It was winter 1535 . . . Canadian winter. The French expedition, led by Jacques Cartier, had reinforced their fort, stacked firewood and salted and packed the meat they had harvested. For six months, the river was frozen solid. The snow was 4 feet deep.The men began to succumb to scurvy. Lacking vitamin C, they lay sick and dying. By mid-February, not even ten men were able-bodied enough to help care for the others. Spring was months away. Time was running out. They were dying.
In a forest full of vitamin C, they were suffering.
Lacking knowledge some died. A chief’s son, Domagaya, visited the fort and told Cartier about a tea made from the trees surrounding the fort that would cure scurvy. With the help of that tea, 85 Frenchmen survived that winter.
PINE NEEDLES:
Pine needle tea is high in vitamins A and C. The needles, inner bark and sap are the most medicinal and nutrient dense parts of the tree. You would have to eat more than five lemons to consume the amount of vitamin C found in a single cup of pine needle tea.
O Tamiflu: Turning Christmas trees into flu drug -- Needles contain high concentration of key ingredient
By Marsha Walton, CNN 2006
The needles of pine, spruce and fir trees contain a fairly high concentration of shikimic acid, the main ingredient in Tamiflu. Countries all over the world are stockpiling the drug in anticipation of a bird flu pandemic.
PREGNANT WOMEN SHOULD NOT consume this tea! Do not consume if you think you may be pregnant. It has been known to cause the death of an unborn child within 24 hours! This also happens in pregnant cows that have eaten pine needles. They will drop a dead calf within a couple hours or days after consuming pine needles.
- * Select pine needles that are nearest the end of a branch and light green in color. These are the newest (baby) pine needles. Older parts of the tree accumulate turpentine from the sap. (This enables older fallen pine trees to be cleared easily by burning and make way for new growth, and it is also why pine stumps make for good fat lighter.) You will want to be sure to use only new green needles for your tea.
- * Finely chop the needles. You will need ¼ to ½ cup (about one handful or 1 ounce).
- * Bring 1.5 pints of water to a rolling boil and add the chopped needles.
- * Boil for 10 to 15 minutes. The liquid should be reduced by about 1/3.
- * Allow this to steep, covered for 20 minutes (or overnight).
- * This makes a reddish colored tea with a mild taste. A small amount of oil will rise to the top.
- * Store in the refrigerator (or in cool storage).
TIPS:
- *Don’t boil longer than 15 minutes. The longer you boil the mixture, the less vitamin C will be available.
- * Honey and lemon can help improve the taste.
BENEFICIAL PROPERTIES OF PINE NEEDLE TEA
Continue to drink 1 pint (500ml) of Pine Needle Tea every day for one month.
- * Promotes heart health
- * Relief of varicose veins
- * Helps muscle fatigue
- * Relief of Sclerosis
- * Relief of Kidney Ailments
- * Promotes strengthening of nerves in eye
- * Relief for eye related ailments that concern connective muscles in the eye
- * Relief of Gangrene
- * Reacts with smooth muscles that line blood vessels
VARIATION, TO MAKE AN EXTRACT:
Place the hot, boiled mixture into a thermos and let sit overnight (12 hours). Remove the needles the next day and drink the warm extract throughout the day.
Pine Tree Needle Extraction is a traditional remedy that may be used in the treatment of many human diseases. The remedy is effective for working with the smooth muscles that line the blood vessels and other muscular related diseases such as sclerosis. Sclerosis is a condition in which soft internal tissues (and sometimes organs) inside the body become unusually hard.
This extraction is a helpful preventative and a support in the treatment of cancer. Its benefit is greater when the cancer is in the earlier stages. Pine needles exhibit strong antioxidant, antimutagenic, and antiproliferative effects on cancer cells and also antitumor effects.
ALTERNATIVES TO TEA
You may choose to chew on several fresh pine needles. Swallow the juice produced and spit out the needle fiber. This remedy has been used to:
- • fight fatigue and maintain one's youthful vigor
- • promote the discharge of waste from the body
- • stimulate brain activity
- • strengthen the heart
- • as effective for treating anemia (rich in iron)
- • to satisfy thirst and relieve hunger pains.
- • to prevents cold and flu
- • to relieve dry cough
- • rids you of heart burn
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INTERESTING TIDBIT OF INFORMATION
I found these passages referring to the value of trees:
Deuteronomy 20:19
When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege:
Isaiah 41:18-20
18 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. 19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: 20 That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
Revelation 7:3
Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
