Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Juniper

[00:00:00] Hey y'all, welcome to this week's show. Hope everybody's enjoying this blazing hot July weather. I'm actually going to talk about a tree today as we continue our series Herbal Medicine for Preppers focusing on the trees

[00:00:16] with a tree that actually grows in very hot climates but is more associated, I would say, with cooler climates and it's Juniper. Now in the southeast, and I think throughout most of at least the eastern United States,

[00:00:33] we have what's called the Eastern Red Cedar, which is not a cedar at all. It's a Juniper. And it's Juniperus virginiana, I think, or Virginia, so I can't remember. I could probably look that up real quick, but it's not important where or the further else you might be.

[00:00:54] You might have California Juniper. You might have shore Juniper. That's a Juniper that likes coastal areas. You might have any number of ornamental Junipers. Well, gosh there's so many. I don't even think I could get into them.

[00:01:17] You can have everything from trees to bushes to a low ground cover. They're all in the same family. The Eastern Red Cedar, so-called, is Juniperus virginiana. And that just means it was first identified in Juniper. In Europe, they have so many varieties.

[00:01:39] There are, I mean, there are varieties of Junipers that just grow in the Alps. They have varieties of Juniper that grow in England and France. I mean, you can go all over the place.

[00:01:49] There are Asian Junipers, the many Chinese varieties and Japanese varieties that have been brought here. The cedars of Lebanon are a closely related plant. Well, let's say normally I use Juniper berries. Actually the needles, they're never green.

[00:02:11] They have almost like little tiny scaly pine needles or something. I don't know how you want to describe it. Those are useful as well. Various parts of the tree do have uses. But mainly we use the Juniper berries.

[00:02:26] Going way back to ancient Greek medicine, Galen stated that Juniper berries cleanse the liver and kidneys. And within thick and viscous juices, mucus and such. And actually there are certain bladder conditions which are pretty nasty that can make your urine thick.

[00:02:49] There's a really serious condition and they were used for that as well. He said, and for this reason they are mixed in health medicines. So, Dioscorides wrote in Demeteria of Medica after describing several varieties that were known to him in ancient Greece and Rome and Egypt.

[00:03:12] He appears to be mostly based in Greece, but he was very familiar with the herbal medicine traditions of basically the entire Middle East and Northern Africa.

[00:03:27] So either the guy really got around or that knowledge was just really being shared at the time which is probably a little more likely. He said that, mainly use the fruit, the berries. They're not actually berries. That's one thing that can confuse you.

[00:03:47] Those little blue berries that form on a Juniper bush are actually little cones like little tiny pine cones. But they're sweet and piney and it's what they're used to flavor gin.

[00:04:00] So if you've ever had a gin and tonic or a gin martini, which I really enjoy gin martinis. You know the taste of Juniper and anytime you see a Juniper or berries, it doesn't matter what variety they are.

[00:04:14] They're delicious, nutritious and medicinal. Don't take them in too great a quantity though because they can irritate the kidneys. They have what is terpenes that can just be a little tough on the kidneys.

[00:04:30] It can cause a little bit of inflammation in large amounts or over a large period of time. I have a little Juniper berry in my bitters formula every day. Never bothered me. I eat Juniper berries. I cook with Juniper berries. They're absolutely fantastic with game.

[00:04:49] Whether it's game birds or a fattier piece of meat like a wild boar, wild pork of any kind. We usually just call them wild boar but you know it's feral pigs basically. Bear meat, I mean you know Juniper is fantastic.

[00:05:06] So I would not overstate that irritating quality but he said that they were sweet and a little bitter and they are. Mildly warming and astringent good for the stomach, taken in drink for infirmities at the chest, for coughs, gaseousness, griping and the poisonous venom of creatures.

[00:05:27] So I don't know about that. It's also diuretic and as a result is good for convulsions and hernia and those who have congested or blocked wounds. It has sharp leaves and applied as a plaster and taken to drink. So he's actually talking about like the needles now.

[00:05:47] Or the juice taken in wine. They're good for those bitten by vipers. So I sure hope I'm never bitten by a viper but if you are maybe a Juniper poultry would help, I have no idea.

[00:05:59] The bark burned and rubbed on with water removes leprosy but the scraping dust of the wood like sawdust. He said if you took it in water or something would kill you. So I'd be very careful with that.

[00:06:16] He talks about the cypress, not the cypress like our Eastern cypress or swamp cypress but the cedars of Lebanon and Rome. And he talks a little bit more about that.

[00:06:32] And talks about what it was called in various languages in his time and in his general region which like I said he was pretty cosmopolitan. He also interestingly gave a recipe for Juniper wine and I have tried this. It's very good actually.

[00:06:50] A little odd. Tastes a little like pine saw. Smells. I've never actually tasted pine saw. But no it's actually pretty good. He said you could use cedar, juniper, cypress, bay, pine or fir. They're all the same way.

[00:07:04] You take the newly cut needles and he actually also used the newly cut wood and would lay it in the sun or the fire so it would kind of sweat out the sapple a little bit. And pound this he said 4.5 liters of wine and this is just infused.

[00:07:24] I actually took the needles and boiled them in water, added some sugar, let it cool, pitched some yeast in there and made an evergreen wine when COVID was going around. And it seemed to have had some great antiviral properties. So you could go either way.

[00:07:44] So anyway he said these medicinal wines are warming good for the urinary tract and astringent. He said wine could also be made from the berries of juniper trees as well as the fruit of the cedar which has the same effect.

[00:07:57] And in my research I found a juniper beer was very popular in Scandinavian countries before hops came into common use and it's still used in some craft brewers. And having tried using cedar or juniper berries in different beverages I found them to be quite pleasant, quite good.

[00:08:21] And very good for the immune system, very good for the stomach and the lungs. Really good. I don't have any problem with urinary stones, kidney stones, bladder stones, anything like that.

[00:08:32] But it's an old remedy for such a sad. So if you do you might want to look into it. By the 1080s St. Kildegard von Bingen said,

[00:08:40] Take its fruit, the fruit of the juniper and cook it in water, strain this through the cloth, add this to this, add honey and a bit of vinegar and licorice.

[00:08:49] And a little bit of ginger and a little less ginger than the licorice she says. She doesn't give an exact amount. Cook it again and place it in a little bag and make a spiced wine. Drink it often whether on an epistemic or haven't eaten.

[00:09:04] It diminishes and mitigates pain in the chest, lungs or liver. Also take the green twigs and cook them in water. Make a sauna bath with that water often bathed in it and it diminishes the bad fevers in you.

[00:09:17] Of course juniper widely used in saunas and Scandinavian countries and such as that. Juniper has all and Russians love it. You know Russians go crazy over it.

[00:09:28] Juniper has been widely used among British Herbalists. Gerard in the 1500s said that the fruit of juniper tree doth cleanse the liver and kidneys. And let's see what else he might say here. Good for griping and gnawing in the stomach.

[00:09:45] And maketh the head hot. I don't know about that. It neither bindeth nor loosens the belly and it provoketh the urine. He said it is most certain that the coxsion of these berries is singrally good against old cough.

[00:10:04] And against that which children are now and then extremely troubled called the chin cough. That's actually a whooping cough. In which they used to, oh it's which is used to basically as an expectant. It gets the congestion out.

[00:10:19] And he said it was especially good if that mucus had blood mixed in with it which would be a very serious condition. That a decoction of juniper berries would be especially good. He said I don't know. Never tried it. You know take it with a grain of salt.

[00:10:33] He said in Bohemias we're talking like Germany. He said they used wine and beer with the berries steeped in it and lived to a wonderful good health. This is also drunk against poisons and pescino fevers and is not unpleasant to drink. That's very true.

[00:10:55] The smoke of the leaves and wood driveeth away serpents and all infections and corruptions in the air. This is, yeah, juniper has been used as a fumigation for centuries probably thousands of years in times of plague or anything.

[00:11:09] But apparently snakes don't like it. And there's a lot of tradition about that. Snakes don't want to go anywhere near where junipers being burned or cedar or anything like that.

[00:11:18] I don't know if that's true but people really used to believe it. They would actually kind of burn it in a perimeter around their campsite to keep snakes away. He said the juice of the leaves is laid on with wine and drunk against the bitings of the viper.

[00:11:34] The ashes of the burned bark being applied with water take away the scurff and filth of the skin. That's basically anything from scabies to psoriasis or anything, skin issue like that. The powder of the wood being taken inwardly is pernicious and deadly.

[00:11:50] So again, don't take the salt dust internally. I don't know why you would. So the fume and smoke of the resin or he says the gum. Dusty, phlegmatic humors. He's talking about congestion in the head and the lungs, the nose especially. And good for sick stomach taken inwardly.

[00:12:13] Killeth all manner of worms in the belly, stethemensis and the hemorrhoids. So it has a stringent effect. It will stop bleeding. Can be used against spitting of blood, used to dry ulcerated wounds. And mixed with the oil of roses was particularly good for that.

[00:12:34] I said there is made of this and linseed together a liquor called a varnish. Oh boy, they made a varnish out of it. Okay, so it was used to color wood and for pictures and such picture frames. So about 100 years later, Cole Pepper wrote,

[00:12:53] It was a most admirable counter poison and a great resistance of pestilence. They're excellently good against the biting of venomous beast. They provoke urine exceedingly and therefore very good against strangery and diacery.

[00:13:13] I can't remember how to pronounce that, but anyway just difficult urination and edema, retaining fluids and such. Also a powerful remedy against the dropsy. That's the retaining fluid. And a lie made of the ashes of the herb being drank cures the disease.

[00:13:32] Don't know about that. I'm not going to recommend anything taken internally with lie obviously. It's very caustic substance. It provokes the terms that means it actually brings on menses as opposed to where Galen just said, I mean Gerard just said is drying it up.

[00:13:47] Helps the fits of the mother strengthen systemic exceedingly expels the wind. Indeed there is scarce a better remedy for wind in any part of the body or the colic.

[00:13:58] Then the chemical oil drawn from the berries such country people as know not how to draw the chemical oil may content themselves by eating 10 or a dozen right berries every morning fasting or an empty stomach.

[00:14:11] Very old cure we'll get more into that in a minute very popular German folk medicine. They are admirably good for cough shortness of breath and consumption pains in the bellies ruptures cramps and convulsions.

[00:14:21] They give safe and speedy delivery to women with child remember I never recommend anything like that. They strengthen the brain exceedingly help the memory fortify the site by strengthening the optic nerves are excellently good for all sorts of ag use or fevers.

[00:14:36] Help the gout and sciatica and strengthen the limbs of the body. The ashes of the wood is a speedy remedy to such as have the scurvy to rub their gums with the berry stay all fluxes help the hemorrhoids or piles and kill worms and children.

[00:14:49] A lie made of the ashes of the wood and the body bathed with it curses itches itch scabs and leprosy. The berries break the stones kidney or bladder stones procure appetite when his loss near excellently good for all palsies and falling sickness which is epilepsy.

[00:15:06] Don't know if that's true or not but you can see the older herbalists swore by Juniper berries and that's okay. You know I mentioned like gin tonic or a gin martini that's actually an herbal concoction of gins of berries soaked in steeped in just want to say alcohol.

[00:15:27] It began as an herbal medicine and became the national drink of England basically going to the Irish tradition. John Kehoe said in 1800s the berries provoke urine and cure old coughs good for flatulence and colic pains.

[00:15:46] The gum of the tree expels worms from the body and stops excessive menstrual flow so it's actually the sap that's good for that or the gum of the tree as they said. Juniper is also an excellent herb to stimulate the appetite to help the liver.

[00:16:01] It is a natural bitter and just thoroughly chewing a few berries before a meal can actually be among the best helps in digestion especially for elderly and chronically ill people.

[00:16:11] If you can get some juniper berries and if you've got someone's chronically ill or elderly this is just me talking now I'm not quoting anybody. Eating a few berries before a meal just one or two can really help digestion.

[00:16:25] But again remember you can't irritate the kidneys in large doses so don't overuse them. Juniper is also good for the immune system and it's called a blood cleanser or spring tonic and that's where we get into the German folk use.

[00:16:43] Father Nape wrote, junipers used for fumigation spreads an agreeable odor throughout the room and improves the air. He said he was really the only fumigation he thought was worth using and he talks about how he didn't like some of the others that were in use at the time.

[00:17:03] He said it destroys all fungi and whatever the volatile infection and disease bringer may be called. He's talking more germs than fungi actually. Juniper works with similar effects upon the interior of the human organism. The berries fumigate as it were the mouth and stomach and ward off contagion.

[00:17:23] I'm getting tongue tight here. Very good sip of water. He says those who are nursing patients with serious illness such as scarlet fever, smallpox, typhus, cholera, etc.

[00:17:38] and are exposed to contagion by serving the patient or by speaking with him should always chew a few juniper berries 6 to 10 in a day. They give a pleasant taste in the mouth and are a good service digestion.

[00:17:51] They burn up as it were the harmful miasms or germs, exhalations, etc. when those seek to enter through the mouth or nostrils. Those who are suffering from a weak stomach may try the following little course for juniper berries. Now this is what's known as the juniper berry cure.

[00:18:07] Now I mean I think as far as prepper medicine knowing this property of juniper to help prevent contagious diseases from spreading which has been documented for thousands of years.

[00:18:18] I don't think modern science puts much credence in it, but for thousands of years it's been used by people in many different countries that weren't communicating with each other. That alone should be a reason to learn to identify which is super easy.

[00:18:34] It's one of the easiest trees to spot and use this herb. Okay so here's the famous father nape juniper berry cure. The spring cure is often called in German folk medicine.

[00:18:47] The first day they should begin with four berries, the second take five, the third day six, the fourth seven, and so increased by one berry every day until the twelfth on which they will take 15 berries.

[00:19:02] Then they may continue for five days longer taking each day one berry less. I know many of your stomachs filled with gases and thereby weakened have been purified and strengthened by this simple berry cure.

[00:19:13] Juniper berries have been noted since olden times as a remedy for stone and gravel and for complaints of the kidneys and livers and liver.

[00:19:21] Also in all cases where foul gases, foul watery and slimy matter are to be removed from the body not only the berries but also the young shoots of juniper are made use of for tea in the first stages of dropsy and also as a purifying medicine.

[00:19:36] The oil, it's best spelled off of the chemist obviously we don't really make oils of juniper in our home. We could you know if you get into that. The tincture can be made at the home with wine brandy or any other spirit.

[00:19:51] I would not praise the father or mother or family who were certainly very careful and diligent in preserving their meat and vegetables with berries from the juniper bush and were punctual and careful in fumigating their dwelling of the same but who allowed their body to do the same.

[00:20:05] They allowed their body the dwelling of their soul to lie in dust and dirt. They ought to apply such a few migators as for more important dwellings at least a few times in the year.

[00:20:15] In other words, Father Knap was a wonderfully poetic writer and he was saying that at the time in Germany I guess it's around 1880 1890 people were using juniper berries very commonly to preserve meat and fish.

[00:20:31] You may know like Swedish and Norwegian grovlocks where you take juniper and dill and sometimes a little vodka and preserve your fish with it. You make that wonderful, wonderful cured salmon. I absolutely love that stuff. I could eat my weight in it daily.

[00:20:49] Juniper has these anti-microbial properties and was very much used in sausages and curing meat and it gives a wonderful flavor. As I said, you learn to use juniper in cooking and preserving meats and fish and you're really going to be a fan of it as am I.

[00:21:07] Very popular in Polish food. I mean really anywhere where the plants are common. But also was used to fumigate the house. You know, give a good scent to get bad odors out and to prevent disease and such as that.

[00:21:21] And he was saying people also ought to eat the berries because it would be just as good for your body as the other uses. Brother Aloysius was Father Knap's protege and I believe he was Swiss.

[00:21:32] He wrote the berries and young twigs are used medicinally. The berries principally have diuretic, diaphoretic warming and wind breaking properties and promote digestion. They are especially used for gastric weakness accompanied by wind, accumulation of mucus, etc.

[00:21:50] They are also recommended as a protection from intermittent fevers, rheumatism and gout pain. The young twigs mixed with woodruff and wild strawberries make a delicious and healthy drink and can be taken in the place of Indian tea or black tea, Chinese tea.

[00:22:05] And it is certainly much healthier and milk and sugar can be added according to taste. One of the preparations is juniper oil which has excellent diuretic properties.

[00:22:17] Juniper berries strengthen the nerves, cleanse the blood and the stomach and are used for kidney, lung and liver complaints, gravel, stones, bladder, catara, diarrhea and migraines.

[00:22:27] The decoction of the twigs and berries is a half cup per two cups of water and remember decoction is just a strong tea kind of boiled down about a third to a half.

[00:22:38] The decoction of young twigs and wood is two thirds to one cup per two cups of water and it can be taken for rheumatism, gout, syphilis, chronic cough and congestion in the chest.

[00:22:49] Or use three tablespoons of berries ground to a powder and cooked with two tablespoons of lard is an excellent remedy for scurff in children. And that's like psoriatic dandruff usually but it can be caused by other skin conditions.

[00:23:03] The head should be smeared with it twice a day. I think even cradle cap would fall into that category but I'd have to double check so do double check beyond that. Remedy for, useful as a remedy for phlegm in the chest and for coughs.

[00:23:19] In that case three tablespoons of juniper berries should be boiled in two cups of barley water reduced by half and a little sugar candy and drink this quantity throughout the day. So you're making essentially a cough syrup of juniper and rock candy, you know, the sugar candy.

[00:23:39] Yeah, you know what rock candy is. I mean hopefully you do. I haven't seen it in stores and gosh since I was a little kid and even that would have been like, you know, like mass general store or something

[00:23:52] you know in the mountains where tourists come to see old fashioned stuff so I guess you can still get rock candy. If not you can certainly make it very easy. I remember I learned to make it in school and yeah I used to make mine so easy stuff.

[00:24:04] So Father Johann Kunzel also in this same tradition wrote of juniper and this is in the book that herbs and weeds Father Johann Kunzel which I co-wrote and translated with an Austrian herbalist.

[00:24:22] And if you don't have that book you may want to get it because pretty cool book actually and I'm pretty proud of that one actually.

[00:24:30] He said the juniper and in his language, Austrian or Swiss I can't remember his Wreckholder but anyway juniper is a medicinal plant at the first rank.

[00:24:42] Everything about it is medicinal from the woods the needles berries and bark. It has the power to warm up relieve internal colds cleanse everything wherever it can reach the stomach intestines, lungs, blood and is therefore used in all herbal mixtures except for hot diseases such as fever.

[00:24:58] Now he didn't like it for fever. Even stronger than common junipers the kind found in the high alps that creeps along the ground.

[00:25:06] We often well that actually grows in the mountains of North Carolina and I mean it's a variety of the same plant and then you often see this used ornamentally as well. Juniper bass are usually good remedy for old rheumatisms that's arthritis essentially.

[00:25:21] I've seen old people twisted by gout become straight and healthy again through continued use of such baths. And how people who stayed in bed stiff like a piece of wood for six months were healed by washing and later bathing in juniper decoction.

[00:25:36] Of course the green juniper twigs have been boiled have to be boiled for three hours and the patient is washed with this warm water 10 times a day all over his body until he's able to take a bath.

[00:25:46] Because the bath is very sharp and aggressive it is advisable to mix it with fir tree or green pine tree twigs. The mass must be warm and last for a half an hour. At the end the whole body has to be poured over with cold water.

[00:26:01] If you fail to do that it is better not to take the bath otherwise rheumatism will come back more severely. Now in the German folk medicine tradition they're very big on cold water baths.

[00:26:12] And whenever you take a hot bath especially infused with herbs you then have to take rinse in cold water. And that actually has a remarkable effect. It causes the body to burn what's called the brown fat.

[00:26:26] And in the process that's incredibly anti-inflammatory so you can see why he would say it'd be very good for arthritis and gout. Jolanta Wittib was the Austrian herbalist I worked with on that book.

[00:26:41] And she wrote, whenever I see a juniper with berries or cones on my walk in the forest I collect a few juniper berries. Ripe whether they're black or dark blue ones and chew on them while walking. I do the same thing.

[00:26:55] I love them. They have a Swedish and very aromatic taste and I know that they will strengthen my body and spirit. Father Sebastian Nape who has already been mentioned more than once in this book suggested the juniper cone therapy after a long illness for exhaustion,

[00:27:12] after cancer treatment, etc. Because juniper cones cleanse the body, cleanse the blood and improve metabolism. They're good for rheumatism and arthritis and they have an antibacterial effect besides they are tasty and disinfect one's mouth and leave a nice flavor. I agree 100%. So now getting to the American tradition.

[00:27:32] Now here we're talking, this is resources of the southern fields and forests written by the Confederacy. They hired a French botanist to do this. And so we're mainly talking the eastern red cedar or Virginia juniper.

[00:27:47] He says expressed oil is very useful as an application to rheumatic pains and swellings of the joints. He says putting on like a lint, lintiment essentially. And he actually says how to make it.

[00:27:58] So let's I'll give you the recipe but it may not be something you want to do in your own kitchen. He says take one bushel of the dried shavings heated in an inverted iron vessel and that will yield a half a pint of oil.

[00:28:14] So you can easily do this actually. Yolgivans actually has a design in his book Stalking the Helpful Herbs of how to make a distillation steel for your stove top. But we're talking a bushel of dried shavings. So to me that's a bit much.

[00:28:33] Actually doing my kitchen I'd have to, I don't know, get an old burn barrel or something and give it a try. A decoction of the berries promotes diaphragm, is also beneficial in rheumatic pain, stiff joints, etc. Remember that's just a tea, a strong tea made of the berries.

[00:28:49] The leaves act very much as the shavings being stimulant and a minnigog, means brings on mintsies, and are employed in catamennial obstructions. I'm not even sure what that is. The cedar berry is used in a popular remedy for dropsy, which is claimed by some to be highly efficacious.

[00:29:09] We can readily understand the reason that may prove useful when we remember its close alliance to the juniper berry. And a decent red cedar is actually juniper. So as it follows take one handful of the seed of the cedar, the same of mullin,

[00:29:25] the same of the root of dogwood and put in two quarts and a pint of water, boiled down to one quart. Add one gill of whiskey, that's about a teacup full of whiskey.

[00:29:35] Dose is a wine glass full morning and night, and it could also be used as I guess a saw for blisters and that was used by boiling the leaves and twice their weight of lard and adding a little wax. It was anthalmintic, means gets rid of worms.

[00:30:01] Yeah, so we're getting a lot of the same uses here. I'm going to go on. But interestingly he said the roots make a beautiful purple dye, so that's interesting.

[00:30:11] And he said that cedar box, of course you know this if you have ever had cedar in a closet or something, or if you have cedar boxes you keep cigars in, humidors. It keeps bugs out.

[00:30:22] And he said that they were very popular at this time for making buckets, for putting in houses to get rid of bugs and for building boats. And cedar strip canoes are gorgeous. I mean that's such an art in itself. Another wonderful use of cedar. Cedar baskets are fantastic.

[00:30:37] You can take the bark and strip it and anyway, so many things you can do with cedar. 1898 Kings Medical Dispensatory says, both the berries and oil are stimulating, carminative and diuretic. The oil is said to act like, I don't know, this copiaba, I don't know.

[00:30:58] But he said it's good for arresting mucus discharges especially from the urethra. It is contained in a spiritus liquor called Hollins. So they had sort of an infused gin, essentially. Well, you got Hollins gin of course. There you go. We were just talking about gin.

[00:31:15] One of its best forms is a diuretic. So the berries employed principally as an adjuctor to other diuretics found to be efficient in gonorrhea, glee, lucaria, cysturia, affections of the skin, scorbidic diseases, cystitis when chronic, particularly in old people, is relieved by the juniper.

[00:31:35] Uncomplicated renal hyperrheama is cured by it. Yeah. They actually have a recipe for a juniper pomade. A pomade is, if you've ever seen an old brother of art though, you know what a pomade is, right? You put it in your hair and slick it back.

[00:31:58] But it was also used as a salve. It was juniper combined with lard for the most part. You can't win it in several different brands. But it says it was good for all eczema, itching,

[00:32:13] good for scaled or vesicle where you can see kind of reddish with the veins through it, skin. Good for sore nipples. Good for the nasal cavities. Earaches. There's so many things people were using it for around 1900. And yeah, it was probably quite efficacious. More modern use.

[00:32:34] I'll tell you a little herb book. I guess this is from the 60s. It says juniper is considered one of the most useful medicinal plants, stimulating the appetite and digestion, helpful in coughs and to eliminate mucus. It has a diuretic effect,

[00:32:46] stimulating the function of the kidneys and bladder. A strong tea of the berries is considered an excellent wash for bites and poisonous insects, snake bites, dog bites, and bee snakes. Well see it has that antimicrobial effect. It kind of helps.

[00:33:01] And it's a strange thing. It's going to help pull down swelling. They said it's particularly good for rheumatism, arthritis, bruises, ulcers and wounds. Ulcers and wounds are said to be relieved by juniper, poultices and rubs.

[00:33:14] A handful of leaves in warm bath water is said to soothe aching muscles. For poultices, berries can be simmered in olive oil or simply mashed and applied to the sore area. American Indians simply tied the bundles of the bowels to sore limbs.

[00:33:30] Juniper tincture has been used externally on painful swelling, bruises and sores. I mentioned this tradition of using and making beers. There's a book, really good book with an odd title. It's called Sacred and Healing Herbal Beers. Herod Bruner was one of the greatest,

[00:33:50] Buna, I'm sorry, was one of the greatest herbalists of the last, well of the 1900s. Well he was sort of 60s through. He just died like last year. So I'm saying recently. He did have some outrageous titles though, but he really did great research.

[00:34:07] In this book he said, generally juniper is a marvelous herb to use in brewing and the taste of juniper ale is good and very refreshing given the many benefits of the herb as a preservative and a medicine especially on nutrition and digestive health.

[00:34:22] As a potentially useful herb for the treatment of colds and flu it seems an excellent herb to use in ales and beer. And that's true, you just make your ale or beer as you normally would and instead of adding hops put your juniper in there steep

[00:34:36] and you're going to have a very different, very interesting and very medicinal ale or beer. And it's going to preserve it just like the hops would and bitter it just like the hops would but it's going to be more aromatic.

[00:34:48] So Peterson Field Guide to Eastern and Central medicinal plants says Eastern Red Cedar. American Indians use fruit tea for colds, worms, rheumatism, coughs to induce sweating. Chewed the fruit for canker sores, leaf smoker steam inhaled for colds, bronchitis, purification and rheumatism. Said to contain the anti-tumor compound

[00:35:13] Potophyloxatoxin best known from Mayapple. So may actually have some potential there but that's more of a chemistry type of thing we're going to do in kitchen medicine obviously. Now Botany a Day says of Cyprus now these are somewhat related plants, okay?

[00:35:30] A tea of the leaves is used internally or externally to stop bleeding and for colds of juniper or red cedar. Juniper berries can be eaten or used in tea. The bitter berries are the main ingredient in gin most people would consider them unpalatable

[00:35:45] I don't and he says but I have acquired a taste for them juniper berries contain volatile oils and resins they are eaten as a carminative to expel gas it means just like cellulose stomach and get rid of gas basically. And the distilled oils rubbed on painful joints

[00:36:00] additionally juniper berries are diuretic but may irritate the kidneys with prolonged use they are not recommended for pregnant women at all anything that says will kill worms you don't take when you're pregnant, okay? A boiled tea of the fruits and leaves is used for treatment for coughs

[00:36:14] you may be able to decrease the risk of catching a virus by keeping juniper berries in the mouth while around others who are infected going back to ancient use there also try chewing the berries when drinking unclean water it can help purify the water

[00:36:29] it may not get sick. Juniper needles can be added to bath water for a stimulating effect on rheumatism of cedar which also includes arborvide arborvide is much used ornamentally especially in the mountains where I live I have plenty of it in my yard it makes wonderful wooden mallets

[00:36:48] if you're a woodworker, arborvide makes some of the very best mallets for using gallows and chisels and such as that but cedar contains toxic volatile oils it is used as a diuretic to promote sweating an amenagog to promote menstruation and as an irritant poultice

[00:37:07] to stimulate healing from rheumatic pains in other words just warming it should not be used without medicinal supervision it is also an expectorant so the cedar is not as safe to use as the juniper and finally we will get to the physician's desk reference for herbal medicine

[00:37:24] which says juniper has been primarily noted for its anti-inflammatory, diuretic and dyspeptic effects also means help settle stomach and stop the burping because of its ability to inhibit this is an odd word ok this is a hard one to pronounce cyclooxygenase I think is the way it's pronounced

[00:37:42] it is useful in inflammatory conditions such as arthritis juniper has also used trichronic urinary tract, bladder and kidney infections as well as herpes and flu infections the diuretic effect is probably due to the volatile oil terpene 4 I think it's O-L

[00:38:00] in addition the drug works to lower blood pressure and it is also used to help the diuretic effect to help the diuretic effect to help the diuretic effect in addition the drug works to lower blood pressure and may regulate hyperglycemia hyperglycemia hyperglycemia means high blood sugar

[00:38:18] so that's very good to know especially if you have a problem with diabetes and such and in animal experience as an animal experience a hypertensive an anti-exidate anti hmm I'm going to spell it I'm getting tongue tied anti-xudate anti-xudate effect was proved in vitro and an antiviral

[00:38:46] effect was also demonstrated so modern science is proving what herbal medicine has taught throughout centuries and millennia about juniper that it's has some antiviral properties some antiseptic properties anti-inflammatory properties good for kidney and bladder stones good for the lungs good to help get rid of excess fluid

[00:39:14] good to get rid of very skin issues we can go on and on truly one of our most useful medicinal plants one of the very easiest to identify and because it's used so often in landscaping like the lowline ground one especially very easy to find

[00:39:34] even in urban environments just make sure it's not getting toxic runoff from a parking lot where people have oil and nanofrees and such dripping from their vehicles and it's getting washed in there that would not be good for you but I can walk out my door

[00:39:52] pretty much anywhere in North Carolina or I know like the next five states surrounding me within about 5-10 minutes I'm going to find eastern red seed Virginia juniper it's real easy to find and many many more planted ornamentally all over the place so y'all like I said

[00:40:14] one of the absolute most useful of these herbs hope you enjoyed this one have a great week and I'll talk to you next time I'm not offering any advice I won't even claim that anything I write or say is accurate or true

[00:40:40] I can tell you what herbs have been traditionally used for I can tell you my own experience and if I believe an herb has helped me I cannot nor would I tell you to do the same if you use an herb anyone recommends you are treating yourself

[00:40:52] you take full responsibility for your health humans are individuals and no two are the ones who are the ones who are the ones who are the ones humans are individuals and no two are identical what works for me may not work for you you may have an allergy

[00:41:08] a sensitivity an underlying condition that no one else even shares and you don't even know about be careful with your health by continuing to list my podcast or read my blog you agree to be responsible for yourself do your own research, make your own choices

[00:41:24] and not to blame me for anything ever