Medicinal Plants: Usnea

Usnea (OOS-nay-uh or US-nay-uh) is a lichen, which is a symbiotic combination of an algae and a fungus. Usnea has numerous medicinal, as well as food uses, which I will get to in a moment. Some of its common names include Old Man’s Beard, Beard Lichen, Beard Moss, Moose Moss and Tree Moss (although it is not a moss). The common names pretty well describe the appearance of Usnea. It resembles Spanish Moss, however, the two are not related.

Usnea grows on every continent. In our area, Usnea primarily grows on the branches of spruce trees, but I’ve also seen it on birch and cottonwood. In the southeastern United States, it is commonly found on oak trees, as well as other types of trees. There are many varieties of Usnea, so search online or ask a local herbalist about which ones grow in your area. Some are a pale yellowish-greenish color; others are reddish brown. Still others are black. The stem of Usnea has a white core that can be seen when it is pulled apart. The “hairs” are a bit stretchy.

Some years, Usnea is abundant and the yellow-green variety that is found here often grows well over 12 inches long. Not this year. When our family went out to gather some a few days ago, we had to really hunt for it. I think I’m going to have to start selling my Usnea soap as a “limited edition” this year. I just made a couple of batches and will post pictures soon.

Medicinal Uses of Usnea

Usnea is an extremely useful antimicrobial, both internally and externally, effective primarily on the lungs and skin. It is often used to treat bacterial, viral and fungal infections. All of my resources really stress its antibacterial properties! It is reported to be an effective treatment for pneumonia, bronchitis, staph, strep, tuberculosis and urinary tract infections. I have successfully used it to prevent and treat colds and flu. It boosts the immune system and can be used like echinacea. Another great thing about Usnea is that it has anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties.

I have found Usnea to be most effective as a tincture when I feel like I’m coming down with a cold. It is not effective as a tea. I have since read that water does not extract the usnic acid, which is the primary medicinal component of Usnea; alcohol is necessary for that.

To prevent or treat infections, I usually take about 8 drops of the tincture, made with vodka or similar alcohol, two to three times daily. I also like to add usnea to my herbal mix when I make cough drops. It doesn’t actually help suppress a cough, but it has helped cure whatever has caused the cough and helps loosen it.

Usnea being made into a tincture.

Usnea tincture can be used externally as a liniment to treat infections on the skin. It can also be used straight from the tree as an emergency wound dressing to prevent infections and gangrene.

To make Usnea Tincture, place crushed usnea in a jar, cover with at least 60 proof alcohol such as Vodka (not rubbing alcohol). Place the lid on the jar and keep the jar in a cool, dark place. Shake the jar daily. After at least 2 weeks, (but preferably 8 weeks or more) strain and pour into a dropper bottle. In his book, “The Way of Herbs”, Michael Tierra states that the usual dose is 5 to 10 drops.

Usnea on drying rack.

Usnea as Food

Usnea is very high in Vitamin C, and is a carbohydrate. Before eating, Usnea should be soaked in several changes of water. The usnic acid can be very irritating to the digestive system. In the book, “Tanaina Plantlore”, Priscilla R. Kari states that the Inland Dena’ina Natives of Alaska sometimes eat Usnea as an emergency food or camp food after first boiling it in water.

Caution

Usnea, like all lichens, readily absorbs pollutants, such as heavy metals and radiation. Be careful where you collect lichens. Also, do not eat animals that have eaten contaminated lichens. The poisons have been known to pass to humans in this way.

Use caution and common sense when trying Usnea, or anything else, especially the first time. You never know how your body will react. Some time ago, usnic acid was found (or at least thought) to help with weight loss. A company produced a weight loss pill containing usnic acid, and from what I’ve read, it sounds like a few people over did it and had severe liver problems. I have read that once the ingestion of usnic acid is stopped, the problems will resolve. One thing to consider in this is that one constituent of Usnea was removed and used in a pharmaceutical preparation. However, plants, in their whole, natural form have many balancing constituents, and are therefore usually much safer, in my opinion, than a processed drug containing only an extract of a plant, possibly in concentrated amounts. Do your own research, talk with a knowledgeable healthcare provider, and then make your own decision about what to ingest.

City Folks: Observations of a Three Year Old

The comments on my recent post about the resourcefulness of my sons and their homemade skis and snowboard reminded me of one of our trips into Anchorage about four years ago. My husband’s brother, Chris used to live there, and we always stayed with him during our visits.

Zeke was only three years old at the time. As soon as we walked in, he began roaming around, checking out the construction of the house like a building inspector. Then, with a look of approval on his face, he said, “Uncle Chris did a very good job building this house”. I told him that someone else built the house, and then Uncle Chris bought it. He looked confused at that, but accept it. He understood that people make or produce things, sell them, and that people use money to buy things they want or need. But I think he was confused about why his uncle didn’t just build his own house like we did.

When Zeke sat down at the table that evening for supper and saw steaks, he yelled, “Oh Boy! Uncle Chris shot a moose!” When I told him it was beef, he asked what “beef” was (because he’d only had wild meat such as moose, caribou, fish, grouse, etc. up to that point in his life). When I told him that beef was the name for meat from a cow, he said, “Oh Boy! Mama shot a cow ! ! !”  I explained in simple terms, “No, someone else killed the cow, sold the meat to the grocery store, and then I went to the store and bought the meat. That’s the way things are done in the city”. He looked very disappointed as he just said, “oh” and began to eat.

The next night when he saw fish on the table, he said, “Oh Boy! Mama caught a fish!” So, I went through it again. “No, someone else caught the fish, sold it to the grocery store, and I went to the store and bought it.” Another disappointment as he quietly ate his supper.

During our last night in Anchorage, we had chicken. Same story, only this time he’d figured it out. “Oh Boy! Chicken!” But with a little question in his voice and a look of suspicion on his face, he asked, “Mama killed the chicken?” I shook my head. Then he said, sounding very sad, “I know. Someone else killed the chicken, sold it to the store, and mama went to the store and bought it.” I said, “Right”. He just looked at me, shaking his head and said, “Things sure are different in the city, aren’t they, Mama?”

When we landed at home in the bush the next day, he told Chuck all about his shocking observations. It went something like this: “Daddy, people in town aren’t like us! When they want something, they pay somebody else to make it. Why don’t they do it themselves? Did you know that Uncle Chris didn’t even build his own house?!!! He paid somebody to do that for him. People there don’t even catch and shoot their own food. They pay someone else to go fishing and hunting for them, and then they just drive to a store and buy whatever they want for supper. They don’t do anything for themselves, Daddy.”

Now that the boys are a little older, they understand things a little better, (although, to be honest, I don't think he was that far off in his assessment). It's kind of interesting to listen to young children verbalize the way they see the world.

Resourceful Little Bushrats

My sons always amaze me with their resourcefulness. Earlier in the winter, long before they'd ever even seen or heard of snowboards, they began trying to stand up in their sleds to zoom down hills. After our trip to town, during which we took a drive through one of the passes and saw some snowboarders and skiers, Zeke and Jed got a few ideas.

This morning after we finished homeschool, they went outside. Within minutes they were back inside announcing that they had some snowboards. I had just started another batch of homemade soap and wasn't really giving them my full attention, but that made me stop and wonder what they were up to this time. They're always inventing toys and games, and I was really curious about this. They found an old stump from a blowdown, pulled off a few long chunks of wood, and then used another piece of wood to scrape them down to suit their desire for snowboards.

Actually, only Jed had a snowboard. Zeke said that he did have one, until Jed broke it. Now he has a set of skis, which pleases him greatly! They kept slipping off their new "inventions", so they found their daddy and asked him to drill a few holes and give them some rope. In no time they had foot straps and some pretty neat homemade equipment.

While Zeke tied on his skis,  Jed gave his "new" snowboard a whirl. Here he is trying to stand up again --- seconds before wiping out!


Zeke broke off a couple of half-dead tree limbs to use as ski poles before trying out his new skis. He did better than I did my first time on skis!

Bush Plane Fuel Delivery

Bush Fuel Delivery - March 2011

A few weeks ago we got our annual plane load of gas flown out to us. A load is 180 gallons. We used to go through just over 2 loads each year, but because the price of the gas and flying combined has doubled over the last six years, we have had to cut way back. We paid $1,040 for this last load! That sure wrecked the budget! When we called to schedule the flight the week before, it was $998, but they couldn’t work us into their schedule and we had to end up paying more because they’d just received their fuel at the inflated prices. They charge us the pump price, plus whatever their hourly rate is at the moment (depending on what he has to pay for plane fuel) for flying it out to us. Now the pump price is over $4 per gallon, and going up daily. I can just imagine what it will cost next year. I fully expect to have to get rid of internet, or only use it only for occasional emails.

In case anyone wonders how we get gas, we have four 55-gallon fuel drums. Chuck hauls them to the lake, one at a time on a sled hooked to the snow machine. The pilot had a fuel container custom made for his plane. He puts it into his plane, pumps fuel into it, flies the fuel to his customers, and used a pump to get it from his plane into fuel drums. We then siphon it from the drums into smaller gas jugs that are more manageable and haul the drums off the lake. It is much easier to handle the drums during the winter. Summer gas deliveries, when the fuel plane must land on floats, are difficult.

Cookout In The Snow

During our last shopping trip into town, I was able to find some Hebrew National Beef Hotdogs. I rarely buy hotdogs or deli-type meats, but I thought it would be a nice change for a quick dinner some night. A few evenings ago as I was opening the packages to heat them in the oven, my youngest son asked if we could build a campfire and cook them on sticks! He was so excited about the idea that I couldn’t resist. It did sound fun. The look my husband gave me when I said yes showed his lack of enthusiasm, to say the least. Nevertheless, once he got the fire going out in the garden, and his appetite grew, he was a little more into it.

One of my sons roasting hotdogs on a stick.

The boys gathered willow shoots they found popping out of the snow, Chuck sharpened them and tended the fire, and I found our last jar of sauerkraut that I’d made and canned a few years back. (Glad I ordered plenty of cabbage seeds this year!) The boys wanted to eat the dogs right off the sticks, but Chuck and I (being co-dictators in the family ;) overruled that one and decided to heat them back up in the Dutch Oven with the sauerkraut. Mmmmmmmm. Delicious!

A good time was had by all. But that was the smokiest fire! If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought we were trying to burn alder. With all of our red, watery eyes, you’d never know we were having fun. We still have about 4 to 5 feet of packed snow on the ground, and when the fire burned down through the snow, it was in sort of a pit and hard to keep our faces out of the smoke.

Soap Box

This post may not be what you're thinking. It's actually about a soap box (box of soap). Back in January when I wrote How to Make and Use Spruce Pitch Salve for The Survivalist Blog, I mentioned that spruce pitch also makes homemade soap smell great. Judy at Consent of the Governed Blog asked for my spruce soap recipe, which I gladly shared with her. I knew that Judy made beautiful soaps, but I was sure surprised when our mail arrived and I found a fragrant box of soaps she’d sent to me as a Thank-You gift. My thanks to you, Judy!

I haven’t tried all of them yet, but the ones I have used make me feel so pampered. So far, the dark one with the green tie in the center front is my favorite. I can't remember what it's called, but it has a very woodsy scent. My youngest son loves it so much that he's always going over to the soap dish to give it a sniff. 

Judy is not only outspoken about political issues, but she is also a skilled homesteader type, at least when it comes to gardening and soapmaking. I'm sure she does all sorts of things, but I've only known her for a short time. If you want to gain fresh insight on political issues that you may not hear about through the mainstream news outlets, visit Judy’s blog, Consent of the Governed. Then visit her soap website, Soap By Judy. (Judy just let me know that she will extend a 10% discount on your order if you mention "Frontier Freedom" on the order form. Mail orders, only. Thank you, Judy, for that great offer to my readers!)

We Have an Inverter!

Hooray ! ! ! !  We now have our new-to-us inverter hooked up. It's so nice to be online without all that noise of the generator, and without constantly thinking of all those $ $ $ $ $ in gas burning up every minute.  Only problem is that the remote switch we use to turn it on in the living room beside the computer is not compatible with the inverter, which is installed upstairs in the loft. We'll have to order one, which will cost about $100 or so. For now, we have to leave the inverter on all the time. The switch is kind of goosy, and acts like it could fall off any minute, so we really couldn't turn it off and on very much even if it were right here. It uses more electricity to leave it running all the time, but for now it's our only real option. It's still much cheaper than running the generator, though. Plus, the days are getting much longer now here in the Far North, so those solar panels are really helping so that we won't have to run the generator as much to charge the battery bank.

Chuck called a friend when our old inverter died to ask his advice on getting it repaired or getting a new one. He said he'd just upgraded his system and that his old inverter was in the way so he wanted to get rid of it. He said he'd gladly just GIVE it to us, and deliver it to the air taxi in Anchorage next time he made a trip there. WOW! What a a blessing ! ! ! !  It works great and is exactly the size we needed. There will be a few birch bark baskets filled with goodies heading their way as a Thank-You as soon as the sap starts running and I can peel some trees! I can hardly wait!

Japan Earthquake, Radiation and Iodine

Praying for the people of Japan. What a horrible thing, especially with the nuclear disasters. Seems like the country is almost in meltdown itself. I’ve read that the winds are pushing radioactive fallout to the Pacific North West and could hit the area, including Alaska within six to ten days of the first explosion. Other reports say there's nothing to worry about. Either way, good to have iodine/iodide on hand. If you are interested (and I think everyone should be), do a search for something like “iodine for radiation” and you’ll come up with plenty of good information explaining why iodine and iodide (both forms) are necessary to take daily just prior to and during exposure to high levels of radiation, as well as how to take it. Here's a good article on How to Prepare for Radiation Emergencies from SurvivalBlog.com

Because of our very limited gas supply and electricity, we have not been online enough to know the latest on what’s going on in Japan, and have had a hard time finding accurate fallout information. For several years I’ve been taking a few drops daily of Lugol’s solution mixed in water for hypothyroidism, but will keep a watch on things to see if more is needed, and if my family should begin taking it. I suspect we will. I hope that the news will report the danger in time for people to obtain the necessary iodine/iodide pills or solution, but I don’t have much faith that they will report anything until it’s too late and the radiation is upon us. Thankfully, there are other reliable sources for information. Even in Japan, we saw news reports that tried to convince people there was no danger of nuclear leaks. Hours later there was an explosion at a nuclear plant, making it impossible to gloss over any longer. SurvivalBlog.com (see the image link in my sidebar) has some good links. Some of the other sites such as The American Preppers Network have good information as well.

Bushrats' Trip to the Big City (and a few rabbit trails)

Now that we’re back from our semi-annual shopping trip, I should be able to post more often. But, with things heating up by the moment in the Middle East, and gas prices (and prices on everything else, for that matter) soaring, I think we’ll still have to limit our computer use even after we get our new inverter in a few weeks.

If you’d rather skip all this gab, scroll down for lots of pictures. The Rabbit Trails are labeled in bold, and some of you may prefer those. But for those inquiring minds who want to know how bushrats spend their time in the “big city”, here’s a play-by-play. I don’t know why I get asked so often about what we do in town. I supposed we do about what everybody else does, only we do it all in a few days instead of each week throughout the year. We shop, visit friends and sometimes play. Well, we play a lot in the bush, and visit bush friends out here, but we do more of the visiting in town, and of course, that’s the only time we have to bother with shopping.

Looking for the airstrip

The weather here at home was beautiful the day we flew out, but when we arrived over town, the clouds were nearly on the deck. The first picture shows us flying sideways over the airport (mostly a bush plane airport) looking for the airstrip where small planes on skis are supposed to land. Our pilot had never landed there before, and my boys were a little green around the gills by the time we found it. All went well, despite the dubious “up to the minute” weather reports of a 1000 foot ceiling and visibility of 2 miles. I wish those weather guys would look out the window from time to time.

Our friends were waiting for us and pulled up to help unload the plane.

Unloading the plane in town at the airport

Overall, this trip into town was fun because we were able to stay with friends who live in a rural area, rather than in Anchorage. Don’t misunderstand me. We’re always very thankful for our friends in Anchorage who welcome us into their homes and let us borrow a car to go shopping and run errands, and it’s always fun to visit with them. But it was a relaxing change this time to be able to let the boys play outside with the dogs, meet and go sledding with neighbor kids, and feed the horses and chickens.

View from the deck

The first day, our friend took us to Anchorage to get our Costco shopping out of the way. We stopped at the chainsaw place for a bar and couple of chains for my new-to-me little chainsaw that I’m learning to use, and then went to the craft store for some knitting needles. I’m really not schizophrenic, although that last sentence might have you wondering. I enjoy knitting beside the woodstove in the evenings, but I also love the feeling of self-reliance that I get from being able to bring in the wood we need for cooking and heating (without dependence upon my husband, should something ever happen to him).

Rabbit Trail #1:  I know what you’re thinking. One of the first things I mentioned today was the chaos in the Middle East and the gas price increases, and now I’m talking about gas-powered chainsaws? How incongruous! We’re planning to get a load of gas flown out very soon, and I suspect that it will be our last for a very long time to come. As long as we can get somewhat affordable gas, it makes our lives much easier. However, the next skill on my list is learning to fell trees with only manual tools. I’m sure I could do it now if I had to, but I really need to learn how to be safe with the tools and get in better shape for that. I feel certain that the time is coming when that will be a necessary skill, among many others.

Rabbit Trail #2:  We all do a lot in the bush, but there’s always much more to learn. It is my goal to learn to do everything necessary to live independently out here, if at all possible. I’m not sure that my goal is even attainable, but I am sure that I have a very long way to go. It’s a bit discouraging sometimes to think about that, but when I look back on how far I’ve come over the years since moving to Alaska, I’m encouraged to keep plugging away, one step at a time. It is satisfying.

Here are some pictures of our trip. Our friend has a mini-horse, Rosie. We sometimes took her and the dogs for a walk down the road to visit with neighbors.

Jed and Zeke loved playing with our friend's mini-horse

Taking the horse and dogs down the road

We enjoyed the fresh eggs for breakfast, and feeding the chickens. I’d love to get chickens out here again, but feed is too expensive, especially to fly out.

Feeding the Chickens

Feeding Chickens

My boys had never been around horses before, so this was quite a treat for them.

The boys got to play with horses for the first time.

This was a big treat for the boys

The horses at sunset

Two of our friends horses

A moose cow and her calf browsed by each morning. This is a picture of my son in the snow watching the moose and horses from the deck, and then another shot of the moose.

Jed watched the moose and horses in the snow from the deck.

Moose in the woods behind the horses

We’re very thankful to another of our friends and her son for taxiing us all over town one day to finish running errands. She was sick and had a fever, but didn’t let a little thing like that spoil her fun. She even took us back to her house so that we could see her menagerie. My boys’ favorites were the geese. She has beautiful sled dogs, some with impressive backgrounds. I am hoping for one of her pups soon.

Rabbit Trail #3:  We always begin taking a mix of vitamins and herbs a few days before heading to town to avoid getting sick when we see people. I suppose we’re kind of like the Indians when the Europeans arrived. Their immune systems were not able to fight off diseases they’d never been exposed to, and they didn’t know what to do when they came down with those horrible, strange illnesses. When I lived in the city years ago, I rarely got sick. Now, if I don’t take the vitamins and herbs while in town, I get to feeling rotten within a few days.

It seems that we have to do more and more these days to stay well. It used to be that I’d take a capsule with a mixture of Echinacea, Goldenseal and Elder twice a day while in town, and that would be plenty to keep the bugs at bay. Now it’s more complicated with many more herbs like garlic, wild chives, wormwood, rosemary, sage, oregano, comfrey, as well as vitamins C and D. Even with all those, the boys and I still ended up with a mild sore throat and the sniffles. Not nearly as bad as most folks in town. None of us even got a fever. I suspect it is (in part) because of the overuse of antibiotics causing these strong, resistant infections. I won’t go any further with that thought right now. End of Rabbit Trail #3.

One of our stops was the sporting goods store. Last summer, my boys made several bows and arrows from sticks, and then shot rubber ducks off stumps. This trip we looked at more “high tech” bows. The guy at the store was very helpful, and the boys had fun shooting a real bow for the first time in the back of the store. I took an archery class last spring, and now I’m hooked!

The boys were excited about shooting a real bow.

Once we got our required stops out of the way, we had more time to play. Here’s a picture of my boys sledding with a new friend.

Sledding with a new friend

The dogs and boys kept each other entertained for hours.

Keeping entertained

Another moose in the yard.

Another moose browsing in the yard

We hope to get a few more goats very soon. They are the only animal we’ve found that can totally feed themselves out here. Without grain, the does don’t produce as much milk, so we’ll need to have more, but as long as they can survive well on browse, that’s great. They are stronger and healthier than animals raised on hay and grain. While in town, we stopped by one farm. Now I’m trying to coordinate everything to get some Toggs.

We'd like to get a few of these goats

Mama and her kid

The boys are looking forward to getting goats again.

After checking on goats, we decided to take a drive through the pass on the way back to our friend’s home. We couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather! My boys have begun standing in their sleds as they zoom down hills, so it was a surprise for them to see real snowboards.  

The boys and I at the pass

After seeing the goats, we went for a drive through the pass

The boys had fun watching snowboarders at the pass

Time for the trip home. The wind was screaming in town and at our lake, so I was a little uneasy about the flight. But the winds were coming straight down the airstrips in both places, and the pilot said it would be “not too bad” once we got out of town. He was right. We bounced around a little, but not too much. Here are a few pictures from the plane as we neared our lake and came in to land.

Almost home

The mountains beyond our cabin

Approaching the lake

About to land

Almost there

The welcoming committee! They were so happy to see us they almost jumped in the plane as soon as the door opened.

The welcoming committee

Once we landed, we unloaded the plane, put the boys and as much stuff on the sled as we could, and then Chuck and I road on the snow machine pulling the sled. This machine is very tippy anyway, and really too small for both of us to ride, so it took a lot of time and determination to get to our cabin. We didn’t have any trouble on the lake, but the high winds caused snowdrifts on the trails --- or what used to be trails. The boys howled with laughter every time the snow machine tipped over on us (they remained upright).

We’ve had over 13 feet of snow this year, so we didn’t get bruised up too bad. The snow had a bit of a crust, and every time I tried to pull myself out, I’d break through and sink again up to my neck. Chuck was holding onto the handlebars, so he could get out pretty easy. Lots of alder under the snow, so we were able to find branches with our feet and push off enough to grab onto the snow machine. After about the third time of getting dumped off the machine, I swam through the snow to the sled and retrieved my snowshoes. I don’t usually find this kind of ride very amusing, but I was so happy to be home that I was laughing right along with the boys.

Once we finally arrived at the cabin, I started supper while Chuck hauled the rest of our things back from the lake.

Rabbit Trail #4:  Bush life is so much simpler than town life. I love cooking on my antique woodburning cookstove. In town, I’m always forgetting to turn on the stove, and then, once I finally remember an hour later and the food is done, I forget to turn it off. At home, if the house is warm, that means there’s a fire in the stove and all I have to do is put a pot of food where I want it, either on top of the stove or in the oven. When the food is done, I take it off the stove. That’s it. I add wood to the fire as a matter of course, but I never have to concern myself with preheating an oven or remembering to turn it off. I just close it down good before leaving the cabin for the day or going to bed.

In town, I stare at all the buttons on the dishwasher until someone notices my bewildered look and shows me what to do. In the bush, washing dishes is pretty straightforward. Pour water in the metal dish pans, place them on the stove until the water is hot (no need to turn on the woodstove as long as the house is warm and there is a supply of wood). One pan is for washing; the other for rinsing. Then the dishes drip-dry on towels. Much more intuitive than a computerized dishwasher!

Thankfully, there was already some coffee in the pot our first morning in town. Trying to figure out that coffee maker would have thrown me over the edge. I’m so glad to be home. End of Rabbit Trail #4.