Imagine a major wind storm in Idaho this summer that causes massive amounts of damage. The catastrophe has downed thousands of trees, toppled roofs, and mass debris is blocking roadways. The sheering winds have destroyed homes and cars, causing injury and hysteria. During the storm, your child is cut pretty bad with some flying sheet metal when a tree came down on your house and the roof fell in. You throw a Blood Clot Gauze on the gash and stop the bleeding, but the odds of infection are high if you don’t take care of it. You call 911, but no one answers. Emergency services are so overwhelmed, you can’t get through. The next day, you actually manage to weave among the debris on your motorcycle, kid in tow, and make it to the hospital. But you can’t even get in the parking lot. Hundreds of people with injuries are trying to get in for treatment. After three hours of trying to get in yourself, battle-worn, you go home and realize that your child’s arm is festering. You have to deal with this yourself.
Are you prepared to treat this? If you are, then pat yourself on the back and go have a glass of wine. If not, read on to discover an incredibly useful wild and medical plant that grows just about everywhere around here in Idaho. I’ll also describe why it works, where to find it, how to prepare it, how to use it, when to use or not use it, and a few other medical uses that the plant has.
Oregon Grape Root
Oregon Grape Root (OGR) contains massive amounts of a natural antibiotic called Berberine. You can always tell roots high in Berberine by the yellow color of the root. Sometimes it can be as yellow as a lemon. Barberry and goldenseal are also high in Berberine, but around here, Oregon Grape is everywhere! Berberine is super effective in all kinds of infection, both internally and externally. Internally, it is very effective against bacterial infections that cause diarrhea. This is particularly good to know if drink some bad water while out camping or bugging out. It is useful and specific against salmonella, shigellosis and amebic dysentery It is also very effective to E-coli, which can be very resistant to antibiotics. Berberine is also effective for systemic infection too, otherwise known as sepsis or septicemia, when infection has moved into the bloodstream and begins to affect your whole body. In the SHTF scenario, Oregon Grape root can be a literal lifesaver. Externally, it makes a great tea for flushing wounds and treating topical wounds. Oregon Grape Root is particularly nice because it does not become bacterial resistance or hurt beneficial flora if taken internally, as regular antibiotics do.
Where To Find It
Oregon Grape can grow up to about 2 feet tall and is found in mostly shady spots, many time under pine trees. If you walk through the bushes and get jabbed in the shin by sharp-tipped dark green shiny and waxy leaves, you probably found Oregon Grape. The leaves get brighter with more sun. It might remind you of the plastic holly you use to decorate your house with at Christmas, except instead of the holly’s red berry, the Oregon Grape berry is dark purple, more like a blueberry or huckleberry. In bloom, they have bright yellow flowers. The final tall-tale sign is the bright yellow root. The more yellow the root, the higher content of Berberine.
How to Harvest and Prepare It
Once you play tug-of-war with an OGR for a few minutes, you will realize this is not a carrot root. You will have to cut it out while it is in the ground with pruning sheers because they are long and stout. You can then scrap off the outer yucky brown layer with your fingernail or the back of a knife to expose the beautiful yellow innards of the root. Do this while it is fresh because the bark is surprisingly hard to scrape once it is dry. When I attempted to scrape it dry, it was like trying to scrape shaving off ceramic. Once peeled, wash it thoroughly and chop it up into pieces like you might prepare garlic for dinner. I just use a vegetable peeler and peel it all off in strips, then chop it into smaller pieces. OGR will dry indoors overnight- it doesn’t take long. If you keep it dark and cool, it will last 1-2 years (you can also make a tincture if you are so inclined, but look it up as you have to tincture OGR at a low alcohol ratio).
How to Use It
You can make a strong wound healing tea by steeping 3 Tablespoons of OGR in a cup of hot water and steep for 15 minutes. You can soak and/or irrigate the wound with this tea once cooled. Or, or you soak a dressing or gauze and pack it on the wound. If you can grind the chunks into powder, you can pack it straight on the wound or even mix it with honey (also antibacterial) and pack it on (it also works rubbing powder on a tooth infection). The tea you made for the wound is too strong for drinking and who wants to drink a nasty concoction you’ve been soaking your arm in anyway, but you also might want to drink some internally to help with infection if you think it might have set in. To use internally, make a tea the same way as the external method, but only use 2 teaspoon of root (or 1 tea powder). Drink this tea 3x per day for 7-14 days, like you would with any medicinal antibiotic. Beware that this stuff will give you bitter beer face, but you can add honey to make it palatable.
Warnings and When Not To Use It
It is important you don’t overuse OGR, like any powerful medicinal herb or root. Like trying any new food, make sure you are not allergic to it. Also, OGR should not be used if you are pregnant or breast-feeding. It should not be used internally for infants, especially those with jaundice. Do not take OGR if you are taking other antibiotics, cyclosporine, lovastatin, clarithromycin, indinavir, sildenafil, triazolam and any medication that is changed and broken down by the liver. If you not sure, ask your doctor before a disaster so you will know.
Other Uses
Oregon Grape root will be a powerful antibiotic in your tool box, but keep in mind that OGR has many other fabulous qualities for other treatments. Topically, it is effective against psoriasis, increasing fat metabolism (does eating fat make you nauseous?), stomach ulcers, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), heartburn, and eczema (for some), and liver congestion (flushing). The flowers are edible and can be made into a lovely lemonade-type drink, and the acidic tart berries can be made into jams and wine.
And there it is folks! You are now armed with one of Idaho’s most powerful antibiotics that grow naturally all around us. But stayed tuned, as Oregon Grape Root isn’t the only show in town. We have a few other wild plants around us that also have great antibiotic qualities, and I’ll get to others in future articles. Also look out for my edible plants walk class, probably in May or June.