Staying healthy pre-pandemic

Food is your first line of defense, and your all-stars there are garlic, honey, vinegar(usually apple cider but not necessarily), black pepper, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, and clove, as well as exotic stuff like black seed(black cumin)

A good way to get everything into one easy place is to make fire cider: take ACV, put garlic, black pepper, turmeric, chiles, ginger and horseradish in it, and just let it sit in the cabinet until you remember to strain it

It is
Pungent

Vinegar is an excellent preservative and acetic acid is a very good solvent. You can take it straight if you're gangsta, or mix it with honey, or use it in any way that you would use regular vinegar, like making a salad dressing

The food segment of the herbalism craft can be very powerful when used deliberately, but is also great for creating a solid foundation so you're more ready when the time comes to fight something acute like a virus

The second part of ingestion is the "medicinal" herbal preparations. My favorite for this is oregano oil, which can be bought in gelcaps, or in bottles(which I recommend) and dropped into empty capsules, the oil won't dissolve them so your cost basis is way better per dose

The reason I recommend bottles is because that allows you to use it for the other two applications, inhalation and topical. We'll go with inhalation next

The two ways to do that are to use hot water, either in a bowl or pot, with a towel over your head, and breath in, or in a shower, just stop the drain and run a nice hot one and drop the oils in. The hot water is also good for increasing bloodflow and lymphatic circulation

The other way is with an ultrasonic diffuser, which is nice because it's able to run continuously unattended, so you can breath it while you sleep. It also covers surfaces nearby with a very small amount of the oil, which could help sanitize them, although that's conjecture

For inhalation I like oregano oil again, as well as tea tree, peppermint, eucalyptus, rosemary, and this year I'm going to test of sage and thyme, both contain thymol which is used commercially as an antimicrobial for stuff like mouthwash

Crap, I completely forgot to mention the elderberry in the consumption part: Elderberry is great, comes in tincture, juice, syrup, or capsules. Good antiviral activity, I start on it at the first sign of symptoms

Also very much this, not technically an herb but a good D3 supplement suspended in something like coconut oil in gelcaps is great, nearly everybody is deficient especially in winter

So back to inhalation, the nice thing about that is that it gives a nice big attack surface against respiratory bacterial infections, which I am particularly susceptible to.

I recommend picking up an ultrasonic diffuser and ordering at least some 1/2oz bottles of the listed oils, although more is better because a lot of them are also applicable in the topical phase, which I'll get to next

Topical is mostly applicable for things that produce infectious sores, like MRSA, but if you make a balm or hand cream then you are adding another small layer of protection against surface transmitted pathogens, since the antimicrobial effect will remain for a while

The aforementioned oils when mixed with a carrier like coconut or olive oil and thickened with some beeswax into a balm will make a nice all-purpose antimicrobial salve. Keep it away from soft tissues though

This is a very quick n dirty summary just to give you a few names and methods for you to remember in case of SHTF or TEOTAWKI, it's not a substitute for actual herbal research or even modern medicine

Some things I haven't fully researched yet but am intrigued: Frankincense and myrrh. Evidently they have antimicrobial properties, which is an interesting notion, maybe censing was doing actual physical good as well as spiritual

Both can also be consumed, frankincense is being sold for such under its latin, boswellia serrata, which I've taken and has very very good joint/tendon/ligament pain relief and healing properties

But that's another thread

Mustard seed is great stuff, I haven't used it as a compress but I have heard of it being done. Definitely goes in the food + acute treatment category, plus it goes well with turmeric and vinegar anyway