If you have ever wandered up my driveway to socialize, have dinner, perhaps a healing session or a holistic class, or maybe an evening campfire, you know my yard's wildness! The first 2/3's, moving up my driveway, is wild and free. My backyard is overrun with wild plants.
When my Dad visits he always asks: "Do you want me to come over with my lawn tractor and help you mow this place?" He loves to taunt me about my weeds. (Shhh, never call them weeds to their "blossom." Such rudeness hurts their feelings!)
My yard, a disaster to my Dad, is a healing oasis to me. I nurture wild plants that will heal asthma to zits, cancer to psoriasis, provide birth control options, heal your body's inflammation, and everything in between. Annoying weeds they may be to most, to me they are my humble, healing friends that I protect with the gentle fierceness of a mother. And, they graciously feed butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, and so many more wild creatures!
(All of the healing hints I will give, below, for my beloved weeds are but the tip of the iceberg for what each magical plant can be used for. Every plant has so many healing uses!)
Here we have Mullein (It is the tall plant with the yellow flower stalk), an amazing healing plant for asthma and your body's glands. Mullein oil can be rubbed over the thyroid, the ovaries, the testicles, or any gland and you can take mullein tincture to nourish all your glands from the inside of your body.
Yeah, I have a few cats about the home who like to get into the photo ops! The Milk Weed, hanging out here with my friend Mullein, is also good for asthma, constipation, and is reputed to be anti-fertility by the Mohawks. Milk Weed makes a fun, pink jelly for smearing on winter toast... don't forget the butter!
Got zits? Try Dandelion leaf and root tea. Add some Burdock Root and Red Clover flowers to this mix and you have a gentle liver and skin nourishing blend.
Of course, I would add my best friend Stinging Nettles to the above and every healing herb recipe. It just makes good nourishing sense to add nettles!
Red Clover Blossoms!
Dandelion's useful parts: leaf, flower, root. Burdock Root.. you have to dig it OR buy some from The Kent Family Growers or Birdsfoot Farm!
Dandelion leaves... and underneath the leaves, for fall harvesting, are the roots.
Cancer? The above blend does wonders to cleanse/nourish the liver and blood so your immune system can do its job in healing and removing cancer from the body. Add some peppermint (below) as its healing oils and chemical constituents are amazing healing energy for digestive tract issues!
Thank you, Robin, for this wonderful mint variety. Seems the deer like it too! Smart animals.
Want to increase fertility and your ability to conceive? Try a tea (medicinal strength infusion) of Red Raspberry leaf (below), Red Clover Blossoms (picture above), and Stinging Nettles (below). The link above has a "recipe" for a liver detox infusion. Follow the same principles when making your "Fertili-Tea." No simmering of the infusion is needed as you are using all leaves and flowers. Just steep the infusion overnight.
Red Raspberry Leaf, while you are collecting leaves for making tea... eat the berries!
Stinging Nettles, nestled up against my home.
Want to decrease fertility? Chicory Root tea (below) decreases sperm count. Milkweed (see above) decreases female fertility. Queen Anne's Lace, Wild Carrot (below), decreases female fertility and prevents pregnancy.
Red Raspberry Leaf (above) nourishes the uterus and reproductive tract throughout a female's life cycle. My plant intuition says it has to be nourishing for males as well.
There are many herbs to control fertility, enhance pregnancy and birthing, and nourish the reproductive tract. That is a whole book waiting to be written OR grab a copy of Susun Weed's Childbearing Years. This is a great place to start in learning female reproductive herbs.
Chicory: the root is used as a medicinal infusion to decrease sperm count.
Queen Anne's Lace flower head: the seeds are used to prevent pregnancy.
The below Black Eyed Susan patch adorns the yard behind my house and garage (and you are only seeing about 1/5 of this flower patch!). I leave it wild purely to heal my heart and soul (and my cat's as well... all 4 cats seem to love their wild flower jungle!).
Native Americans used the plant for internal parasites, skin wounds, earaches, snake bites, and the common cold.
Wild plants are wonderful. Befriend one today! Paula
PS Stay tuned for Healing Backyard Plants, Pt 2
AND
The Healing Powers of the Great White Pine