Over the years we have given our neighbors more than one occasion to have a quizzical brow in our direction. This morning was no different. :)
While they have manicured lawns and bills to the chemical lawn care companies, we sometimes let ours grow too long and unruly. They spray to kill weeds and whatnot. (I am so sick of sprays and pesticides and herbicides-that's another post)
Well, anyway, with all of the rain we have had and had and had and will still have over the next few days, we have had a bumper crop of plantain. It looks like a weed and I considered it one until last year when I learned it is an herb. A healing herb in fact. Get stung by a wasp or other nasty stingy thing while out of doors...away from your store bought ointments, etc. what you gonna do? Chew up some plantain to loosen the juices and slap it on the sting....relief before you know it.
Margaret and I picked a nice big batch of plantain this morning to dry. She has comfrey, yarrow and some lovely smelling lavender drying as well. She will use these herbs solo or in combinations for healing salves and soaps. She made her first batch of salve last year and shared it with others and has had a lot of positive feedback.
One of the most memorable instances of healing with her mixture of comfrey, yarrow and plantain last year was when...after years and years of our border collie having 'hot spots' and the doctors ointments and remedies never working, I trimmed a large section of hair from the areas she was affected and applied the salve. Shortly after applying it she stopped biting and scratching at it...I applied it twice a day for a week or so and she didn't have any more problems. A relative stated that it helped a difficult splinter come out naturally. Our friend Forrest had an unfortunate incident with dog spray. He applied it and felt relief.
Anyway...we like plantain.
While they have manicured lawns and bills to the chemical lawn care companies, we sometimes let ours grow too long and unruly. They spray to kill weeds and whatnot. (I am so sick of sprays and pesticides and herbicides-that's another post)
Well, anyway, with all of the rain we have had and had and had and will still have over the next few days, we have had a bumper crop of plantain. It looks like a weed and I considered it one until last year when I learned it is an herb. A healing herb in fact. Get stung by a wasp or other nasty stingy thing while out of doors...away from your store bought ointments, etc. what you gonna do? Chew up some plantain to loosen the juices and slap it on the sting....relief before you know it.
Margaret and I picked a nice big batch of plantain this morning to dry. She has comfrey, yarrow and some lovely smelling lavender drying as well. She will use these herbs solo or in combinations for healing salves and soaps. She made her first batch of salve last year and shared it with others and has had a lot of positive feedback.
One of the most memorable instances of healing with her mixture of comfrey, yarrow and plantain last year was when...after years and years of our border collie having 'hot spots' and the doctors ointments and remedies never working, I trimmed a large section of hair from the areas she was affected and applied the salve. Shortly after applying it she stopped biting and scratching at it...I applied it twice a day for a week or so and she didn't have any more problems. A relative stated that it helped a difficult splinter come out naturally. Our friend Forrest had an unfortunate incident with dog spray. He applied it and felt relief.
Anyway...we like plantain.
Some of the leaves before drying.
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