Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Elm

[00:00:00] Hey y'all, welcome to this week's show. Today we've got a big one. You know, we're still working through our series on the medicinal uses of common trees. And today is Elm. And Elm was once, I would say, probably the most popular herbal medicine in America and Western Europe. Elm was like the big thing.

[00:00:26] Probably competing with that would be Golden Seal and Sassafras. So two of the most popular herbs in herbal medicine were trees. Elm and Sassafras. Like Golden Seal, Slippery Elm in particular has been a little bit over harvested.

[00:00:50] It's not endangered. You can still find Slippery Elm in the woods, but you should try to use some alternatives to the Slippery Elm. There are a bunch of them that can be used almost identically. Just like Golden Seal. Golden Seal was ever harvested. I think it actually was. Maybe not on the endangered list, but like kind of the watch list for a while. It's coming back.

[00:01:12] Always remember you can use Barberry, Oregon Grape, Coptus. Seems like there's maybe one other plant you can use as a one-to-one substitute for Golden Seal. They all contain Berberin and that's the active constituent. So there are actually 14 varieties of Elm that have been found useful in herbal medicine. I'm not going to name them all. There are just too many. But there are three that are native to my region.

[00:01:43] Olmus Alotta, Winged Elm. Very easy to identify. All of the Elms are super easy to identify. Olmus Americana, that's American Elm. Olmus Rubra, Slippery Elm. And that's the one people really used to... It's actually...well, it was used for a lot for like bowel complaints. You know, most of our ancestors died from dysentery. I mean that was like the big thing. And Slippery Elm was very, very good for all kinds of digestive disorders.

[00:02:13] It's also an edible tree. Believe it or not, you can eat the inner bark of the tree. It's just...I mean it's incredible. And it saved a lot of our ancestors from starving. There are three that have been naturalized. And speaking of edible uses, Slippery Elm... Learn to identify that tree. It has a really specific bark. It's a little like Shag Bark Hickory but a lot, I don't know, shaggier, thicker and rougher.

[00:02:42] And in the springtime, well actually like next month, start looking around those trees. Tulip poplars... Oh, there's one other that's on the tip of my tongue and it's not coming to me. Yeah. There's one other tree. They're really known for having morels grow around them. The morels really like to...gosh that other tree is going to drive me crazy.

[00:03:11] I can see it. I can see the bark and I can't...it's not coming to my mind. But anyway, yeah, they're like three, four trees that you look for when you're looking for morels. But anyway, the elm is...the three elms that have been naturalized in my region. Elmus parviflora, that's Chinese elm. Elmus prokera, that's English elm.

[00:03:37] And Elmus pulmilia or pulmilla, Siberian elm. But anyway, elm is the most...elm is likely the most commonly known and used tree in herbal medicine. And that's mainly due to the popularity of slippery elm about a hundred years ago. The common use of slippery elm, as I said, is caused to be overharvested in many areas. So we're going to try to look for alternatives if we can, unless you have a lot of them. Like I said, it's not an endangered species.

[00:04:03] But other varieties of elm have been used throughout the history of herbal medicine in various parts of Europe and Asia, etc. And in around 1100, St. Hildegard von Bingen wrote of Elm, One who is troubled by the Gicht. Now what's the Gicht? Gicht is old German for anything from arthritis to paralysis, any kind of stiffness. You were said to be vergete to get. So it's not a specific condition.

[00:04:34] But she said, One who is troubled by the Gicht should burn a fire with Elmwood only. Soon he should warm himself by the fire and the Gicht will cease. So just the fire from burning Elmwood was believed to help with whatever the Gicht was. I don't know. But she said, One who is vergete to get. Apparently that was a little more serious than being just with the Gicht. Anyway,

[00:05:01] One who is vergete to get so that his tongue fails to speak. So this is probably a form of paralysis, maybe something from a stroke actually. Fresh new leaves of this tree should be placed in water and this should be given to him to drink. The Gicht in his tongue will cease and he will recover his speech. One who has Frischlick in his body. Again, old German and we're talking a feverish condition essentially.

[00:05:28] Should drink the same water tempered with those leaves and the Frischlick will disappear. If you're a German listener, you're hearing this and you want to be, give me a little more specific information about the Frischlick. I would appreciate that. I don't speak German. I am not of Germanic descent except for like one ancestor way back. But I have spent years trying to figure out what the Gicht and the Frischlick actually are.

[00:05:56] If someone burns this wood alone and heats water with it and takes a bath with this water, it would take away malignity and bad will and give him benevolence and make his mind happy. Take that for what it is. I don't know. Boiling water just made with this burnt wood would make your mind happy. I had no idea.

[00:06:18] The tree has a certain prosperity in its nature so that the spirits of the air are unable to move phantasms, wrongs and illusions through it with their many wrathful confrontations.

[00:06:33] So obviously, something about Elm was believed in the Middle Ages in Germany to basically help with what we call maybe some bad dreams or some anxiety. And there could be something to that. Let's remember, St. Hildegard was a very respected herbalist and a doctor of the church and was said to have learned her herbal medicine from angels. So, you know, I'm not going to question it.

[00:07:03] I just probably don't understand it as well as I should. But I certainly want to avoid wrathful confrontations of spirits of the air. So, yeah, Elm grows a lot around me and that's a good thing. Gerard, in the 1500s, wrote, The leaves and bark of the elm be moderately hot, with an evident cleansing faculty. They have in the chewing a certain clammy and gluing quality.

[00:07:32] And, yeah, there's like, slippery elm it has certainly a mucilaginous quality. that's what he's talking about the leaves of the elm glue up and heal green wounds and so doth the bark wrapped and swallowed around the wound like a bandage very common use inner bark of slippery elm especially but of the other arms as well basically used by every people on the face of the earth as a bandage and a way to bind up wounds and stop them from bleeding and help encourage

[00:08:00] healing the leaves being stamped in vinegar do take away the scurf that's essentially usually eczema psoriasis deascordes writeth that an ounce of the weight of the thicker bark drunk with wine or water purges the phlegm and yes especially slippery arm elm has a documented use for congestion and such the decoction of elm leaves and also the bark or root healeth broken bones very speedily if they

[00:08:30] be fomented or bathed therein so take a bath in what the the water that's been steeped in the liquor that is found in the blisters doth beautify the faiths and scoureth away all spots freckles pimples spreading tedders and such like being a pair applied there too it healeth green wounds and cureth ruptures newly made being laid on with spleenwort and the truss closely set unto it

[00:08:58] so with spleenwort which is an herb it could be bound tightly over wounds or hernias and he said would help so colpepper about a hundred years later says the leaves thereof bruised and applied heal green wounds being bound thereon with its own bark the leaves or the bark used with vinegar cure at the

[00:09:22] scarf and leprosy very effectually so we're talking skin issues the decoction of the leaves bark and root being bathed heals broken bones again so and colpepper was a professional pharmacist essentially he was an apothecist so be worth looking into the water that is found in the bladders of the leaves while it is fresh is very effectual cleanse the skin so these are actually um little pockets in

[00:09:50] the leaves not the bark uh it makes them fair and if clothes be wet therein and applied to the ruptured children it helps them that was actually cloths not clothes so used to sort of like a a poultice if they be well bound up with the truss so again like bound on tight the said water put into a glass and set into the ground or else in dung for 25 days um closely stopped up so it wasn't getting

[00:10:17] contaminated and the bottom set upon a lay of ordinary salt so that the so it may settle and become clear okay so salt would pull uh help settle the solids in there is a singular and sovereign balm for green wounds now why would you put something manure well it made it hot uh actually our ancestors used a lot of horse manure and cow manure and such um chicken manure etc uh to do hot boxes and uh you

[00:10:46] know compost and uh so it was not uncommon i know it sounds kind of strange but if you were in 1600s england you had a big pile of horse manure you could actually cook in it believe it or not you can take a box that is airtight that you know no contamination can get into it stick it in the pile the middle of a pile of rotting manure and it will heat up over 100 degrees you could actually cook in there so they they actually did a lot of things in manure in the 1600s as odd as that may sound to us today

[00:11:16] the decoction of the bark and the root foam and it mollifieth and mollifieth hard tumors i mean softens and shrinketh the sinews um probably doesn't actually shrink the sinews but it reduces inflammation like if you have a strain or a sprain the roots of the elm being boiled a long time in water um placed on an area that has grown bald where the hair has fallen away it will quickly restore them

[00:11:44] again i don't know the said bark with brine and of a pickle uh formed into a poultice laid on the place pain with gout giveth great ease remember saint hilgard talking about the very gits to get well gout is also a form of the gitsch and those two uh words are probably from the same root both of probably come from the same old german gout which we know is an inflammatory condition of the joints

[00:12:09] and the gitsch which can be arthritic or another form of stiffness or paralysis the decoction of the bark in water is excellent to bathe such places that have been burnt with fire and yes elm is a very uh traditional remedy uh for burns miss grieve now we get up to 1930 so this will get a lot easier she talked about both common elm and slippery elm she said of medicinal actions in use it was tonic

[00:12:37] demulsant demulsant means softening essentially astringent and diuretic was formally employed in the preparation of an anti-scorbutic decoction that means it would help with scurvy it has vitamin c for cutaneous diseases of a leprous character and ringworm it was applied both externally and internally under the title of olma olmus the dried inner bark was official when the british pharmacopoeia

[00:13:03] or pharmacopoeia some people say it uh from 1864 to 1870 um 1867 actually using the decoction and uh she says medicinal tea was made from the flowers in persia italy and south of france the gauls uh that's where you know like a basically a hornet or some other insect makes a nest in the in the bark and it forms a gall um sometimes the size of a fist

[00:13:33] are frequently produced uh on the leaves so the galls actually form on the leaves on some elms i have seen blisters on the bark but apparently we're talking about the galls on the leaves which you may have seen before i have uh it's like a big brown blister essentially uh i've never seen one the size of a fist i have to admit that um more like size of a pea actually they contain a clear water which is sweet

[00:13:56] and biscuit and has been recommended to wash wounds contusions and sore eyes um let's see toward autumn they dry the galls dry the insects die in them and there is found a blackish balsam or resin which has been recommended for disease of the chest so it has expectorant property of slippery elm specifically she says it's demulcent emollient demulcent emollient

[00:14:22] essentially essentially softening and moistening we'll just go with that expectorant diuretic and nutritive in other words you can eat it it's actually really good for you the bark of the american elm though uh let's see uh is an official drug in the united states considered one of the most valuable remedies of herbal practice so 1930s slippery elm was still considered one of the most valuable herbs in official medicine this is stuff your doctor would give you not not for herbalists but this was

[00:14:49] actually in the pharmacy and it was said to have wonderfully strengthening and healing qualities it has a most soothing and healing action on all the parts that comes in contact with but in addition possesses much nutrition as much as is contained in oatmeal when made into a gruel and see this was really essential food in early america that's why slippery elm really was uh somewhat over harvested

[00:15:17] said uh elm is excellent gives excellent results in gastritis gastric catara mucus colitis enteritis uh good for the stomach good for bronchitis good for bleeding of the lungs and consumption yes it was very popular when uh tuberculosis was was a bad problem soothes a cough and prevents wasting or well basically losing weight because you have tuberculosis uh slippery elm compound is excellent for

[00:15:45] coughs uh it's in typhoid fever the slippery elm is drunk as prepared for coughs and um it would cleanse heal and strengthen uh the bark is an ingredient in various lung medicines yeah it was in like every cough syrup it really was in pleurisy the following is recommended take two ounces each of pleurisy root now that's in the milkweed family um asclepius marshmallow licorice root and slippery elm bark this

[00:16:13] is very very common this this would have been one of the most common patent medicines like you would have gone in your general store and you'd have seen this on the shelf it would have been doctor so-and-so's cough syrup and it was uh pleurisy root which is asclepius is an excellent expectorant um it's also called what butterfly weed uh it's one of the prettiest of the milkweeds bright orange uh marshmallow uh licorice root and of course mashed marshmallow is actually the plant

[00:16:41] we're not talking you know stay puffed here we're talking marshmallow root from the mallow plant licorice root and slippery elm bark boiled in three points pints of water until it's reduced by uh about really about two-thirds in this case and you just take a half teaspoonful every hour uh that was one of the most common medicines up until probably really it maintained well until about

[00:17:07] 1950 i mean the pure foods and drug act pretty much put herbal medicine out of business around 1916 1920 but this was so effective uh pharmacists were still uh prescribing it uh says slippery elm bark possesses a great influence upon diseases of the female organs so usually menstrual disorders um good for dysentery disease of the bowel cystitis the irritation of the urinary tract

[00:17:34] also uh yeah cystitis and bladder infections slippery elm was the go-to i mean really uh just one of the most popular medicines uh really until very recently uh i mean really very uh recently she said uh indians have uh used the viscous inner bark to prepare a healing salve um it's slippery arm is uh elm is powder is considered one of the best possible poultices for wounds

[00:18:04] boils ulcers and on flame surfaces soothing healing and reducing pain and inflammation good for old gangrenous wounds it's an as an antiseptic poultice uh it's just you know really gosh it could save your life in more ways than one i mean from infected wounds to just being able to eat it i mean literally the inner bark of slippery elm can just be eaten raw or you can cook it a little bit

[00:18:31] like okra it has a mucilaginous quality um like oatmeal as he said it it's pretty amazing actually um i and in the irish tradition they weren't using the slippery elm they were using what they call the common elm um irish herbal says the leaves and inner bark kill and consolidate wounds bruises and fractured bones the liquid that is found in the leaves removes freckles pimples and spreading eruptions the bark

[00:18:56] it is frequently used in gargles for sore mouths and throats the inner bark being scraped off and steeped in water for 24 hours is exceedingly good applied to burns and scalds again has that almost mucilaginous quality like aloe so it really is good for burns and scalds going back to slippery elm will go to resources of the southern fields and forest uh written in the 1860s a decoction of the bark was much used by the indians as a cure for leprosy

[00:19:24] it is an excellent demulcent employed as an emollient application and internally is especially recommended for suppression of urine so it has some diuretic properties inflammation of the bladder dysentery and diarrhea a decoction made of this combined with the root of sassafras is esteemed a valuable drink to increase cutaneous transpiration uh i think you mean sweat it would help you sweat

[00:19:50] and improve the tone of digestive organs uh dr griffin considers a good substitute for acacia and he has witnessed its beneficial effects externally applied in obstinate cases of herpetic and syphilitic eruptions which is good for venereal diseases as well the skin though blistering uh properties it forms a good vehicle for uh oh yeah was using enemas um good for the sinuses and the urethra any soft tissue

[00:20:19] um just like uh mallow uh slippery elm was very soothing he said that uh dr wright of cincinnati had found that slippery elm bark has the property of preserving fatty substances from rancidity so it could also um be used to uh preserve food uh he says that the indians in his area uh combined bears fat

[00:20:45] with slippery elm and used it as a food preservative that's that's pretty interesting actually i had not heard that one before um the thomsonians certainly use slippery elm they probably popularized it more than anybody else this is the inner bark of the tree is an article of much value and may be used to advantage in many different ways there are several species of elm that grow commonly in this country and

[00:21:12] there are two kinds of slippery elm in one the bark is rather hard and tough and the other the bark is rather brittle the latter is best for medicinal uses um look it up uh you once you see slippery elm bark you will recognize it it's it's very distinctive if used internally put a teaspoonful of this powder in a teacup with much sugar and mix them together and add a little cold water until it works perfectly

[00:21:35] then put hot water to it and stir it till it forms a thick jelly it has that mucilaginous quality it should be thick enough to eat with a spoon a teaspoonful may be taken at a time it is an excellent medicine to heal soreness in the throat the stomach and bowels soreness caused by canker or more hot water may be added to it to make a drink and take it for the same purpose i have made

[00:22:02] much use of this bark for poultices poultices and have in all cases found it most excellent for that purpose mixed and pounded with cracker crumbs and ginger that's an interesting but they had a lot of hard tech back then so yeah mixed and pounded with cracker and ginger it makes the best poultice i have ever found for burns skulls felons and old sores felons were essentially sores on the fingers

[00:22:26] so um yeah it was really common when you were apparently from what i understand when people used to have you know carriages and somebody would drive them and they the reins would kind of rub blisters into their fingers and it was like the cuticle area of the finger that would get uh irritated to the point it became infected and those were called felons now that's the best i understand it it could have

[00:22:51] been more of a bacterial thing but uh that's how it was described but anyway um it says it would ease the pain of them and heal them in a short time with lobelia it forms an excellent poultice for absences and boils in constipation dysentery diarrhea and cholera and phantom use both internal and per rectal injection or enema it soothes and relieves the intestinal irritation it is a nutritious demulcent

[00:23:20] soothing the mucous membranes wherever needed and quieting the nervous system in diphtheria after the throat has been rid of the decay it is but it's still quite raw it is uh well soothing it was healing and was also used for measles and in typhoid fever it says slippery elm is a very important agent 1898 king's medical dispensatory says elm bark is nutritive again nutritious you can eat it

[00:23:48] expectorant diuretic demulcent and emollient is very valuable remedial agent in mucous inflammations of the lungs bowels stomach bladder kidneys used freely in the form of a mucilaginous drink it is highly beneficial as well as in diarrhea dysentery coughs pleurisy stranguary and sore throat stranguary is a suppressed uh urination uh sore throat in which it in which it tends powerfully to allay inflammation

[00:24:19] some physicians consider the constant use of it during the seventh month of gestation as advantageous in facilitating and causing an easy delivery i don't know i don't make any recommendations for herbs for pregnant women but apparently in 1898 it was popular the bark has likewise been successfully employed externally in cutaneous or skin diseases especially in obstinate cases of herpetic and syphilitic eruptions

[00:24:46] um as an emollient poultice the bark is found very serviceable when applied to inflamed parts separating tumors flesh fresh wounds burns scalds bruises and ulcers and um for pains of the testes and um mumps and gosh there's a lot more um so yeah i think we're seeing that you know really by around 1900

[00:25:14] slippery elm was essentially a considered a cure-all it was like you know in the top five herbs uh let's see they said it was also used for diarrhea dysentery uh tenesimus hemorrhoids gonorrhea and gleat um the powdered bark was good for chafings and wounds itching erysipelas pretty yeah yeah you can understand why like everybody in america knew what a slippery elm tree

[00:25:42] was and gathered for themselves and it i mean literally your grandparents knew this tree and they used it uh getting up to like the 1960s now um you'll given remember you'll give us the uh the grape nuts guy said medicinal books list the properties of slippery elements to mulcent emollient expectorant diuretic soothing and laxative early settlers learned from the indians how to use slippery

[00:26:07] element it became one of the most important home remedies in early america is very good for coughs colds influence a pleurisy quincy dysentery and painful menstruation and now getting up to modern use let's see what i've got here i tell you i'm running out of steam this is a long one okay so plants for a future says of american elm an infusion made for the bark has been used for the treatment

[00:26:31] of bleeding from the lungs ruptures coughs colds influences dysentery eye infection cramp and diarrhea an infusion of the bark has been taken by pregnant women to secure stability of children uh that means a successful delivery that's that's all they mean they'll mean stability of the children it's an odd way to put it um if your kid's nuts it's probably not because you did or didn't take slippery a decoction of the bark has been used as a wash for wounds a decoction of the inner bark has

[00:27:00] been taken the treatment of severe coughs colds menstrual cramps and this is a common american elm this is almost americana an infusion of the inner bark has been drunk and used as a bath in the treatment of appendicitis i always say if you have appendicitis go to a doctor but you know there are remedies for it essentially uh but you can die so that that's when you want to run to the emergency room as quickly as you can go infusion of the bark has been used in the treatment of coughs colds and

[00:27:27] excessive menstruation a decoction has been used in the eye wash as an eye wash the treatment of sore eyes also a very common use of elm the inner bark has been used as an emollient on tumors now uh plants for future says slippery elm particularly they said slippery elm bark is widely used as a herbal remedy and is considered one of the most valuable remedies in herbal practice

[00:27:54] i would say it's still true to this day even though it's not used anywhere near as much as it used to be used in particular it is a gentle and effective remedy for irritated states of the mucous membranes of the chest urinary troubles stomach and intestines the bark contains large quantities of a sticky slime a mucilaginous they call it a slime that can be dried into powder and made into liquid and you

[00:28:19] know it is slimy i mean if you remember jerry clower talking about okra he called slick slimy boiled okra oh he was hilarious with his stories about okra in particular i remember one i had a dog like this ok i had a weimaraner that had an appetite that was like ceaseless i mean she once ate 30 pounds of chicken laying mash after polishing off about 20 pounds of chicken feed before

[00:28:48] that the dog was a bottomless pit if i was going to skip a rock across a pond she would grab the rock out of my hand and eat it i mean she she went dumpster diving a few times and came out looking like a pregnant greasy goat i mean this was a nasty dog that she was sweet as could be a beautiful weimaraner but stupid and never stopped eating she would throw up five times eat the vomit and throw

[00:29:12] up it 10 more times eating it and puking it out i mean just disgusting i mean literally and um jerry clower told this story about one time when he had his hunting dogs you know and there was one of them just like that and uh he didn't have any food for him so he had some leftover slick slimy boiled okra you know and he cooked it with bacon fat so he thought maybe the dogs will eat this so he

[00:29:37] slops down a pot of boiled okra into the dog's dish and the one that was just like my old dog runs over there and just eats it up in one you know one big uh gulp and just you know it's slimy just slid right down the throat ate it so fast she didn't even know she had eaten anything and then jumped on another dog and caused a fight because she thought he stole her food and that is exactly

[00:30:00] exactly the way that dog of mine uh would do uh my word she was a mess that dog she got into so many fights um the only dog i've ever had that actually uh i had to go to court over uh and that there's a long story uh i almost got arrested for attempted murder believe it or not

[00:30:23] as a um i guess i was 16 uh my dog got into a fight and uh i got her out of it um i had a pistol and i was shooting and the neighbor claimed i was shooting at his kids because it was his dog and he didn't want to take responsibility for it and yeah i had to go to court over that believe it or not so a stupid you know totally innocent obviously uh a stupid dog can get you into a lot of trouble

[00:30:51] a lot of trouble but anyway so where were we um yes we were talking about the mucilaginous quality but it can be dried and powdered and rehydrated with liquid the inner bark is harvested in the spring from the main trunk and from larger branches the dried powdered bark is used as required 10 year old bark is said to be best and it does you know the best does come from older trees it's one of the

[00:31:16] reasons uh it's almost kind of you know harvested out of existence the the plant let's see it's also part of the north american uh indian formula called or native american formula whatever you want to call it called essiac which is sort of a cure-all or a folk remedy for cancer which i'm not going to say whether it works or not check in to e-s-s-i-a-c if you're interested a lot of people say it does

[00:31:41] help with cancer a lot of people say it don't it doesn't i don't know uh let's see they talk about other herbs and essiac inner bark has demulcent diuretic emollient expectorant nutritive soothing and healing effect on all parts of the body that comes into contact with and he's using the treatment of sore throat indigestion digestive irritation stomach ulcers etc um used to be used frequently as a food that was nutritive and tonic for the old young

[00:32:10] convalescents yes very uh popular as a food um peterson field guide says uh supreme three tablespoons of the inner bark and a cup of hot water makes a thick mucilaginous tea traditionally used for sore throat upset stomach indigestion digestive irritation stomach ulcers coughs pleurisy said to help diarrhea and dysentery inner bark considered edible often used as a nutritive broth

[00:32:36] for children and the elderly elderly and convalescing patients who had difficulty consuming or digesting food externally a thick tea made from the powdered inner bark was used for fresh wounds ulcers burn scalds science confirms the tea is soothing the mucous membranes and softens hardened tissue bark once used as an antioxidant to provide to prevent rancidity of fat so you know again the

[00:33:00] preservative properties and um let's see botany a day says that the leaves are edible raw and cooked yeah i never tried that i have seen that in several my foraging books i need to give that a try sometime uh so we're talking the young leaves probably in the spring uh the bark may be dried and ground to a flower um it's used in times of scarcity the green fruits are also edible and again i've never tried

[00:33:24] the green fruit uh only the bark i need to give that a shot the slippery elm uh almost fulva is widely wide widely popular as a medicinal plant the inner bark is highly mucilaginous and somewhat astringent other species may be more astringent and less mucilaginous the elm is used especially as a soothing remedy externally as an emollient for burns or internally as a demulsant for sore throats

[00:33:50] or other inflammations including diarrhea it is a kind of remedy that can be used for just about anything a friend once gave me some tea to reduce a fever on expedition and i recall it was very effective and finally the physician's desk reference for herbal medicine tells us that elm bark in general has diuretic and diuretic and astringent properties internally the drug is used for

[00:34:14] digestive disorders and severe cases of diarrhea externally it is used to treat open wounds no health hazards or side effects are known in conjunction with proper administration of designated therapeutic dosages so y'all uh the elm trees are just like crazy useful slippery elm uh a native to america is probably the best of them all do learn this one if for no other reason um in case you get lost in

[00:34:42] the woods and you need something to eat because it's a very edible tree and you might be able to find morels around it uh say between march and may uh really i'm still blanking oh ash ash yes uh ash is the other tree so slippery elm tulip poplar ash and shag bark hick well any hickory um especially shag bark and they they actually the barks are kind of similar on those depending on their stage of growth and

[00:35:11] everything uh but anyway that's where you look for uh morels especially anywhere there's been a burn a forest fire and anywhere you find those trees uh you're more likely to find morels there than elsewhere however morels are tricky they may pop up in any unexpected place so uh they're hard to see they're delicious they're easy to identify you really need to get out in the woods and train your eyes

[00:35:37] uh next month to find morels especially if you live in lower mountain ranges uh apparently they grow in lower elevations i haven't really seen them they where i live is a little too high for them usually so i go really between like say 1 000 and 4 000 feet and um i that's where i'm looking for morels but you know in your area if you're further north you may not need any elevation and if you're further

[00:36:02] south you may need more elevation i have no idea um i i know there's a guy online who does some great foraging videos i believe he goes by feral for feral forager or something i have to get you a link for his stuff he's pretty darn good actually and uh he has for morels in alabama finds a ton of them and uh yeah i mean that is the tail end of the appalachian mountains but still i mean i never found

[00:36:27] any morels in georgia um probably wasn't looking at the right spot maybe if i had gone over to delonaga or you know raven gap or something i would have had a lot more luck but uh in the mountains here in north carolina they're pretty i won't say common but uh they tend to grow more profusely than i found them elsewhere so anyway y'all have a great week and i'll talk to you next time