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Psychaesthetic

Bloodwood sap?

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Now I'm out here, getting into the swing of life as a part-time feral, I'm starting to look around at all the trees and plants, wondering what's useful to me.

Bloodwood trees are all around, oozing resinous gum, and so I'm wondering: Does anyone know or have first-hand usage/knowledge of the gum from this tree? Online, I found it's used by naturopaths as an astringent, and apparently has been used as a mouthwash, anything else?

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Yeah it doesn't look like an exciting discovery, but I figured I'd ask anyhow :) ..There are oodles of wattle around here too, but they all look pretty similar to me, and since all I have out here is a camping stove and pots, there's no extractions going to take place here.

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Once you find how strong the glue is you may be more excited

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I assume it's boiled into a treacly paste then applied? Curdles your saliva and tastes more acidic than banana peel, I know that much.

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You need fresh just dry sap, not the old dried out stuff. That can be used to make a varnish.

It is just simmered, works best in a double boiler. Use a tin can because you wont be getting the inner pot clean again

Once hot it is mixed with crushed burned mussel shell & used hot. It sets upon cooling.

Can be mixed with palm or grass fiber as "reo" as long as your quick

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So far, I've read about, found/ID'd and eaten Geebungs, Mat rush bases, and the "bush rice" from the seed heads - well they're a bit hard to eat and being unsure how to easily separate the pods from the seeds within, I haven't collected enough to cook.

Any other commonly available plants in the Blue Mountains I should know about, for food or medicinal use?

I've also eaten a few random Acacia flowers, since they're abundant here, but wouldn't know one from another: they all just look like wattle to me. Medium-grey bark seems most common.

In other news, I got to actually pat an Antechinus last night :) She just .. Let me. :)

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