A Medicinal Walk To The Mailbox

 

     I was babysitting and puppy tending, grabbed my camera, and we took a walk down the driveway to get the mail.  The driveway is 20 acres long.  The deep woods are on it's north side and open field on the south side.  My main reason for the camera was to get a shot of the horsetail growing by the mailbox, but lots of things were blooming.....

 The dandelions were thick.
......dandelion wine (medicinal of course :-)
......leaves and roots are diuretic
......a great source of potassium

The dogwood was in full bloom.
I do not use this medicinally, but
 show it to compare with elderberry.
Anything blooming right now in northern
Wisconsin is NOT elderberry....they will be the next set of blooms.



The red elderberry was in full bloom also.
This is NOT the elderberry you pick medicinally.
These blossoms and berries will give you one upset stomach.
Again, the medicinal elderberry will bloom in about 2 weeks.




 

.....I could have eaten the fiddleheads
of these ferns a few weeks earlier.
Just pretty now.

Here's the horsetail.
I always pick a new crop every year.
......excellent source of silica.
......any broken bones over the year,
I will be drinking horsetail tea.
......drinking the tea will grow strong fingernails too!
......dry it in bunches hanging upside down.

I also picked some comfrey from my (planted) patch.
......if I break a bone over this next year I will be drinking
comfrey tea and using it as a plaster.
.....also a great source of protein  to feed chickens over the winter.
......dry it in bunches hanging upside down.

 

     There are more medicinal plants coming down my driveway....a future post :-)

.....Jean