More Spring Plants

I have noticed that many older ladies with full vibrant lives, take care of themselves.
How they do that will be unique to each woman, but many get perms, color their hair, wear makeup, use henna, make their own creams, use herbs, whatever.
The similar vein in all this is taking care of themselves. Which is rather impressive to me right now.

My son went on a trip last week to be with his dad and get some things worked out in his life. The last thing he said to me had soemthing to do with my grey hair. And ya know, it bothered me some because I have been feeling old and worn out lately.

It is getting better, but the observation of these older ladies has really taken hold onto my heart. I want to live and live vibrantly. So taking care of myself is a must!

So, after working hard all week to gather extra funds, I spent some on ME! On getting my hair foiled. it is very natural looking and just brightened things up for me. I love it.

I will get a pic soon.

So just in case you feel herbalists or natural people are perfect, I am always such a good example of imperfection...lol

So here are some plants today.




Dandelion Taraxacum officinale

During a bout of struggle physically, I dug up the bitter roots of the dandelions growing right now......tiny little buggers, could gobble em up in one bite, yet they probably helped so much.
We have been eating the younger leaves in salads for several weeks now as well as the yellow petals. I have made dandelion massage oil which I have used already and need to make more actually.

The amazing Dandelion made it though a raging fire in our burn pile last week so she is worn and burnt but very much alive. kinda like ME:)


Dead Nettle Lamium purpureum
We eat this too in salad and soups. Most of the plants though are mixed in with other greens for our rabbit.



Yellow Dock Rumex crispus
There is some conflicting info on this plant. Some herbals say to cook in 2-3 changes of water and some say it is not neccessary. I have been. I like to be safe usually. I had a huge plant in one of our growboxes that I had to uproot for the plants I want in there. So now I also have yellowdock root I will be tincturing.

We have been eating the leaves in soup with organic sausage and other veggies. I make a nice broth then add them after cooking in a few changes of water


Dogwood Cornus florida
The beauty of the wild dogwoods in the Ozarks is unsurpassed. Our serviceberrys and forsythias present the first show of flowering trees, then comes our dogwoods and redbuds (that are purply pink flowers)
I have read that native americans used the small twigs for tooth health. Boiling the bark for lowering fever, and a pioneer treatment for malaria.


Elder Sambucus nigra
I think I have shared this already that the Elder has much folklore around its presence. We have mowed, weed whacked and busted this plant up so many times over the past couple years...and this year she flowers! OH JOY!
Now to decide if I harvest the flowers or let them create the berries.

You want to use the black berries or dark purple variety. The seeds of the red berries are toxic or more toxic. I guess the seeds or the dark berries can cause vomiting too so cooking them down is best.
There are so many useful ways to use elder. The flowers and berries are anti viral and stimualtes the immune system. A hot tea with the flowers will help sweat out a fever. A cold tea is diuretic.
Good for upper respiratory infection.
You can make a sore throat remedy vinegar with the flowers. Or a syrup. The green leaves can be macerated into oil and made into salve for ulcerations, hemorrhoids and such.

There is a saying that where Elder flourishes, a wise woman resides....when I saw the flowers, my ego plumped up a bit...lol