Updates
First Aid Kits Are A Pig In A Poke. Let’s Let The Cat Out Of The Bag!
Nov
Whether you’re a dedicated prepper, an avid hunter, or a parent trying to keep your kids safe, it’s important to have a first aid kit that allows you to respond quickly and with confidence. I’ve spent a lot of my life elbow deep in high intensity medical emergencies. I’m here to tell you that if the dollar crashed tomorrow, and your world changed… you might be real surprised about the efficacy of the band-aids n’ aspirin in the adorable kit-with-the-red-cross-and-plastic-fasteners in your medicine cabinet.
I’m reminded of an idiom from the 1550s that goes like this:
It’s an old expression “A pig in a poke“
I wyll neuer bye the pyg in the poke
Thers many a foule pyg in a feyre cloke
It refers to a practice that used to happen back in the old days. People used to buy suckling pigs at the market. Those pigs were often kept in a poke. Now these days we don’t use the word poke much the way they used to. Poke to modern, enlightened English speakers usually means to jab something with a pointy object. But in the old days, a poke was also the word they used for a bag. Poke comes from the French poque which has the same origins as our words pouch or pocket (or poach for that matter, because when poachers poach a critter illegally, they poke it into a poke…errr….a bag to hide it).
So anyway a poke is a bag. And they used to sell a suckling pig in a cloth bag at the market. If you bought a pig in a poke, it was a good idea to look at it before you paid for it. You see, some disreputable fellows figured out that you could also poke a cat into the poke. And since cats had no value and were everywhere in those days, you could sell them to unsuspecting folks who’d think they were buying suckling piggies!
This of course is also where the idiom letting the cat out of the bag came from. Letting the cat out of the bag was a bad idea for sellers of a pig in a poke. So, two famous idioms from one simple con.
So why, other than the fact that I’m a linguistically-obsessed word nerd am I talking about pigs in pokes and cats in bags?
Well, obviously because lots of the first aid kits that are for sale out there are pretty close to worthless.
Over the years, I’ve done a lot of lectures and presentations at preparedness fairs. I always enjoy puttering around the vendor floor to see what preppers are buying and selling. The offerings range from the comically useless to the amazingly clever.
One category of items that are always available in abundance are first aid kits. These range from small travel kits to full-blown backpacks or trunks selling for outrageous amounts of money. Because of my background as a veterinarian being the emergency room for animals for the past 30 years, I have a pretty good idea of what one needs to do about anything. When I open the pokes at most first aid kit vendors I don’t see many piggies….it’s mostly cats. Much of what is provided in many of those kits would serve very little purpose other than making the buyer feel good….until he actually had a problem to solve.
I understand why people buy the kits because, of course, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Sorry about that…I’m getting a bit over the top with idioms. If I don’t reign things in we’ll have idioms coming our ears! I’ll try to nip it in the bud. Ooops. Sorry again.
Anybody remember where I was going with all of this?
Oh yeah, I was saying we really do have to have some things on hand if you’re going to solve first aid emergencies on hunting trips or camping trips, or road trips or during mutant-biker-zombie apocalypses. Furthermore, you really need to buy those things before you have the problem. Because, believe it or not, sometimes there isn’t good internet service in the mountains on a deer hunt and even next day delivery may not solve your problem if you’ve shot yourself in the leg.
So, to resolve these issues of poorly conceived first aid kits, I’ve come up with a number of really clever kits over the years. We have a Cut, Bite & Sting Kit, a Travel & First Aid Kit, an Ammo Can Wound & Suture Kit and, for those that really want to be prepared, the HomeGrown Herbalist Bunker Buster Kit!
And, as if having dandy kits wasn’t enough, we’re currently offering them at crazy Black Friday prices so that you can get them ahead of time and have them when you need them. Because, at least in preparedness scenarios, it’s actually a really good idea to put the cart before the horse. :0)
Doc Jones
HomeGrown Herbalist School of Botanical Medicine
You crack me up! Love the word nerd stuff.
Glad you enjoyed it LuAnn. :0)
What is the shelf life of the bunker buster?
I have uncrushed peppermint herb that I have in plastic sandwich bags contained in tin cookie cans for 10 years. The aroma when I open them brings me such joy of a peaceful and quiet time past. I always quickly close the tins to preserve their freshness.
I have learned that in the Egyptian tombs viable grain and unspoiled essential oils have been found from thousands of years ago. I personally have opened essential oils from 1995 which I still have and I open to let the genie out for my personal whiff and quickly close the bottle again. My favourite is Tsuga canadensis which I can no longer obtain in this millenium.
I also have homemade tinctures that I made from a decade ago that work. I know from applying them to myself internally even though I am unqualified as a “scientist”. How long can drinkable alcohol be good? Go to the liquor store aisles and note the 25 year old whiskies that only improve with age. I have homemade wine that I still have in unsealed bottles from a decade ago that taste delicious, is nutritious, and still works to quiet nerves.
All of the herbs in the bunker buster are in the form of tinctures. While no official testing of our products has been done, most herbalists feel that tinctures have shelf lives of many years.
I love your wordsmith sense of humor! And I love learning from you! As an artist, I appreciate when someone paints a picture with their words …helps things to stick.
Glad you enjoyed it Lesta. :0)
My Dad always called a bag, a poke. He was old fashioned on purpose….I’ve adopted many of his words and sayings.
Word nerds–unite!