Dandelion Harvest

This afternoon, my son helped me with our dandelion harvest (or as it's more commonly known, weeding).

Dandelions can be quite a pain obviously, since if left unattended they will take over your whole garden. They do have many uses though, which partly makes up for their overbearing nature.

The whole plant is great for your liver, kidneys and digestion. The bitter leaves can be used in soups and salads, as can the flower petals. The flowers can also be used for yellow dye. The roots can be made into a wonderful decoction.

A decoction is like tea, but you simmer it for 25-45  minutes instead of just steeping in hot water. The extra heat and time helps extract the healing properties from the more fibrous plant materials.

I like to make a decoction of licorice root, dandelion root, milk thistle and fennel seed for liver support.

Summer Doings

I have neglecting this blog! Bad blogger! I had committed to myself to update it at least once a week, but I have been doing many wonderful summer things and it got away from me. Summer things that weren't really within the scope of this blog and also I'm terrible about pausing in the middle of adventures to take pictures. So. No photographic evidence. You'll just have to take my word for it.

This morning I was walking to the train and I saw some plantain growing in a neighbor's yard. Not the kind that looks like a big banana - the kind that's a weed that grows in your lawn. For some reason I don't have any growing in my lawn so I took some seeds from the plant in my neighbor's yard and sprinkled them on the edge of my back garden. Hopefully they will sprout and soon they will look like this:

If you live anyplace where dandelions grow, you are probably familiar with these guys. They are everywhere where I live. Except my lawn, mysteriously.

Plantains are a great edible plant, and you can also make a healing salve from the leaves. To make a salve, simply fill a jar 3/4 full of plantain leaf and then pour in olive oil to cover. Let it sit for 4 weeks, then strain the oil and mix with melted bee's wax. The salve will help stanch bleeding and reduce healing time. You can also put mashed up leaves on bug bites to speed healing and relieve itch.

Plantain leaves are edible, though they can be bitter and stringy once the plant is older. Younger leaves can be eaten in a salad. Mature leaves can be used for tea, or you could toss them in a green smoothie. Plantain is nutrient dense and really great for the liver and for digestion.

I love useful weeds!

Calendula Conundrum

I had planted calendula in my garden specifically for use as a dye plant. However, I've been having problems with dry, itchy skin and I finally said enough! So I'm making calendula oil instead.

Calendula is wonderful for skin irritation of all sorts. I will let is soak in olive oil for a couple of weeks, then mix it with bee's wax and lavender essential oil for a healing and soothing skin salve. The lavender essential oil not only smells good, but also has anti bacterial and anti fungal properties. The finished salve will be good for rashes, dry skin, burns, and cuts. Calendula oil mixed with bee's wax also makes a great lip balm.

I struggled with the decision to use my calendula for medicinal purposes at first, but I decided that there are many plants I can dye with (especially at this time of year) but not so many that are so good for the skin. Anyway, calendula is a prolific plant so I will have other harvests this summer.

I figure that if deciding whether to use a flower for dying yarn or making salve is the problem I'm having today, then life is pretty good.

Horsetail

Horsetail! It's everywhere! It makes sense that it's so abundant, it's a survivor - it's been around since 100 million years before there were dinosaurs! Super cool!

It is also a useful herb and dye plant - and its abundance (some consider it a weed) makes it a great plant for sustainably-minded dyers and herbalists to forage without worry of negative environmental impact. Just make sure to harvest when the leaves have spread out in their characteristic tail-like formation; that means that they have had a chance to release their pollen.

Horsetail yeilded a nice soft brown in my dye pot, and it is also a welcome addition to my teapot.

Horsetail is rich in silicon, which is good for skin, bones, blood vessels and connective tissue. Add small amounts of the stems and leaves of horsetail (harvested in a clean area) to tea blends or soups to reap the benefits of this amazing plant!

(However, horsetail is not recommended for people who are pregnant or nursing or have kidney disease)

Chickweed!

Have you ever seen chickweed? I bet you have. And if you don't think you have, I bet after reading this post you'll start seeing it everywhere.

It grows everywhere. It's growing in my garden right now, although I didn't plant it. I just left some open space in a bed and it showed up on it's own.

The leaves are edible and so good for you! They have vitamin C, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, iron, and zinc among other nutrients. They are SO good for your liver and kidneys, and supposedly boost metabolism too so throw some in your smoothie if that's your thing.

Or just toss them in a salad. They have a very bright flavor, with an almost lemony aftertaste - perfect for a summer salad!

Chickweed can also be used as a topical treatment for skin irritation. Is there anything it can't do??? Just grab a handful of chickweed stems, leaves and flowers and mash it into a pulp to soothe itchy skin from bug bites, nettle stings, or mild rashes.

Plants are magic!

Sweet Dreams Tea

This is a tea blend I created to help calm active minds when it's time for sleep. It's not only soothing, but it tastes good and looks lovely!

Parts are calculated by weight, so get out your scale instead of your measuring cups.

Sweet Dreams Tea:
1.5 parts spearmint
1 part chamomile
1 part tulsi
1 part rose petals
1 part lemon balm
.25 parts lavender

Yum!