Okay, guys, stupid question #1. The other day, while weeding the future vegetable patch of thistle, I was thinking that I had read a number of good uses for the plant, but now I can't remember a single one. So . . . how many uses are there for all this thistle?!

Compositae Silybun Marianium or milk thistle ( there are others, but this is the common variety) has long been a herbal tonic for liver damage and as an antidote to the death cap mushroom. It is currently used as an adjunct in treating alcohol damaged livers, hepatitus B and other conditions related to HIV. Ill have to dig out my ethnobotony notes for more mundane uses. They're good for warning your clan against Viking raiders.

I'll have to hold some in case of Vikings. Surely the clan will need to know. Yup, looking forward to the mudane uses. I know there are some, but I lost all my herb books recently and I'm feeling a little lost now.

Thistle "down" makes good tinder and can also be used as insulation in clothes and sleeping bags, much like goose down. Australian aborigines also used the down stuck to the body with their own or others blood as decoration during dances. Anything more mundane than this?

Bones, nothing mundane about an Abo kooraboori ( SP) I watched a film featuring a dance in college. As the didgerees kicked in this stunning dance major spontaneously got up and danced in the dark. I joined her, looking something like Homer Simpson discoing. The next week it was a California Indian healing session. I entered the class with a migraine headache. The chanting actually put me into a mild hypnotic state. I slept peacefully for three hours until a custodian woke me!