GARDEN AND WILDCRAFTING
Spring is here! It’s true! Our local greenhouses are full of seedlings beginning to sprout. It is time to start your plants so they will be ready to plant outdoors in May.
I prefer organic plants as they have not been grown with pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers. The plants are stronger and if we are using these plants for our healing it makes no sense to use products on them that may injure our health and that of the Earth.
Spring is a great time to harvest bark. When the sap begins to flow the bark just “slips” off so easily. It’s a fun job for kids to help with (under supervision) because you get to go outdoors, learn about the plants, participate in gathering your own medicine, use sharp implements and spend time with a grown up.
When the ground unfreezes you can harvest roots. They will be more bitter than in the fall because they have used up their sugars surviving the winter. Some herbalists like to mix the fall and spring gathered roots together so they have the energy and constituents of both seasons. Others keep them separate and choose which ones to use according to the patient’s condition.
Some easy to grow herbs for a home medicine chest are chamomile, lemon balm, mint, echinacea, oregano, calendula, california poppy, marshmallow.
Check out those weeds you have been pulling out of your garden all these years. They are medicinal or edible. Chickweed (great for eyewash for conjunctivitis, cooling and itch relieving, weight loss, laxative) cleavers (lymphatic mover), dandelion (leaves- safe diuretic, tasty bitter green, roots-liver stimulation), plantain (bites, stings, rashes, splinters), ground ivy (lead detox), quack grass (urinary tract infections, kidney stones). Lamb’s quarters leaves are much like spinach without the oxalic acid or funny feeling on your teeth. Purslane is tasty too. Nettles are high in iron and nourish the kidneys. The stingers don’t sting once they are cooked. I like nettle or lamb’s quarters in quiche. Dry or tincture some of these humble, useful plants for the winter.
Coltsfoot is one of the first plants up in spring. The flowers look like dandelions and come before the leaves. The leaves are used for coughs and skin conditions.
Horsetail, the one that unfolds like a small pine tree, is used for healing bones and joints. You can add this to an osteoporosis prevention tea.
Forsythia flowers make a nice tea high in rutin which strengthens blood vessels.
Honeysuckle flowers are used by the Chinese for infections and inflammations. Sore throats, fevers, cold and flu and certain cancers are treated with honeysuckle. You can also make a conserve or syrup like the Elizabethans did for relieving bronchial conditions, cramps and stimulating the kidneys. This is a tasty herbal medicine. We may have more appreciation for this foreign invasive knowing this.
Lilac flowers and leaves may be used this way as well.
Sweet, sweet linden flowers are a wonderful calming tea.
Start your plant observing now. Notice how the buds swell, when they start to open, how the young plants look, who starts growing first, their colors, smells, textures, everything you can possibly notice. Take a walk every day to notice what’s new. Take the kids with you on this daily treasure hunt. Check out the tree flowers. They usually come early so keep your eyes, ears and nose alert.
A fun tool to have is a magnifying glass or loupe so you can look at tiny flowers, mosses and insects close up.
Keep a journal. You can make sketches or take pictures. Make notes of emotions or impressions, images. Notice who is associating with whom. Watch for insects, birds, other plants, types of rocks, how the weather affects them. Go into this study with no preconceptions and forget your botany. This is a study where you can look at things from a fresh perspective and learn directly from the plants through your senses. Have a ball!