A few months ago, as spring rolled around, I kept looking for fresh poison ivy to pop up in the planter bed in front of my house. But I looked in vain. Here it is the end of July and there is not a trace of it in that particular bed—or in any others around my house.
During Hurricane Helene, my front planter bed lost everything. Two large (20-25’ high) evergreens were uprooted. The rose bushes and other bushes which had been in that planter bed for years all had to be torn out. When we did so, I also dug up all the poison ivy by the roots. Apparently, I did a good job.
Anyhow, just a few days after my release from the hospital, I was still on my course of antibiotics. That drug kills bad bacteria and thereby presumably prevents a quick recurrence of any infection in my gut area (pancreas, liver, bile duct). That is the purpose of the drug; however, antibiotics also kill the good bacteria, thus weakening a person’s overall immune system.
This could be an interesting test, I thought. I am going poison ivy hunting and I am going to eat it today and see if my immunity from the previous few years holds up. So that evening I prepared this open-faced burrito with ground beef, beans, salsa, shredded cheese.
After it came out of the oven (conventional, of course, not “nuked”), I then placed the wicked week front and center. Chow down, James.
Results: Having picked it with my bare hand, handled it with both hands to rinse it, placed it on the burrito, and then ate it—there were no discernible results: no itch, no breakout anywhere. Apparently, it is reinforcing my obviously still good immunity from previous years.
Then, just for the heck of it, this past Saturday morning, July 26th, some days after finishing the antibiotics, and the next day having eaten a good-sized helping of sauerkraut to begin the restoration of the good gut bacteria, I went poison ivy hunting again in my neighborhood. The results of Helene are still very visible everywhere in WNC.
These pictures below tell the story: from barehand plucking, to rinsing, to making a green bell pepper omelet, placing just one of the three leaves of poison ivy on the omelet for a photo op 😉, and then taking the herb scissors and slicing it up with the final product then ready for my breakfast (with turkey sausage on the side).
Yum, yum… the omelet was delicious.
Actually, the poison ivy itself has little if any taste, as far as my taste buds can discern. Again, no itching, no breakouts, etc. With that, I conclude my “annual report” as encouragement to readers.
Nonetheless, be advised that since I am not a medical doctor, I cannot give medical advice nor say that anything “cures” anything; I am just sharing my experiences. Every reader takes responsibility for his own decisions.
However, if this is your first experience, I would not recommend you barehand it. Wear gloves to pick it. In the kitchen, use a tongs to handle it. Don’t heat it, but when your food has cooled, bury it within your food, and I expect you will be well on your way to p. i. immunity. Blessings!
P. S. If you want the full story of my experiences with poison ivy, just do a search on my blogs (click on the magnifying glass icon in the upper right corner) by entering # poison ivy. It should bring up all five of my previous blogs on this subject beginning in 2020.
Now you know how to search my blogs, but if you already knew that and want the shortcut today, here is a link to my other poison ivy blogs. They include what to do if you already contracted poison ivy. Here’s to your health!
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