MAY DAY!: 'LEANING IN' TO OURSELVES, OUR WASTE AND OUR OTHERS

Weedeater - nance klehm

When Mexico City manages to close its shop doors and empty its streets of 20 million, it is darkly impressive. In a city that was once floating and whose main environmental pressure was flooding, current advice of frequent hand washing was exacerbated by one of the main water pipelines of fresh water shut down the previous week affecting a quarter of the city’s population of 5 million. This is not the first, nor the last drastic water rationing for this populace.

With a high level of street culture where informal interactions are inexhaustible and richly layered (In my deepest belly, I xox Mexico City even though I usually come out bruised after a prolonged stay.) I can’t help to ask how do we ‘lean in’ when social distancing is becomes policy, however temporary.

In Egypt, pigs are not only a food source for the non-Muslim population, they are the “clean up crew”, an integral part of the solid waste disposal system in Cairo.

The pigs in Cairo are mostly handled by the Zabaleen (Arabic for ‘garbage people’). The Zabaleen are landless farmers who migrated to the city 50 years ago from northern Egypt and became the unpaid grassroots garbage collectors of the city. The 60,000 or so Zabaleen make their living absorbing, sorting and reintroducing as usable 30% of Cairo’s waste. Raw materials such as steel, glass, plastic, etc. are resold and other materials are repaired, reused or burned as fuel. Their low-tech, metabolic system represents a 80-90% recovery rate.

Pigs are kept in apartment courtyards and fed food and other waste where they process it and return that fertilizer to earth as well as produce food for the people.

At the start of this year, Egypt hired foreign multinational contractors to manage Cairo’s waste stream replacing the Zabaleens and existing systems and resulting in higher disposal fees and a much lower recovery/recycling rate of materials.

And now Egypt is in the process of slaughtering all of the 300,000 or so pigs in the country.

Why would a country hire a transnational at a high cost when they have for decades had a highly effective grassroots labor of an indigeonous group do it voluntarily?

In light of all this panic around a possible ‘pandemic’, my seed saving pal Damon recently reminded me of an herbal anti-viral elixir, the historic anti-plague remedy called ‘4 Thieves Vinegar’. The story distilled from many versions goes like this: In France, during the bubonic plague of the early 1600’s, poor mountain folk were hired as gravediggers to dig mass burial pits and thieves made busy looting homes of dead families. It was a few individuals from both of these groups that had some herbal knowledge around anti-virals and put them to use ensuring their ability to ward off the deadly virus. It is said that a few surviving thieves who were captured for their crimes were released when they shared the elixir’s recipie with the authorities.

How to make a Four Thieves Vinegar

Use a quart jar or larger vessel, gather equal parts of dried or fresh thyme, peppermint, rosemary, sage, and lavender, a teeny bit of clove if you’ve got it and if you’re a believer in the stinking rose, you could also add some garlic. Pour enough of your homemade fruit scrap or cider vinegar to just cover the herbal material. Put the lid on tight and keep it someplace that you pass every day like near your coffee maker or bed so you can shake or stir it once or more a day. Do this for as many days as you can up to six weeks (optimal tincturing time). Strain liquid form plant material and drink a teaspoon several times daily or wipe down skin and surfaces with it for disinfection or do both as you feel necessary.

Viruses do not contain the enzymes that are needed to live – so they need to have host cells which could be a plant, or an animal or even a bacteria in order for them to “live”. Outside of a host, viruses die.

Many of the plants in this remedy are anti-virals – others are also anti-bacterial and/or anti-fungal – I’ve included a full list of easily forageable and cultivatable anti-viral and flu foe plants below.

I’ve taught you how to make fruit scrap vinegar (“Breaking it Down” Weedeater column in ARTHUR #32) and Molly has talked about the uses of apple cider vinegar in past editions of print Arthur. If you have some of that around then use this as a base if not – make some so you always have some on hand. (Vinegar is so healthy and antiseptic, not to mention delicious, it behooves you to have some on-hand.)

As per my conviction, I only include plants that are easily forageable, cultivated or ubiquitously in any neighborhood store urban or rural. This is a decent list but not an inclusive list. I encourage you to do more research around anti-virals and the listed plants.

ANTI-VIRALS

• Aloe Vera — Wound healer extraordinaire that is also anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and when the juice is drunk helps repair digestive track and soothes ulcers. Always have this plant or a leaf on hand.
• Eucalyptus — You lucky Californians! The oil from this common weedy tree is also anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. It breaks up and expels mucous, relieves congestion and cools fevers.
• Garlic - The ubiquitous garlic is antiseptic, anti-bacterial, anti-parasitic, anti-fungal, immune-stimulating and anti-protozoan. Growing garlic is easy… try it!
• Ginger — Yummy and fairly easy to find, ginger is anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, diaphoretic, anti-spasmodic, circulatory stimulant, anti-arthritic, anti-inflammatory and more. Can also be used in baths to warm the body and promote sweating.
• Hen of the Woods – Forageable mushrooms -Yummy!
• Lemon — Again this is a ‘forageable’ for the Californians… Lemon helps fight infections and stimulates immune system
• Shitakes - Easy to grow indoors. Investigate this!
• Thyme — Chases mucus from the body. Thyme is antiseptic, antibiotic and anti-microbial.
• Wildflower Honey – In its original undiluted state, there is no shelf live for honey. If you don’t keep bees, or know someone you do, work on either of these relationships this season. Honey is anti-biotic, anti-inflammatory, immune stimulant, anti-carcinogenic, laxative, cell regenerator, anti-fungal… etc.!

FLU FOES

• Clove — Anti-bacterial, anti-septic, anti-microbial, bactericidal. Useful for infectious diseases and respiratory infections. This is something you pick up off a grocery shelf. Invaluable pain killer. I have used this on tooth and gun aches with huge relief.
• Common Sage — wonderful for throat and upper respiratory infections.
• Hyssop — This is most delicious as a tea. It relieves congestion, cough, sore throats and the constant beautiful blooms makes bees deliriously happy.
• Juniper — Anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, antiseptic. Useful for upper respiratory infections, urinary tract infections, candida, salmonella, e. coli… maybe I we should burn this by our dry toilets… forageable
• Oregano — This common culinary herb is an anti-infectious agent and an immune stimulant. Who knew? Easy to grow too.
• Peppermint — Fights infections, relieves congestion, clears sinuses – yumyum and so easy to grow.
• Rosemary — Anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-parasitic. Also for respiratory infections. I love to bathe with this plant. The steaming of this plant also helps relieve migranes. Forageable for you west coasters.
• Walnut – A bitter as heck blood cleanser, anti-inflammatory an anti-parasitic. Forageable.
• Western Red Cedar – Binds wounds, helps on clearing lungs, diarrhea and an antifungal. Forageable.
• Wormwood — Here is my friend Artemesia again, though not the common weedy one. It’s her cultivated cousin of yore…. Wormwood is anti-malarial, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory. In public gardens and therefore forageble with discretion.

Agriculture and the grid was about opportunity, an equitable share of wealth, a stake in the land and a home place. The Land Act of 1797 measured and divided all land in the public domain into a gridwork of survey lines leading to the distribution of land where all parcels we considered the same ignoring natural topography and water ways.

Weeds have followed the plow. They are artifacts of our modern food culture, Agriculture. The way we eat and live by ripping and removing the living soil of the indigenous deep rooted-structure of tall grasses, trees and shrubs exposes soil to wayward seeds. The most assertive weedy seeds settle into these open patches of soil and establish themselves. When the Mayflower arrived in 1620, there were no dandelions in North America. By 1671, they were everywhere. Weeds are our reward for not going native.

Weeds adapt the condition at hand, make use of marginalized soils that agricultural plants can’t. They optimize vitamins and mineral contents within their bodies, create passageways through the soil for water and air to flow via their deep roots and create forage for animals and insects. Weeds prevent further degradation of soils by covering the land’s tilled surface, they prepare and heal the soil for other plants. Weeds are the first step in ecological succession. Weeds enhance our internal and external landscapes’ capacity to support themselves.

photo by Becky Pflueger

ELIMINATION
LUBRICATION
RESTORATION

DANDELION (Taraxacum officinale)

Dandelions are windborne seeds of perennial indestructible roots. It disperses surplus fluids and moves stagnation. Dandelion helps the kidneys retain potassium and supports the liver. Roots, leaves, buds and flowers are medicinal.

BURDOCK (Articum lappa)

Burdock is in the dandelion tribe. Terrestrially, its deep roots pull nutrients up to topsoil – you can burn and add to your compost to enhance its mineral content. The root is dark brown while inside a dense white. Burdock is a guardian of inner flows. It helps the liver process oil and increases bile production. Burdock moisturizes tissues and supports blood. A single burdock plant can bear 400,000 seeds it’s second year. The root and seeds are used as well as young leaves.

NETTLES (Urtica dioica)

Nettles naturalize around septic systems, outhouses and manure piles. It utilizes these protein wastes to build its protein content. Nettles help the liver metabolize and the kidney eliminate. It is very high in calcium and magnesium. Nettles restore our overtaxed adrenals.

BLOOD AND WATER

The liver relates to blood the kidney to water. Both organs actively change the structure of and are nurtured by the blood that feeds them. They are stewards and beneficiaries of the body’s abundance.

The liver stores and metabolizes carbohydrates, proteins and fats. It is a detoxifier protecting our inner ecology of drugs, pollution and stress. The liver is a nutrifier of the blood. It is the organ of Planning and Strategy.

The kidney is a sorter keeping what is useful and letting go of what is not. It maintains the environment of the body conserving water while passing on only a little bit to the bladder to help dissolve waste. It also regulates the pH of the blood and the salt in the body. The kidney is the ocean of the body. It holds Essence and Will.

To start, two simple lists –

What Attracts Mosquitoes:

• dark clothing and dark foliage
• lactic acid and sweat (from your exercising or a very balmy evening)
• flowery or fruity fragrances
• CO2 (uh, oh)
• moist places in general

What Drives Them Away or at least stops them from finding you:

• smoke
• light clothing
• clean, aseptic fragrances such as: clove, geranium, cinnamon, rosemary, lemongrass, cedar and the infamous citronella
• bats! (Little brown bats are the most common bat in temperate North America. I see them darting overhead at dusk in most city parks in most cities. Consider building a bat house or three in your neighborhood! For plans and more info, check out Bat Conservation International at batcon.org)

okay, here’s a another listed pairing:

mama little brown bat

• life span 33 years
• 1-2 offspring/year
• 50-60 days gestation, 1 month to flyer

mama ‘any type’ mosquito

• life span 2 weeks
• 400/eggs/laying x ?layings/year
• 1 week egg to flyer

Why not sic mama insectivore on mama nectar-bloodsucker!? A nursing little brown bat not only literally flies around with her baby on her nipple, she can and will knock out 4500 and other teeny insects in an evening of hunting. Non-nursing others take care of around a third of that. Which is not peanuts, it’s a lot of bugs.

There are 150 species of mosquitoes in the US, which means as small and short-lived as they are, they also are fairly unavoidable. These bugs can’t regulate their own body heat, so most of them function best when temps are in the eighties, they get sluggish when it dips to the low 60’s and when it is under 50 degrees… Poof!

While both male and female mosquitoes are primarily nectar feeders (just like fairies) but, a female needs blood for protein to develop her eggs. She hunts for your human scent and co2 emission, lands, pierces your skin with her mouthparts and injects her saliva containing this amazing non-clotting chemical in it so she can drink deeply. Then, once satisfied, she detaches and lays her blood-fortified eggs in moist places - gutters, birdbaths, puddles, ponds, ditches, plant trays, coffee cups left outside, etc. The eggs hatch into squiggling larvae, pass quickly through the pupae stage and become adult flying mosquitoes on the hunt in just about one week. So getting rid of standing water after rainfall, no matter how little, thwarts these quick cycling bugaroos.

The clothing is an easy thing to fix and as long as you’re in your own backyard or stoop, so is burning something in a bowl that not only produces some smoke but also a nice scent for you that they dislike. Pick something that is slow burning – garden sage is a great one. You can get bags of dried sage cheaply from a middle eastern store. If you’re on the move and don’t have anything to burn, you can light a cigarette (a lit cigarette does help and you don’t even have to smoke it). You can also try parsley juice or, if you don’t mind smelling like a salad, you can use parsley juice mixed with vinegar or even better, if you have the forethought to plan, make yourself a mosquito bane salve:

Put an inch or two of water in a sauce pan and place a glass jar into it. Pour in a half cup of olive oil into the jar and a put in a walnut sized piece of beeswax. Melt over medium heat. When all is one liquid, pull it off the stove. In a small jar add 15-30 drops of one or more (don’t stink out your friends) of the above essential oils and then immediately pour the wax-oil mixture over it. Set it aside to solidify and there you go = Mosquito Bane salve. (*note: you can always reheat your salve into a liquid to adjust its consistency to your taste – add a touch more oil for increased spreadability and a smidge more wax for more solid salve.)

So maybe you’ve already been bitten picking those berries ** and you’re itching like a hmmhmmhmm. It’s all because you are one of the many unlucky ones who are sensitive to the female mosquitoes’ saliva and your skin is having a histamine reaction. Unless you are hyper sensitive, there are a couple of things to do instead of popping an over-the-counter drug. One: Pluck a plantain leaf in your mouth and chew it quickly. Plantain (Plantago major or Plantago lanceolata) is a ‘find it everywhere’ weed friend. When you have a nice cud, spit it out and apply it directly on the bite. Leave it for a few minutes. You should feel an instant cooling and soothing. If you have a lot of bites, give your teeth and mouth a break and toss a bunch of plantain leaves in a blender with a bit of water until it is a paste and then use this. You can keep this paste in a jar in the fridge for a week before you might have to compost it. Two: Vinegar on the skin will knock down inflammation and irritation. Vinegar’s acidity regulates your skin’s pH and helps dead skin cells unglue themselves from your living skin. A few cups in a bath or a direct splash on your skin with vinegar should unruffle your feathers.

By the way, I just took a bath in three gallons of failed elderberry wine. When I say failed, it was neither drinkable nor even what I would deem ready for my still. I am not sure it was even something I would use to pickle with, but I decided to use all of it in this afternoon’s bath. And while I couldn’t bucket this bathwater onto my plants after I finished using it, what it did for my beach sunburn and itchy burned scalp was a wonder.

** serviceberries, mulberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, cherries, currants, gooseberries… they are all right out there, right now. Go get ‘em!

INVITE THE WILD NEIGHBORS TO DINNER

Charismatic mega-fauna are really taking it on the chin these days. They look great on posters and t-shirts, but don’t let them walk un-tethered through town!

I was quite upset when, in April, a mountain lion showed up in Chicago, and was shot seven times by the police. I too have always felt a bit conspicuous and unwieldy in the city.

This cougar traveled hundreds of miles to get to Chicago. Perhaps it knocked out a few slow squirrels or stray cats when it touched on the interminable sprawl of Chicago, or Milwaukee, or even Rockford, Illinois, but there were no human attacks. Of course, there could have been – but there wasn’t.

Last year, also in Chicago, a coyote showed up in the refrigerated beverage section of a downtown sandwich shop. After forty-five minutes, and after several people-customers took pictures of it with their cell phones, animal control showed up. The coyote was given an overnight stay at a suburban wildlife rehabilitation center and released – probably back into the suburbs.

Most people around here are asking why these animals show up in huge metropolises. I think a better question to ask is this -- don’t you ever feel like one of these animals?

Mountain lions are both protectors and nurturers. They are loners and independent types. They stand for something quite formidable. Heck, they’re lions! It doesn’t seem like city folk are ready to live with such animals. Most have fear rather than respect for them. Lots of fear. Some reasonable. Some -- not so much.

So, if you feel like you’re a big cat in the big city, how do you protect yourself from being shot?

Is it better to adapt the strategy of a weed?

Weeds are plants that were once valued and cultivated but now have escaped cultivation. Some have been further domesticated into a more mild form now recognized as food. For instance, our lettuces are domesticated variations of wild lettuce.

Weeds are really good at hiding in the open. Their secrets are kept close in their invisibility. Their numbers are always spreading.

Be a weed:
thrive no matter where you are
make your own food and oxygen
make soils better for the next inhabitants
send out a gazillion seeds
reincarnate frequently in unexpected places

I want to introduce you to mugwort – Ms. Artemesia vulgaris. She is widespread in the United States. Mugwort pops up in both our urban and rural settings. She is downright plentiful and ready for you to use. (Note: if pregnant, please do not use this herb. Read more about it first.)

Artemis, the Queen of the Beasts was a wild one. She was an supreme hunter and friend of forest beasts. Artemis found mugwort and delivered it to the centaur. Forever after, the herb has carried her name.

I recommend you look for Artemesia vulgaris. And when you find her, gently trim a piece and dry it (simply burn it in a saucer) and inhale the smoke. This plant is a protector from evil as well as an aide to communication with the plant world.

Native Americans, Asians, and Europeans have used this plant medicinally and as a healthful culinary herb for hundreds of years. In Europe it was used as the main bittering flavor for ales until cultivated hops took over. My friend Tree, just shared some of his herby mugwort ale with me. yummy stuff paired with the homemade raw cheese we were munching on.

Mugwort is used in moxibustion. In acupuncture, this is the smoking punk they hover over your acupuncture points. It draws blood to the skin’s surface and unblocks your body’s meridian points of stuck energies.

Fresh or dried mugwort also repels insects, cleanses your blood of toxins, promotes sweating, and reduces tension. Lastly, you should know it has some of the same properties of its mysterious cousin of a different species (any guesses?).

Mugwort is also used for lucid dreaming. Cut a spring and put it under your pillow or tuck a sprig into your pocket for protection. Burn some before you settle into an evening outside. Smoke some before you go foraging or before you lie down in a meadow for a nap.

Maybe it is time we invite these charismatic mega-fauna and not-so-charismatic weeds to the table. Set a place for them. I am not talking about putting them on the menu at some upscale restaurant so we can create a demand. I am simply proposing we let them walk through town. Let them take up shelter under our porches or feed off the extra bunnies.

Speaking of weeds, please do serve them up, drink them, smoke them, learn about them and love them. Find an overarching but examined respect for them. You should, because the mega-fauna and weeds are already here or on their way.

While riding my bicycle by the train line recently, I saw the ghost image of the big cat out of the corner of my eye. It emerged from the alley and then ducked back in. In other words, the cat’s spirit hasn’t left.

mellow yellows

I first tasted dandelion wine when I bought a bottle of it at a folksy gift shop in the Amana Colonies (yes, Amana of the appliance fame). The Amana Colonies is an Amish community dating back to 1854. It was settled by the communally living German pietists then known as: The Community of True Inspiration or The Ebenezer Society. Their tenets included avoiding military service and refusal to take an oath. The Amanas are nestled in the middle of what is now a sea of genetically modified corn and soybeans known as the Midwest, more specifically Iowa.

I had wanted something to drink at my campsite that evening. When I opened the bottle, I anticipated something more magic than what met my tongue. It was cloying yellow syrupy stuff, which resembled soft drink concentrate. I poured it out next to my tent, returning it to the earth where she could compost it. I was sure that I’d never get close to it again.

That was fifteen years ago, and now I have been drinking dandelion wine for about two years. The new stuff is stuff I’ve made myself from dandelion blossoms gathered in Chicago. I’m happy to say that it is divine. I am sure now that the colonists actually keep the good stuff in their private cabinets.

Upon mentioning “dandelion wine”, Ray Bradbury usually comes to mind. However, after I heard a radio interview with him a few years back when he passionately made a case to colonize the moon so we can ditch this trashed planet and survive as a race, I got confused. Enough said.

So the point is, I am going to tell you how to make dandelion wine. I encourage you to do this because dandelions pop up everywhere and every place. They are nearly ubiquitous pioneers in our landscapes of disturbed and deprived soils. Consumed, they are a magnificent digestive, aiding the heath and cleansing of the kidneys and liver. Amongst vitamins A, B, C and D, they have a huge amount of potassium.

As a beyond-perfect diuretic, dandelion has so much potassium that when you digest the plant, no matter how much fluid you lose, your body actually experiences a net gain of the nutrient. In other words, folks – dandelion wine is one alcohol that actually helps your liver and kidneys! Generous, sweet, overlooked dandelion…

When you notice lawns and parks spotting yellow, it’s time to gather. The general rule of thumb is to collect one gallon of flowers for each gallon of wine you want to make.

Enjoy your wandering. People will think you quaintly eccentric for foraging blossoms on your hands and knees. Note: collect blossoms (without the stem) that have just opened and are out of the path of insecticides and pesticides.

So here’s how I make dandelion wine…

I pour one gallon boiling water over one gallon dandelion flowers in a large bowl. When the blossoms rise (wait about twenty-four to forty-eight hours), I strain the yellow liquid out, squeezing the remaining liquid out of the flowers, into a larger ceramic or glass bowl. I compost the spent flowers (thanks dandelion!).

Then I add juice and zest from four lemons and four oranges, and four pounds of sugar (4-4-4 = E.Z.). Okay, now what I think is the best part - I float a piece of stale bread in the mixture sprinkled with bread yeast. This technique is used in Appalachian and some European recipes.

Then I toss a dishtowel over it so the mixture can both breathe and the crud floating around my house stays out. I continue stirring the wine several times a day until it stops fermenting. This takes about two weeks or so.

When I am certain it has stopped “working”, I strain, bottle and cork it up and bid it farewell until months later. In fact I wait until the winter solstice, when I can revisit that sunny spring day by drinking it in.

Transition: as such an effective diuretic, dandelion is also know in French as “pis-en-lit” or “pee-in-the-bed”. Which brings me to YELLOW LIQUID #2 … that’s right, pee!

Pee is 95% water and 5% salts and minerals. When it comes out of the body, it’s sterile. Admittedly, I haven’t drunk my first whizz as part of my yogic practice, however, I habitually save my pee to potentize my compost as well as for making a nitrogen-rich fertilizer for my plants. Our bodies are nutrient factories – let’s value our post-consumption products and offer them back to the Mother.

Us humans pee on average a bit more than a quart a day, at a dilution rate of 1:5 (the recipe). Each one of us are producing more than two gallons of free plant fertilizer a day. Or around 750 gallons a year - which is enough fertilizer to grow 75% of an individual’s food needs for that year.

Did you know that most of the algae blooms - whether in the Los Angeles river, the shore of the Great Lakes, the mouth of the Mississippi and many other waterways - are largely due to agricultural run-off of nitrogen fertilizers applied to our corn-fed nation’s farmlands?

Peeing directly into your compost pile is great. So is collecting it in a jar or a bucket and dumping it into the pile later. Not composting? Then just dilute it fresh (remember the recipe again, 1:5) with some water and use it directly on plants or let it oxidize and turn into a nitrate (i.e. leaving it out until it gets nice and dark) and then apply it undiluted. Not only is this something that has been done for ages around the world, it is still being done. Most people are just hush hush about it.

Why are our municipalities cleaning water so we can flush our toilets with it? The separation of the solid and liquid body waste is an extensive and costly process for the water treatment plant and we pay that cost twice by flushing it all away. We have urine blindness…

Before I sign off, I want to put a bug in your ear – this terrific yellow liquid that our own bodies produce can also produce gunpowder. But maybe I’ll approach that topic in other column – or maybe you’ll just have to do the research yourself.