Worth its weight in gold! Jewel weed will prevent the rash associated with exposure to poison ivy
After finally thawing from the deepfreeze of winter, the dirty melting snow piles of late February and March have lost the appeal of the earlier brilliant white beauty of the first snowfalls of early winter and an outdoorsman turns his attention to the warm breezes of spring. Since the time I was a little boy I always remember earnestly wishing and waiting for the final cold days of late winter to pass so that those warm spring breezes would usher in warmer water and ground temperatures for fishing and mushroom hunting in early April and then, with the spring blossoms, the thundering gobbles of spring turkeys in late April and May. Every year since I began getting out into the spring woods in the early 1970’s these wonderful trips afield have had but one drawback. That drawback is an outdoorsman’s most miserable nightmare. It is an evil that has sent me to the hospital on numerous occasions. It seeks you out like a carnivore hunting its prey. Snakes, creepy-crawlies, ticks, bugs, you ask? No, much, much worse. It is the green devil poison ivy.
If there is a patch of poison ivy within five miles of me and I have a square inch of exposed skin, it is a law of nature that I will seek out and sit right in the middle of this curse of spring foliage. The evil resin that this demonic plant secretes in the spring and early summer will line up on my one square inch of exposed skin like a low-hanging branch on your new $5.00 fishing lure. And oh man will it catch you! Faster than a gobbler running from an unintentional squawk from a new mouth-call, this curse will travel to every spot on your body that rubs against another part of your body. At your inner elbows, behind your knees, between you toes and fingers, arm pits, and worse places, it will blossom like a blister from a Coleman lantern burn, but it is much more unpleasant. For me poison ivy is proof that Mother Nature is a little sadistic and has a sick sense of humor.
As a child I single handedly increased the stock price for the Calamine Lotion Company. I recall using gallons of the stuff every spring. Each night before bed my mother would dab it all over my body so thick that if I went to bed too soon thereafter, when I woke up the next morning the sheets were glued to my legs and back! And if you even acted like you were going to itch the rash for relief you were read the riot act in four languages. I was so glad after I got into my late teens to discover that I could go to the hospital and get a shot and the whole mess would simply go away. Of course soon there after Mother Nature paid off the hospitals so that they stopped giving out the shots. Apparently, when using that method the misery didn’t last long enough for the old girl. Again, more proof of a sadistic and sick sense of humor.
Now, as I have gotten older I have also discovered that Mother Nature often likes to throw little puzzles at you to solve. About the time I turned thirty I became interested in natural remedies and heard the old saying that “wherever poison ivy is found, jewel weed grows close by.” Jewel weed is an old-time remedy that will not only immediately relieve the itching from stinging nettles, but it will also prevent the onset of rash from exposure to poison ivy. So, nature inflicts the poison but also provides the cure for those who know how to find it. The Indians knew of this amazing plant and used it for a wide variety of applications. It is found quite abundantly in rich, well drained soils of river valleys and in many places where poison ivy grows and if you’ve been in the woods, in particularly in river valleys, you’ve seen this wonderful plant and might not have even known it.
In my experience there are two things that can spoil a spring turkey hunt – finding a patch of morels and sitting in a patch of poison ivy. The first is a welcome diversion, the second transforms the turkey hunt into a jewel weed hunt! This spring if you have an overpowering urge to hunt and fish the way I do, don’t let the green devil keep you away. Just like good and evil in the spirit world, Nature provides both poison and remedy in close proximity in the natural world; you simply have to know what to look for. So says the One-Eyed Hillbilly. Good luck, be safe, and get a big one.
For more information on Jewel weed visit the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impatiens
http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/Jewelweed.html
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