.

IS MILK THE BEST CALCIUM SOURCE?

One hundred grams of the edible portion of the carob pod (which is about a cup of the entire pod, minus the seeds) contains 352 mg. of calcium. That makes carob one of the very richest non-meat calcium sources. Even when that same volume is compared to milk -- generally considered a good calcium source -- carob is nearly three times richer in calcium. Carob is also a good source of B vitamins. Though not a complete protein, it is said that this is the food that sustained John the Baptist in the desert for 40 days (hence the name, Saint John’s bread). You can simply eat the pods and spit out the seeds. Also, you can crack the pods, remove the seeds, and grind the pods into a flour which you add to bread and pasty products, or blend into liquids like rice or soy milk.

There are tens of thousands of carob trees throughout Southern California and the Southwest, mostly as street and park trees. The brown leathery pods ripen from September through February.

COUGH & SORE THROAT

Oil of eucalyptus is a common active ingredient in many cough medicines, and eucalyptus trees are extremely common. You can simply pick a few eucalyptus leaves, make a hot tea by infusion, and drink it. The flavor of the various eucalypti vary, so you might smell around until you find a variety you like. This tea is useful for most breathing and respiratory ailments.

CUTS AND BRUISES

When you get a few minor cuts and scratches while doing work, do you reach for that tube of creamy stuff and rub it over your cuts? There’s something better. You could just pinch off a bit of an Aloe vera plant, break open the leaf, and spread that gel directly onto the wounds. Aloe has been used for centuries for just such medicinal applications. Aloe is easy to grow in pots or in the garden, and is widely available at nurseries. Even the best bottled aloe preparations are not as good as the fresh plant.

CHOLESTEROL

You have high cholesterol, and there are a number of things your doctor has told you to do: Cut out salts, fatty and oily foods, stop smoking and eliminate alcohol. Exercise more, and lose some weight. Did you know that numerous studies have shown that including garlic and onions in your diet can reduce your cholesterol level? We don’t normally think of garlic and onions as “medicine,” but they have a variety of proven or reputed medical properties, and the lowering of cholesterol levels is perhaps the most documented. In this case, you simply eat your garlic and onions -- ideally raw where possible, but cooked also -- in order to receive the beneficial qualities.

Speaking of cholesterol, another good way to lower cholesterol levels is to include foods in your diet that are high in Omega-3 fatty acids. In 1986, two biochemists (Norman Salem, Jr. with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in Bethesda, Maryland, and Artemis Simopoulos of the American Association for World Health in Washington, D.C.) discovered that a common weed, purslane, is the richest leafy-plant source of Omega-3 fatty acids. And purslane is such a common weed, world-wide, that you shouldn’t need to plant it -- you may just need to look for it. It is common in rose beds. To take advantage of purslane’s benefits, you simply eat it in salads, or cook it into soups, stews, vegetable dishes, etc.

HEADACHE

Have a headache? Before you automatically reach for that aspirin, first ask yourself: What is the source of the conflict which is resulting in my headache. Perhaps your pain is trying to telly you something. Then, consider the original source of aspirin, the inner bark of the willow tree. The cambium layer of willow bark contains salicin, which the body converts to salicylic acid -- the active ingredient in most aspirin. If you grew a willow bush or tree in your yard, you could prune off a small twig, remove the bark, and brew that bark for a few minutes in warm water, and then drink it for headaches. The tea may be mildly bitter, but will work (more or less) as well as aspirin. Willow is extremely common world-wide along waterways.

DIABETIC

According to long-standing traditions throughout Northern Mexico, eating the young prickly pear cactus pad (once the stickers are removed) is said to help with diabetes. In the past 20 years, we have met dozens of people who claim to have had relief from adult-onset diabetes by consuming the cactus, and we’ve met three who actually stopped taking insulin. Doctors who have researched this have come up with some medical verification. They say that the prickly pear contains a substance which strengthens the pancreas so it is more able to produce insulin. Plus, they say the fibre content of the cactus is beneficial. In addition, consuming the cactus fruits has been shown to be helpful where prostate problems are present.

These are just a few examples of how we can obtain many of our needed healthful vitamins, necessary nutrients, and even medications from plants growing all around us.

Needless to say, none of the above is intended to replace competent, professional medical care for serious illness. In the interest of increasing wisdom and self-reliance, learning which plants can be used in place of bottled vitamin pills and simple medicines can be health-promoting.

More on “How to Survive Anywhere”

[Note: To get a discounted copy of Nyerges’ “How to Survive Anywhere,” go to Store at www.ChristopherNyerges.com and look at the special deals. Let us know you heard about the deal from this Blog and you’ll get a free Wild Food Garden Kit.  For more information about Nyerges and his classes, you can contact School of Self-reliance, Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041.]

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In the “First Aid” chapter of my How to Survive Anywhere book, I address specific simple ways of dealing with the common medical emergencies that one can expect in the aftermath of a major disaster, or if lost and  hurt in the woods.  Would you be prepared if  a major earthquake struck your town tomorrow?

Also to consider, it is not only the physical accidents that we need to be concerned about, whether a wilderness accident, or the result of an urban disaster (major earthquake, etc.).  In studies that have been done of the survivors of major disasters, the following conclusions have been made about the mental state of the survivors.  Approximately 15% made quick, appropriate, and efficient choices and actions which were well-suited to their safety and security.  Another 15% “went crazy,” making wild irrational choices and even getting hurt as a result of their “losing it.” 

The rest, about 70% of the survivors – a full majority – neither went crazy nor did they make wise and efficient choices and actions, but rather wandered about somewhat zombie-like, spaced-out, in a state of stupor and shock, simply not knowing what to do, where to go, what to think.  This shocked majority tends to be passive, but will take orders from someone who seems to be in control and who seems to know what they are doing and why.

The point:  None of us wants to be a part of that majority, and definitely we don’t want to be a part of that “crazy 15.”  No one would want to be wandering around Colorado Blvd. in a dazed state of mind. 

What can we do to ensure that in a time of disaster, we find ourselves in that 15% category of wise, appropriate, efficient actions?   None of us really knows what we will do until we are actually tested in difficult, stressful real life conditions.  It is impossible to predict what you might do when you are seated comfortably in your home drinking a warm beverage. 

The only way to expand our mental and physical limits is to actually put ourselves into situations where we can discover more about ourselves during situations of less sleep, less food, more work.  People in the military often get that experience.  Some survival schools offer these experiences.  And anyone (with a group of friends and supporters) can regularly plan such trips with the express purpose of expanding limits, learning how you will react in times of stress, and attempting to make the right choices when it is not easy to do so.

TV MINDSET

Some years ago, while doing something at home, my wife yelled, “There’s a fire next door.” My friend who was with me and I immediately ran outside and around the corner. We could see smoke coming from a house up the street. As we ran up the streeet, we saw most of the neighbors in front of their houses, watching. One woman was watering her yard with a hose.

“There’s a fire!” I yelled.

“We know,” calmly responded one man. “We called the fire department.”

My friend Timothy and I ran to the house, and began ordering people around. “Bring us a ladder,” and “Bring us a hose.” People quickly obeyed and within a minute we were up on a ladder and had the fire out and saved the house, a full 10 minutes before the fire department finally arrived and took over the situation.

We never forgot how the neighbors stood there watching, as if they were watching some “reality show” on their television sets.  They looked, but they took no action!  It is my stance that taking responsibility is one of the key elements of survival, survival in the fullest and most complete sense.

HOW TO SURVIVE ANYWHERE

My book “How to Survive Anywhere” is a guide for how to train yourself, and how to take action. I developed the book over my 40+ years of teaching.

The book is divided into chapters similar to the topics of my field or classroom sessions:  Water , Fire, Lighting, Energy, Health and Hygiene, Clothing and Shelter, Fibre, Food, Tools and Weapons, First Aid, etc.

The last chapter is called “What is Survival?” and  I include a discussion on how all our choices affect our destiny, all the moral, ethical, and spiritual choices that we like to kid ourselves and believe it’s all “private.” In fact, I list the 10 Commandments and The Golden Rule as some of the best “survival tools” of all time. What you sow, you shall reap.

I was criticized for including in a “survival manual” John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success, the greatest coach of all time, who always said he wasn’t training basketball players but was training people for life. To ignore these principles is the greatest ignorance.

In “How to Survive Anywhere,” I even address the topic of whether or not a dark age is looming, and I provide some practical solutions that anyone can act upon.  It’s a great book, and I hope that you get a copy.

What if you had to Evacuate?

[Nyerges has led survival skills and wild food classes since 1974, was the editor of Wilderness Way magazine for 7 years, has written 10 books  (including “How to Survive Anywhere,” “Guide to Wild Foods,” “Self-Sufficient Home,” and others). He can be heard weekly on Preparedness Radio Network.  For more information, go to www.ChristopherNyerges.com]

During one of my Pasadena City College survival classes, a student asked me to list the items that should be carried in an evacuation bag, also known as the “bugout bag.”  In other words, if she had to immediately leave her home for some reason, what should her survival bag contain.  Of course, this led to a big portion of that evening’s discussion.

“First,” I responded, “what scenario are we talking about?” The student was thinking of a serious emergency where even a car wouldn’t be useful, where you’d have to evacuate on foot.

So my first order was to convey the fact that one would rarely choose to leave one’s home – where everything is familiar and where you know everyone in the neighborhood – unless you absolutely had no other choice. 

“You would rarely want to choose to leave your home and randomly wander the streets after an emergency,” I replied, “because you are now entering into the chaos and randomness of street mobs and possible violence.”  I tried to impress upon the class how dangerous it often is to wander on foot in the aftermath of a major disaster – whether it be an earthquake, or the results of war, or flooding.

And though the effects of nature can be devastating, the fear and chaos that will possess other people could be your greatest threat.

OK, we established that wandering around may not be your best choice but if you have no choice, then what should you carry?

Before I tried to answer that question, I asked all the students, “If there was an emergency tonight after you get home and you had to evacuate, where would you go?  And why would you go there?”  Most had no idea where to do, and in all probability, would follow crowds to some likely safe place, or would simply follow the orders of whomever happened to be giving orders. 

I urged each student to obtain topographical maps of their local area and to begin to learn about their local environment.  Find out where there are sources of water, reservoirs, pools, train lines, etc.  In a disaster, your knowledge is far more important than your stuff. 

Next, I urged each student to get involved in their local Neighborhood Watch, and to do the CERT trainings, and Red Cross emergency first aid.  In other words, we need to realize the fact that other people in our community, and our relationships with them, is a far greater “survival tool” than merely having a pack with some knick-knacks in it.

Most people would be surprised to learn the level of preparedness that already occurs in most cities, and within various agencies such as the Red Cross, Police and Sheriff departments, and City Hall.  It is to each of our advantage to get to know what has already been planned in our own towns.

Everyone was getting the picture.  Get to know your town, your geography, and get to know who’s who in your town, and learn about systems that have already been established in the event of emergencies. Of course you must still do your own home preparedness, but just don’t do it in a vacuum.

But the student persisted.  She still wanted to know what to carry. So I polled the students who’d already been in my class for several weeks. What should one carry in a survival pack?   Someone said a knife. Yes, I wrote that on the board.  You should carry some sort of useful knife that you’re comfortable with, like a Swiss Army knife, a Leatherman, and so on. Someone suggested that a bow and drill be carried for fire making. No, I said. We learn how to make fire with those primitive methods so we can do it when there is nothing else.  You must have fire, but keep it simple. Carry a Bic or a magnesium fire starter. Water.  Yes, you need it, and should carry at least a quart container and a water purifier. And you need to know where to find water.  And we continued this way – first aid kit, small flash light, etc. It was more important to get people to consider their individual needs than it was for me to list things that someone else thinks are important.

Survival can be deadly serious, but it can be a very enjoyable pursuit along the way.  Learn what you can little by little, but apply your knowledge as you go. That way, your skills are useful and your confidence level is increased.  It is never sufficient to say “I saw that on YouTube” and think that you know what it’s all about.

For some idea of what you might carry, look at Francisco Loaiza’s blog spot, where he describes 30 essential items that he recommends to his Boy Scouts.

http://loaizas.blogspot.com/2010/03/franks-30-essential-items-for-hiking-or.html.

For more ideas of what to consider in a kit, you should check out John McCann’s “Build the Perfect Survival Kit,” as well as my own “How to Survive Anywhere.”

ECONOMIC SURVIVAL

[Nyerges has been teaching survival skills and wild food classes since 1974.  His books include “Guide to Wild Foods” and “Extreme Simplicity.”  More information about his classes is available from School of Self-reliance, at www.ChristopherNyerges.com.  He also runs two farmers markets as a way to promote local self-reliance. For pictures and more information about these markets, go to Facebook, and click “Glendale Certified Farmers Market” and/or “Highland Park Old LA Certified Farmers Market.”]

Here is some “food for thought” adapted from the last chapter of my “How to Survive Anywhere” book (published by Stackpole Books, available from Amazon.com, or ChristopherNyerges.com.).

 It would be the height of naivete to discuss the full picture of “survival” and not bring up money.  Money is an integral, inescapable part of life in any specialized and organized society.  Talk show host Tony Brown once said  “If  I’ve been accused of over-emphasizing money, it’s because I place money right up there with oxygen as a necessity.”

Whole libraries have already been written by the folks who live their lives 24/7 in the pursuit of money. You know, Suze Orman, Loral Langemeier, and all the folks that tell you how to make a meaningful income by investing, or buying real estate, or whatever. If you feel you are lacking in this area, you owe it to yourself to explore those who have already succeeded in this arena.

For our purposes here, let’s look at “money” in a meaningful context.

None of us really needs money, per se.  We need (and want) those things that money buys for us.  This means that if we focus upon the acquisition of money per se, we may simply be bumbling ahead with our lives, assuming that the acquisition of money is itself an important goal. 

           

            We should define our goals in life, and we should recognize that although money can help to accelerate our achieving many goals, money cannot replace our desire and drive to achieve and accomplish that goal.  In other words, the desire to accomplish and to produce results, and to establish working networks with other people  is far more meaningful to our life’s goals than is “money.” 

Knowledge and self-education is perhaps the most important first step to increasing your survival awareness, and allowing yourself the possibility of making new choices.  This concept was the subject of the last chapter of our Extreme Simplicity: Homesteading in the City book, where we explored the four illusions of money.  Fear and greed are the primary factors that drive our economy.  If you allow fear or greed to drive you, you cannot make the best decisions.

Once you recognize that much of our personal thinking, and public broadcasting, about “economics” is counter-productive to our “economic survival” (and automatically impinges upon other facets of survival as well), we inevitably look for personal solutions.  What can I do?  What can I do, especially if I am in a limited situation?  What can I do now? 

GOALS

Begin by defining your goals very specifically.  Write them down.  Record some short-term goals, but also your long-term goals.  These must be goals that you deeply desire to achieve, and they should be goals that you can achieve. Plus, you might have a list of goals that you must achieve (e.g., I must have $1700 for my mortgage each month or I lose my home!).  For each goal, you should be able to record at least three concrete steps that you can take – whatever your current financial situation – to achieve these goals.  Bring other people into your analysis.  Don’t try to do this alone.

Also, consider the broadest ramifications for your “goals.”  Are they benefiting more than just myself?  Are these goals that might facilitate friends, family, neighbors to work together (thus increasing our survival quotient)?

               

                In “Beautiful Mind,” the movie about the life of John Nash, the mathematician who developed “game theory,” Nash quotes Adam Smith (often referred to as the father of modern economics) as saying “The best result comes when everyone in the group is doing what’s best for themselves.”  In other words, your self-interest should serve the group. It is better for the society that you not lose your home to foreclosure.  Nash saw that Adam Smith, while correct, was incomplete.  Nash enhanced Adam Smith’s axiom to” “The best result comes when everyone in the group is doing what’s best for themselves – AND the group.”  It was clear to a mathematician that thinking about others is definitely in your best “survival” interests.

           

            Obviously, this is just food for thought.  The practical applications are up to you to find, and to put into action.

Here are some financial-related principles to ponder, and to experiment with.  Think of them as tools for survival and enlightened living

1. As ye give, so shall ye receive.

2. Always lead with an offer.  (Don’t expect someone to care about you just because you are “in need.”  Before you ask for help, find out how you can benefit the other person).

3. Make every place better for your having been there.  (This is true “Appreciation”)

4. What blesses one, blesses all.  (Another way of saying “all ships rise in a rising tide”).

5.Discover  the “magic” of Tithing.  (Even financial advisor Suze Orman suggests that you give to the church or charity of your choice).

6.Pay back your debts

7.Barter and exchange.  (You’d be amazed at the sorts of relationships that can develop when money is not involved.)

DEALING WITH THE DECLINE OF CIVILIZATION

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[Nyerges is the author of “Self-Sufficient Home,” “How To Survive Anywhere,” and other books. He does a weekly podcast at Preparedness Radio Network. To learn about his books and classes, he can be contacted at www.ChristopherNyerges.com, or Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041.]

Back in the mid-1970s, “survival food” and food storage systems were big, and there was the scare of a possible famine in America. Since then, there have been various hyped-up “ends of the world” including Y2K and the end of the Mayan calendar cycle.  Most are fed by the three horsemen of the Apocalypse: fear, greed, and It has been a long time since I have heard advertisements for “survival foods” for those folks who are worried about a world in which we descend into chaos and anarchy.

As I listened to an ad on the radio recently, it reminded me of my state of mind in the late 1960s and 1970s when I first began to study ethnobotany and survival skills in general. 

Back then, I was primarily motivated out of fear, and was concerned about my own personal physical survival.  It has been a long road to today, and though I still encourage folks to store “survival foods,” I am no longer motivated by fear.  Today, I have a completely different mindset about the very meaning of “survival.” 

            I know that to some people the word “survival” connotes images of some burly guy in a camo outfit and a gun who is just out for himself.  That’s survival, by the lowest definition.  But what about your children, your family, your pets?  What about the survival of your community, your environment, your city, your bank, your educational system?   Real survival is vastly more than keeping your own body alive.

Through the 1980s, I gave a series of lectures about the many cultures and civilizations that have entirely vanished.  Gone.  My focus was to look at what causes a culture to slip into decline, and even to vanish.  Then, more importantly, I attempted to see if we today in the U.S. are experiencing any of these same causes that lead to decline and extinction.  Of course, most members of my audiences listened politely, but felt that “this would never happen to us.”  In other words, the predictable response was denial. 

According to Morris Berman in the classic “The Twilight of American Culture,” there are four factors that define a declining civilization.

The first is an accelerating social and economic inequality.  Then there are “declining marginal returns with regard to investment in organizational solutions to socioeconomic problems.”  Another factor is the rapidly dropping levels of literacy, critical understanding, and general intellectual awareness.  As an example, the author shares with his readers some of the responses to questions that Jay Leno received during his “Jay Walking” routine.  Then, there is something called “Spiritual death”  - probably a major factor in the decline of all civilization. 

Interestingly, Berman adds that he doesn’t know if these four factors are causes, or effects. 

WHY CIVILIZATIONS FAIL

According to Jane Jacobs in her “Dark Ages Ahead,” there are definable reasons
why civilizations fall. Among her nine major factors, she lists resource depletion, catastrophes, insufficient response to circumstances, intruders, mismanagement, economic issues, and “cult thinking.”

I believe the last two are particularly relevant to us today, but they’re by no means our only concern.  As Jacobs states,  “Civilizations are expensive to keep going and require increasing amounts of labor and wealth to maintain themselves.  As civilizations grow, the upper classes grow – and so does their need for surplus wealth.  The overall costs of supporting the system with specialists, servants, soldiers, police, and so on grow at an increasing rate. The increasing effort to maintain them produce diminishing returns and leads to their collapse.”

As for cult thinking, that permeates each and every one of us in every facet of our life.  It is not just about religious things.  Cult thinking occurs whenever we blindly believe anyone.  This is why I have always strongly suggested you read Eric Hoffer’s “True Believer.”

THE ROMAN EMPIRE

     Jane Jacobs suggests that we are following the same cultural decline that occurred with the Roman Empire.  She identifies many of the weak spots in our contemporary lifestyle, such as: taxes, family, community, education, science, technology, the lack of self-policing, and moral/ethical insanity.  These weak areas are the foundation of all the other often-cited problems, such as the environment, crime, and the discrepancy between rich and poor.

          Modern families are “rigged to fail” due to rising housing prices, the suburban sprawl (with a reduced sense of community), and the automobile.  Automobile is the chief destroyer of communities, and the idea of community.

WHAT CAN  WE DO?

          The hopeful part of all of this is that dark ages are not inevitable.  For one thing, we all need to get involved, and be a part of the solution.  The millions of details of a complex, living culture are not transmitted via writing or pictorially, but by 1) living examples and 2) by word of mouth.  We need to think!  We need to model solutions (that is, given two options, we should choose what is “higher and better” in our daily life). And we need to teach, to lecture, and to write.

      There is always hope and there are always actions we can take.  If you’re watching TV, choose an educational show, not Family Guy. Constantly learn new skills and crafts, things that have intrinsic value, and that you can do with others. Grow some of  your own food!

     According to Boy Scout leader Francisco Loaiza, “Don’t make entertainment such an important thing in your life. Spend time with others and do things with people.  Get away from the TV and get off the internet.  Get to know other people directly.  We may have more knowledge today but we’ve become a colder society.”  He adds that our emotional intelligence has been lowered a few notches as well, and he cites as an example that when  people sneeze today, they rarely say “excuse me.”
     These are just a few of the many ways in which we can become a part of the solution and not be part of the decline of civilization.  This is why I wrote “Extreme Simplicity: Homesteading in the City,” and “How to Survive Anywhere.”  I include reading lists in those books which I feel are good for your physical, mental, and spiritual health.  

     Let me know if you have questions, or more suggestions.

To Love L.A.

Golden Temples arise from the early morning darkness of L.A.

One man’s thoughtful drive on the 134 freeway

[Nyerges is the author of 10 books, including Enter the Forest and Urban Wilderness.  He has taught outdoor classes since 1974.  Contact him via School of Self-Reliance, Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041, or www.ChristopherNyerges.com]

It’s a crisp cold morning with a clear sky.  The chaparral hills to my north are still dark and mysterious.  The sun is rising to my back and I am struck by the pastel beauty of the urban landscape sprawled to the south.  From my perspective, traveling west on the 134 freeway, I see the dark rich hills rising out of the Eagle Rock valley and the countless homes sprawl-packed into the lowlands.  Each home glistens with an orange light, and the overall effect is like a handful of sparkling, scattered jewels. 

The clarity of the air is diminished only by a low haze. As I gaze southward at the rising towers of downtown Los Angeles, they appear golden.  It is the rising sun’s special light casting its orange-golden hue on the mammoth buildings of downtown as well as the towering modernscape of downtown Glendale. 

But in this semi-surreal early morning drive, my eyes “see” something akin to golden Maya temples rising from the denseness of the dark jungles.  The east face of Griffith Park is a golden facade, another temple, a natural splendor for the eyes.

My eyes see a unique beauty in this telling light of the early morning, a beauty that is both profound and ephemeral.  In this drive-by snapshot view as I travel westward, Los Angeles strikes me as a place that’s likable, beautiful, full of vast potential, and countless conflicts. 

I’ve lived here my whole life, and recall the persistent desire in early years to get out of Los Angeles, and escape its ever-cramped and polluted streets.  I did live on a farm for awhile. It was beautiful and peaceful.  Too peaceful.  I came back to this City of Angels in search of my destiny.  Here in this land where I was born, I have always felt a sense of home-ness.

The clarity of the morning air impresses me.  I do a quick turn and can see the towers of Mount Wilson seemingly so close in the clear sky that there’s the impression of being about to reach out and touch it.

Everywhere there is the urban lowland sprawl with the golden temples to commerce rising out of the pastel semi-darkness.  I begin to wonder -- again my mind somehow slips into a comparative analogy.  I am not seeing Los Angeles -- I am seeing the once grand cities of Uxmal and Chichen Itza rising out of the Mexican jungles.  The skyscrapers here are our version of the temples.  In our case, our temples in this age of rampant commercialism are where we worship our dollar gods and gods of productivity.  I marvel at the subtle compelling beauty of these  temples to our modern commercial gods, but at the same time I realize we’ve completely lost an essential spiritual component in our culture.

I look away from these golden towering monuments of man, and I smile upon the also-golden hills of Griffith Park, a natural church rising out of the muck of materiality. My mind is seeing analogy, and so when I spot that observatory building at the top, I’m thinking of the old observatories of Uxmal and other ancient cities, where people took their time to study the heavens and to rise up out of our tight little world and see the magnificence of which we’re only a part. 

I breathe a deep sigh and I inhale.   I’m not depressed -- after all, I’m alive.

I know that you cannot change the world.  You can only change yourself.  Sometimes, even that is hard enough.

I’ve reached the exit from the freeway and I drive south on city streets to my day in the urban jungle to meet my people challenges.  You can’t change the world, but you can change yourself, little by little by little.

Somehow, I allowed my inner consciousness to inwardly capture that beauty of the L.A. landscape and I found it deeply inspiring.  I ponder how to improve my character, here, today, in this chaotic swirl of people.

When my life was peaceful on the farm, my challenges were simple, and few were the external prods to push me beyond my self-imposed limits.  But it is different here.  And it is for this reason, and in this context,  that I can now truly say that I love L.A.

Recycling Newspapers into "Logs"

[We'll try to have this product in our Store soon, at www.ChristopherNyerges.com]

 

In the woods, firewood has never been a problem.  It is everywhere, abundant.  I am not referring to the camps where you drive in and you pay to park in your numbered spot. In those places, it would be somewhat normal to find no firewood because all the other campers have foraged around for whatever is available.  I am referring to the actual wilderness where you have to walk in at least a mile or more. Wilderness.

However, in the event of a natural (or man-made) disaster, firewood may not be so abundant in the urban areas.  I recall hearing stories of German people burning furniture during WWII because there was no other practical way to get heat.

In today’s urban setting, there are many resources that are common, even abundant.  One such resource that could be pressed into service is newspaper.

Newspaper, obviously, can be used for many things, such as wrapping, making pots for your garden, emergency insulation, and also for making logs for the fireplace.

When I say “logs,” I’m not referring to the old 1970s method of rolling some newspaper around a broom handle, tying it up, pulling out the handle, and then burning the “log” like a wooden log. Trouble is, these don’t really burn all that well unless you already  have a blazing fire going.

But there is an alternative. Put all your newspapers into a plastic bucket and add water. Soaking it for a few days is best. On occasion, when I have demonstrated this to children at camp, we simply shredded the newspaper, added water, and went to the next step, but soaking for a few days is ideal.

Next, you need to have a newspaper press, as pictured. I first purchased one around 1980, and though this model doesn’t seem to be available anymore, there are similar ones today manufactured by someone else that seems to work just as well.

You put the wet newspaper into the rectangular box section of the press, add the top, and then push the handles down to press out the water.  You then pop out the “brick” and let it dry for a few days (or longer).  It then burns well in a fireplace or campfire.  Granted, this is newspaper, so don’t expect the same BTU of oak or other hard wood. But it does burn, and definitely better than the logs rolled around a broomstick.  I’ve used them in backyard campfires and in woodstoves.

This device also presents the possibility for dealing with security documents.  If you just toss your paper documents into the city trash can or the city recycling bin, you never really know what might happen.  I used to just burn such documents on a grill in the back yard, but this is not always a possibility.  The last time I had a full bag of documents to deal with – old bills, etc. – I shredded them and put them into a bucket with water. Since they are mostly bond paper, not newsprint, I allowed a week of soaking. After the week, I made some logs and dried them.  Since you can no longer read anything on the bills and documents after this, there is no need to burn them right away.  And since bills are typically bond paper, the logs seem to burn just a bit hotter and longer.

excerpt from my book "Til Death Do Us Part?": My life with Cassius Clay

Cassius Clay was my purple ribbon pure-bred Staffordshire terrier who died at age 17. This is a section from the chapter about him in the book "Til Death Do Us Part?", available from Kindle or from the Store at www.ChristopherNyerges.com for far less than what you'd pay as a tip at a medium-priced restaurant.

You were always so happy to see me when I came to get you that it made me very happy too.  When I briefly lived at my dad’s house, you were difficult at first, but then you could just come and go out the back yard at will, and you were always so happy to see me when I came in. I could tell you had some deep fear of being alone and you felt some deep inner relief that I was there.

You got me up early, and would bark to get me up and out. We walked every single day in the early mornings. In some ways, I feel that you kept me alive and going during those times.  We’d walk in the rain or sun or dark, in the old neighborhood of Pasadena where I’d mentally review all my demons and old memories and I felt good and new having you with me.

When we walked near the intersection of Woodbury Road and Highland Avenue, there was this long row of bushes that you struggled to go to and to carefully sniff.  “Let me see your picture,”  I asked Cassie, thinking of the Leydecker book on animal communication. I felt it would make me closer to Cassie, understand him better, and make him feel good that he could share.

I just mentally asked him to share with me when we went by these bushes. Cassie always HAD to stop there and sniff and sniff and I’m sure it was the code of every dog that ever walked by there. It was a very important thing to Cassie to do this sniffing.

I asked him to share his picture, and I closed my eyes momentarily and I touched his head and I “saw” this wildly complicated picture of streams of what I would call molecules,  or objects, in all geometric shapes, and all colored, and all in motion, and it all meant something to Cassie, but not much to me. When he sniffed, it was as if he was trying to make some order of the kaleidoscopic dynamic color of shapes, and determine what dogs came by, and when.

It was incomprehensible to me – but it occurred to me that that was in fact his mental picture of how he processed the information from his nose.

You were about 10 when I moved up to Altadena. I started to think and feel you would live forever.  You were always there.

I was always afraid that you would get out and attack a horse, and one day, when I left the door open and was watering, I began to  hear the horses making noise and sure enough, there you were down by the horses. I ran down the steps so fast, and my first sight was you flying through the air as a horse kicked you away. You got up and went back, and you got kicked again. I had to wait for the horse to move away before I could get your limp body out of there. I took you to the tub and washed you, and you were all swollen. I think you got kicked in the chest and in the head, not sure. But you didn’t do much for a few days and then you seemed to recover back to normal.  I am certain that if a human received a kick like Cassie did, they’d be dead!

In these last five years, I realize that I structured my life around being able to be there for you and to care for you. I would rush home from the market on cold, rainy, overly hot, windy days to make sure you were OK. You just looked at me, and we went inside or walked. You then came in and slept.

Not All Plants Can Be Eaten

www.ChristopherNyerges.com

I have noted that most of the very common “weeds” can now be found worldwide.  These are typically found in the disturbed soils of farms, backyards, and throughout urban areas. This means, among other things, that you could learn a dozen or so of these very common urban weeds, and use them in your meals as you travel the world.

But what about the poisonous plants, I am often asked.  Shouldn’t I be able to identify all the poisonous plants?  Certainly, the more you know the better. On the other hand, if you know that you have positively identified the plant you are about to eat as an known edible species, then it really doesn’t matter if you can identify any poisonous plants. Just know what you are eating, and “if in doubt, do without.”

In his book “Participating in Nature,” Thomas Elpel has created a unique chart [above] to give a perspective on the sheer numbers of edible, medicinal, and poisonous plants.

First, almost every plant with known ethno-botanical uses can be used medicinally, even some otherwise toxic plants can be used medicinally if you know the right doses and proper application. So, yes, medicine is everywhere.  But nearly two-thirds of these plants are neither poisonous, nor used for food for various reasons.

The extremely poisonous plants that will outright kill you are rare.  And since there are so few of these deadly plants, it is not all that difficult to learn to identify them.  In Southern California, for example, there is poison hemlock, and castor bean which are readily recognizable. Others that could cause death are various mushrooms, oleander, and tree tobacco, though we rarely hear about this happening.

Though there are only a few that are deadly poisonous, there are many more – perhaps five times as many plants as the very deadly ones – that would make you very sick, but would not normally  kill you.

Still, all the poisonous and toxic plants combined are perhaps 1/20^th  (if that) of all the known ethnobotanicals.

Edible plants comprise about ¼ of the known edible-medicinal-poisonous plants.

Of the plants that we normally think of as “food plants,” the overwhelming majority – maybe 70% or so – is primarily providing us with greens. That is, throughout most of the year, most of the food that you’ll obtain from wild foods consists of greens, food to make salads, and  stir fries, and add to soups and vegetable dishes. These are plants which will not by themselves create a filling and balanced meal, but which will add vitamins and minerals to your dried beans, MREs, freeze-dried camping food, and your other foods. In general, greens are not high sources of protein, or fats, or carbohyrdrates.

Berries and fruits comprise another category of wild foods. Maybe 10 to 15% of the wild foods you find will provide you with berries or fruits, but timing is everything. Unlike greens, which you can usually find year-round, fruits and berries are typically available only seasonally, so if you want some during other parts of the years,you’ll need to dry them, or make jams or preserves. This includes blackberries, elderberries, toyon, mulberries, and many others. They provide sugar and flavor, but like greens, you would not make a meal entirely from fruits and berries.

Then, an even smaller category of wild foods,. Perhaps 5 to 7%, consists of starchy roots, such as cattails, Jerusalem artichokes, and others. These are great for energy, though they may not be available year round.  This is why these foods have traditionally been dried, and even powdered, and stored for use later in the years.

Another small category of wild foods consists of the seeds and nuts. This includes grass seeds, pine nuts, mesquite, screwbean, carob, acorns, and many others. It is in this small category, maybe 5% of wild foods, where you obtain the carbohydrates, oils, and sometimes proteins that constitute the “staff of life.”  Though these are not available all year, some have a longer harvest time than others. Some may have a harvest period of as short as two weeks.  Many grass seeds simply fall to the ground and are eaten by animals. Fortunately, most of these can be harvested in season and stored for later use.

Tom’s chart is based on years of observation and analysis, and can be found in his “Participating in Nature” book, available from Hops Press, www.hopspress.com.  Elpel is also the author of “Botany in a Day,” now in color, available from the Store at the School of Self-reliance, www.ChristopherNyerges.com.

ops

Link to Interview with Dr. Adams (of "Healing with Medicinal Plants of the West")

Here is the link to an interview I did with Dr. Adams.  There will be a part two in a month or more.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/doctorprepper/2013/07/27/the-weekly-report-with-christopher-nyerges

HEALING WITH MEDICINAL PLANTS OF THE WEST

A book by Dr. James Adams and Cecilia Garcia

[An interview with Dr. Adams can be heard on Nyerges’ weekly podcast at Preparedness Radio Network.]

James Adams, who is a doctor of pharmacology at USC, got very interested in the medicinal uses of native plants back in 1994.   He had been  taking his son out on Boy Scout walks and began to realize that all the local plants had been used by the Native Americans who once exclusively resided here. Adams then set out to find a Native American herbalist to learn from.

He talked with people from the Chumash tribe, but made no progress in finding a skilled herbalist for about two years.

Then he heard about Cecilia Garcia and arranged to meet her in the Santa Monica Mountains  Adams brought his wife along, and when he met Garcia, Adams was a bit taken aback by Garcia’s request that he sing a song.  “I sang a Ponca Indian song,” said Adams, “and she told me that it wasn’t a very good song, but that I sang it well!”

Then Garcia spent the next two hours talking with Adams’ wife, and when it was over, Garcia agreed to work with Adams. “She had to be sure that I wasn’t just trying to take advantage of her and exploit her knowledge,” explains Adams.

Adams and Garcia then collaborated to produce the book “Healing with Medicinal Plants of the West,” which was published in 2005.  It’s a fully illustrated book which describes the chemistry and uses of the plants that were used by the Chumash for medicine, and generally used throughout the west.

“Cecilia and I got together to decide what plants to include in the book, and which to not include.  We  agreed generally, but we did have a few plants that she said must be included.”

The book is now in its third printing, which includes many of Garcia’s recipes for how to use the herbs. 

Unlike many books on medicinal plants, this one attempts to present the full picture of what it means to be healthy, including the spiritual aspect.  There are some prefatory chapters on what’s wrong with modern medicine, and how the body must be allowed to heal itself.

Each plant is discussed by identification characteristics, distribution, primary and secondary uses, active compounds, and recommendations for use. Specific commentary by Garcia on the Chumash perspective is scattered throughout the book.

 Adams pointed out that there were six top herbs used by the Chumash in healing: Mugwort, sagebrush, white sage, black sage, bay and yerba santa.  These are described in detail in their book.

 Since their collaboration, Adams and Garcia have led nearly 100 walks and workshops to teach about the Native use of healing herbs.

Unfortunately, in early 2012, Garcia was hit by a vehicle while riding a bicycle, and died a month later on May 15, 2012 at her home in Ensenada, Mexico.  Garcia learned as a child from her paternal and maternal  grand parents, who were Chumash healers. Her Chumash religion was integral to her healing practice.  "Spirituality helps keep us healthy," she would often say.  Garcia  was often described as a very intense healer.

Adams earned his PhD in Pharmacology in 1981 at UC San Francisco in comparative pharmacology and toxicology, and is now an Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences at USC.  He’s written over 200 articles. His family came to Virginia from England in 1635, and learned healing from the native Americans to stay alive.

 The book is available from Amazon, or from the store at www.ChristopherNyerges.com.

TUNNEL 16 (an excerpt)

[An excerpt from Tunnel 16, a science fiction novel by Nyerges, available by Kindle, or as a pdf download from Store at www.ChristopherNyerges.com.]

INTO THE CAVERN        

Rick stared out at what appeared to be a vast lake, in a tall cavern, lit by some unseen subtle light source. Had Rick walked forward without care, he would have tumbled into this large nearly round lake.  He stood at the edge of his trail, looking out at the unbelievable scene stretched before him.  “How is this possible?” Rick whispered to himself.

It took a while for his eyes to adjust in the dim illumination. The path appeared to go on the entire circumference of the lake, though he could not clearly discern the far end.  Rick shined his flashlight across the lake but his little flashlight was not strong enough to illuminate the distant opposite side.

Rick heard some rocks tumble, and splash into the water.  He shined his flashlight in that direction and saw nothing.  Then  he saw a spark, a flash.  What was that?, thought Rick.  My imagination? 

            Above the water level by about 30 or more feet, there appeared to be another path on a shelf that roughly followed the circumference of the vast lake.  On this upper path, Rick could see as many as 12 – maybe more – openings that led into unknown areas.  Rick could not imagine how such an area could possibly be man-made.

            Though the water’s surface was still, Rick could see that there were objects in the water that stuck out maybe a foot or more.  These were cylindrical objects, not at all like stalagmites or stalactites, but cylindrical, obviously man-made objects with a flat top, sticking out of the water. These cylinders were more or less evenly-spaced in the water. Though Rick could not be certain, the source of the dim illumination in the cave seemed to come from these objects in the water.

            As Rick’s eyes adjusted to the dim light in the cavern, he began to examine the walls of the inside of the cavern. They were not like the tunnel he’d been walking in.  This was more like solid rock, and it was smooth, not rough.  Rick turned on his flashlight to see how tall the ceiling went, and the ceiling seemed incredibly high.  He turned the flashlight off.

How was this possible? thought Rick.  What about earthquake faults?  What about flooding?  How is the water controlled?  Are there fish in here?   Rick thought it was too cold, and too dark for fish, and besides, there was no movement in the water.

            Rick stood up to examine the lintel of the tunnel which led him to the cave.  He turned on his flashlight to see if there was any writing there, as there was in the first fork he encountered early on.

            To his amazement, there was a passage in English, and a longer passage of hieroglyphs similar to the one’s he saw earlier.  Rick felt frustrated that he didn’t have his notebook, but he began to study the images above the tunnel opening.  Most were simple shapes that must have meant something, or could have been some sort of symbolic art. But the English phrase caught Rick by surprise, and confirmed that at least some English-speaking people had come into the cave before Rick. 

            He held his flashlight up to the writing.  It was neatly carved into the upper wall, and had been painted with red and black, and the entire English phrase was circled.

            Rick read it out loud:

TIME IS an undulating (but cohesive) F  A  B  R  I  C TIME  is NOT A linear flux (i.e., vibrating sinewave(s)) It enables us to See All yesterdays AND all  tomorrows AND all  dimensions

            “So what on earth is that supposed to mean?” thought Rick.  Why would someone write such an obscure thing deep in a tunnel?  Does it have something to do with time travel, or is this just some nut’s  mumbo-jumbo

Rick was hoping for something more mundane, like “This way to the desert,” or something like that. Rick stared at the phrase.  Who was it meant for?  Why was it put in this particular spot, over this tunnel?  Rick wanted to get out and go home, but he felt compelled to see if there was similar writing over the other openings. 

            He walked to his right on the narrow passageway that led in the direction that Rick believed was eastward, along the eastern edge of the vast cavernous lake.  He reached the next tunnel in about 5 minutes, and shone his flashlight up over the entry when something unseen  knocked him to the ground, along with his flashlight. Rick passed out.