Pass the Weeds, Please!

Spring! Glorious Spring! Green has returned. But the first green to appear in your garden may not be anything you planted. Before you decide to pull those "weeds", or worse yet, spray them, there is another choice. Use them to feed and heal your family! The three herbs that I use most often in the summer are garden volunteers.

Plantain is easily recognizable with its rosette of either broad, roundish or thinner, blade-like leaves. Both varieties have large veins and flattened stems giving it the name "ribwort". In our house we call it "natures bandaid". The leaves take the pain and itch from bug bites-- mosquitoes, spiders, and bees. Last summer my young daughter was foolishly poking a beehive built into a hole in our backyard. Suddenly the angry bees swarmed. Before I could pull her away, she was stung several times. Together we picked a plantain leaf, which I chewed into a mash to put on her bites. Within two minutes she was playing happily again. I have used plantain leaves on hives, poison ivy, chicken pox, and cuts. Be sure to use unsprayed plants. Plantain seeds are a laxative when cooked. Called "psyllium", they are used in commercial laxative products and colon cleansers.

Mallow grows abundantly in most gardens. The leaves have rounded indentations along the edges (very similar to geraniums) and a thin leaf stalk. It grows upright or trails on the ground. The soft leaves are used to heal abrasions and chapped skin. After a day of gardening, I steep this plant in hot water and soak my cracked, rough hands. The softness of the water feels like lotion! The tea soothes sore mucus membranes, ulcers, and sore throats. Mallow roots will make a decent meringue substitute. Simmer the roots until the volume of water is reduced by half. When cool, beat to a froth.

The common dandelion is one our most abundant plants. Not only does this pretty yellow flower brighten the landscape, every part of it can be used for food and medicine. Eat the young greens in salads before the plant blooms, or have sauted greens with oil and vinegar. Dandelion greens are higher than most foods in Vitamin A and many minerals. The yellow flowers make a delicious tea, wine, beer and syrup. The petals add color and flavor to batters. (Dandelion muffins are a favorite at our house.) Soak small pieces of the flower stalk in equal parts of water and vinegar overnight for quick pickles. Cut the root into small pieces to dry in baskets or on a screen. Oven roast these dried pieces at 150-200 degrees until brown. Grind, then simmer ten minutes for a tea many liken to coffee.

Splash dandelion blossom tea on chapped or wind burned skin, age spots, and wrinkles. Whereas most diuretics leach potassium from the body, the high levels of potassium in dandelion leaf make it a wonderful diuretic tea. Dandelion root is well known for its beneficial effect on the liver. Use it regularly to aid the liver in its tremendous job of filtering the daily toxins and metabolic wastes we all encounter every day. This plant should be in everyone's yard, kitchen and medicine chest.

Before you begin to weed the garden this summer, think twice about what you may be throwing away. These helpful volunteers surely deserve our respect and admiration for all the nutrition and simple healing benefits they have to give!

Dandelion Muffins

Mix in bowl:
2C. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ C. clipped dandelion petals

Mix in another bowl:
¼ C. oil
4 Tbl. honey
1 ½ C. milk

Mix the dandelion petals and flour thoroughly with your hands. Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Stir to moisten. Spoon into oiled muffin tins or a bread pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Printed in North 40 newspaper, Laporte, CO, 1997.