Plantain

I have grown to love this little weed...Plantain. It truly is a wonder plant. It can be found in abundance in any yard or vacant lot, growing between the cracks in the sidewalk, or even on the sides of houses or buildings. When we went foraging for this little beauty I didn't have to go far, we found several nice patches of it over my mom's house. We didn't know at the time, but when harvesting them you really don't have to uproot the whole plant (as we did here in the picture) but just pull the individual leaves off. To eat them raw look for only the smallest and greenest leaves, and eat them in early spring. Toss them in salads or even just pop them in your mouth by them selves.

They grow in a rosette and are very distinctive in that they're veins grow up vertically and do not branch off the center vein. If you gently pull the leaf and the stem apart you will see the stringy veins (pictured below). When the leave are larger they have five vertical veins.

This plant has wonderful healing properties. We have used it on bee stings, burns, cuts, bruises, and insect bites. With in minutes it began working by taking out the sting, pain, and swelling!

Just pick a few leaves (wash them if you have water available) and chew them up. Take the chewed leaves and place them on the wound, place another whole leaf on top as a band-aid and allow 20 min or so to just work it's work. You continue this until the wound feels and looks better which doesn't take long at all.

I've even lost a bit of weight! I drink one cup of plantain tea every morning.

We are making an plantain oil, ~ fill a small glass with fresh plantain leaves that have been chopped up. Then pour olive oil on top of the leaves filling the glass jar. Cap it and let it sit in a sunny spot for about four to six weeks. Remove the leaves and you have a nice oil to use on any skin condition, bite, sore, bruise, or burn.

We have also dehydrated it for a tea~ wash the leaves, cut or tear off the stem, and dry them. Place them on a cookie sheet in the over with the door slightly ajar. We use a pot holder to keep the door ajar. Set the oven for 100 degrees or less and allow them to slowly dehydrate. In our oven it takes about an hour. I then crush them and put them in a glass jar. When I'm ready for tea I take about 1 tsp full of the crushed leaves and put them in my cotton tea bag, pour boiling water over the tea bag, place a saucer over the cup to prevent the oils from escaping, and in about 20 minutes I have my tea. I just sip it through out the morning.

We have read where the Indians would carrie on them dried plantain in a small pouch in case of snake bites, seems the leaves a have drawing effect and will draw out infections, splinters, and even poison, such as Poison Ivy (ask me how I know) Now we carry a little dried plantain with us at all times ;-D

We are having a great time learning about the awesome wild plants that Yahuweh created for us.

Check out my side bar I have several links and have listed a couple of books that have lots of information if your interested in learning more.