Alaskan Medicine - Deleted Scene | Life Below Zero

Picking some yarrow here. I'm going to make some salve for my hands, feet, and my dog's feet. Dog's feet get in the cold conditions that we run them in; they get kind of dry, and this helps to keep them supple and soft. It's very important to be knowledgeable about the things that grow in our area here because medicine is expensive. This is proactive health care.

I got some wormwood that I picked the other day. Gonna be my salve puck. This is what I'm gonna fill up, and I'll set this inside with boiling water. This is pretty essential whenever you do what I do out in the winter—to be able to start a fire with the simplest of means.

This yarrow has a lot of medicinal properties: antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial. Get back to the fire! Yeah, let's do it! Water's starting to get hot. I don't want it to go overly hot; I want to fit a fair amount of oil in there so I end up with quite a bit of good product. I'm gonna have a nice product here—good medicine I can use in my dog's feet.

I can use it on these bee stings that I got before I jar it, where I'll lose that beeswax. Beeswax is what gives you the consistency for your salve; otherwise, it would just be an oil, not a salve. Sometimes when I'm running the fish net, my hands get all sore and I’ll crack. You know, in the winter, when I'm doing the stuff outside, I mean, I gotta have some focus.

Beautiful! Now I got myself a good case of salve started for the winter for the dogs. But right now, you know, my hands are beat up, and I got these stings, and I'm gonna try some out myself. It feels great after a hard day's work!