Is your backyard a medicine cabinet
Is your backyard a medicine cabinet and if not what could you do to create one? With the times we are living in I think we all need to have as much on hand or know where to find it.
My backyard and property is one but this year I need top analyze it well, note what I have and see what I need. I also know I have more than I think - I have not used trees and bark as much but plan to in the future
If you live in a small space or rent you can still get a few medicinal plants, forage in areas near you or create a group where you share.
I found boneset on my property a few years back. I was looking for native plants to dry for arrangements so when i found this I had to identify it. I was thrilled when I found out all its uses.
Comments
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This is a great project you have brought up.
I have done this in my area and have identified 95 genus' within a couple of hours drive from me, with many more individual species within those genus. I also grow quite a few more medicinal species that aren't natives or invasives in my area. Many have several uses so I think I have a pretty good selection of starter material that I have used to build my medicine cabinet.
Anti-inflammatories, anodynes/analgesics, antidepressants, adaptogens, alteratives, astringents, antioxidants, antibacterials & anti-mycobacterials, antivirals, anti-fungals, antispasmodics, demulcents, anti-tussives & expectorants, styptics, refrigerants, carminatives/stomachics, anti-emetics, tonics, nervines & anxiolytics, sedatives & hypnotics, hypoglycemics, hypotensives, anti-lithics, cholagogues & hepatics, hypocholesteremics, anthelmintics, antineoplastics, opthalmics, febrifuges, diaphoretics & sudorifics, diuretics, cathartics & purgatives, emmenagogues, galactogogues, vulneraries & trauma aids, emollients, rubefacients, and nootropics. Have I missed anything? :)
I also have access to local vinegar & honey for my preparations. I don't know anyone who has an oil press but I could always use lard for salve preparations if I had no access to oils. We make wine from scratch so I have that form of alcohol. I probably shouldn't say this in public but there "may" be some individuals in my area that "might" own the equipment for distilling. :) So I have all the ingredients for medicine making.
I am very fortunate to live in such an abundant area.
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It is definitely something to work on. I'm trying to add in healing herbs each year, as many types as I can grow. Health is a big limiting factor for me but we just do the best we can with what we have. Even if it's just an herb or two in a window sill or under a stronger light source it's a start. There is almost always something a person can grow wherever they live.
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What herbs would be best to add for a backyard medicine cabinet or better yet to find on your property or backyard if you're starting out?
When I lived in Rochester Ny I would go by a lot of abandoned houses or businesses shut down and see a lot of great plants - weeds to the neighborhood.
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We have a small piece of leased land but we're tremendously blessed with an abundance of wild edibles and medicinals. We have plantain, dandelions, violet, cleavers, self heal, chickweed, daylillies and horsetail which I use to scrub pots and pans :).
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Wow! Where to start! I think it is best to start with multi-purpose plants.
Dandelions have several uses so I’d certainly encourage those to grow in my backyard. Leaves are diuretic, roots for bitters or as part of a detox cleanse or for liver support, an infusion of the flowers is said to help with night blindness, latex for warts. And of course all the culinary uses. Leaves for salad (excellent to stimulate digestion), roots roasted for coffee substitute, flowers for wine or baking, pickled flower buds.
Chickweed has been mentioned in another post recently. Delicious food and great in salves for diaper rash, heat rash, certain types of eczema & psoriasis, bug bites, or as a base for healing salves. Good chicken feed.
Stinging Nettle should be encouraged if you are lucky enough to find it growing in your yard. If not plant some. Well known diuretic, astringent, rubefacient, tonic and galactogogue. Antihistamine for seasonal allergies. The root is used for BPH. Seeds are adaptogens and adrenal tonics. Nettle vinegar for dandruff or oily hair. Nettle is a nutritive. Great food plant; substitution for spinach in many recipes. Excellent addition to healing broths. Used in tea blends. Seeds for cooking. Rennet substitute. Fibre for cordage if you are really ambitious.
Oregon Grape is a wild plant in my area but it is also used extensively as a landscape plant so its fairly easy to cultivate. The root has many medicinal properties. It's a bitter, relieves liver stagnation, may help relieve skin issues, moderates blood sugars, great antibacterial for Staph or Strep infections, helpful in combinations for urinary tract infections or digestive tract infections including H. pylori. The leaves can also be used for the antibacterial properties. The berries are high in antioxidants and although very sour when raw, they make one of the finest wild berry jellies I have ever had. No pectin required. I’ve also had wine made with the berries but it could have done with a bit of sugar added; it was pretty puckery. Holly substitute for Christmas.
Yarrow is both a native wild plant and a domesticated species here. Yarrow is styptic, diaphoretic, antiseptic, astringent and a bitter tonic. Works very well in combination with elderflower and peppermint for colds and flus. The young leaves, although bitter can be eaten and will stimulate digestion. It could be used as a bittering agent in beer making. And yarrow can be burnt as a smudge for mosquitoes.
Elder is not native to my immediate area but it is in many areas across North America. Its definitely a plant to cultivate if you can’t wild harvest it. Exceptional cold and flu medicine. Both the berries and the flowers. And its an edible. Syrups, jellies, tea, wine. Beautiful landscape plant.
For those not able to wild harvest it, Marshmallow is a good one to grow in your garden. It's a beautiful big flowering plant that could be a feature in a garden. The root is nutritive and helpful for enriching breast milk. Its emollient properties are useful for conditions involving mucous membranes. Soothing for colitis, urinary tract infections, digestive upsets including ulcers and sore, dry throats. Helpful when passing stones. Marshmallow binds to toxins, helping remove them from the body. Infused in oil, marshmallow can be added to moisturizers or lip balms. Leaves and flowers can be used in infusions or syrups. An infusion of the leaves can be used as a gargle for mouth sores.
Hawthorn berries are a great circulatory medicine. The flowers, early twigs and leaves are diuretic. The fruit, while dry and mealy with a large seed, could be used for jelly or wine. Makes a very nice cordial or oxymel. The bush makes a very effective property hedge. Covered with flowers in the early spring, hawthorn is a nice landscape shrub.
A lot of the berry plants have other uses than just berries so they are good to cultivate, too. Blueberry, raspberry, blackberry and strawberry leaves are astringents to relieve diarrhea. Raspberry leaf is both a uterine tonic and galactogogue. Blackberry leaf has been shown to have antibacterial activity against H. pylori. Blueberry leaves are diuretic and astringent for oral inflammation. And they are all so yummy to eat, preserve, cook with or make wine from.
I hope that gives you some ideas for things you might like to have in your "live" medicine cabinet. I'm sure other have good suggestions for multi-purpose plants that will add to your medicine garden.
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Anybody use trillium? We bought a house on a cove and there is a very interesting species growing in several areas. It's huge! Like "grown near a power plant" huge. I think it's the Trillium grandiflorum, Great White Trillium. Anybody eat it or use it medicinally?
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@torey I am lucky to have everything you mentioned but the elder, which I am fixing this year. My one brother has elder and lives close by so until mine produces I at least have a supply.
I must love taking a walk and looking at all the plants. Nature has blessed us.
I need to study and use using twigs, bark and trees more
Thank you for your list
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@Denise Grant over the last few years, it has been my intent to add medicinal herbs to my vegetable garden and orchard. I’ve now got “eye” shaped areas, 6 feet x 6, under all the trees in our orchard. It has compost, wood chip and hay as mulch. So I started planting herbs under the trees and they get on famously. So far, under the trees I have, comfrey, dandelion, feverfew, skullcap, mint, turmeric. In the veggie garden, rosemary, garlic, lemon balm, gotu kola, sage, parsley, coriander, tulsi etc. Always looking out for new additions.
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@frogvalley We had Trilliums when I was growing up in south coastal BC. It is the Western or Pacific Trillium with a white flower (T. ovatum). T. grandiflorum is the provincial flower of Ontario but there are 4 other species that grow in Ontario as well. So Great White Trillium can't be picked in Ontario.
I have never used Trillium but from what I understand the leaves are good in a salad. My mum would never let me pick it as she said it should be left for when we really need it and it wasn't all that common. I have never needed it.
Trillium is probably best known medicinally as Birthroot or Bethroot. Used to facilitate childbirth. I believe it is Red Trillium (T. erectum) that is most widely used for this purpose although I understand that other Trilliums can be used as well. I have never had a pregnancy or childbirth in my care, so that is one area of herbal medicine that I prefer to leave to the midwives.
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@jodienancarrow Those garden areas sounds amazing! Just love the way you put it together.
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I was researching what plants I could use for guerilla gardening in an arid climate, and I found a book about agriculture in the arid climate of India. The chapter on medicinal herbs listed the number one advantage to growing them is that they are theft-proof. Most people don't know what they are and know less about how to use or sell them. (Something to think about if people get desperate and are willing to steal food to survive.)
I'm anxiously waiting for my seeds to arrive so that I can start planting them next summer (December in SA). I already have most of my medicine cabinet growing on the patio.
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@torey 😁 It's not so much having the distilling equipment; it's what you admit to distilling in it. Mom needs distilled water for her CPAP.
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@RustBeltCowgirl Its not illegal in Canada to own the equipment but as you say, What you admit to doing with it. I hadn't thought of distilled water as the excuse but it is a very good one.
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Just today I took a walk to find out what’s growing around me. It was so exciting! I already knew we had dock, dandelion, plantain, and elder- but today I found rose, speedwell, violet, pine, cedar, and an ocean of chickweed.
I started using an app called seek by inaturalist to identify weeds in the area. Then I do a search under the scientific name to see if there are medicinal uses since the county extension has info on how to kill weeds, not turn them into tea. 😊
Ill plant an herb garden too, but it’s going to be a while.
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@frogvalley Trillium is considered endangered here so I tend to admire it and not use it. I will dig it up carefully and move it if its in a dangerous place I know it will get destroyed.
TH cool think about Trillium is I use it to know when Morrells are up. They both come up at the same time here. And they pretty much grow in the same area.
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I am trying to add more medicinals to my yard as well food crops. I currently have a few different mints and want to try and focus on perennials. Do you have any recommendations?
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@Cornelius All of the ones I have listed above are perennials except for chickweed depending on where you live and the berry bushes that are biennial. They are all great starter plants with the benefit of being multi-purpose.
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@Cornelius, I forgot what your growing zone is. Culantro is a good perennial that tastes like cilantro, but I think it would freeze. I plan on growing mine in a pot that I can bring in when the temperature gets too cold. It goes well with pigeon peas, another perennial that likes heat.
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Last year I started to study and try growing medicinal herbs and I am continuing that this year in additional to trying different fruits and vegetables.
Last year I was able to grow Marshmallow, Stingy Nettles, Mullein and Evening Primrose all of which survived the winter and are coming back.
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I am lucky they all grow naturally here @Lisa K Love them all and am just starting to use them more.
The Mullein can be used as a torch after ther flowers dry and when its green you can cut it and dip it in wax for a natural candle
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@Denise Grant you are lucky to have them growing naturally, here it is mostly generic landscaping plants before that it was a landing strip. And thanks for the info on Mullein!
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@Lisa K I just love Mullein. I introduced my niece to it last year and it now a favorite plant of hers.
You have a nice start to medicinal herbs!~
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@Denise Grant Thanks, looking forward to trying some new ones this year!
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I started a little medicinal garden last spring. I had borage, valerian, lemon balm, echinacea, chamomile, yarrow, anise hyssop and I want to say another but I can't recall and unfortunately it's not coming back up.
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I remembered the other one that I had planted last year for the first time in my new medicinal garden, lovage.
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@JennyT I love lovage
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@JennyT In addition to culinary & medicinal uses for lovage, it makes a great trap crop for black aphids. The first time I noticed, all of a sudden all the seed heads were black. On closer inspection they were covered with black aphids. So just clip the seed heads off into a paper bag and then burn it. No aphids on anything else!
Be prepared for it to get quite large. Mine gets to be over 7 feet tall with quite a good circumference. And it self seeds so you will get lots of babies.
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I am going to try to grow my own American ginseng and Moringa.
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