Note From JWR:

Our goal is to double the readership of SurvivalBlog by the end of 2007. Reader R.A. mentioned that there are already 719 different web sites that link to SurvivalBlog, but we could use a lot more links! If you have a web site or blog and don’t yet have a link to SurvivalBlog, then please do so. It is quick and easy to add a SurvivalBlog link logo or link text. That would be greatly appreciated!

Letter Re: Another Perspective on Selecting Barter Goods

James:
Great letters on thinking about skills as the ultimate portable “barter goods”. If you have a specialty skill, just make sure that you have enough tools and supplies to be a post-TEOTWAWKI supplier. It’s a big time commitment to become qualified in a specialty outside of your current work, but if you can leverage your current expertise with some more training and/or tools and/or supplies that would be ideal.
I would add that much the same criteria apply for skills as for goods. The best skills would be the ones that are mission-critical for survival in a horrific TEOTWAWKI situation – medical, security, food production, water supply come to mind. Just like goods, unless it is really, really needed at the survival level, I don’t think there will be much demand for it.
Re: “After reading the various articles on barter goods, I am still confused as to why one would keep goods for barter.”
As stated, “barter goods will give you purchasing power to buy consumables you run out of, stuff that breaks or wears out, items you didn’t think ahead to store – or unforeseen needs, e.g., medical, new baby, new people at the farm, etc., etc. “
Predicting all future needs is impossible – barter goods give you one more option to trade with neighbors for the unforeseen, in the time between functioning economies. You may be an ER physician – but if your neighbors don’t happen to need medical care right then you still want something of value to trade. Or you may be ill or injured, or you can’t be spared from your retreat for security, etc., etc. Just like investing, diversification of your options to get what you need from your stores, barter goods and barter services is the way to go (or of course gold and silver when a rudimentary economy reemerges)
Re: “Supposedly you are at a rural retreat … surrounded by a horde of people who are ill-equipped to cope.”
If so you are in a very bad location for survival, and no amount of stuff or skills is likely to save you! If you are in lightly populated, good farm country you should have good neighbors to trade both skills and stuff.
Re: “Being a survivor isn’t just about having stuff, it’s about having skills.”
I would bet the survivors will be those that have a good supply of both skills and stuff (and the right location). One can compensate for the other to some extent, but if you are too low on either you’re in bad shape.
How about some suggestions for goods and skills that fulfill post-TEOTWAWKI criteria?
Regards, – OSOM “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”

Letter Re: The Forgotten Survival Skill: Physical Fitness, by Ron D.

Mr. Rawles:
I couldn’t agree more with Ron D’s article on the need for basic fitness. The most perfect Bug Out Bag in existence and the best hidden cache of beans, bullets and bandages won’t do you any good if you have a heart attack getting there.

I would add, though, that for strength training you don’t have to invest in a lot, or even any, equipment. Bodyweight calisthenics can help build strength rapidly using only your own body as the weight you are lifting. Unlike machines, or even free weights, bodyweight exercises don’t just target individual muscles but also strengthen all of the supporting muscles as well. At least in theory, and my experience bears it out, this results in fewer injuries.

Another advantage to bodyweight exercises is that you can do them anywhere. This is especially useful if you travel much for for work. Do them in a hotel room, at a roadside rest area, in a park or parking lot. And there’s nothing else to pack and lug along. Matt Furey is a leading voice in this area. His Combat Conditioning is a great resource for developing a workout routine appropriate for you. I sometimes find his style a bit hard to take, but his stuff works. – M.P.

Letter Re: Bullet Casting: A (Relatively) Simple Introduction, by AVL

James,
Another safety item for melting lead: When done pouring bullets, it is important that any remaining lead should be poured out of the pot, rather leaving it to solidify in the pot. Lead like all other materials will expand when heated. Lead will also melt from the bottom up and if trapped by a solid layer at the top, may erupt when it breaks through that top layer. – R.H.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Hawaiian K. flagged this article from Cosmos magazine: Coat of paint could halt pandemic

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Rocky O. sent us this story about a minor panic in London caused by a single live .22 rimfire cartridge found on a sidewalk: Bullet found in doorway. When I read this article, I laughed so hard that I nearly cried. Rocky’s comment: “Imagine what you could do with a whole box of .22s. Probably tie up their police force and bomb squad for weeks.”

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Vic at Safecastle just launched a new private “Safecastle Royal” buyers club that allows for steeply discounted member pricing on everything that they sell. This includes Mountain House foods, Katadyn water filters, Maxpedition gear, Montague folding bikes, Dakota watches, and much more. Here’s the link to the sign-up site: http://www.safecastleroyal.com/
Those who register and pay the one-time membership fee get access to a separate password-protected web site with the discounted pricing, online checkout, and so forth.

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A very interesting piece from the Defense Tech blog: Labouchere of Arabia.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“It is a sad commentary on human affairs, down to our day, that ‘sweet reasonableness’ and sensible quiet argument never get very far as such-that nothing gets done until a sizable bloc of people gets
organized and starts raising enough h*ll to persuade those in power that they had better start listening to what is being said.” – George F. Willison “Patrick Henry and His World”

Special Note from JWR:

I am pleased to report that the new expanded 33 chapter edition of my survivalist novel “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse” is finally now orderable from the publisher, XLibris. Sorry about the long delay, but the publishing process is agonizingly slow.

Until recently, the earlier 31 chapter edition of the book from Huntington House had been out of print, and it was getting very scarce. Prices range from $29 to $345 each! (The book went out of print when the publisher went out of business.) Now is your chance to order a few copies of the new edition in time to present them as Christmas gifts. The cover price is $22.99. You can order them at 15% discount ($19.54 + postage) by ordering directly from XLibris.

The new edition has larger print and is in a slightly larger format than the old edition. (The new edition measures 6″x9″ The old edition measured 5-1/4″ x 8-3/8″.) The page count of the new edition is also slightly higher. (It is 384 pages versus 342 pages in the old edition.) If you are curious about the content difference between the two editions: The two new bonus chapters are an introduction to the Keane Brothers.

The ISBNs for the new trade paperback edition are:
ISBN 13: 978-1-425734-07-7
ISBN 10: 1-4257-3407-3 (To explain: The new ISBN system uses 13 digits, but the old 10 digit numbers can still be used during the transition period.)

Starting January 10, 2007, I will be selling autographed copies for $18.99 + $3.01 postage. ($22 each, postage paid, or $21 each if you order 2 or more, or $20 each if you order 3 or more.) Because of upcoming travel plans, I cannot fill any orders directly until January. If you need a copy before late January, then please order directly from the publisher: XLibris.

Are you a book dealer, or do you know of one that might want to stock my novel? Case lots (of 26 copies per case) are available directly from the publisher, with a 40% dealer discount, or a 50% to 60% wholesaler discount, (The discount is based on the quantity ordered.):
E-mail: Orders@Xlibris.com
Fax: 610.915.0294
Telephone: 1.888.795.4274 x.479
Snail Mail: Xlibris Corporation; International Plaza II; Suite 340; Philadelphia, PA 19113

Letter Re: Barter as an Investment and a Hedge

While barter for necessities is one possibility, barter for wealth is another. A poor man with a small investment in an essential TEOTWAWKI item can magnify his wealth. If you are not in a position to outfit yourself with the food/weapons/tools you would like now, consider a barter investment. Something you can get cheaply now, and then trade for the items that are currently out of your budget.
When choosing barter goods for storage, consider seven things. Original cost, size, availability, need, divisibility, verification, and indestructibility.
Items stored for barter should:
(1) Have a very low initial cost. In this way, barter becomes an investment, hedging against TEOTWAWKI
(2) Be small enough to take to market easily
(3) Be things very easy to obtain now and virtually impossible to obtain later due to the manufacturing process involved.
(4) Be things that you cannot easily live without
(5) Be easily divisible into smaller units
(6) Be easily and universally verifiable as being non-counterfeit
(7) Be resistant to the elements and time
I put forth Iodized salt. In Roman times, soldiers were paid in salt at the rate of about 150 pounds per year. That’s less than 1/2 a pound a day.
The word salary comes from the word salt. In some parts of the ancient world, salt and gold were traded equally by weight.
You may consider the loss of salt a minor inconvenience but that is not so. You eat salt all day long without knowing it. Soda, bread, every food you eat is loaded with it. If you were truly given a salt free diet (no processed foods) and had to do any kind of manual labor, the sweat loss of salt could literally kill you. Iodine is a heavy element that washes away with the rain and so is not found in mountainous areas and away from the oceans. Lack of iodine causes goiter.
Salt is (1) very cheap now (2) can be sold in small packages at market (3) virtually impossible to obtain in TEOTWAWKI if you are away from the ocean (4) required for life. Add in iodized salt and doubly so. Remember the Goiter belts? (5) Divisible as it is a powder (6) recognizable by taste (7) virtually indestructible.
My second choice is the .22 rimfire cartridge which satisfies numbers 2,3,5, and 6. A $100 investment in salt now could easily be worth a fortune in another time and place. – SF in Hawaii

Letter Re: Tire Spikes for Home Retreat Defense

Hello James,
In regards to the recent post toward driveway security strips, or "spike strips" I think of another possibility to the construction in using a 2×6. I would consider fabricating the base out of treated 3/4" plywood. Not only is this already somewhat camouflage, it will take the years of abuse that weather will give it.
I envision a design in which the upper three or four layers that are glued together with construction adhesive, (preferably a polyurethane adhesive like PL Pro), and then drilled for insertion of spikes. Then, apply an additional layer with a width of approximately 18" more than the previous layers. This will serve two purposes.
1). It keeps the spikes from pushing through the bottom of the board when driven over thus helping penetration
2). Ideally the tire of the vehicle will be over the lowest layer thus stabilizing the setup without causing it to roll over with pressure. Assuming of course that you have dug a small trench to submerge the unit.
Plywood is much stronger than conventional Pine with much more resistance to breakage. More layers, and glued and screwed together will add to the strength. Keep in mind that different treatment processes require different fasteners that resist the corrosion factor of the chemical saturant of the wood/plywood.
Regards, – The Wanderer

Two Letters Re: An M1A Rifle Goes Ka-boom!

Dear Jim,
I don’t suspect a squib load as the problem for the M1A. A squib in a gas-operated semi-auto generally means no cycling of the bolt or ejection, which always indicates a problem.
While there’s a link to an analysis that shows a flawed barrel, and I agree with it from the images shown, I also suspect an ammunition problem.
Consider that from the image, the chamber split, and split fast. No bulge, no crack, just a boom. This indicates a substantial overpressure in the chamber.
There are likely several things that can cause this. Two that come to mind are decaying powder or a weak primer.
The ideal cycle for a cartridge is for the primer ignition to fire up the center of the round, and the propellant to ignite from the inside out in an even burn. This is the purpose of larger primers for larger rounds–ANY primer will ignite the propellant. The trick is to ignite it properly.
If the charge is decayed or settled badly, or the primer is weak, what can happen is a “Deflagration.” The propellant burns more slowly than it should, from either base to throat or from one side to the other, and compresses the remaining propellant, thus increasing the burn rate. Rather than 50,000 PSI or so, it is possible to exceed several hundred thousand PSI from the increasing wave–there’s solid metal on one side, an expanding pressure front on the other, and the propellant in between is increasingly compressed.
This is exactly how a FAE works, or why a grain silo can blow apart.
The case split from the front and didn’t just separate the head, which I think is further evidence of this. Also, the green around the primer on the bad round doesn’t seem to match the lacquer on the comparison case. It could be an indication of calcium buildup from decay, which was more common with ammo from the 1950s and 1960s.
It’s not a common occurrence, but certainly something to be aware of with old ammo. Check the condition before shooting. – Michael Z. Williamson

James:
Just a little information, a few years back, while I was working for a gun shop we got in some surplus ammo from a major distributor, that unbeknownst to them had been tumbled to clean the brass. By tumbling the loaded rounds the size of the powder changed and you got an explosion instead of a burn, thus a ruined firearm, just thought you might want to pass this along, it might be the reason?
Thanks for all you do – JAH

Odds ‘n Sods:

Tom at www.CometGold.com sent this link: More than half of all equities trading in the US will be done using algorithmic dealing systems by the end of 2010.

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A clever nuke blast mapping tool, posted by Kurt, by way of Rourke at the Jericho Discussion Group.

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Rich at KT Ordnance mentioned that there’s now a proposal to ban BB guns in Massachusetts. Complete with a BB gun amnesty period, and a BB gun “buyback” program. I will refrain from commenting on Taxachusetts politics. I might lapse into saying something un-Christian.

 

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“It is constantly reiterated that education begins in the home, as indeed it does, but what is often forgotten is that morality begins in the home also.” – Louis L’Amour, “Education of a Wandering Man“

Notes from JWR:

Our thanks to “RSF”, the high bidder in the recent auction for the autographed first edition of Survival Guns, by Mel Tappan. Today we are starting a new auction, for a big batch of survival books, courtesy of Ready Made Resources.

Today we present yet another article for Round 7 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $1,600.) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Since there have been so many great entries in this round of the contest, I will also be sending out a few complimentary copies of my novel “Patriots” as “honorable mention” awards. If you want a chance to win Round 7, start writing and e-mail us your article. Round 7 will end on November 30th. Remember that the articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival will have an advantage in the judging.

Making Traditional Cordage in North America, by Ron

This article is about cordage, one of the most used and necessary items for day-to-day life. Other than sinew, catgut, and rawhide, early man made his rope and string from more readily available plant material. Certain plant fibers were able to stand up to water emersion and made excellent nets and fishing line. Animal fibers, such as sinew and catgut, would stretch or unravel when wet and were more difficult to procure. Plant fibers were so much more abundant and easier to process; this left sinew and catgut for sewing, bow backing, arrow making and other arts requiring a strong, longer lasting material.
Another difference between plant and animal fibers is the strength comparison of a string made of sinew and a string of plant fiber. The plant fiber string, in most cases, would have to be twice the diameter of the sinew string to be of the same strength. Thus, for certain applications where weight and mass are important (such as arrow making) the thinner sinew would be the best choice. Sinew, catgut, and rawhide were not available in all areas since it usually comes from large animals. There aren’t very many places in North America where a decent cordage fiber plant isn’t available.
Cordage can be made from bark, branches, roots, stems, and leaves. In some rare cases the seed fluff from whorled milkweed and cottonwood was wound into cordage. This would be very labor intensive and was used mostly for ceremonial objects.
Trees can supply cordage by use of the bark, roots, and in a few cases, limbs. In the North, the roots of the spruce tree are used to make good, strong cordage. In the Great Lakes area, the Indians use this root for sewing the birch bark together on their canoes. The roots of the junipers, walnut, butternut, wild cherry, and osage orange are used too. Roots that grow in fine or sandy soil are the most favored as they are usually straighter and have fewer deformities. They are split in two or more sections and sometimes the outer bark is rubbed off. This is accomplished by rubbing the root section back and forth over a limb with somewhat rough bark, as if you were sawing it. Some bark and root binding materials tend to get a little brittle as they dry, so they are often soaked in water for a while before use. From my experience, roots make the best bow drill string of all. Always try to take only a few roots from several different trees. This doesn’t kill the tree and insures a future supply of roots.
The best bark cordage comes from small limbs. The bark is thinner, and this process won’t harm the tree. The inner bark of juniper, elm, cottonwood, aspen, basswood, moosewood, maple, willow, and desert willow are the most often used. Basswood is one of the better sources of fine bark cordage. The limbs-and in the case of a freshly fallen tree, the trunk-are stripped of their bark. This bark is held submerged for a few weeks until the inner bark starts to come loose in layers. These strips are then dried and stored for future use. When some cordage is needed, they’re soaked for a while before braiding or twisting. Slippery elm and willow bark make good, strong cordage. Most barks are best gathered May thru August because the bark comes off a lot easier. Out of season, the bark can still be loosened and removed by pounding the limbs gently with a wood maul or mallet made from a branch about 3” in diameter. Another piece of thick branch should be used as an anvil. Both anvil and mallet should be made smooth as possible to deter ruining the bark. If you decide to use a rock for an anvil, the bark may be damaged beyond use. Pounding works well on such barks as pawpaw, hickory, elm, maple, willow, and poplar. I’ve used slippery elm with the outer bark removed, and it made very strong rope for a wickiup shelter I was building. Many shrubs such as sagebrush, cliffrose, and flannelbush have usable bark as well. As an aside, most of these barks are used in basketry too.
Most grass stems and leaves used for cordage, such as sweetgrass, dunegrass, and the reeds are used whole without much further processing. Cattail leaves when used whole are usually braided into a somewhat usable rope. When shredded lengthwise, they make stronger cordage after they’ve been twisted together. The leaves of agave, yucca, and iris must be processed in some way to get the fibers. Agave has a sharp point at the end of the leaf that is hard and dense. This “needle” can be carefully pulled downward towards the base of the leaf and several fibers will remain attached. This can be used as is for sewing. To get the most fibers from an agave leaf, it is usually gently pounded or “retted”-that is, soaked in water until the fleshy part of the leaf rots away. One should use caution when working with agave, as the fresh leaf contains chemicals which cause dermatitis.
I prefer working with yucca; it is a very versatile plant to work with. In Paul Campbell’s book Survival Skills of Native California, there are several photos and references to articles made from yucca cordage. It was used by Indian tribes throughout the West to make nets, bow strings, and many other items. You can use the leaves green or dry. I prefer to process the green leaves by retting. After I gather a good sized bunch, I put them in a 5 gallon bucket, fill it with water, and let it set for a few days. When I check them, I hope to find most of the fleshy material is rotted or beginning to rot (you can tell the retting process is working by the terrible smell!). If the leaves are really mushy, they have retted long enough to work the fibers free. I do this by laying the leaves a few at a time on a board and running an old wood rolling pin over them to squeeze out the plant material; then the leaf remains are swooshed around in a bucket of clean water and the fibers are fairly cleaned of plant material. I then wring the bundles of fiber out and give them another rinse. This loosens even more plant material and the shorter, unusable fibers. These hanks of fiber are hung up to dry and put away ‘till I need to make some cordage. This is the easiest way I have found to process yucca. In the wilds you could do the same by putting them in a stream or pool and weighing them down.
If you use the dry yucca leaves, you will have to pound them with the mallet and anvil technique. The pounded bundles are then rubbed between the hands to loosen any plant material. I’ve heard of some folks who use a dull knife or stone flake to scrape the leaves and expose the fibers. I have tried this, but with limited success. I once cooked some yucca leaves to see if this would make them easier to work, but found the resulting fibers were a bit too stiff and hash, unlike the smooth, soft fibers from the retting process. Iris leaves have only two usable fiber strands per leaf. The average iris leaf is only one or two feet long. These fibers were highly valued considering the amount of labor it took to get a usable amount. The leaves are split lengthwise with the thumbnail. Sometimes an artificial thumbnail is used. It’s made from a mussel shell attached to the thumb with a bit of cordage. The two leaf halves are then scraped on both sides with the mussel shell thumbnail. This exposes a silky white fiber. The iris was mostly used in the Pacific Northwest and the fibers were twisted into cordage for fishing line, netting, snares and many other items.
The stem sections of many different plants hold useful cordage fibers. Plants such as nettle, dogbane, velvet leaf, milkweed, prairie flax, thistle, and fireweed are valued for their quality fibers. I have processed many hundreds of feet of stinging nettle, dogbane, and milkweed cordage. These stems are hollow or have a pith core. They are collected in the fall after the last leaves have fallen off, usually after the first frost. The stems are left to dry in a warm place and then they are checked for brittleness. I then split them lengthwise, usually into four sections. These sections are easier to work with. Each section is carefully snapped every few inches, beginning at the bottom. As I snap each small section, I carefully peel the fiber bearing bark loose. Hopefully, I’ll end up with a section of bark the full length of the stem. Short sections of bark are still useful as the fibers can be spliced onto longer sections of cordage. As I twist the sections into cordage, the dry brittle bark falls off leaving nice silky fiber. Sometimes the cord has to be twisted back and forth several times to loosen stubborn bark fragments. Some folks use a knife to scrape the bark off the stem before sectioning it but I prefer to just let it fall off while twisting. If you’re not careful, you can scrape too deep and ruin the fiber.
Vines and branches are used as cordage. Grapevine, greenbrier, and hazelnut are just a few of the many different plants used in this fashion. Most vines are used for light weight tasks as they aren’t very strong. Hazelnut withes are used to tie bundles of fire wood, and a strong cord with tumpline is tied to the bundle for transportation. These withes can be bent double and are also used as handles on stone axes and hammers.
Knowing the plants and techniques for making rope and cordage is only a small part of the many skills needed to survive. It is important to have a working knowledge of such skills as fire making, tool making, trapping, shelter construction, and others; these complement each other in the art of primitive survival. Several of the books in the bibliography illustrate the technique of turning fiber into cordage. Also, there are several sites on the Internet that illustrate the process of twisting fiber into cordage. If you are interested, do a Google search for “cordage” and “primitive skills”.

Bibliography:
Survival Skills of Native California – Paul Campbell
Primitive Wilderness Living & Survival Skills Vol. 1 & 2 – John & Geri McPherson
Bushcraft – Mors Kochanski
Any of the Peterson Field Guides on flowering plants, trees and shrubs; these guides are well illustrated and there are different editions for the Eastern and Western United States.


CORDAGE FROM PLANTS (North American)
Abutilon abutilon=Velvet Leaf,Indian Mallow (stem)
Acer glabrum=Rocky Mountain Maple (bark) Acer macrophyllum=Bigleaf maple (bark) Acorus calamus=Sweetflag (leaves Agave americana=American Century Plant (leaves) Agave deserti=Desert Agave (leaves) Agave lechuguilla=Lechuguilla (leaves) Agave parryi= Parry Agave (leaves) Agave schottii= Schott Agave (leaves) Agave toumeyana =Toumey Agave (leaves) Agave utahensis=Century Plant (leaves) Althaea officinalis=Marsh Mallow (stem) Amelanchier alnifolia=Saskatoon Serviceberry (branchs) Apocynum androsaemifolium=Dogbane (stem) Apocynum cannabinum= Dogbane,Black Indian Hemp,Armyroot (stem) Arctium lapa= Burdock (stem) Argentina anserina=Silverweed Cinquefoil (runners) Artemisia tridentata=Sagebrush (bark) Asclepias asperula=Antelope Horns Milkweed (stem) Asclepias eriocarpa=Woolypod Milkweed (stem) Asclepias fascicularis=Mexican Whorled Milkweed (stem) Asclepias hallii=Purple Milkweed (stem) Asclepias incarnata=Swamp Milkweed (stem) Asclepias lanceolata=Narrow Leaved Purple Milkweed (stem) Asclepias ovalifolia=Milkweed (stem) Asclepias pulchra=Hairy Milkweed,White Indian Hemp (stem) Asclepias pumila=Low Milkweed (stem) Asclepias purpurascens=Purple Milkweed (stem) Asclepias quadrifolia=Fourleaf Milkweed (stem) Asclepias rubra=Red Milkweed (stem) Asclepias speciosa=Showy Milkweed (stem) Asclepias subverticillata=Whorled Milkweed (seed hair) Asclepias syriaca=Common Milkweed (stem) Asclepias tuberosa=Butterfly Weed,Pleurisy Root (stem) Asclepias viridiflora=Green Milkweed (stem) Asimina triloba=Pawpaw (bark & root)
Boehmeria cylindrica=False Nettle (stem)
Carex barbarae=Santa Barbara Sedge (root)
Carya =Hickory (bark & root)
Cedrus =Cedar (bark & root)
Cercis canadensis= California Redbud (bark)
Chamaecyparis nootkatensis=Alaska Cedar (bark)
Chamerion angustifolium=Fireweed (stem)
Chilopsis linearis=Desert Willow (bark)
Cirsium arvense=Canadian Thistle (stem)
Cirsium edule= Edible Thistle (stem)
Cirsium vulgare=Bull Thistle (stem)
Clematis ligusticifolia=Western White Clematis (stem)
Convolvulus arvensis=Field Bindweed (stem)
Cornus sericea=Redosier Dogwood (bark)
Corylus cornuta var. californica=California Hazelnut (twigs)
Corylus cornuta var. cornuta=Beaked Hazelnut (twigs)
Cowania mexicana=Cliffrose (bark)
Dirca palustris=Moosewood,Leatherwood (bark)
Elaeagnus commutata=Silverberry (bark)

Fraxinus =Ash (bark)
Fremontodendron californicum= California Flannelbush (bark)
Geranium atropurpureum=Western Purple Cranesbill (stem)
Glyceria Canadensis =Sweetgrass (stem)
Gossypium hirsutum=Upland Cotton (fuzz)
Hoita macrostachya=Large Leatherroot (root)
Iris douglasiana=Western Iris (leaves)
Iris innominata=Del Norte County Iris (leaves & root)
Iris macrosiphon=Bowltube Iris (leaves)
Iris tenax=Klamath Iris (leaves)
Juglans cinerea=Butternut (bark)
Juglans nigra =Black Walnut (bark & root)
Juncus effusus =Common Rush (stem)
Juncus tenuis =Poverty Rush (stem)
Juniperus californica =California Juniper (bark & root)
Juniperus communis =Common Juniper (bark & root)
Juniperus deppiana = Alligator Juniper (bark & root)
Juniperus horizontalis =Creeping Juniper (bark & root)
Juniperus monosperma= Oneseed Juniper (bark & root)
Juniperus occidentalis =Western Juniper (bark & root)
Juniperus osteosperma =Utah Juniper (bark & root)
Laportea canadensis=Canadian Woodnettle (stem)
Larix laricina=Tamarack (root)
Leymus mollis=American Dunegrass (leaves)
Linaria linaria=Toad Flax (stem)
Linum lewisii=Prairie Flax (root & stem)
Liriodendron tulipifera= Tulip Tree (bark)
Lonicera ciliosa=Orange Honeysuckle (stem)
Lupinus arboreus=Bush Lupine (root)
Maclura pomifera=Osage Orange (root)
Morus alba= White Mulberry (root)
Morus microphylla=Texas Mulberry (root)
Morus rubra= Red Mulberry (root)
Nereocystis luetkeana=Bull Whip Kelp (stem)
Nolina microcarpa=Sacahuista (Agavaceae) (leaves)
Oenothera biennis=Evening Primrose (stem)
Phragmites communis=Reed Grass (stem & leaves)
Picea engelmannii =Engelmann’s Spruce (root & limb)
Picea glauca=White Spruce (root)
Picea mariana=Black Spruce (root)
Picea sitchensis=Sitka Spruce (root)
Populus balsamifera=Brayshaw Black Cottonwood (bark)
Populus deltoides=Eastern Cottonwood (bark)
Populus fremontii=Fremont’s Cottonwood (bark)
Populus tremuloides= Quaking Aspen (bark)
Potamogeton diversifolius=Waterthread Pondweed (stem)
Prosopis glandulosa=Honey Mesquite (bark)
Prunus emarginata =Bitter Cherry (bark & root)
Psoralea macrostachya= (stem)
Psoralidium lanceolatum= Lemon Scurfpea (root)
Quercus =Oak (bark & root)
Ribes divaricatum=Spreading Gooseberry (root)
Ribes lacustre=Prickly Currant (root)
Ribes lobbii=Gummy Gooseberry (root)
Robinia pseudoacacia = Black Locust (root)
Salix bebbiana= Beb Willow (bark)
Salix discolor=Pussy Willow (bark)
Salix exigua= Sandbar Willow (bark)
Salix laevigata=Red Willow (bark)
Salix lasiolepis= Arroyo Willow (bark)
Salix lucida= Pacific Willow (bark)
Salix lutea=Yellow Willow (bark)
Salix melanopsis= Dusky Willow (bark)
Salix scouleriana= Scouler’s Willow (bark)
Salix sitchensis= Sitka Willow (bark)
Salvia =Sage (root)
Scirpus acutus =Beetle Hardstem Bulrush (root & stem)
Sesbania macrocarpa=Wild Hemp (stem)
Serenoa repens=Saw Palmetto (leaves)
Smilax =Greenbrier (vine)
Taxodium distichum=Baldcypress (bark)
Thuja plicata=Western Redcedar (bark & limbs)
Tilia americana =Basswood (bark)
Tillandsia usneoides=Spanish Moss (stem)
Tsuga canadensis=Eastern Hemlock(root)
Typha latifolia=Broad-leaved Cattail (leaves)
Typha angustifolia=Narrow-leaved Cattail (leaves)
Typha domingensis=Southern Cattail (leaves)
Ulmus rubra =Slippery Elm (bark & root)
Urtica dioica=Stinging Nettle (stem)
Urtica dioica ssp. holosericea=Stinging Nettle (stem)
Urtica dioica ssp. gracilis=California Nettle (stem)
Vicia americana=American Vetch (root)
Vitis aestivalis=Summer Grape (vine)
Vitis californica=California Wild Grape (vine)Yucca angustissima=Narrowleaf Yucca (leaves)
Yucca baccata=Banana Yucca (leaves)
Yucca baileyi=Navajo Yucca (leaves)
Yucca brevifolia=Joshua Tree (leaves)
Yucca elata=Soaptree Yucca (leaves)
Yucca glauca=Small Soapweed (leaves)
Yucca harrimaniae =Spanish Bayonet (leaves)
Yucca shidigera=Mojave Yucca (leaves)
Yucca schottii =Schott Yucca (leaves)
Yucca Whipplei= Chaparral Yucca (leaves)