Medical Monday: Seven Herbs & a Tree for Coughs and Bronchial Congestion

Hey, y'all, welcome to this week's show. Before I get into our herbs for the week, this week, I am gonna tell you how to grow seven herbs for bronchial congestion, coughs one issues. Again, these are herbs you're gonna want to go ahead and start growing and think of your garden as your herbal medicine cabinet. Fresh during the season, dry them, make teas, make tinctures whatever. Out of season. We never know. We just never know what's gonna happen from day to day. The time to have your herbs it was before you need them. Don't start trying to buy them when you actually need them. And certainly don't wait to start learning about herbal medicine until the pharmacies are empty or you can't go to a doctor or something horrible has happened. Start learning now, start planning now. I don't I emphasize that every time that normalcy bias is such a part of human nature, we always think we'll do it tomorrow. We'll do it tomorrow. You know, sometimes tomorrow is not like today. Bad things can happen. My friend in Odessa thought she could leave Ukraine with her family at any time, and the Russians come and go, and she'd be just fine. And she's not. Now she lives with constant power outages, missiles, striking drones hitting the building next to her. It was leveled to the ground. It's bad. It's really really bad. And had she listened to me, I wanted to help get her out of there before the war started. Now she can't get out. Don't let that happen in your life in any way, shape or form. Take action before the time comes. But before I get into that, I want to say something on a much more positive lte note, a much more You know, herbal medicine is my passion. But I have a lot of interests. You know, I'm a homesteader, I'm a woodsman. I love to cook. I decided to start doing videos just sort of on homesteading related topics. A lot of these would be very useful for preppers. I call it my Saturday miscellany. If you sign up for my Substack newsletter, which is totally free, just go to Judsoncarrol dot com. You can get it in your inbox, or you can just go to Rumble and find it on your doesn't matter to me, I don't make anything off either one of them. If like ten thousand people viewed a video of mine on Rumble, I might make like ten cents. It's hot. I mean, I hope Rumble will develop into a platform where someone could actually make a little bit of money like they do on YouTube. That's the incentive for people to post on YouTube. But right now, no, no, it is purely a charitable act or just a fun way for me to share with my friends some of the knowledge that I have and to interact with people, you know, get some feedback. Last week, last Saturday, Saturday, miscellany, I sent out three videos that I recorded last week nome for very long I was using the phone. I had some audio issues with a couple of them, but you know, I've pretty much got it straightened out by now, so hopefully the next one will be a little bit better quality. Green woodwork, I love it. Green woodwork is what we do in the mountains. It's where you go out and fell a tree and then turn it into something we don't wait for, you know, dry kill and dry lumber. I mean greenwork. Woodwork does actually involve splitting boards. You can actually do that, and it's a good skill to have. In case you couldn't go to a hardware store. You use a fro and you split boards. You can make furniture. You can make spoons and plates and bowls. You can carve things with a knife. You can make you know, little toys for your kids or whatever, or you can make really useful things so you'll use around the farm and homestead. I love it, honestly. I've used an axe almost my entire life. I mean it's almost like I was born with an axe in my hand. I love swinging X. I'm not very big on chainsaws and power tools. I really only use the one I have to, And I think it's a good thing to learn to use hand tools, because again, you'd never know when the grid's gonna go down you're gonna be without power. So I got the first introductory video up on that. Okay, another video I did was what I had promised to do in my cookbook Omnivorous Guide to Home Cooking. I said I'd start doing some videos to show you how to do some of the things I describe in the book, cook through some recipes, etc. Or but just basic cooking techniques or how to use basic pieces of cooking equipment. And one of the hardest things for me to write about was how to choose a cooking knife that fits your hand, a chef's knife, a kitchen knife, you know, and how to use it efficiently without cutting yourself. The more efficiently you can use your knife, the more pleasurable cooking becomes, the more quickly you can do your prep work. It makes. It's the difference between cooking being you know, hard and laborious and a chore, and it being fun where you can enjoy yourself and get creative and hang out and talk with friends and family while you're cooking thing. It's really important. Actually, So I put that video up and there'll be a whole series. There'll be at least a video probably with every chapter, or at least I'll probably be doing this for a few years. I also, by popular requests, put out one on how to play guitar. You know, I've been playing guitar for like thirty years, play at a pretty high level. I played professionally several times during my life, and you know, I have a different way I playing guitar of thinking about guitar. I just did the first video saying here's how to learn to play guitar in a very efficient way to avoid a lot of the mistakes I made as a kid. I was stuck for probably ten years, I mean like a decade at like the high level, beginner, low level, intermediate level, and it was so fuzzy. And then one day I just sort of like had an epiphany, This isn't rocket science. These there are very basic patterns, and I started kind of understanding music theory just a little bit. I actually had to teach myself to read music. You don't have to read music to play guitar. But see, I was never taught any of this stuff in school. Our music lessons were play three blind mice on the recorder, and somehow we're supposed to magically know how to learn how to read music. I had no musical instruction that was worth anything, tintally self talk, and so my system for playing guitar it's pretty common sense, pretty straightforward. I think if you follow it, you'll learn to play the instrument pretty quickly. After mastering I will say mastering the guitar. Nobody masters the guitar. I mean cheded Ak and Segovia. Okay, there are a few ninety nine point nine percent of us never master the guitar. But after getting that down, I learned another dozen or so instruments. I can play, you know, three different times of banjo, three different types of ukulele, bass, tenor guitar, piano to some extent, I don't get to practice piano enough to be very good at you know, harmonica, oh so many things. A mandolin. I'm actually a pretty darn good mandolin player. Violin. I play violin all that is self taught because of that little epiphany. And I give you that for free. I'm not charging for it. Dig into it, have fun. There'll be more lessons. I'm going to do another one in the next couple of days. And I also do one on not tying, you know, knots or something we use on the homestead or in the woods or fishing or boating or whatever. Just constantly. I have a working knowledge of about one hundred knots. There I know of at least seven hundred knots, believe it or not. All of them have a different purpose, you know, there's not one knot for every purpose. And I put out the first just basic video on not tyme, you know, on rumble. I also have free herb lessons. I haven't done one in a while. This last year has been remarkably injury prone. I have broken a couple of bones. I've just been really out of commission. But you know, on the bright side, that's given me time to write, and I've done a lot of writing and I have an announcement on that soon. I should have a new book coming out at least in April. So y'all just enjoy it. Like I said, if you want to sign it for the newsletter, it's totally free. Judsoncarrol dot com. Or look for me Judson Carroll Master herblists on substack. Share it with your friends. You know, it's just an easy way for me to communicate with people. I make my living off of selling books, so obviously I give away a lot for free and hopes that people will buy my books. So, speaking of books, let's get into today's herb that comes from my book, Growing Your Survival Herb Garden, and it is well they are because, like I said, it's seven herbs for coughs and bronchial congestion. One of the best is horehound. Horehound is in the met family. They have had horehound count candy once in your life. It's a little bitter. It's an acquired taste, to say the least, in modern culture, where we don't eat a lot of bitter things. I happen to like it. I have to like horehound a lot. It was one of my grandfather's favorites. And you know, like licorice, old fashioned liquorice. Some people love it, some people hate it. Most people who were never were exposed to it as a child never developed a taste for it. It's one of the main reasons you really got to get your kids eating a wide variety of food, because if they don't, you know, you can try to give them an herbal medicine and they hate the taste so much they can't take enough for them to for it to help them. An ex girlfriend of mine hated liquorice to the point that, I mean it would make her nauseous, just the scent of it. The only difference between her and me, well, there are a lot of differences. Actually turned out to be a liberal who was lying to me about everything, thinking that, you know, if she would reveal herself after we got married, Well turned out she was neurotic, obsessive, very liberal and absolutely narcissistic, and I caught onto it in time, thank god. But she was never exposed to interesting flavors and tastes. She had a very bland palate because as a child she had not been exposed to certain things. Frankly, in certain conditions, licorice can be a life saving herb. Licorice is the best herb for low blood pressure. Liquorice is a good anti viral. Licorice has great for kidney and bladerstones. But if you never if you hate licorice, you're not going to use licorice. And likewise, whrehound. Whrehound is a very bitter herb, but it's excellent and it's pretty. I won't say it's completely safe. Don't take a lot of it if you're pregnant. I mean, obviously, I never recommend herbs here in pregnancy because I'm very careful about such things. Some herbs are good during pregnancy, but horehound is a really good herb for coughs, sore throats, and bronchial complaints. You can grow it indoors and outdoors. It's a really easy herb to grow. Horehound is weedy. It actually prefers poor soil. It does not have to be cold stratified. It doesn't require much water, and actually over watering it can kill it. Once established, it's going to grow in clumps and they'll reach about a foot and a half in height. The leaves are grayish green with a soft textured appearance, so you can use that in your landscaping and it should really recede every year once you get it going. Space them about eighteen inches apart, and they're hardy from zone four A to nine B, which is essentially the continental the United States. I mean seriously, unless you're gonna go to the very most extreme zones, you can probably grow Whorehound Mullin is also weedy. Mullen is generally considered a weed, but it's going to be absolutely beautiful in your garden. It grows tall. I've seen mullein plants that can be eight feet tall, maybe even taller, soft velvety, light green leaves, a large stalk of I guess you would call them conical shaped or like a you know, like a church steeple of flowers coming up with beautiful yellow flowers. I mentioned I think last week that a friend of mine who's a master gardener grows mullen purposefully in her wild flower garden, and she just lets it spread. It's in her formal gardens and everything because she thinks it's just such a beautiful plant. And I absolutely agree. When it first comes out of the ground, it actually looks like burly tobacco. But then it starts forming that long, tall stalk and just a couple of stalks and mullein are going to give you so many leaves and flowers. The leaves and flowers are both great for all bronchial issues and actually have some anti histamine properties. The flowers, though steeped in warm oil, are very antibiotic, antibacterial and wonderful for your infections, very soothing. If you have kids, be sure to grow mullein. One of the best herbs of all time. The interestingly the orb Actually, you know I told you how the flowers kind of grow up in this conical shape and has a long stalk. Mullen has been used as a torch in times of need. People would take that stalk and dip the flower flowering end. I guess you would say in fat or pine pitch tar and light it and carry it as a torch, and it's also known as cowboy toilet paper because those soft velvety leaves. It's been used as a substup for toilet paper. So if we ever have another great toilet paper famine of twenty what was it, twenty twenty twenty one, I don't know, mullein could come in pretty darn handy is biennial. It flowers and seeds in the second year and then dies back. It likes full sun and a dry, well draining soil. Again, this is one that likes poor soil. It's weedy. I often find a growing side of the robe side railroad tracks, you know, So you're not gonna put it in like rich, heavy composted soil. You're gonna put it on the edges of your garden. You can put in the dry areas. It likes full sun. It really needs no special preparation. The seeds. You can start them indoor and sow them after spring. You don't need to cold stratify the seeds. Seeds germinate in about ten days and once it's established, it's going to self seed. And this one is hardy from zone four eight to ten B, so it'll actually take some pretty hot temperatures. You can grow this in South Florida if you want to. You grow this in South Texas if you want to. Coltsfoot is such a great long herb. It is actually synonymous with long herb. I mean on a literally literal basis, because the Latin name is tussalago, which well you probably brought Roba tussin coughs here before. That means it helps, it stops coughing. That's what the word tussalago means. It's Latin for something to do with coughing. I can't remember the exact definition, and I don't feel like clipping through a Latin dictionary right now, but tussalago it means this is an herb that stops coughing. And it's tussalago efficient knolis, which means it was in the office sena. It is the official medicinal herb of traditional European medicine, especially the monastic medicine of the Middle Ages, to stop coughing. In appearance, the leaves are very much like mullin. They're nowhere near as big they actually they there's a common name for it, coltsfoot. It actually looks in shape like a small horse's hoof the flower or it looks sort of like a dandelion, but really a bizarre looking dandelion. It's a it's a really unique looking flower. And if you live in a POA or you know, property owned association whatever, or an area where you have to grow more ornamental plants and you you're afraid to grow moll and absolutely grow Colt's foot. The flowers are pretty. The plant is so unique looking. You could feature this one up you know where people are gonna see it in your landscape and people are gonna ask you, what's that pretty little plant you're growing, and you know it's a wonderful medicinal herb. It's I would say, it's very ornamental. This would definitely be a go to yellow flowers. Like I said, sort of like dandelion. It's actually tusslogo far fara, not a ficionalis. But it was used in the office Sina. So yeah, I'm going to go either way on that. The word police arreg you with me on that one. But anyway, once the flowers die back, it makes it nice ground color ground cover, and it prefers partial and a moderate shade. So this is when you don't have to give full sun to so really where you don't want to plant mull and plant some colts foot, it's perennial. It actually grows best from divisions. It can be a little hard to get the seeds going, but the seeds do like cold ratification. So if you plant the seeds in the garden in the fall or early winter, a few of them should come up in the spring and you'll be fine. Otherwise, you know, start them off in your freezer for a month or two, plant them indoors, get them going, then try to transplant them out. Hardiness on this one is four eight to six B, so it is a plant that enjoys more cool weather. I have seen it growing outside of six B. I have seen it growing in zone seven seven A seven B. That's pretty hot. It's gonna be like eastern North Carolina hot. And it does get hot. I know, I don't have to tell you a lot of you guys that were you know, at Lajune or Brag or whatever. It gets hot on my word. But anyway, it will grow a little bit further than they say it will. It may just not be as hearty. Time is an excellent herb, and this is one you're gonna want to grow because it goes great in so many recipes. Time is one of the time and partially or probably the two herbs I use most in cooking. Time just goes so well with onions, chicken, pork. I love time. Time is an excellent anti spectrant, an excellent expectorant. Let me get that right. Time is an excellent expectorate that has antiseptic properties. It has antibiotic properties. It is like the go to for one congestion inflammation. I keep from dried Time on hand all the time, and I actually taken on a pre daily bas in my regular tinctures. Easy to grow from seeds, easy to grow from cuttings. When it's starting out, it can be a little sensitive. It's actually best to start them indoors and plant them out in late spring. What's the weather's warmed up? Time is originally a Mediterranean plant, but it can be grown in England and North New England. You know it can be grown in Canada. I mean it doesn't have to have the heat, but it does like a dry well draining soil. It prefers partial shade, but will do fine in full sun. Some people say it does better in full sun. My experience is it does better in sort of partial shade, probably depends on where you live. It grows about a foot tall in tight bushy clumps, so it's really easy to incorporate into your landscape. The essential oils of time will probably help keep some of the bugs away from some of your other plants, so you may want to plant them with you vegetables. The flowers can be pink, they can be white, they can be purple. It just depends. And it's hardy from zone four A to eleven, so it can be running. Like I said, a wide variety of conditions, but it does do best in warmer climates. Definitely needs some sun. Don't plant in full shade, and it doesn't compete well whether the plants time actually needs to be weeded or always my preference a nice mulch on top. But remember the soil has to be able to freely drain. Time hates wet feet. The roots cannot stand standing in water. Now. Libilia is another essential long herb for me. It's expectrant and it dilates the bronchials. You may want to use it, you may not. Libilia in nature is very similar to tobacco. If you have a little too much of it, it will make you sweat, it will make you nauses, it will elevate your heart and blood pressure. It will make you throw up. I use lobelia again on a daily basis. Libylia grows wild all around me. Some cultivated varieties have gotten out. The cultivated well, let's see. The wild variety is a very unassuming little plant. The cultivated varieties are beautiful. The wild is Libylia and Flora. Cultivated varieties, there's a beautiful blue Libilia that I did a video on. Cardinal flower is far more commonly planted the wild. The in flada is much more strong. I would say that the cultivated varieties, I don't even know if there is a third as strong as the wild. So but you may want to start with that. I mean, I'm a guy who likes strong tobacco. I mean, seriously, I'm not a health nut. I actually like tobacco, and I actually use tobacco to help prevent or stop an asthma attack. But in my taste for tobacco, I like jet black, Maduro cigars, I like Honduran tobacco. I like the old Mexican dayamos. I like the the old dry cured Italian cigars. These are really strong tobacco. I'm sure I'd like a Cuban cigar. I just you know, I can't afford that, and I'm not gonna do anything to support a communist government. But like the Hondurans will knock you on your butt. I like a mammoth cave pure burly chewing tobacco. I often smoking in my pipe. I like a tobacco that would make most people nauseous, dizzy and passing out. That's just me, you know. So I do great with labilia. You may actually want to start with a cultivated type of lavilia, like the cardinal flower, which again is gonna be one of the prettiest plants of your garden. I mean literally, people will stop and ask you, what is that gorgeous plant? Labelia prefers partial shade. It does not like full sun like some moist soil, A good loamy, humous, rich soil, all the good compost. It's a woodland plant. Usually it grows right in the woods, are on the edges of woods. I mean oftentimes I've been deep in the woods. I've started having some bronchial issues. I have bad asthma just hereditarily and miraculously there's a little abilia plant and I just grab it and eat it. I have a tolerance to libilia. Most people throw up if they eat it. I don't, which is really good because it's actually saved my life more time than once. I always say a prayer and thank God it's there, because it's an absolute miracle for me. It's a life saver plant. Your plant's about a foot apart. Even more, they should sell seed. After you get them going, they'll grow to be a foot two. They can actually grow three feet tall. I've never seen one that big. In Flada usually is six inches tall, and some of the cultivated ones i've seen around foot foot and a half. Hardy from two eight to nine and b So this is one you could grow in Alaska. Libilia is really easy, really easy. Seriously, it does need to be cold stratified, so as most of these weedy herbs tend to be. You either need to sew it in the garden in the fall and just let it over the winter, or start it in the freezer and you know, get your starts going about this time. You know by this time of year and transplant them out after the last frost. But once it's established, you're good to go. Plorisy route is another one. Wow. If you are in a poa or an hoa and you need to be able to grow herbs on the down low. Plurisy root is in the milkweed family and it has the most beautiful orange blossoms you'll ever see. This is an actual traffic stopper. I mean I have literally seen people stop their cars and get out and try to take a picture of Plorisy route also known as butterfly weed just growing side of the the road is a week. It's that pretty. It's a Sclipius tuberosa, also know as a butterfly weed, et cetera. It's a perennial. It needs to be cold stratified, you know the drill by now, but as a perennial, it's gonna keep coming back every year. So once you get it going, it's going it. I mean it's great for pleurisy, which just inflammation lining around the lungs. It's also a great decongestion. It helps with inflammation of the membranes. It is. It is so good for pneumonia. It is anti spasmodic, so it's good for asthma. It's great for bronchitis, any kind of lung congestion. This is the one you want on hand. Cold stratify those seeds, get it out there in full sun and a well drained soil. This one's going to grow really well where you want to plant your mullein's. It'll grow about two feet tall. It could actually grow a little bit taller. It grows in thick clumps and the flowers are a vibrant orange it is. It's a spectacular wild flower, often called a weed, which is a shame. It will flower from throughout the summer and into fall. You're going to enjoy this plant for a long time, and it's gonna come back every year. What's better than that hardiness on this one. Four A to ten B, so anywhere outside of the very highest elevations. And this one actually will grow in the desert. I mean it does. It's pretty easy. I mean, it's weedy, and your neighbors are going to love you from planning this one. I mean it's seriously, this is one of the prettiest plants I know of, and it's drout tolerant, so yeah, what do you got to lose. Go ahead and get yourself some seeds on this one if you can possibly find them. Wild cherry, of course, there's a tree. Wild cherry bark is excellent for cough coughs of van kinds, also expectrant. It contains small amounts of cyanide that actually relaxes the lungs, calms the breathing, believe it or not, but of course it could be toxic if overused. It is one of the go to remedies for asthma. Is one I like to have on hand all the time and pre treat. I mean, right now, the cherry trees are blooming, and obviously cherries are one of the prettiest trees you can grow. Basically, any member of the cherry family can be used interchangeably. You don't have to just get native to North America black cherry. Just grow some cherries and use the bark. And if you grow some cherries that bear fruit, you can make some grape pies. Who don't like cherries. Cherries may actually be my favorite fruit makes a wonderful wine. Oh my gosh. When I was in Georgia, there was this little winery that did a cherry based version of port wine. I am not one with a great sweet tooth. I basically stay away from sweet wines. This was jaw dryppingly good. I am not kidding you. I mean that that's literally the best dessert wine I've ever had in my life. And with a cigar it was peerless. And some dark chocolate. Oh, I mean wow, seriously wow. Anyway, other herbs that are great for costs and chest complaints include the mallows, violets, and licorice. So we've already discussed cammel, stinging nettles, wind and blossoms. It's no tree. That's bass wood, Saint John's wart Angelica, Pimpinella, master ward plantain, juniper berries, the wormwoods, the whole wormwood family, Artemisia's lungbart and all the mints, all the mints. So there's a Chinese herb that it really bears mentioning. It's called dang Shin. Latin name is codonopsis. It is so good for asthma and COPD. It is an adaptagen. It strengthens the lungs and helps you more efficiently exhale so that you can more efficiently inhale. I mentioned before, I mentioned probably the first show I did on this. I used to buy it, and then when COVID hit, I couldn't because all the Chinese people knew how good it would be for any kind of lung illness. So that's when I incorporate in my Arab garden. You may want to look into it as well if you have lung issues. Sassafras is great for coughs and chess complaints, along with wild cherry bark angelica. That's what we traditionally use in Appalachian mountains. You can't buy it anymore because the government says it's carcinogenic, which is absolutely ridiculous. With studies that they based it on are basically giving the equivalent of fifty gallons of strong sassafrass tea to a mouse on a daily basis. They had it so concentrated you could not replicate those studies in real life. I disregard it, but that's me. Hey, I'm not advising you do it. If you want to, if you believe your government, go for it. Do I need to say anything more on that? A week after they finally admitted the COVID divirus probably came from the lab in wuhan you know that thing. I was kicked off of uh Facebook for saying uh anyway, I won't go down that road, y'all. That's some There's some there's some herbs you can use. There's some herbs you need to get going in your garden asap, because we have no idea from one day to the next what's going to happen, and we don't want to get caught with our pants now. Honestly say so, have a great weekend. I'll talk to you next time. The information this podcast is non intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition. Nothing I say or write has been evaluated or approved by the FDA. I'm not a doctor. The US government does not recognize the practice of verbal medicine, and there is no governing body regulating herbs. Therefore, I'm really just a guy who says herbs. I'm not offering any advice. I won't even claim that anything I write or say is accurate or true. I can tell you what earths been traditionally used for. I can tell you my own experience, and if I believe in herb has helped me, I cannot nor what I tell you to to say. If you use an herb anyone recommends you are treating yourself, you take full responsibility for your health. Humans are individuals, and no. Two are identical. What works for me may not work for you. You may have an allergy of sensitivity and underlying condition that no one else even shares and you don't even know about. Be careful with your health. By continuing to listen to my podcast or read my blog, you agree to be responsible for yourself, to your own research, make your own choices, and not to blame me for anything ever