Sequence for any cut: pressure to stop bleeding → irrigate hard with clean water → then plants.
- Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) — the battlefield styptic. Feathery leaves, white flat-top flower clusters, strong herbal smell. Crushed fresh leaves pressed into a cut slow bleeding notably fast; dried powdered leaf works too. Also as hot tea for fevers/colds. ⚠️ ID carefully vs. hemlock (hemlock: smooth purple-blotched stems, musty smell, NO feathery-soft leaves).
- Broadleaf plantain (Plantago major/lanceolata) — the everywhere-weed. Grows in every lawn/path on earth. Chew or crush a leaf ("spit poultice") onto stings, bites, splinters, rashes, minor cuts — drawing and soothing. Kids can learn this one first; nothing toxic looks like it.
- Calendula (pot marigold) : petals infused in oil → the classic skin-repair salve for cuts, cracked skin, nappy rash. Easy to GROW — put it in the garden plan.
- Pine/spruce/fir resin : antiseptic and waterproof — nature's liquid plaster. Dab soft sap straight onto small cuts, or melt gently with oil + beeswax (1:1:¼) into "pitch salve." Also a fire accelerant — dual-use.
- Aloe vera (grow a pot of it): the burn/sunburn standard — split leaf, apply gel.
- Cattail gel : the clear mucilage between young leaf bases soothes burns/scrapes — same plant that feeds you.
- Sphagnum moss : WWI wound dressing — absorbs several times its weight and is mildly antiseptic (acidic, iodine-containing). Boil or at least dry before use as padding over a clean dressing.
- Usnea ("old man's beard" lichen) : pale green-grey beard lichen with a white elastic core thread (that's the ID test — pull a strand). Antimicrobial; used as wound powder or tincture.
- Witch hazel / oak bark (tannins): strong astringent decoction for weeping skin, haemorrhoids, gum rinses.
- Salt & saline: 1 tsp salt per 500 ml boiled water = wound irrigation, gargles, sinus rinse, mouth ulcers. Another reason salt is stockpiled by the kilo.
Make once, use for years — the basic salve: gently warm 1 cup oil with 2 handfuls dried calendula/plantain/yarrow for 2–4 h (never fry), strain, stir in ~28 g beeswax until melted, pour into tins. Shelf life 1–2 yrs.