The Prepper Broadcasting Network - MEDICAL MONDAY: Medicine for Preppers: Herbal First Aid

Episode Date: July 13, 2026

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Hey, y'all. Welcome to the show. You know, I'm a really practical guy that's the basis of my entire philosophy of herbal medicine. It's having on hand what you need, being able to identify what you need in the wilderness. I don't get into a lot of exotic herbs or, you know, woo-hoo, far-out type of stuff. I want you to be able to take care of things as they come up. Be resilient. Have your preps on hand. And, of course, the biggest prep, the best one you can have is knowledge. So let's get started with a little herbal first aid. Obviously, the most important aspects of first aid are keeping airways open and stopping bleeding. Stopping bleeding is actually a little less complicated than keeping airways open.

So let's start with that because, look, you cut yourself, we all do it. priority stop the bleeding so you don't die pretty simple really i mentioned in the uh the first episode i did that a couple years ago i was moving a washing machine for my mother i was down at her place and i didn't have anyone to help me and i had this giant heavy german-made washing machine i even know what this thing was, was a monster on a dolly by myself. And I was lugging it up the stairs. And I didn't have it strapped on. You know, I wasn't thinking that far ahead. Forsyte is always lacking. And when we're discussing an injury, we can talk about what we might have been in hindsight. But I was, I was stupid, of course. And I went up, you know, one of the

stairs and the washer came off the dolly and the dolly kicked back in tremendous force and split my shin open and yeah I just kept right on the door I was really annoyed and frustrated and I arrested that thing into the house and I got it hooked up meanwhile my shoes sock everything soaked with blood blood just everywhere this was a bad cut and it wasn't stopping and you know I wasn't paying enough attention to it until I got that done and was able to realize what was going on. You know, I'm a guy. You know, well, we are. I had nothing at hand. I was away from home. There was no super glue. There was no, there was nothing bigger than a tiny little bandage. You might put on blister or something. I mean,

a little band-aid. I had nothing I needed. I had paper towels. I had rubbing alcohol. Okay, so I had those things. That was it. I didn't even have duct tape. I mean, you know, you can duct tape a wound shut, even a really bad one. Basically, you put duct tape on either side and you lace it up like shoe laces and pull it tight. But it's a very good way to do it. I had nothing. And I'm looking around. Okay, I go to the spice cabinet. Here's my first herb to help stop bleeding. Write this down. Or buy my book, you know, herbal medicine for preppers, homesteaders, and permaculture people. Tyean pepper. It really doesn't burn as much as you. you think it might.

Cyan pepper is a very finely ground powder of an absorbent dried pepper. It's that simple. If you put that in a wound, even really bad wounds, it's probably the most effective thing to stop bleeding. It is a pure stiptic. It's just, it works. I mean, it is something you should have on hand. Recently, I was done at Dollar Tree, which is now $1.25 Tree.

I blame Joe Biden far more than Art Pope for that, by the way. Recently I saw a video. The guy was just going off on Dollar Tree. I'm like, dude, have you looked at the price of gas? Have you looked at the price of diesel? Yeah, I mean, $0.25 is a 25% increase. But really, not the guy to be blaming is Art Pope and, you know, well, he lives just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. That's why the name's so, you know, close to mine, because I'm from North Carolina and actually used to know him.

But anyway, I picked up some cayenne pepper $1.25. Best investment you can make. I can throw some in with some food. I can, you know, toss some in with some chili. I mean, it's a mild hot pepper, really. I don't know why people think cayans are that hot. Now, the fresh pepper, that's a different story. But anyway, dried cayenne, you get a cut, rub it in there, sprinkle it on.

Usually nine times out of ten, we'll pick care of it, even deep cut. So, write that one down. But I didn't have it on hand. I didn't have anything I needed on hand. I didn't have Yara. Yaro grows all over my yard in the mountains of North Carolina. Yaro is a remarkable plant. I mean, it is one you mow it down, you cut it, you know, and it will actually grow sideways

across the ground. I mean, Yaro is resilient, and for thousands of years, it's been known as a soldier's herb. It actually goes back to the legend of Achilles. Achilles was said to stop the bleeding of his soldiers, and I think even the wound on his you know, be your or with Yarrow. And if you look at the Latin name, it's Achillea,

I believe, Achillea millifolium. It means it's named after Achilles. And the leaves are actually broken in these little ferny, feathery type segments, meaning million leaves. Well, it doesn't have a million leaves. It just is a very complex leaf. It's very

easy to identify. Do be sure that you learn to identify it, so it's never confused with poison hemlock. Now, poison hemlock does not look a whole lot like yara. It actually looks identical to wild carrot, but wild carrot has a tiny little purple flower,

a tiny little purple spot, right in the middle of its fumble of flowers. You know, if you've grown carrots in your garden, you know what a carrot looks like, right? Wild hemlock actually looks far more like a carrot, but when the plants are young, they can be confused. You can confuse wild hemlock with Angelica. You can basically confuse wild hemlock with anything in the umbiliferous family.

Anything that has that type of flower at a small state before the leaves have developed, before the flower's gotten very big. That's just a little warning, but, you know, no big deal. You're probably going to find a yaro just about an hour. Most people would make a tea, an infusion, we call it. and soak the wound in there. You know, that doesn't work really great. I mean, honestly, that's not the best way to stop bleeding.

The best way to stop bleeding is actually to use the flowers dry, and the leaves dry and put them on as a compress. Now, if you don't have them dry, use fresh, something's usually better than nothing, right? So, Yarro's easy, and there are versions of it that can be a pretty attractive flower. So, yeah, even if you live in a subdivision, you poor sucker, you can get this one growing, even against your property owners, associations, objections, because it is actually an ornamental flower. Next, I would choose oak bark.

Oak bark has the astringency of yaro. It's actually a little more stringent, and it can be ground to a fine powder like iron powder. So oaks are everywhere, right? I mean, honestly, everywhere you look, you're probably going to see some kind of oak. I don't care if it's a white oak, red oak, water oak, live oak. I mean, if you're on John's Island in South Carolina and you need to grab a stick off the angel oak,

use it if you're going to bleed to death. Oak is hooked to no brain or use the blackjack oak, the post oak, whatever you got. Oak is astringent and just really remarkably useful. also good for sore throats and, you know, it helps bring down swelling and spraying joints and stuff. It's a good one to learn. What I ended up using, though, was pine. I was near Fayetteville, North Carolina.

And all of you with military service know two things. One, there are a lot of trees around Fayetteville, and Fayetteville is basically hell on earth at a place you don't ever be. If you live there, it's all apologies, but, hey, check the crime rate. It's always been bad. That's what we always called it, Fayette Nam. Fayetteville is Fayetteville, and it's, you know, hell. So anyway, I was near Fayetteville, and I'm Pine Pitch. Pine Pitch is a stiptic. It helps stop bleeding. It is astringent. It helps close those capillaries and shrink that wound. It is antiseptic. It helps disinfect the wound. after literally two days

well we'll call it a good 24 hours right from one day to the next at about the same time I'm sitting there applying pressure for the wound I'm doing everything I can think of to keep this thing from bleeding and because it was on a lower extremity it was on my shin every time I stood up and started bleeding

it finally hit me go outside and grab some pine bitch I found a wound on a tree I scraped it off I slapped it on there masking tape and a paper towel actually I end up using. And I got it on there. And the wound stopped bleeding within 30 minutes of keeping my leg elevated. And the wound closed and it healed. And I don't even have more than just the faintest squaw. Had I been the type to go to a doctor, probably should have gone to urgent care of the

emergency room and gotten this stitched up. It was that bad. Motivation to do so, much less the money to pay the bill. And my leg healed up just fine. No problem. I mean, honestly, pine pitch. Pine is one of the very best remedies. Lord Broads, coughs, colds, viruses. Pine is antiviral. A tea of pine can help with allergies. Excellent for wounds. And technically speaking, the entire tree is edible. Believe it or not. You know, I've written extensively on pine. If you have a pine tree, you have an edible medicine cabinet. Now, I'm not saying it's tasty. You know, pine is an excellent survival. plant. Now, one that's really traditionally used a lot in the mountains where I'm from is a little

controversial is puffball mushrooms. You know, just those little brown puffball mushrooms, say if you press them, like a little puff of smoke comes out. That is actually, you know, millions and millions of little fungal spore that are dried and they will stop bleeding just like cayenne pepper. Okay. The problem with puffball mushrooms is if you puffin in the wound, yes, it can save your life, but that whole area turns black. Well, I'll tell you about a friend of mine. He was out in the woods, and he got a very serious injury. I think, I can't remember if he cut himself with chainsaw or an axe, but we're talking,

he was not making it out of those woods unless he figured out how to stop that bleeding. It was, it was bad. And he actually passed out. He lost so much blood. But he found some puffball mushrooms, and he puffed him on there. And he had the wherewithal to think, to take an ink in and write on his thigh, it was a thigh wound, big deal, you know, blackness from puffball mushroom. The reason was he was, he had been a paramedic at one point,

and he knew if he went into an emergency room, he was unconscious, someone was going to look at that and they might amputate that leg. It really looks that bad if you use puffball mushrooms, but it can save your life. Again, you know, oak bark probably more accessible, pine probably more accessible. Puffball mushrooms will certainly do the trick. Other great wound herbs, shepherd's purse. Shepherd's purse is a wild edible. We often eat.

It's sort of like a wild mustard or a wild lettuce. Very astringent. It works a lot like Yarrow, just in shrinking down those capillaries. it's particularly good for internal bleeding. Shepherd's purse can be used for internal wounds or menstrual issues. Very safe and actually quite healthy for you. One of my favorites is bucleweed, a jugeric pence. It is often considered a weed.

It is just a common herb that grows all over. It tolerates shade well. I think it's a very pretty plant. A lot of people consider it invasive weed because it spreads. In fact, the Latin name repins actually means spreading. Bugle, just like Mint, can get out of control. But along with Shepherd's Perch, that was, those were probably the two main herbs that soldiers were carrying into battle

to treat their wounds, even into World War. Very useful for stopping bleeding. But Buckel also slows and strengthens the heart rate. It's what we call cardiotonic, also a mild narcotic. It can calm and help a person who has been wooded. So whether the soldier was carrying Bugle for stopping bleeding or just to help with the trauma of the wound, or really just to make life on the battlefield a little easier, bugle would have been in their kit.

And Bugle is generally considered safe. Of course, anything that affects the heart rate could be dangerous at large amounts. I'm not recommending it, although I do use it myself. Every spring I gather in great quantities. It's one of my favorite herbs. Nice edible bitter that can be added to salads. It takes like radiquio. And, you know, it lowers blood pressure.

Lowers heart rate. It's basically like having a glass or two of wine. Plantain. Plantain is a common next to dandelion, probably the most common weed in your lawn that you spend thousands of dollars. soaking and poison trying to get rid of if you're an idiot. Okay, smart people don't do that. Smart people eat the weeds.

By offended you, sorry, wise up. Plantain is one of the most health of forms. It is so good for colds and allergies and sore throats. It's one of the two go-toes for a bug bite, like a bee sting or a hornet sting. You just chew up a leaf and put it on there. The other one is actually tobacco, by the way. Tobacco works better, but plantain is. is very anti-inflammatory.

Plantane is useful for stopping bleeding. And the leaves can actually be used as a natural band-aid. Plantane is an absolute go-to. It's a primary herb. I'm just going to run through a few more. Arnica. Arnica is the ultimate wound herb. We should always have arnica on hand.

I recently spoke with a clinical herbalist up in Canada. A snowboarder had fallen on a small stump, you know, like a little piece of brush that was cut off in a very tender spot and had serious bruising and bleeding under the skin. And, you know, this guy wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. They applied a liniment of Arnica or an oil of Arnica. I can't quite remember the next morning where the liniment had been applied, all the bruising was gone, all the soreness was gone, all the swelling was gone. Where they missed a few spots, you could actually see the fingerprints in the bruise.

Arnica disperses bruising and inflammation also helps with that's right up there with Yarrow. It is an absolute go-toe. Others that are very useful, kind of work in similar ways as Yarrow being astringent. Your astringent herbs, shrink those capillaries, and work as a stiptic. Agramoni, ladies mantle, Speedwell. Speedwell was actually planted by Roman troops as they invaded countries, knowing they may need Dead nettle, another common weed, grape burnet, Tormental, which is, Tormental, I think he's in the Rose family. Anything in the Rose family is as stringent.

So, yes, you can actually use rose leaves and rosebuds, blackberry, cherry, and a pear. I mean, those are all rose family plants. They're all the same family as the rose bush, believe it or not. Down to, like, oh, I don't know, strawberries, geraniums even. I mean, you know, these are as stringent. Some of them are much more mild. Any of these would be, if you had like oak bark on one end of the spectrum, these would be on the other end of the spectrum as far as astringency.

Oak, you know, oak galls can actually be used to the tan leather. Horsetail is an herb that is very high in silica. Silica can work to, you know, as a stip that stop bleeding. Oh, wild calla, buck bean, bearberry, uh, Yuva Yercese. That's a really good one. Really excellent herb. Fault Solomon Seal, wild indigo. There's a plant called Queen of the Prairie, if you live on the prairie.

It's Philip and Dula Rivera. It's in the Rose family. So it's one of those. Pennsylvania's smartweed, which is a really common read. I mean, smart weed is polygonum. You know, this stuff, farmers hate it. People with golf cars lawns hate it. Excellent herb for wounds.

salad burnet it's another old soldier's herb that would have been one that the soldiers would have carried with yarrow and bugle and all that salad burnet is actually an herb you can put in salads or cooking to your eggs quite tasty actually uh purple loose strike yeah that thing another one of those hated weeds excellent for for wounds excellent to stop bleeding ironweed alum root allen root is also called elf hoof in some places it has a really unique unique leaf and is often used ornamentally. It also grows well in shade like bugle. So, you know, if you're in your property owners association, you're in your POA, that's one you can have on hand. Amaranth, which is often a weed. I mean, they call it pigs weed or goose foot. And in some cultures, it's one of their most essential grain plants. I like amaranth quite a bit, actually. I'll throw some of the seeds into my bread. Great, great herb for stopping bleeding and helping

wounds. Button bush is astringent. Staghorn sumac, one of my favorites that just grows everywhere around here. Sumac berries can be used to make a lemonade-like beverage. Very good for colds and fevers. And sumac is a really good one. It helps stop diarrhea because

it can be used internally as astringent. The Indians around here used to take the dried leaves and mix them with tobacco as a smoking mixture. Staghorn sumac, really good. Estringent stop bleeding. Hemlock or Suga or Arbibide, these are all in the same family, great, very much like pine.

And, you know, if I had to pick one pine, I'd go with a white pine, not least it's a little stronger than the others, but usually any of you got. And hemlock tea is so good for internal and external bleeding, but also for like sore throats. And again, anything you need that stringent. The Kentucky coffee tree, if that grows in your area, butternut, which is hickory. The nut is in the same family as pecan or pecan. however you want to pronounce it, or walnuts. And it's a nice, astringent, very, very useful tree.

Ragweed, that thing that causes all your allergies? It's really good astringent. Use it poultice it on a wound. Ragweed has a lot of interesting herbal qualities we'll get into later. Actually, the leaf is helpful against the allergies that the flower calls. So we would definitely revisit ragweed. But the last is so very southern. I mean, honestly, it's Uznaia, it's old man's beard.

You probably know one variety of it as Spanish moss if you've ever been in the south. Obviously, you take that, put it on a wound, it soaks up the blood. It helps stop the bleeding. And it has antiseptic, antifungal, antiviral, and antibiotic. properties. Now, the old man's beard, the official Uznia, that grows more in northern climates, is considered to be far more medicinal than our Spanish moss. See what grows in your area. I have a little bit of the northern variety where I live in the mountains. I have, of course, encountered tons of the Spanish moss for the coast. I grew up with it, in fact. And there is one caveat on that.

There is a similar lichen known, I think, as wolf fungus, wolf's beard. It has many common names. I don't think it's going to be a problem using it externally, but taken internally is a little toxic. But Uznia is a really, really useful herb, antiviral. It's really good to have on hand, or at least no way to get some pretty quickly. You all have a great week. Stay safe. They use some common sense.

Get out there and look around, see what herbs may be either already growing on your property or nearby, and consider what you can have on hand. These are prep. Basically, if China invades Taiwan, our shells are going to be empty, and you're not going to be able to buy anything that you need to stop bleeding if you are bleeding. And we will all bleed at some point in our lives. So, find me on Amazon, Jetson Carroll, Jetson Carroll.com. all my books are in the name of Judson Carroll. I will see you next week and don't forget, please send me any questions. Jetson at Jensencarroll.com or Southern Appalachian Herbs at gmail.com. I will be glad to interact with you and answer any questions you may have.

Have a great week. Stay safe on Memorial Day and please remember what's all about.