Dandelions are the enemy of many a lawn perfectionist. This year, think twice before dousing your lawn with weed killer – those dandelions have many health benefits.
When the leaves first appear, they are sweet and tender. After the flowers appear, the leaves become more bitter. Dandelion leaves are a healthy addition to your salad, soup or stir-fry at either stage, providing vitamins A and C. Dandelion is best known as a liver cleanser and a mild diuretic. A tablespoon of fresh or a teaspoon of dried dandelion root in one cup of water makes a healthful tea.
Chickweed is another lawn plant with many useful properties. Chickweed is a prostrate plant with tiny smooth leaves and small white flowers that bloom throughout the growing season. Chickweed is classified as a demulcent herb, which means it soothes and softens the skin and mucous membrane surfaces. Salves, oils or ointments can be made from chickweed and used for healing the skin.
Like dandelion, chickweed can be added to salads, soups or stir-fries, for internal soothing. Chickweed is an expectorant, a word you’ve probably seen on cough medicines. Taking it internally helps a cough becomes more productive and also paves the way for healing of toxicity related problems such as poor circulation, psoriasis, lung inflammation and skin problems.
Plantain isn’t the most beautiful plant, but if you get stung by a bee you’ll be glad to have some growing in your lawn. Just crush one of its large leaves and gently rub the juice on the sting for fast relief. You can recognize plantain by its wavy-edged veined leaves growing basally from the ground. Stiff green leafless flower stalks grow from the center of the plant.
Along with relieving the pain of bee stings, crushed plantain leaves help heal bites, cuts, scrapes and burns. Internally, plantain leaf tea is a remedy to soothe inflamed and infected tissues of the respiratory, urinary and digestive tracts. Chewing the leaves eases the pain and inflammation of infected gums.
To make an oil from any of these herbs, first dry them, then crush them to a coarse powder. Stir them into olive oil heated in a crock pot to about 100 degrees F. and let them heat and soak for three to five days, stirring a few times a day. Strain the oil and bottle it.
To make a salve, pour the herbal oil into a saucepan or double boiler. Add about ¾ oz. grated beeswax per 4 ozs. herbal oil and heat and stir gently to melt the wax. Let it cool for five minutes. Add 10 drops of your choice of essential oils. Pour the warm salve into small glass jars and let cool and harden.
There are many good books with recipes for different combinations of herbs and essential oils. I recommend Better Basics for the Home by Annie Berthold-Bond.
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