I savored this article, Gavin, while sipping my Yarrow tea. I drink it almost daily, taking a break every now and then. You know how much I love this plant (thank you for sharing my post!) She would be the one I would want if I was stranded on a desert island. I learned a lot from what you wrote - the healing properties seem endless, don't they?
I love the taste, I love the smell, and it is prolific here. I love to use the oil on my skin. I've never put it in my cooking (I will try that!) but it's always hanging on my kitchen door (in my car, too) and I can't bear to throw away the stalks so I have vases filled with them around the house. Sometimes I put a few in the fire.
I can attest to her wound healing capabilities as I've had a few gushing wounds that I stopped with her. The powdered form is good for nosebleeds - I could have used some when I was little.
Thanks for another great testament to the power of weeds! :)
I am so glad to hear that, I think i shall make some Yarrow, mint and yerba mate tea this afternoon :)
You are very welcome, I enjoy your style of writing which is imbued with your love and reverence for plants and the natural world in general. Good vibrations provide their own kind of medicine so I hope many of my readers go and check out your other posts too.
Yarrow is pretty widespread and naturalized here as well, and they sell really pretty colorful ones in the nurseries as well.
Yarrow sticks in the fire, wow I bet that is a very cleansing aromatic experience, like burning sage.
I think I shall freeze dry some yarrow and powderize to keep in a little Mylar baggie i my first aid kit so I have access to a potent format for using in salves in the future.
Thanks for reading for for caring enough to learn from our photosynthetic elders and interact with them with reverence and gratitude.
Jan 23, 2023·edited Jan 23, 2023Liked by Gavin Mounsey
Patrick Jones, veterinarian/naturopath/herbalist has great things to say about yarrow as well. He has a video on U-toob called “10 herbs that can change your life.” (One is yarrow.)
After letting you know about 2 companies that are unfriendly to mail-in payments and want to digitize, “simplify,” and expedite everything in their systems, here is one that I especially like for their down-to-earth approach: J. L. Hudson. If you plan to have a section in your book of recommended seed companies, and don’t have this one on your list yet, you may like to look it up. If you read the “to our clients” section, you will see why I like it. The website is jlhudsonseeds dot net. I like the paper catalogs and have started marking mine for this year’s order. :) (Both kinds of amaranth you suggested are in the catalog in the vegetable section at the back, plus other varieties as more ornamentals in the regular section.) There is also a note to “Canadian customers” offering a variety of payment options to try to make it easy for you guys up there. :)
I have never tried using yarrow internally, but this is absolutely one of the best plants I know of for cuts and scrapes. I almost want to go look for a leaf right now just to smell it : )
I am so glad to hear my article is inspiring you to experiment with a new use for a plant you already love and are familiar with. Yes I love the fragrance too, it reminds me of the desert hills in the South Okanagan of BC where I used to go exploring above an ancient canyon where the Ponderosa Pine, White Sage, Cacti and Yarrow grew wild.
That sounds like quite a sight! Cactus in Canada… prickly pear?
I actually had a perfect opportunity to use yarrow as a band-aid today, after dropping a branch straight down on my hand while clearing deadfall along the driveway. (Sumac grows near the mailbox, but I’ve never tasted it and I haven’t even finished reading what you have to say about it, so it would be like the opposite of a spoiler alert to comment on that.)
Yes indeed, Opuntia fragilis, the locals in the Okanagan of BC call them jumping cactus, as they like to stick to your feet and then the spines dislocate as your walking and they fly up and get you in the leg :)
I used to spend many days at a time up in that canyon with my friends in the summers, exploring and working on building our encampment in the heart of the canyon. We built big rock benches around a campfire pit with a flat stone that slid over a compartment where hot embers were gathered and we used that stone to cook on. We also transplanted some moss from the rocks nearby and helped it to get established with watering so that we had a place on the ground to use as a sort of living mattress to sleep on. It was a pretty special spot, big water falls, huge veins of quartz running through the walls and even natural waterslides with smooth rock one could slide off into deep plunge pools. Here is a clip of me and a friend going off one of the waterslides when we were younger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlRzoOiLyf0&t good times :) The smell of white sage, yarrow and ponderosa pines would come through the canyon on the breeze, it was a very medicinal place.
I wish I would have known what I know now about medicine plants back then as I would have been able to heal many wounds we incurred on our adventures a lot easier.
Ouch that sounds like it would have hurt with the branch, glad you were able to use the medicine gifts of yarrow for that.
The Sumac is best harvested in late summer - early fall and really does make for a refreshing beverage. I think i`m gonna try fermenting some of the Sumac berry infused water this year to make a bubbly version of the sumac-lemonade.. a sumac-champagne if you will :)
I look forward to hearing what you think of sumac berries when you get a chance to try making a beverage or cooking with them.
I savored this article, Gavin, while sipping my Yarrow tea. I drink it almost daily, taking a break every now and then. You know how much I love this plant (thank you for sharing my post!) She would be the one I would want if I was stranded on a desert island. I learned a lot from what you wrote - the healing properties seem endless, don't they?
I love the taste, I love the smell, and it is prolific here. I love to use the oil on my skin. I've never put it in my cooking (I will try that!) but it's always hanging on my kitchen door (in my car, too) and I can't bear to throw away the stalks so I have vases filled with them around the house. Sometimes I put a few in the fire.
I can attest to her wound healing capabilities as I've had a few gushing wounds that I stopped with her. The powdered form is good for nosebleeds - I could have used some when I was little.
Thanks for another great testament to the power of weeds! :)
I am so glad to hear that, I think i shall make some Yarrow, mint and yerba mate tea this afternoon :)
You are very welcome, I enjoy your style of writing which is imbued with your love and reverence for plants and the natural world in general. Good vibrations provide their own kind of medicine so I hope many of my readers go and check out your other posts too.
Yarrow is pretty widespread and naturalized here as well, and they sell really pretty colorful ones in the nurseries as well.
Yarrow sticks in the fire, wow I bet that is a very cleansing aromatic experience, like burning sage.
I think I shall freeze dry some yarrow and powderize to keep in a little Mylar baggie i my first aid kit so I have access to a potent format for using in salves in the future.
Thanks for reading for for caring enough to learn from our photosynthetic elders and interact with them with reverence and gratitude.
Thank you for your kind words, Gavin. I love how we can all learn from each other. And share. :)
Patrick Jones, veterinarian/naturopath/herbalist has great things to say about yarrow as well. He has a video on U-toob called “10 herbs that can change your life.” (One is yarrow.)
After letting you know about 2 companies that are unfriendly to mail-in payments and want to digitize, “simplify,” and expedite everything in their systems, here is one that I especially like for their down-to-earth approach: J. L. Hudson. If you plan to have a section in your book of recommended seed companies, and don’t have this one on your list yet, you may like to look it up. If you read the “to our clients” section, you will see why I like it. The website is jlhudsonseeds dot net. I like the paper catalogs and have started marking mine for this year’s order. :) (Both kinds of amaranth you suggested are in the catalog in the vegetable section at the back, plus other varieties as more ornamentals in the regular section.) There is also a note to “Canadian customers” offering a variety of payment options to try to make it easy for you guys up there. :)
Thanks very much for the info :) I will check out the youtube video.
I will add J. L. Hudson to my list of suggested businesses at the end of my book. Thanks for letting me know about them.
I appreciate the thoughtful message and look forward to hearing how your garden does this year.
Oh my goodness! I'm so excited I have to make a cup of Yarrow tea to read this! I'll be back to leave a real comment...
:)
I have never tried using yarrow internally, but this is absolutely one of the best plants I know of for cuts and scrapes. I almost want to go look for a leaf right now just to smell it : )
Hey Jean :)
I am so glad to hear my article is inspiring you to experiment with a new use for a plant you already love and are familiar with. Yes I love the fragrance too, it reminds me of the desert hills in the South Okanagan of BC where I used to go exploring above an ancient canyon where the Ponderosa Pine, White Sage, Cacti and Yarrow grew wild.
That sounds like quite a sight! Cactus in Canada… prickly pear?
I actually had a perfect opportunity to use yarrow as a band-aid today, after dropping a branch straight down on my hand while clearing deadfall along the driveway. (Sumac grows near the mailbox, but I’ve never tasted it and I haven’t even finished reading what you have to say about it, so it would be like the opposite of a spoiler alert to comment on that.)
Yes indeed, Opuntia fragilis, the locals in the Okanagan of BC call them jumping cactus, as they like to stick to your feet and then the spines dislocate as your walking and they fly up and get you in the leg :)
Here is some on the ground and drone footage of the canyon (and around the canyon) I was talking about https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_1r_NJS3rU
I used to spend many days at a time up in that canyon with my friends in the summers, exploring and working on building our encampment in the heart of the canyon. We built big rock benches around a campfire pit with a flat stone that slid over a compartment where hot embers were gathered and we used that stone to cook on. We also transplanted some moss from the rocks nearby and helped it to get established with watering so that we had a place on the ground to use as a sort of living mattress to sleep on. It was a pretty special spot, big water falls, huge veins of quartz running through the walls and even natural waterslides with smooth rock one could slide off into deep plunge pools. Here is a clip of me and a friend going off one of the waterslides when we were younger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlRzoOiLyf0&t good times :) The smell of white sage, yarrow and ponderosa pines would come through the canyon on the breeze, it was a very medicinal place.
I wish I would have known what I know now about medicine plants back then as I would have been able to heal many wounds we incurred on our adventures a lot easier.
Ouch that sounds like it would have hurt with the branch, glad you were able to use the medicine gifts of yarrow for that.
The Sumac is best harvested in late summer - early fall and really does make for a refreshing beverage. I think i`m gonna try fermenting some of the Sumac berry infused water this year to make a bubbly version of the sumac-lemonade.. a sumac-champagne if you will :)
I look forward to hearing what you think of sumac berries when you get a chance to try making a beverage or cooking with them.