You've done something stupid, you've cut yourself in the woods and haven't gone a walking with a first aid kit.
You silly silly person!
But never fear, what you could do if you've read this instructable is make your own!
After comments on Life Hacker, perhaps it's prudent to put a warning on this. There is a saying:
There are old mushroom pickers and bold mushroom pickers. There are no old bold mushroom pickers.
I'm in the UK - the fungus is particularly prevelant in English woodland and in other countries such as the US may be bad for you. So before rushing out and rubbing any old fungus on your wounds, make sure you make a positive ID. Such help can be found on all sorts of forager forums. This fungus has antibacteria properies. Other fruits may kill you.
Please read the comments here and also on http://lifehacker.com/5360855/make-an-emergency-band+aid-from-tree-fungus. I'll leave it up to you to decide which are the crazy ones. NB, sucking your finger (as suggested by experts) is wrong. Take it from me, I'd have first aid training and that is definately advised against!) your mouth is full of bacteria!
You silly silly person!
But never fear, what you could do if you've read this instructable is make your own!
After comments on Life Hacker, perhaps it's prudent to put a warning on this. There is a saying:
There are old mushroom pickers and bold mushroom pickers. There are no old bold mushroom pickers.
I'm in the UK - the fungus is particularly prevelant in English woodland and in other countries such as the US may be bad for you. So before rushing out and rubbing any old fungus on your wounds, make sure you make a positive ID. Such help can be found on all sorts of forager forums. This fungus has antibacteria properies. Other fruits may kill you.
Please read the comments here and also on http://lifehacker.com/5360855/make-an-emergency-band+aid-from-tree-fungus. I'll leave it up to you to decide which are the crazy ones. NB, sucking your finger (as suggested by experts) is wrong. Take it from me, I'd have first aid training and that is definately advised against!) your mouth is full of bacteria!
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Signing UpStep 1: First, identification & history
Silver birches are perhaps the most recogniseable of the woodland trees. It's a pioneer species which is often found in new areas of woodland. They grow quick and have several bush craft uses - namely their bark but you can also tap a birch tree in the spring for a fresh sugary drink.
Birch polypore (Piptoporus betulinus) is a bracket fungus found often on (here's a surprise here!) birch or oak trees. It is quite destructive - parasitic even - and you'll often find it on already fallen trees or in dying groves of birch trees. During my morning walk today we found several groves of dying birches - most of which had snapped in half and come tumbling down. There's nothing you can do about this, it's nature clearing the woods for a stronger species.
The fungus starts out budding like a ball, but soon folds over to make a distinctive, smooth rim around the pore surface.
Taking bracket fungus really isn't going to harm the tree or the spore - though you should only ever take what you need.
Its uses go back centuries as a firestarter*, but it can also be used for sharpening razors (as a strop) or as we've said, as a plaster!
*5,300 years ago (approx) a guy named by the researchers as Otzi was murdered in the alps. Preserved perfectly, among his possessions was powdered birch poly pore which was used in fire lighting
Birch polypore (Piptoporus betulinus) is a bracket fungus found often on (here's a surprise here!) birch or oak trees. It is quite destructive - parasitic even - and you'll often find it on already fallen trees or in dying groves of birch trees. During my morning walk today we found several groves of dying birches - most of which had snapped in half and come tumbling down. There's nothing you can do about this, it's nature clearing the woods for a stronger species.
The fungus starts out budding like a ball, but soon folds over to make a distinctive, smooth rim around the pore surface.
Taking bracket fungus really isn't going to harm the tree or the spore - though you should only ever take what you need.
Its uses go back centuries as a firestarter*, but it can also be used for sharpening razors (as a strop) or as we've said, as a plaster!
*5,300 years ago (approx) a guy named by the researchers as Otzi was murdered in the alps. Preserved perfectly, among his possessions was powdered birch poly pore which was used in fire lighting
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Thanks, even if you don't know.
Sap is a liquid, usually quite thin which caries nutrients around the plant. It's not quite the full story, but for laymens purposes thats what it does...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sap
Resin is a very thick sticky substance excreted by a tree and it has protective properties. Amber is fossilised resin. It's a bit like a plaster/band-aid for a tree.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resin
I've been told that if you mix pine resin with ash and apply that to cloth you can use it to pull the edges of larger wounds together, but as a first aider, I'd rather use my first aid kit or get myself on an ambulance quick.
this is just my experience, I live in missouri, north america, maybe there are parts of the world where the climate and terrain make the germs much more virulent but I find it hard to believe that the people there haven't evolve resistance to these. Natural selection, it's a powerful force. This is why humans need large families so that there is good genetic variation and people who survive disease outbreaks can quickly propogate their resistance. Also, other mammals have these same microbes to deal with and they certainly cannot put bandaids on. yeah I know a lot more of them die of infections but not from little scrapes. deep wounds which abscess are what I worry about.
I wouldn't lick your wound, though, our mouths are super dirty with only a slight amount of antibacterial properties. if you have good skin and hair then ear wax, which is antibacterial also, would be a better choice.
But should I ever be in an area where silver birch grows, I will duly take note of the possibilities of making a bandage using the fruited fungus per fallscrape's instructable. :)