Treating Wounds In The Wild With Pine Resin

After bashing my brains in by an old, heavy barn door today, I thought the situation created a nice opportunity to talk about a little bit of wound care out in the wild. Maybe it will reside in someone's mind after reading, and one day they'll find themselves pulling the remembered tips out of their subconscious while hiking and falling on a rock or something; I don't know. I do know this, though; we absorb information and store it for later use. And this is going to be useful at some point in time to somebody, somewhere on the planet. Things like this is how I've made it this far.

I'm going to talk about pine resin. I think it's good stuff. A long, long time ago, I found myself hit pretty hard by a man, and I ended up running away to a wooded area to hide out. Now before anyone goes bazerk, that was the past. I've moved on, and I don't carry victimization with me. It's unnecessary. Lessons stick, though, and while I was out there, I learned how to recover alone in the woods. While I wasn't there long, I was very safe and surrounded by enough resources to heal myself. Some kind of common sense mixed with an inner knowing brought me to the conclusion that I should scrape some sticky resin off a tree and use it to stick together my wounds and stop the bleeding. I don't know if it was an inherent human instinct, or some kind of celestial whispering that made its way to my ear. But I used it to sort of “suture” my wound together (a cut on my face that was caused by a blow with a fist wearing a ring). And so today when I was struck in the face by an archaic wooden door, I knew what to do.

Now since that historic stint in the woods with raw pine tar, I've learned it's actually a thing and there's a better way of using it. And if you live in the US or Canada, you're probably going to be surrounded by various forms of pine in any chunk of forest you encounter. They're everywhere, and they're full of medicinal properties. Pine trees are wonderful trees. In addition to producing edible superfoods, they're durable sources of timber, the resin can be made into turpentine, torch fuel, and even a substitute for glue if you're making a working pipe. The needles can be boiled into tea, and have five times more vitamin A and C than an orange. You can plug leaks in water containers and boats, and the pollen collected in the spring time is an outstanding hormone balancer. But let me get back to wounds.

It has always been understood pine resin protects the tree from outside damage. It seals it against wounds and creates barriers to infection caused by critters and fungus. It acts as an antimicrobial to the tree as well as human beings. From this, it's easier to understand why it would be a fantastic medicinal treatment for skin lacerations. While I just scraped it from the tree with a stick and applied it to my cut that lonely day in the woods, I'd learn later I could actually harvest it and mix it a little more constructively. Now note that one thing is going to confuse; pine resin will actually stimulate the inflammatory response. So it will appear that the wound is getting worse, when it's really speeding up the healing process and allowing the body to do it's thing. Let's look at how a wound heals naturally. It happens in stages.

If the wound is somewhat deep and bleeds, of course it's going to clot and form a scab to protect itself from outside interference. Swelling is inflammation and fluid buildup, and this occurs because the white blood cells are rushing to the injured area. Chemicals are released that cause pain to try and prevent any more movement or overuse in that area. It's a warning. Most of the time, however, this warning response is excessive, and you shouldn't avoid use for too long. A complete dismissal of use can lead to more problems and a slower healing time. Swelling and inflammation are necessary, and shouldn't be feared so much. Your body needs increased blood flow to the wound to provide white blood cells, and it will heat up for this reason. A type of white blood cell called a phagocyte will start to clean up foreign particles. It has the ability to engulf and digest these foreign bodies. If inflammation and swelling is not allowed their cycles at all, the wound will take much, much longer to heal. Pine tar (or pitch, as it's sometimes marketed) applied to the wound will stimulate this process and help the body's natural processes along. It's a complimentary substance to our bodies, as we're very similar to trees, actually.

While I used a pine pitch salve that was store bought at a co-op, you can make your own. I recommend adding this to any first aid kit, as I believe it's invaluable.

Gather the pine resin in the spring while it's still soft and sticky. It will later harden and is much more difficult to get. Use gloves and old clothes, as it will get all over you. (It can be removed with oil and soap.) Gather in glass jars with lids; don't use plastic jars. It's pretty sticky, so I'd recommend something like old peanut butter jars instead of ruining good canning jars (replace plastic lids with metal ones). You can use a slow cooker or double broiler to render the resin. Simmer water in a slow cooker to melt and render the resin. Let it go overnight or as long as it takes to melt the resin. When finished, any debris or bugs will sink to the bottom of the jar. The clean oleoresin will be on top and can be poured away.

In a new jar with the clean and rendered oleoresin, add beeswax and some type of oil (olive, castor.. whatever you'd like). You can also add essential oils at the end for various medicinal purposes if you want, like calendula or tea tree. I like to keep things simple, so I usually refrain from pine pitch that has added essential oils. I'm wary of something like tea tree oil irritating an open wound, and would prefer my main source of pine salve to remain basic.

Pour the pine salve into tin or glass jars, label and date. You're done! Easy peasy. The stuff's also great for eczema.

So the next time you get to walk through the woods, take a moment to look at the pines around you and notice their value. These are majestic, healing trees that will shelter with abundance.