★★★★★
Pick your pokeberries (poke sallet) next fall. Great for all joint pains. My brother had a bad attack of gout and hobbling with a walker. Said doctor told him he would have to live with it because he had nothing else to try. Picked him a bag of ripe pokeberries and carried to him. Had a little trouble in talking him into eating asparagus also, because he said the doctor told him it was bad for the gout. My reply was it was bad for the gout but it was good for him. Two days later with about 15 to 20 pokeberries 4 times per day and plenty of asparagus, he was walking without limping, without pain and without the walker.
When you have a bumper crop of pokeberries, just dehydrate the excess that you can't use while fresh and ripe. For those who want to get more sophisticated and make a pokeberry tincture or extract, just google "how do I make a herbal extract or tincture. Basic rule of thumb is two most common diluents is alcohol and vinegar. Fresh herb is equal parts of herb to diluent. Using dehydrated herb use ratio of 2 parts diluent to one part dehydrated herb.
★★★★★
I do this with sandpaper on my garden melon seeds. They sprout PDQ. That's the way nature works. You got to break the hull.
I tell you this because lots of folks in my neighborhood eat Poke Berries to help their arthritis. Poke berries are supposed to be poisonous, but only if you eat crush the seed. Birds love these berries. One guy I know freezes them and eats them all year long for his health problem. He just poops the seeds out as the birds do.
ATS=======ORH===========
EC:
★★★★☆
★★★★★
"To Joyce from Joelton,Tn. Gout: What is the method used with Pokeweed for Gout? Do you make a paste and wrap the foot, or do you ingest them? Please advise? What are the exact measurements for this herb?"
I started doing this by putting berries in l gallon jug and using enough Vodka to just cover the berries. Put tight lid on and let set a week or two, moving jug around a little every two to three days. After that, just strain off the liquid and store in brown or green bottles. Beer bottles work fine for storage. (You can also use your potato masher (or whatever you have) to kind of sqush those pokeberries before straining the liquid off.
For those of you who are interested in doing your own herbs, when using fresh herbs your ratio is l:l. If using dehydrated herbs the ratio is l part herb to 2 parts diluent.
I can't remember where I read it, but I do recall reading that you shouldn't treat children under l2 with poke, because it hastened the setting of the long bones (arms & legs). There might be something to this because my family ate a lot of poke sallet and many of us have normal size bodies but short arms and legs. I might also add that most references recommend parboiling through 3 waters before ingesting, but my family (and others that I know who ate their share of it) only parboiled through one water (water discarded) before proceeding to finish cooking it and eating it.
★★★★★
I ate boiling leaves with soy sauce or made soup with tofu. It was delicious without spending a penny. I enjoyed picking them at the park, courthouse, mountain ....wherever I spotted them growing wild on .....
★★★★★
What shows that you are a novice on the subject is that the leaves have to be cooked several times and the water poured off. Other-wise you will spend the day on the potty. Guess you don't know that folks eat them with scrambled eggs.
I'm roughing you up because of your all knowing tone. Most on EC are pretty smart folk and don't need to be talked down to.
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Gout and Joint Pains
Frozen Ankle Pain
★★★★★
I will get the rest of this story as I have written about poke berry extract helping arthritis in the past. This is a wild plant that grows all over the South.
Dang, I may even start growing it at our little farm.
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I have been eating poke sallet as far back as I can remember with the only adverse effect being diarrhea for a couple of trips to the bathroom if you ate a large amount of it and that was only parboiling it x 1. I have never had any adverse effects from taking the poke berries nor has any of the other people that are taking them and we all had good results with improvement with the joint pain.
If you researched pokeweed you would learn that Vanderbilt and many other hospitals have done a lot of research on them. As I may have mentioned before, while working on my Nurse Practitioner MS degree at Vandy (1978), our physiology instructor shared a little pearl of wisdom with us which was: "We don't know why but from a little research project we have going on here now, pokeberries throws the body into gear to fight". From her little pearl of wisdom, I assume they were ingesting the pokeberries in the study.
If you looked the plant up, one thing she would learn is that poke berries are very rich in Vitamin C, along with a bunch of other chemicals with different reactions. I think that several of us have been taking them for 40+ years and are still living are proof that they aren't all that poisonous. On the other hand, I suspect that Vioxx evolved from some of those research studies on pokeweed, and we all know what happens when you isolate one property of the plant, and make a synthetic version so it can be patented. When the fail-safes included in the plant are removed, so is the safety. I think most people know what happened to the ones taking Vioxx. I am still in much better health at age 75 after 40 + years of taking pokeberries than most of those poor souls who only took Vioxx for a few years. I believe I have a little more experience with this plant than most and I know several friends and family members who have been taking them almost as long as I have.
P.S. There are some things that I won't recommend such as Jimson Weed (also known as deadly nightshade) because they are poison. I remember reading in the paper 10+ years ago about some farmer getting the bright idea of grafting his tomatoes onto jimson weeds *same family) to increase their resistance to pests, etc. & increase yield. Three or 4 of the family died after eating the tomatoes and several others came close to it. I know that one is dangerous, because it is where atropine came from initially.
I recently had someone tell me that johnson grass was poisonous. I told him that I had never heard that before but I was sure it wasn't because I had chewed on one of its roots (actually tasted sweet) just to see what it tastes like. I have also read that it is edible (if we ever get that hungry).
Gout and Joint Pains
★★★★★
Gout and Joint Pains
Yes, the seeds are especially toxic. So are the berries. The dose makes the poison. I have used pokeberries medicinally. I just swallow them. Then you get the benefit of the berry and the seed just passes through! Please start slowly with these. Just one a day and increase if needed. A spacy feeling would be a side effect to watch out for.
~Mama to Many~
Collembola Infestations
I didn't have the answer to your question on poke greens (leaves & shoots), but went looking up some of the chemicals found in the pokeweed and their activities. So I will let you make your own decision on the part of the plant to use, after reading the following:
anthocyanin (93,000 parts per million) in fruit (pokeberries) is a pesticide
caryophyllene found in fruit is insectifuge, larvacide (your collembola have a larval stage), antileishmaniac, antistapholococcal, antistreptococcal, fungicide, candidicide, mosquitocide, pesticide
isopquercetrin found in the leaf is insecticide, pesticide
oleonolic acid found in the root is antimalarial, piscicide (kills fish)
tannin found in root is anthelmintic, pesticide
All of the above chemicals have other actions also but I was specifically researching this for your infestation. when you have plenty of time just type research on pokeweed in your search window and have fun reading about this wonderful weed.
I question whether you would get much pesticide part from the eating the leaves since it must be parboiled (and a lot of your chemicals are going to go in the water you drain out, before you finish cooking it. Plus, if you eat a lot of poke greens you are going to find that it is a excellent laxative.
I have never taken any poke root preparation, but remember reading in Earth Clinic, where someone else wrote in recommending a poke root extract & told how to make it and take it. The poke preparation I wrote about for scabies was to boil the root in water & applying to the body after it cools down. I haven't tried this either, but I have a niece who attests that it worked very well to solve her problem with scabies.
I personally took and still take pokeberries for arthritis pain problems and found it works well for that and that they weren't poisonous, as I had been told. For this I just put 20 to 25 poke berries in my mouth and washed them down with water 4 times a day. I later started extracting them in alcohol (they last for years this way versus several months when dehydrated) and usually take from 1/2 to l tsp. full 4 times a day. To figure a dosage for a child, put the child's weight in pounds over l50 (average wt. for adult) & reduce to lowest fraction. This will give you the percentage of adult dose that child should have. A 75 lb. child would get 1/2 the adult dose. When looking up the chemicals, it seemed that the berry would probably have more of the chemicals you are looking for than the leaves would.
Hope you find this helpful and if it works for you be sure and let us know. From what I read in EC, there are a lot of people looking for solutions for Morgellon's.
Has anybody else wondered where all these strange diseases are originating lately. Dear old HIV, then the flesh eating organism (now called necrotizing fascitis, when mentioned at all), now we have Morgellon's, West Nile disease mosquitos, and the latest is that dear old swine flu (for which it looks like taking the shots to prevent it is worse than having it) from what has been published on it.
Internal Use of Pokeberries
★★★★★
I made a pokeberry tincture last fall just to have on hand. I have taken a drop at a time in water.
I haven't noticed anything yea or nay yet with the pokeberries. But I mostly forget to take them and don't really have anything I am trying to treat. I just like to try things out on myself to understand them better. I have used a drop of tincture or whole berry daily for at least a couple of weeks at a time and it hasn't killed me yet.
The dose makes the poison. Poke is toxic if used incorrectly, but that is the same with nearly everything. You can die from drinking too much water all at once!
~Mama to Many~
★★★★★
Poke is tall now in TN; some plants are 6 feet tall!
This picture shows the bright magenta berry stem. Most of these berries have been picked clean by the birds. They will digest all but the seeds and then pass the seeds along for new poke plants next spring. The seed is the most dangerous part.
The green berries are not ripe. The deep purple berries are ripe. Some people will swallow a berry a day and let the seed pass through (the seed is the most toxic part, other than the root.) The berry a day is for arthritis.
Poke root tincture is used by some for Lyme disease, a DROP at a time. (Not a dropperful.)
Poke root oil is used for breast tumors.
In the spring the leaves used to be boiled in three changes of water for a "tonic" food. If the plant is taller than a foot, the plants are too old to harvest the leaves, so they say.
Poke berries make a fun homemade ink for children, with supervision of course.
Poke is a perfect example of "the dose makes the poison." Poke is classified as poisonous, but when used carefully by those who know what they are doing it can be a great benefit.
~Mama to Many~
Yes, the berries can be frozen straight from the vines. I have done so before.
~Mama to Many~
P.S. - I assume you swallow them whole? That is what I do since the toxicity is primarily in the seeds, as far as I understand. Also, it is a good idea to label the berries lest someone come upon them thinking they are some sort of fruit to eat at liberty.
Frozen Ankle Pain
Nothing I'm doing is relieving my back pain so I may try this.
Caution all not to crush the seeds.
Birds and critters eat poke berries and pass them out to form a new plant. It is called scouring and that is the reason fence rows are grown up with cedar, hedge, etc. That is also how the Lord multiplies the pawpaw, dogwood and persimmon trees throughout the forest.
If man would leave nature alone, the planet would do just fine. Next post is about how chem trails are affecting us all. Unbelievable.
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Arthritis
HI U GOOD FOLKS DOIN,,,,,, me and Mama have written about this plant over the years. It is a plant that grows wild in the South and the leaves are used to clean you out every spring. The berries will solve your arthritis problems. So's you get the message, a song was written that I think you will enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vkYVWA6yzY
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How to Make Pokeberry Extract
Thanks for your informative reply. I'd always heard the pokeweed was poisonous and that was the only information I ever came across in researching it.
As luck would have it, I had to go out and get something for my husband's sore throat this weekend. I came across Boiron's homeopathic remedies; in looking through them, I located the 'sore throat radiating to the ears' remedy. It's main ingredient: Phytolacca decandra, commonly known as POKEWEED!!
Needless to say, I was amazed!
So I did research more, and while Iowa State U's recommendation is to eradicate it everywhere it comes up, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the American Cancer Society actually acknowledges that while it can be toxic, pokeweed when used properly, has incredible healing powers for a wide array of ailments.
Live and learn.
How to Make Pokeberry Extract
When they are deep red/purple in color I just pluck them from the vines. Freezing them is the easiest way to persevere them. Please label them, though.
Then they can be taken and swallowed. (Swallowing them whole allows the seed to just pass through. The seed is the most toxic part but whole the body won't extract much if anything from the seed.)
Dosing depends on what you are treating. Some people will swallow just one berry a day. If you are doing more than a berry a day, increase by one a day and watch for side effect.
You can also make pokeberry tincture - put the fresh berries in grain alcohol (must be a high proof - vodka would not have enough alcohol to persevere fresh herbs - only dried) for 6 weeks. Then strain out the berries. Pokeberry tincture is taken in drop doses. So, one drop a day, then increase by one drop a day. Decrease if you notice side effects.
~Mama to Many~
Blood Pressure
★★★★★
Took a bushel of tomatoes to church Sunday and folks loaded up. We offered them apples and pears at our little farm this Saturday. Got a feeling that few will show up 'cause they have to pick um. Hope they prove me wrong.
Reminds me of an ole tale about a traveler who came to a cross road and there was a fella from Ten Mile lying in the shade of a tree. The traveler ask which way to Knoxville and the fella raised his leg and pointed his toe to the right fork. The traveler said, " if you can do a lazier stunt than than that, I'll give you a half dollar". The local said, " put it in my pocket". That about sums it up about folks this day and time. " PUT IT IN MY POCKET".
My Tractor Driver thought that when we retired, we would just coast out. She is finally convinced that we would have been dead a long time ago if we had done that. You have to have a reason to keep on keeping on. We do what we do because if it were not Kim Jong-un, it would be somebody else, so we are getting prepared.
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Gout and Joint Pains
Scabies
★★★★★
I had scabies once before about ten tears ago, and a single treatment with Pyrithrin cream did the trick. I'm certain that if its the same species of scabies they have developed a resistance to the toxin(but not me, it was making me sick).
I live in the Tennessee mountains where theres lots of Poke Salad, one treatment as prescribed above and boy, could I tell a difference. They seem to be almost completely gone, and man, did it itch for about five minutes...I could tell them little boogers was hatin' life. I'm sure I'll have to do it a couple more times, thats all right its free!. I spent close to a hundred bucks in less than three weeks without results, when God provided the cure for free right out my back door So, do it.... Man am I happy. Thank you.
Blood Pressure
It's also interesting that such a mighty array of wild birds and other critters eat poke berries in winter (when they're least toxic) - for all the other critter watchers out there. It's actually a very ecologically valuable "weed" - the ripe berries of which are, possibly, an excellent emergency, runaway BP wrangler! Good to know! Thanks for sharing!
Arthritis
Arthritis
★★★★★
I use pokeberry juice in a honey and vinegar concoction as an energy and lymphatic booster. After finding a good plant (they're everywhere around where I am) I harvest the whole stem bunches and compost what I do not use. I usually bring home anywhere from 1-2 pounds per harvest. Once harvested, place the bunches in a stock pot with enough water to cover and let sit for 30 minutes to loosen any "wild residues" from the berries. Swish once, then strain. Cover with water again and agitate gently to finish the wash. Strain again and let dry, setting the stem bunches on towels for about 10-15 minutes.
I use a fork to pop the berries off of their little stems. USE ONLY THE DARK PURPLE BERRIES. If they're still hard or not fully ripe, they contain too much toxin and will not be usable. Then place the picked berries in a stainless steel or glass bowl. You want a good, hard surface which some plastics will not afford.
Use the end of a wooden spoon or other rounded utensil to crush the berries. DO NOT GRIND. You don't want to rupture the seed skins since that's where all the bad stuff is. Gently crush the berries until you have a pulp. I then add about a cup of raw cider vinegar, swish to mix well and then strain through a fine mesh sieve. Gently press the pulp in the strainer but don't stir it around, avoiding rubbing the seeds against the mesh. You can use water or anything else, but adding something to the pulp helps pull most of the juice out. Just be careful not to bother the seeds.
I hope that helps.
Poke Herb Photos
★★★★★
You didn't mention in your medicinal review of Polk, that you can EAT it....it is so good. Young leaves as you describe, cooked like you would spinach. Yum. With cornbread of course. (NOT older leaves which apparently begin to turn toxic. Once I nibbled on an older leaf...just a bare taste, and got a bit nauseous.)
Poke Herb Photos
Believe it or not, I took that picture yesterday! I am surprised that though we are in the same state our growing conditions are a bit different here, at least this year.
I found out today that free ranging chickens can help with the poisonous snake population. My kids and their friends are building a fort today. One of the friends noticed a very large worm in one of our chicken's mouths. Upon further inspection, they realized it was a small copperhead. The chicken ate its head off. (Sorry to be graphic.) These are older chickens. They don't lay many eggs but they are sure earning their keep in pest control. They are also entertaining.
~Mama to Many~
Frozen Ankle Pain
Would you know the dose of poke that your friend took? My understanding is that the tincture is to be used by the DROP, not the dropperful.
Funny you should mention poke. I have my first batch of poke root tincture brewing right now. I have tons of poke growing around. I use to think of it is a nuisance, but now I look at it with respect. I see it along the dirt roads near my house and it makes me ponder all the healing that is free all around. (But one should not collect poke from roadsides.)
~Mama to Many~
Pokeweed
Yes, sir, I have noticed the poke leaves coming up. For years I would dread the sight of poke as it is such a hearty weed and difficult to get rid of. I was not aware of a tradition to eat the fresh leaves but I will have to look in to that. Fascinating.
But in recent years, I look at poke differently; more with a respect. I see a tenacious plant that is a strong natural medicine. Last fall I harvested a bunch of the berries and put them in my freezer. I purposed to take one a day. You are supposed to swallow one berry a day, whole, like a pill. That way you don't crush the seed, which is the most toxic part, and the seed passes on through. I probably did it a couple of weeks and then forgot about those berries. I got on to something else. But I didn't die! :) My kids were kind of horrified since I had told them for years not to eat poke because it was dangerous! And it is, if used improperly.
I really want to make some Poke Root tincture You are supposed to harvest the root in the fall. Then you can make a tincture of it. A dose of Poke is ONE DROP! Not a dropperful. Apparently it can be used for some cancers. Also for arthritis and mastitis.
So, last September I would drive along country roads and see the poke along side the roads - thousands of poke berries that most think are just a nuisance. Right there. A cancer treatment. Free. (Not that you should collect herbs from roadsides....)
Hopefully I will get some poke tincture made in the fall and have some stories to tell next year. But the root is hard to get out and to get through to it I would be in knee high brush...I didn't want to deal with poison ivy, ticks or snakes.... (who knows...maybe poke is good for snake bites - we have seen a couple of copperheads so far this spring...I am always pondering what remedies might be best for snake bites.)
~Mama to Many~
Where to Buy
★★★★★
Scabies
Blood Pressure
Arthritis
Cancer
Mites
★★★★★
Poke Herb Photos
★★★★★
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Poke Herb Photos
That's not how I've eaten it. With a young leaf you do just like any other green. If a little older to be safe, I'd do as you say. I've eaten young Polk many times without multiple boiling and pour off. The trick is .... the leaves must be YOUNG. With no sign of stalk turning color to that reddish tint which evidences an older plant.
Poke Herb Photos
Pokeberry Side Effects
★☆☆☆☆
"Poke sallet" or salad is made from the leaves and even those have to be cooked thoroughly and drained to be consumed.
http://www.poison.org/articles/2012-aug/pokeberries-and-grapes-look-alike
Gout and Joint Pains
I just wanted to add to this, I had very bad big toe pain that I am sure was gout. I tried many things some helped, but it would always come back, I change shoes and it helped some, but what help the most and eliminated for me was jumping on a mini rebounder. It has not bothered me since. Rebounding is great and everyone should check into some you tubes on this.
Gout and Joint Pains
Gout and Joint Pains
Sorry that I missed this post when it came out.
I wish you well.
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Pokeweed
I am not an expert on the subject and will ask Mama to Many to send ya'll to school on this wild plant. I'll bet she has a recipe that will have you fit as a fiddle in no time.
Lots of folks will tell you that the Poke Berries are poisonous, but only if you eat crush the seeds. A local freezes the berries and eats them year round for his Arthritis.
Years ago they even wrote a song called Poke Salad Annie and if this does not have you patting your foot, then you too far gone for EC 's brightest to help you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRF24LY5pvw
ATS,,,,, ======ORH=======
Scabies
★★★★★
You should also boil clothing and bed linens to get rid of scabies.
I just looked up scabies in "Cuz Jim's" The Green Pharmacy and he suggests that one can find skin care products containing neem at some health food stores. He says to just mix in several teaspoons of turmeric and apply it to the affected areas daily. He gives this advice because an Indian researcher treated 8l4 people with scabies using a paste made from 4 parts neem leaves and one part turmeric roots, having the infested patients rub it all over themselves daily. 98% of them were improved within 3 to 5 days and were completely cured within 2 weeks.
Another suggestion he has is to boil the skins of a half dozen yellow onions in a quart of water for l5 to 30 minutes to extract the quercetin which has soothing powers against scabies and other skin problems.
Another suggestion is boiling green hulls (from black walnuts) in a cup of water until the water is half evaporated and apply to affected areas. A more heavy concentration can be obtained by covering the hulls with water, bring to a boil and simmer until half the water is evaporated. Apply liberally to the skin, daily applications should be safe, but hope you don't mind being brownskinned for awhile.]
How to Make Pokeberry Extract
There are too many safe alternatives, to even suggest this to anyone!
Thank you for your consideration,
Denise
How to Make Pokeberry Extract
Scabies
★★★★★
I had them once and lucky for me, read in the paper the same day what to do to get rid of them.
I dug up the roots of Poke Greens that is plentiful in my area.
I boiled the roots for 5 minutes. Just 3 or 4 small sprigs of roots is enough in a small pot.
Got in the shower and after it was cool enough, splashed the Poke tea all over me and Scabies popped out all over me. Itches like crazy but left it on as long as I could stand it about 3 minutes.
Then greased myself with crisco all over and the itching stopped. I waited about ten minutes and washed off the crisco and never had another scabie. It worked for me. But it's not easy going through it because of the itching.
Susan
EC: More about Poke's medicinal uses here: http://www.redmoonherbs.com/articles/poke-medicinal-use.php
Photo of Polk Greens: http://www.bloggingwv.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/polk4.jpg
Scabies
Sorry I can't help you with a source for buying poke sallet (pokeweed) root but you might inquire at a natural resource place in your locality. Before giving up on it growing wild there, type pokeweed or poke sallet in a search window and see if you can pull up a picture of it & go hiking. It is a very easy plant to identify if you know what it looks like. It is growing all over here. Shame you aren't a neighbor because I'd even let you borrow my shovel to dig one up from my yard.
Internal Use of Pokeberries
★★★★★
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Gout and Joint Pains
Gout and Joint Pains
Gout and Joint Pains
Gout and Joint Pains
Gout and Joint Pains
Gout and Joint Pains
