Marjory's weekend project 2018 08 26 harvesting plantain for medicine

Marjory Wildcraft
Marjory Wildcraft Posts: 1,615 admin
edited November 2020 in Wild Edibles & Medicinals
Marjory,

Id love to see some pics!

Heather
«1

Comments

  • Sharon Companion
    Sharon Companion Posts: 28
    edited August 2018
    I just collected plantain seeds and spread them all over my garden.
  • bmaverick
    bmaverick Posts: 175 ✭✭✭
    edited August 2018
    Ah, this is the lawn item that makes me think of bananas.

    It's also one of the items that the goats will eat up before we can harvest them.
  • Marjory Wildcraft
    Marjory Wildcraft Posts: 1,615 admin
    edited August 2018
    Hi BM,

    oh yes goats love this stuff!

    Heather, I hope you can see the images....

    Hi Sharon, Nice!  You can also 'guerilla garden' and spread them elsewhere...  ha ha but you didn't hear that from me :)

    I am going to harvest a lot more.  You know poulticing requires a lot of plant material.

    It really is good to eat too.

     

     
  • ettacass24
    ettacass24 Posts: 18
    edited August 2018
    My neighbors think I am crazy when they see me in my yard with a pillowcase picking weeds(plantain).  I also do this with dandelions.

     
  • Charlene Kennedy
    Charlene Kennedy Posts: 3 ✭✭✭
    edited August 2018
    Thanks for the information about Plantain. I am planting some in my yard soon so that I know they have not been contaminated by anything.
  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin
    edited August 2018
    "It’s also one of the items that the goats will eat up before we can harvest them."

    Bmaverick, that is deworming at its finest!
  • bmaverick
    bmaverick Posts: 175 ✭✭✭
    edited August 2018
    Our boarder collies also do #1 on them.  I told the DW that we shouldn't use those.  She said that's alright because the broccoli and green beans thrive on their #1 offerings.  I just rolled my eyes thinking what else in this natural living ecosystem  ... 'I don't want to know that' ... :)   20 years ago, I was shocked to hear that animal dung made great composting material.   I've gotten so use to this now and telling others. hahaha  ... Just can't get past the doggie thing right now.

    ettacass24, the regular dandelions are alright.  However, if you can plant the Italian dandelions and allow them to populate, your salads will have more nutrition and the greens are more vibrant.  Meaning, the greens do not sit on the ground like the regular types.  The Italian type green leaves stands up, sort of like romaine lettuce.   https://homeguides.sfgate.com/dandelions-vs-italian-dandelions-85175.html

    If you grow French Breakfast radishes, the green tops are really nice with a slight taste similar to black pepper.  Some people are highly allergic to normal black pepper and find this a treat in salad mixes or added in veggie soups.  These radish greens are not so spicy nor bitter either.

    So, the Italian Dandelion and French Breakfast radish greens will liven any salad up with nutrition too.
  • ettacass24
    ettacass24 Posts: 18
    edited August 2018
    • bmaverick thanks for the information.
  • Marjory Wildcraft
    Marjory Wildcraft Posts: 1,615 admin
    edited August 2018
    ooohhh Laurei  - good point!  Hey will it help me deworm too?  I am not sure I have worms, but hey, I'll eat platain as a precaution...

     
  • Marjory Wildcraft
    Marjory Wildcraft Posts: 1,615 admin
    edited August 2018
    I never knew there were Italian dandelions...

     
  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin
    edited August 2018
    Well, Marjory, it will work if you use it right. I will say more after my story. ;)

    A few years ago, we brought home two beautiful (pretty much feral) colts. We discovered that they had worms. I had read of the benefits of plantain  and it's deworming properties. We decided to try it out as we had LOTS of plantain growing at the time. We fed them many five gallon pails full of plantain over two weeks. They ate it like candy! They refused to eat it after that two weeks, which was interesting. Our daughter checked the road apples...no more worms! I imagine it would work for other animals just the same. It was certainly impressive!

    I have read that hot/boiling water inactivates many of plantain's beneficial properties. Making a cold infusion is the way to go.
  • Marjory Wildcraft
    Marjory Wildcraft Posts: 1,615 admin
    edited August 2018
    OMG Laurie - you've just given me my new favorite term "ROAD APPLES"  !!!  ha, ha...

    I've gotten into a pattern of simply going out to the yard and grazing a bit on dandelion and plantain and whatever orther weeds I find as my 'pre salad' before dinner (I hand them our to my family too which they sometimes take me up on).  So nice to know the plantian is also doing good things.  Thanks for the tip about raw and cooked plantain.

     

     

     

     

     
  • lorifloyd5
    lorifloyd5 Posts: 11
    edited September 2018
    I dug up a plaintain plant and potted it to see what it would do. So far so good! I wanted to see if I could keep it over the winter. Do you cut the leaves and lay them out to dry? Then how do you store and use them? Also can you just "graze" on them? My children already do that with purslane. ?
  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin
    edited September 2018
    I have read that it s possible to keep them over winter, or even theow a few seeds at the soil base in houseplants.

    I have bought (yes, I bought) some plantain from an herbalist store once. It was dried and chopped. Last year, I dried some for use...to try as chips. I read that it can be done much like kale chips, but that didn't go over very well in our family. We just laid them out on screens to dry. Store them in an airtight container in a cool dry place.

    If you do tea, don't use hot or boiling water on them, as this can destroy some of the good properties. Do a cold infusion instead.
  • Anita
    Anita Posts: 2
    edited September 2018
    I have used plantain for cuts several times.  It really works fast.  I love to eat the dandelion, lambs quarters, and finish them up with sorrel. The lemony favor hits the spot.

    I haven't tried to dry it.
  • ines871
    ines871 Posts: 1,283 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Wondering who else has seemingly 3 different Dandelions kinds. - Thirteen years ago when trying to create gardening soil (90% rocks here), mistakenly sat down, & yanked out 100's literally.... (can't find any those pictures now, of Janice photographing ). Could have just covered the excess with the Lasagna "Back to Eden" method, & saved all that time as been doing so since. - And all those Dandelions sure make Nutritious salads nearly all year long. -

  • seeker.nancy - Central Texas
    seeker.nancy - Central Texas Posts: 795 ✭✭✭✭

    Another thing to do with dried plantain or other greens and such: powder them with a blender or coffee mill and put in a jar. Mix it up with what you add to the jar. In the winter add them to your smoothy! It will be a far better and essentially free option. Per the usual I do not remember which blogger site I read this. My apologies to all parties lol.

  • Miya
    Miya Posts: 8 ✭✭✭

    Plantain was the first wild herb I worked with and I love it. I just harvested some in my yard to make a salve.

  • circleoflifeunlimited
    circleoflifeunlimited Posts: 57 ✭✭✭

    Glad this conversation is continuing! Yes, plantain is amazing stuff overall. This winter I plan to do some deep research on some of the common local herbs and will share it on this forum.

    I dry plantain and save it to powder for winter smoothies too. Learned this from Katrina Blair a few years ago. She is a genius, and her book about common wild foods is really good.

    Plantain as a dewormer too, wow. Good to know. Amazing how animals are tuned into what they need. I have a few wormwood bushes planted along the fence inside my garden. It's interesting to watch the goats go munch on it when they need it. They can't kill the plants because they are inside the garden fence, but they can nibble on it.

  • Melissa Swartz
    Melissa Swartz Posts: 270 ✭✭✭

    I've seen Plantain as an ingredient in cough remedies. I'm planning to try it this winter.

  • sarah121
    sarah121 Posts: 129 ✭✭✭

    @Leslie Carl I have made a garlic and plantain ear oil in the past. It works really well for ear infections, but the garlic can make things a bit smelly! I found this blog post which explains how to make it. It's really quite simple, but a really effective remedy to have on standby in your home medicine kit.

    https://theherbalacademy.com/herbal-ear-drops/

  • Leslie Carl
    Leslie Carl Posts: 255 ✭✭✭✭

    @sarah121 Thanks for the link. I used garlic oil for all of my children's earaches. Nowadays when I get an inner ear infection, I use colloidal silver. It only takes a few applications and the infection and my dizziness is gone.

  • sarah121
    sarah121 Posts: 129 ✭✭✭

    @Leslie Carl I totally agree! Colloidial silver is a great store cupboard standby for this.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    I harvested plantain seeds today & scattered them on my houseplants' soil. I am interested to see how it will do indoors.

  • nksunshine27
    nksunshine27 Posts: 343 ✭✭✭

    I have two different kinds of dandelions growing in my yard one is smooth leaf the other is cut leaf I'll have to post a picture

  • nksunshine27
    nksunshine27 Posts: 343 ✭✭✭

    How do you dry your plantain? I've heard that dried plantain has a short shelf life and that it has different properties of medicinal healing based on whether its heated or not in the making process.

  • circleoflifeunlimited
    circleoflifeunlimited Posts: 57 ✭✭✭

    nksunshine27 Yes you are probably right! I eat a lot of fresh plantain during the growing season, and I do like to dry some for winter. It is definitely not as potent, yet it is still a superfood!

  • nksunshine27
    nksunshine27 Posts: 343 ✭✭✭

    @circleoflifeunlimited i have a friend down the road that has a freeze dryer and she wanted some plantain so we traded i picked mine and she freeze dried it and then spit it. it will be interesting to do a test to see which is more potent