That beautiful green leaf was a dandelion. Dandelions are edible, nutritious and a very valuable medicinal herb.
“Dandelions are a powerful diuretic. The roots act as a blood purifier that helps both the kidneys and the liver to remove toxins and poisons from the blood. The roots have been used for centuries to treat jaundice. Dandelion also acts as a mild laxative and improves appetite and digestion. It is useful for eczema like skin problems, boils, and abscesses and is believed to help prevent age spots and breast cancer.”
Prescription for Herbal Healing,
Phyllis A. Balch
Dandelion helps treat: Bladder infection, PMS, constipation, hemorrhoids and indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome, liver problems, gallstones, and osteoporosis. I have used dandelion to help prevent pre-eclampsia during my last two pregnancies as well as bloating due to PMS.
I have always purchased dandelion tea and capsules, but I got to thinking, I have plenty dandelions hanging around my yard and since we haven’t sprayed I decided to harvest!
The small leaves in the early spring can be eaten raw, in a salad. They can be a little bitter, so I mixed them in a tossed green salad, I thought they were really good and had a nice flavor. Once the heat comes the leaves turn really bitter, at that time I will harvest and dry to use medicinally in teas and tinctures. In the fall I plan to dig up roots, dry and use medicinally as well.
(thats if I can keep Dadzoo from pulling them all up before….)
Sometimes I look into the hills behind my house and wonder about the plants up there. What is edible? What can be used medicinally? I know that yarrow grows in the high meadows and is a powerful herb. There are also Sego Lilies, that my pioneer ancestors used to use as food, but are now protected as our state flower and can’t be harvested. I am going to be researching this a little more. As for edible and medicinal plants in my yard that wouldn’t normally be considered as such, I will be blogging about those.
(Have you ever eaten a rose? I have!)
