The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Medicinal Trees, Mimosa

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey y'all, welcome to today's show. I hope you're enjoying the cold weather. I'm not an extreme cold weather person myself, and I know some people are still walking around in shorts. We call them morons. Yes, they... yeah. Anyway, let's talk about a couple of medicinal trees. You know, the trees that have herbal medicinal properties. The easiest to find of all the medicinal herbs are the trees that are all around us. And this comes from my book, The Medicinal Trees of the American South. It's actually called Look Up, An Herbalist's Guide to the Medicinal Trees of the American Southeast.

Starting point is 00:00:42 Anyway, you can find it on Amazon. You can get it directly from me if you want. Of course, there's a link in the American Southeast. Anyway, you can find it on Amazon. You can get it directly from me if you want. Of course, there's a link in the show notes. And I'm terrible at remembering the specific titles of my own books, so it's something like that anyway. Just remember, my name is Judson Carroll, and I've written 13 books now. The new one is on foraging for the plants that will be coming up in the spring. It's a

Starting point is 00:01:07 spring foraging cookbook. I hope you'll get a copy. I had a lot of fun writing it and I can't wait. Maybe in the spring, you know, when these plants are actually coming up around here, I can do some videos and post them on Rumble to show you how I actually harvest and cook these plants. Maybe actually, you know, go into the woods, take my phone and show you a little video to help you identify the plant. You know, I have, I don't like visual identifications like that. I believe in learning the botanical aspects of the plant, you know, the, the, whether the leaves are opposite or alternate, the shape of the leaf, the shape of the stem, you know, that, because the same plant can look quite different grown in two different environments.

Starting point is 00:01:49 But, you know, maybe I can go in the woods and at least show you what they look like where they grow around me, and then take them home and cook a recipe with them out of my cookbook. You know, if that's something y'all would like, let me know. I'm certainly not opposed to doing that. Now that I got the, I got, my new cell phone is a great camera and a lousy microphone so I went down a dollar tree and I got a little set of earbuds with a microphone and uh you know works perfectly for a buck 25 I mean you can't beat that of course before Biden it was just a dollar right the only color they color they had is pink. So if you don't mind seeing me in pink earbuds, I think it'll work just fine. And I've got, of course, I've got my professional podcaster's microphone here. If I had to figure out how to rig that up to the thing,

Starting point is 00:02:36 I can, I guess. But yeah, I think I'll just use the little pink earbuds. Anyway, the first tree we're going to talk about is mimosa. Now, mimosa is a beautiful tree that is native to the southeastern United States. The mimosa Julie Brisson is. That one is native to my area. There are several different types of varieties of mimosa. There are mimosas that grow out west. There are mimosas that grow in Australia. Some of them have some really unique properties. In fact, the ones that have grown in Australia seem to have the unique property of you can make the hallucinogenic drug DMT from the roots. Some of those grow here in the United States as well. I'm not going to tell you how to do that. I stay away from hallucinogens. you how to do that. I stay away from hallucinogens. The one that has most research is the western one, the name of which escapes me right now. The Julie Brisson that is the, these are the Albiza species by the way, Albiza or Mimosa. the Mimosa julibrissan that grows in my area does not seem to have much research done about it whatsoever. The western one has been shown to reduce mast cells. Now mast cells are produced by your body. They are actually the receptors for histamine when you have an allergic

Starting point is 00:04:05 reaction your body produces both mast cells and histamine histamines fit a mast cell like a key and create an allergic reaction when we take an over-the-counter antihistamine we're reducing the histamines right we don't do anything to reduce the mast cells. Certain herbs, like mimosa, are really good for stinging nettles. Another one, really good, that's very common in my area. I've got a whole chapter on this in my book, Herbal Medicine for Preppers. You can look that up. I've done a show on it.

Starting point is 00:04:39 If you just want to pull up the podcast, it was probably about a year ago. Just go through the archives, and it was herbs for allergies. Anyway, these herbs actually reduce the mast cells. If you have fewer mast cells, your body actually produces fewer histamines as well. So really good to use herbs that have an anti-histamine and anti-mass cell quality together in a formula. And that's all in that show. So just know if you're looking up herbal information for the mimosa tree, which to me, it's a beautiful tree. It's a small tree. It doesn't usually grow more than about 15 feet tall. I think it is the highest I've ever seen one did leguminous trees they actually fix nitrogen in the soil they

Starting point is 00:05:28 fertilize the ground so I like to grow them you know around my vegetable garden and you know if I got some climbing cucumbers or tomatoes I'll let them grow right up the mimosa trees I think they're great the flowers smell like watermelon I mean they're fantastic but for some reason most people at least in Carolina, consider them to be a big weed and try to kill them. I don't get that. Don't get that at all. I've heard it called a white trash tree. I've heard it called by even worse terms. It's a pretty tree that's native to the South and smells wonderful. I don't get it. I don't get people, I guess. I don't get lawn people. I don't get people that, you know, want pretty grass and nothing else growing in it. You know, spread like

Starting point is 00:06:13 crazy. That's what leguminous trees do, but that's a good thing because they're actually fertilizing the soil. You can go and, I mean, if you want to, just mow them down and all that nitrogen gets released in the soil. Then, I mean, you could put a mulch mow them down. And all that nitrogen gets released into the soil. Then, I mean, you could put a mulch on top and plant. That's what I usually do. If you wanted to, you could get a rototiller and go through there. And you're going to have really, like, you don't have to pay for fertilizer. And you have some phenomenal tomatoes. I love them.

Starting point is 00:06:41 Used to be people would plant little tobacco patches around mimosa trees or vice versa because even though they didn't know the scientific reason, the tobacco grew better around mimosa trees. Well, tobacco needs a lot of nitrogen and the mimosa tree is a leguminous tree. The interesting thing, and this has been shown of all mimosas so far as I know, The interesting thing, and this has been shown of all mimosas so far as I know, flowers are mildly narcotic. That means they can reduce pain and relax the body. The leaves and bark may also be used. A tincture of the flowers is like really sweet smelling.

Starting point is 00:07:22 It smells like a floral watermelon. I mean, it's really nice. And actually, you can make a little cocktail with it. That actually may be one of the few herbs I think, well, not maybe, you know, I could see rose, violet, you know, honeysuckle certainly. But, you know, this is one you could actually use, put a shot of it in some lemonade or something and you're gonna have something that's really really nice one thing I like to do is um you know I like to make kefir kefir and kombucha right so when you make those you do you brew them off as you would any fermented beverage then you do a secondary fermentation in an enclosed bottle you can

Starting point is 00:08:05 either just add a little sugar and cap it and it'll carbonate on its own you don't actually have to add anything it'll just carbonate on its own because you know even though it looks still it's still working there's still active yeast in there and such working people put fruit in there one thing i like to do is put like a half a cup full or just a handful even a pinch of mimosa blossoms, dried mimosa blossoms. I pick them in the spring. I let them dry thoroughly. That's amazing. That is like the best tasting kombucha and kefir I've ever had. And it has that relaxing, pain reducing quality. There's actually a lot of sugar in mimosa blossoms, and you'd be amazed.

Starting point is 00:08:46 I mean, just like regular kombucha or kefir can, you know, get a little bit of an alcoholic kick to it. I mean, more so than just putting fruit in there. I was surprised. There are also yeasts on the flowers, so I think that contributes to it as well. Yeasts occur naturally on every flower and fruit. Yeast occur naturally on every flower and fruit. Anytime you make a beverage out of flowers or fruit and you let it sit there for a day, those yeasts are going to start converting sugars into alcohol.

Starting point is 00:09:16 That's the way God intended it. You know, the big controversy when I was at a certain Southern Baptist University and they said it's a sin to drink alcohol. And I said, well, Jesus made wine. How can that be sinful? And they said, well, we don't believe that was really wine. We believe it was grape juice. And I tried to explain the chemical process of how you crush grape. The yeast are actually on the skin.

Starting point is 00:09:37 It immediately starts converting sugars to alcohol. alcohol and in the ancient middle east israel palestine whatever where they had um no refrigeration no um pasteurization certainly um really within 24 hours there's no way of keeping grape juice that was wine and of course the bible also talks about drunkenness so obviously it was wine um i don't think there's any um i have certainly no moral objection as a Christian to drinking alcohol. The only problem is getting drunk and acting like a fool, you know. But anyway, as an herbalist, I use alcohol all the time. And tinctures and what have you. So, according to Plants for a Future, medicinal use of mimosa.

Starting point is 00:10:23 And they just give mimosa in general. See, they don't break it down. Like I said, the Western mimosas have had a lot more study than the Eastern mimosas. And I think most mimosas can pretty much be used interchangeably, although obviously like with the Australian ones, there are some with certain special effects, shall we say. But then again, who knows?

Starting point is 00:10:49 Has the same thing been tried with the mimosas that grow here in North Carolina? I have no idea. And I'm not going to try to find out. So, Plants for Future says, medicinal use of mimosa. The flower heads are carminative, digestive, sedative, and tonic. So they're going to help settle your stomach. And they're sedative. And well, I think they mean tonic and like tonifying the stomach, good for digestion. They could mean tonic for the whole body. They don't specify. It's not really a very accurate, specific word to use. They're

Starting point is 00:11:27 used internally in the treatment of insomnia, irritability, breathlessness, and poor memory. And I do find it to be pretty good for asthma and being short of breath. I don't know about poor memory. I have a great memory. Well, not really. I can forget my name and birthday and where I put my keys, but I can also remember like every word out of a book I read 20 years ago. Or, you know, I have a weird memory. So, you know, I haven't been able to test that one out. The flowers are harvested as they open and dried for later use. The stem bark is anodyne. The flowers are okay. The stem bark is anodyne, which means it reduces pain. So when you make a tincture out of it, you don't want to just use the flowers. Actually, when you pick the flowers, you're going to get tons of little

Starting point is 00:12:18 leaves and stems as well. The stem bark is anodyne, which means it reduces pain. Anthelmintic, which means it can help get rid of worms and intestinal parasites and such as that. Carminative means it helps basically with gas and an upset stomach. It also has a property that herbalists say is discutent. Not a word that most people are going to use, and I don't think most doctors would even know what the heck you were talking about. You know, I told you before how some people like to use fancy language to make themselves look smarter. It's like a barrier to entry. Well, discutent is one of those words, and all that means is it reduces swelling.

Starting point is 00:13:02 Yeah, you could just say, hey, it reduces swelling, but no, they say discutent. Diuretic, which means it reduces excess fluid edema and such you know good for blood pressure and various things oxytocin which is very interesting oxytocin is what they call the feel-good hormone it's the hormone that's stimulated by, gosh, anything from hugging a family member to petting your dog to, you know, oxytocin is the feel-good hormone. The mimosa can actually stimulate the production of oxytocin in the system. Another very good reason to have this tree around and maybe make some kefir or kombucha out of it you know maybe whatever make a tincture and put a little bit in your lemonade or something on a hot summer day is sedative stimulant and I think as far as stimulant in this regard we mean

Starting point is 00:13:58 stimulant to the digestive system and I'm gonna say the same thing for tonic vermifuge is basically the same as anthelmintic. It just means it gets rid of worms. And vulnerary, which means it's actually wound healing. You can make a poultice of mimosa leaves, stems, blossoms, whatever, and it will help heal wounds. It has been used internally in the treatment of insomnia and irritability. That's the sedative aspect of the plant. Externally for boils and carbuncles. Well,

Starting point is 00:14:33 it's actually been used internally and externally for boils and carbuncles. Externally, it is applied to injuries and swellings. The bark is harvested in spring or late summer and is dried for later use. A gummy extract obtained from the plant may be used as a plaster for abscesses, boils, fractures, and sprains. So this so-called weedy plant that everybody tries to eradicate from their yard is actually really, really useful. And it has another nice feature which is has these like feathery fern like leaves that kind of catch a breeze and if you sit under one on a hot summer day it makes you feel cooler like a willow tree its, what do you call willow stems?

Starting point is 00:15:29 They're not fronds like a fern. Willow, I guess branches, but, you know, they hang down all, you know, soft and everything. Like a weeping willow is what I'm talking about. Willow will actually give you a natural air conditioning on a hot day. Now, one thing my grandfather did is he would plant the mimosa trees near the willow trees and that would kind of pull that air current through even better. So on a hot summer day in the backyard, you could sit at the picnic table and eat a watermelon and it felt like it was, you know, 10, 15 degrees cooler than it was when you walked out of the

Starting point is 00:16:01 backyard because of the way he put the trees. He had a little fish pond and shady areas. And, you know, he was really smart in that kind of way. He did breezeways and all the old ways of doing, you know, landscaping and architecture to cool off. And this is, you know, southeastern North Carolina where it gets like 110 degrees in the summertime. And it was actually fairly pleasant out there. We had arbors with grapevines and all kinds of stuff. Like I said, really smart that way. And an overstory of pecan trees, big old pecan trees, you know.

Starting point is 00:16:38 So there were all these layers of trees and there was always an exchange of air. There were wind currents you know air currents breeze and plenty of shade and water and yeah it was really nice really really nice so y'all that's going to wrap it up actually for mimosa i make a formula every spring of mimosa, stinging nettle, mullein, thyme, and a little abelia. And, you know, I have inherited asthma and some allergies like to pine trees, which is, you know, can be pretty tough in North Carolina. I find that it really, really helps. I've got my nettles and, oh, and ragweed. Put ragweed in there too. Nettles, ragweed, and mimosa to work as anti-histamines, reduce mast cells, basically basically I've got my thyme and mullein as expectorants to clear the

Starting point is 00:17:48 lungs and I've got a little bit of lobelia in there to open the lungs it's a bronchodilator in small amounts so large amounts that could actually make you nauseous it has it's very much like tobacco in that way so that's just you, you know, I eyeball it. I get a handful of this and a handful of that. And what's interesting is of all those plants, I really have an allergy to ragweed. So when I take ragweed in tincture form in this formula, I don't react to ragweed pollen. So I think most people could probably benefit from a formula like that. But as I always say, you do your own research and you make your own decisions. So y'all have a great week, and I will talk to you next time.

Starting point is 00:18:31 The information in this podcast is not 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 U.S. government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine and there is no governing body regulating herbalists. Therefore, I'm really just a guy who studies 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 herbs have been traditionally used for. I can tell you my own experience and if I believe in herbs help me. I cannot nor would I tell you to do the same.

Starting point is 00:19:10 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, 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 listen to my podcast or read my blog, you agree to be responsible for yourself, do your own research, make your own choices, and not to blame me for anything ever.

The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Medicinal Trees, Mimosa

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