# Beyond Fruits and Veggies in the garden after SHTF...



## SittingElf (Feb 9, 2016)

I have completed mapping out pretty good areas around my house and the surrounding community for growing sustainable fruits and vegetables after the SHTF. Seeds are already stored and ready to plant quickly after the collapse.

Additionally, by the end of this year, I will be installing a full aquaponics system, growing fish and plants together. (After expanding our Florida Pool Screen enclosure to accommodate the system and an eating area behind the BBQ)

Improving the soil in the areas defined is the first priority, and must be done now. In the area where I live, that means adding topsoil and a LOT of lime to overcome the acidity of pine needle drop lying on top of very sandy soil. Our composting system will eventually be able to assist and supplement, but for now, there is a need for dump trucks full of compost and soil!

Having said all that, I started thinking about drugs and medications. We tend to talk about post-SHTF scavenging of pharmacies, and buying things like fish antibiotics to store etc... Once gone, however, we generally agree that those in need will depart this earth. This may not be entirely necessary....IF we research and plan well.

I am starting to create a list of herbs and plants that have defined and *proven* medical uses. The list is long, and much research into efficacy and production is still pending conclusion, but I want to start buying and storing seeds of a number of plants that can be grown in a medicinal garden as a source for treating various ills, aches, and trauma. This can also be a significant source of barter "cash" down the road.

As a start, I am working with a Wikipedia list, and will condense it down into what I can grow in South Florida. That should be most, if not all of them. Here's the list:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_plants_used_in_herbalism
There are two plants that I want to find a seed source for, though currently illegal to plant, but absolutely essential after SHTF. Cannabis, and Opium Poppy.... the most important of which is the Poppy. The ability to produce Morphine of a sort would be invaluable, and is a relatively simple process. Other plants that are questionable for legal reasons, but useful for medicinal reasons include Ephedra and Belladonna.

Another plant to grow for food, fiber, paper, clothing and footwear production is Hemp. Legal in Canada and elsewhere, but too related to Cannabis for the DEA and Fed's comfort zone. Silly really.

This plan will, of course, only be validated in the event of a very long SHTF situation, or TEOTWAWKI. That being said, I'm not waiting till the last minute to have a workable plan in place, and be ready to activate it in a hurry.


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

Your plan appears to be a good one.


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

You are really thinking ahead. One comment. I know of no legal seed source for cannabis. The seeds are needed to keep (of all the crazy things) racing pigeons healthy, but they must be sterilized by irradiation before being sold.


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## SittingElf (Feb 9, 2016)

sideKahr said:


> You are really thinking ahead. One comment. I know of no legal seed source for cannabis. The seeds are needed to keep (of all the crazy things) racing pigeons healthy, but they must be sterilized by irradiation before being sold.


Yes but they will probably be readily available following SHTF...probably VERY easily! The Poppy Seeds will be more difficult perhaps....at least for the right variety.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

Lots of the medicinal plants are wild and/or perennials. I'd get a better book(s) and not depend in Wiki, which any monkey with a keyboard can post on. Books are much better shtf anyway, get a book on native American uses of plants too.

Learn the wild plants in your area, medicinal and edible. Plant both, that are perennial well in advance. Save seeds for a backup and/or save your own seeds, harvest wild local seeds (another topic).

Not sure how you would find poppy seeds but cannabis should be easy to locate.


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## SittingElf (Feb 9, 2016)

Mad Trapper said:


> Lots of the medicinal plants are wild and/or perennials. I'd get a better book(s) and not depend in Wiki, which any monkey with a keyboard can post on. Books are much better shtf anyway, get a book on native American uses of plants too.
> 
> Learn the wild plants in your area, medicinal and edible. Plant both, that are perennial well in advance. Save seeds for a backup and/or save your own seeds, harvest wild local seeds (another topic).
> 
> Not sure how you would find poppy seeds but cannabis should be easy to locate.


Good advice, though wild and perennial plants of medicinal value are rare in the Space Coast of Florida. I'm not Using Wiki for specific efficacy / test info, but for lists of plants that require more research. Native Americans did use a lot of plants, but as I have learned from a number of resources, very few of them actually had the efficacy that was claimed by their medicine men. There ARE edible wild plants in Florida, but not very near, edifying or useful. I plant tropical fruits and others like citrus, bamboo, and Moringa for a sustained food resource. Veggies and herbs must all come from divides, cuttings, or seeds.

Our climate is in Zone 9-10, which means pretty much year-round growing seasons. What can't stand cooler temps, can easily be mitigated by temporary greenhouse capabilities. Deciduous trees rarely fully drop their leaves here. Winter Ryegrass keeps the lawn green in winter and supplies nitrogen and other nutrients in the summer when it dies and decomposes.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

This will get you started:

Native American and Other Ancient Herbal Remedies

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/exhibition/healing-ways/medicine-ways/healing-plants.html

NativeTech: Indigenous Plants & Native Uses in the Northeast

Healing Plants Medicine of the Florida Seminole Indians - Alice Micco Snow and Susan Enns Stans- A new book from the University Press of Florida

Herbal Medicine

http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2664&context=etd

Native North American Plant Use

Seminole Medicine, Plants and Religion

Economic Botany: Literature Useful To The Study Of Florida Plants

Tom Brown's Guide to Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants
1985, ISBN 0-425-10063-4

Simon and Schuster's Guide to Mushrooms 
ISBN 0-671-428-7

Edible Wild Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide
ISNB 0-8069-74-5


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## SittingElf (Feb 9, 2016)

I appreciate the references, but you are relying almost exclusively on Native American medicine. I, on the other hand, am looking at references to RECENT studies of medicinal plants for their true efficacy in treating various ailments. I'm not relying on the FDA, but on other research and studies that show the results of SCIENTIFIC analysis of various medicinal plants and herbs. 

I'm not New Aging this stuff. I want reality, not conjecture or unproven Old Wives Tales....and unfortunately, that is what an awful lot of books and supposed "healing" tomes are full of.

I'll update this thread as I determine exactly what I find... and to be realistic, I imagine that at least SOME of the Native American remedies actually DO exactly what they say.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

SittingElf said:


> I appreciate the references, but you are relying almost exclusively on Native American medicine. I, on the other hand, am looking at references to RECENT studies of medicinal plants for their true efficacy in treating various ailments. I'm not relying on the FDA, but on other research and studies that show the results of SCIENTIFIC analysis of various medicinal plants and herbs.
> 
> I'm not New Aging this stuff. I want reality, not conjecture or unproven Old Wives Tales....and unfortunately, that is what an awful lot of books and supposed "healing" tomes are full of.
> 
> I'll update this thread as I determine exactly what I find... and to be realistic, I imagine that at least SOME of the Native American remedies actually DO exactly what they say.


Well, if you can locate one still practicing, find a Seminole Shaman.


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