We don’t use prescibed or over the counter medications very often. In extreme events, we would, but none of us has needed anything of the kind for many years. Most of our medicinal needs are met with either colloidal silver or herbal medicines I make myself, usually from herbs I have grown in my own garden or foraged in my own property or that of a friend or family member.

Thyme for dry unproductive cough

Sage for sore throats and infection

Oregano or tumeric for inflammation

Garlic for any kind of viral or bacterial infection

Fire cider and elderberry syrup at first sign of cold or flu

Spruce tips for vitamin c

Comfrey for wound healing

So many things available from the hand of God in the kitchen garden or the yard around us that heal us. It costs almost nothing. There are very few side effects or dangers, and we are entirely in control of what we ingest.

Today, visiting a friend’s property, I was granted permission to forage from her incredibly prolific ghost pipe. One must find ghost pipe where it is. You cannot transplant it, as it has a very complex web of needs and will not survive if any part of that web is damaged.

It’s only up for a bit over a week each year. Last year was the first time I’d harvested it, and that was when I was recovering from extreme blood loss. Walking the hundred yards into the forest was an extreme workout at the time. This year, I am in far better shape. The blackflies were a terrible nuisance, but it didnt take terribly long to fill up my jar.

You must harvest ghost pipe directly into your alcohol. You cannot handle it with your hands, or it melts away into watery slime. By tomorrow, this jar will be purple. In six to eight weeks, it will be a deep inky royal purple tincture for pain and trauma.

Ghost pipe is hard to see. It is a small, shy, delicate plant that hides on the shady verges of the forest, often among the brambles. Easy to miss, just as it is easy to miss the many small ways that God provides for us day to day. But if you look for it, the search can be quite rewarding.