German Chamomile – A Must Have Survival Herb

Survival Herbs

Another must have survival herb to have on hand is German Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla ). It is a good herbal medicinal with quite a few useful applications. We use German Chamomile in our household because it is a good diaphoretic ( sweating herb) for fevers and colds, a nervine to help calm nerves and induce sleep, an anti-inflammatory and a digestive aid (not a bad thing to have if your chomping on military MRE’s in a survival situation). German Chamomile is preferred over Roman Chamomile because the plant grows bigger and yields more flower heads.

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If you knew me, you’d know that I’d rather put needles in my eyes than take antibiotics, so I pulled my herbal books out and sought the natural cure. I hadn’t compromised my gut flora in over a decade and wasn’t about to upset their apple cart now with an antibiotic bomb to my immune system.

It turns out the cure for pink eye was very close in two forms.

1. The folk medicine cure, common mullein weed, and

2.Chamomile.

Both could be used as an anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory eyewash tea so I went to work. I began by sending my teenage daughter out to source the Mullein; yes the same girl who had brought the pink eye home, now would bring its cure. I couldn’t fetch the Mullein myself because the pink eye made me feel like a vampire out in the sun. Grace hadn’t actually contracted it herself, but was merely the Pink Eye harbinger from the house full of Pink Eyed kids.

The Cure: Grace boiled up strong infusion of some Mullein leaf tea for me, placing five freshly picked leaves into a one quart pot of boiling water for five minutes, and then letting it cool off. After cooling, I took extra large cotton balls and swabbed my eyes, dripping the Mullein infusion into them as I swabbed. The problem with the Mullein I had on hand was that it was kind of funky, with some fungus spots. The plant was on the older side. After using that first batch of Mullein infusion tea I switched to the cleaner option B, namely Chamomile.

The Chamomile was just sitting there in neat and clean organic tea bags which I pressed to service. I found the biggest coffee mug I could find and placed four (4) Chamomile tea bags and covered with boiling water to steep, not removing the tea bags.

After the infusion cooled down I resumed the swabbing with new cotton balls now soaked in Chamomile, allowing some to drip into my pinked out eyes while lying on my back in bed. Have some tissues or paper towels handy and use a different cotton ball for each eye. Better yet, use two separate cups along with two separate hands to treat each eye.

I wasn’t so particular and the pink eye spread to both eyes and became worse before it became better. Now, just to be clear, the goal is to gently swab the eyes, with Chamomile soaked cotton balls while eyes are loosely closed, gently cleaning the lower part of the eye while dripping some more into open eye. It’s good to have disposable tissues or paper towels on hand to help your mess. Lastly, after swabbing, I placed a tea bag on each eye and let set for about an hour.

The itchy, burning feeling lessened over the next two days surrendering completely to the Chamomile treatment within five days. I wouldn’t want to have pink eye in a survival situation as this common, childhood ailment will take you out of action for a while if left untreated. Know where to source Mullein Weed or keep some Chamomile on hand to quicken the cure. I never did tell the dentist that my pink eye had cleared up with Chamomile.

How to Grow German Chamomile

German Chamomile is a tender annual that grows rapidly. It’s ready to harvest in 8 weeks from seeding.

Disclaimer: Above information is for educational purposes. Herbalists in the United States are not permitted to diagnose, treat or cure. See your health professional for such.