@RNReality
Reduce Reuse Reap Havok

@RNReality

wow! technology has come a long way!

@RNReality

@RNReality

What the heck is a city manager anyway? Is that like a mayor who gets appointed by the feds?

TENT CATERPILLAR DETOX
Many of us in New England, and maybe in other parts of the country, have tent caterpillars that do a lot of damage to the native cherry trees. A lot of people kill them to save the trees. I have a better use for them, because their physiology is so tightly connected to the cherry trees.
Stone fruit trees contain a substance known as amygdalin, the natural substance that the semi-artificial laetrile was patterned on as a cancer treatment (which was later forbidden by the FDA). However, in Mexico, they still use amygdalin from apricot pits to treat cancer, with success I hear. Our native black cherry is one of the better sources of this substance. The tent caterpillars, which obviously eat many cherry leaves, break down the cellulose in the leaves and concentrate all the substances in the cherry tree. The cherry trees and their caterpillars have been engaged in an arms race for eons, and both have evolved some powerful substances in that dance.
I cut down all the nests, including caterpillars, their feces, and the denuded twigs that extend out from the nest. I cut these small and, in a big pot, bring them to a boil every morning for a few days in a row. That makes a very nice, very cherry, dark tea. Caterpillar feces are only composed of digested cherry leaves and the microorganisms that digest them, as well as whatever other good substances, like cellulose-digesting enzymes, that are produced in the caterpillars. I drink this, with or without a black pekoe tea bag, a spoon of sweetener, and some raw milk or cream, just the way I always like all my tea. It is very tasty, and does a great job at detoxifying.
The first time I tried it, I did get rid of a lot of toxins, and I won’t mention how I could tell. After that, the red blood vessels that squiggle through the whites of my eyes began to fade, and continue to do this after many weeks of this tea, taken a couple of times a day. This is just one of the more visible benefits, and I’m sure there are benefits that aren’t so readily seen.
I have always made twig teas from our native trees—maple, mountain ash, birch, elm, and all the evergreens, by the same method of bringing to a boil every morning for a few days. As the tea in the pot of twigs goes down from drinking it, I just add more water for the next boiling. It lasts for weeks before it gets pale and then I begin again with new twigs. Our native plants, mostly the trees, have just as much medicinal strength as any in Asia or India, and the insects that eat them can help us to harvest those medicinal strengths. The art of using fire, and water containers, gave early humans the ability to share in the power of our trees.
Laura Livingston
Brooksville, Maine