Another stop on my journey to learning to live off the land, another wild herb found. Or something prophetic like that, right? Either way, I’m more than excited to announce that one of the most versatile plants for plant medicine has successfully doubled. To say I’m excited doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Known by many names, yarrow (achillea millefolium) is probably one of the most necessary plants to have on hand. Found across Europe, Asian and North America, you can readily spot yarrow by its feather-like leaves. It flowers in spring to summer and the variety in colors spans from white to pink, red, and yellow. But the leaves remain the most distinguish part of the plant.
Everyone should have it in their pantry. It’s versatility in the kitchen and it’s uses to help manage so many conditions makes it worth its weight in gold. In fact, it was once a very popular vegetable dish, being served similarly to how we serve spinach. It also makes a great replacement for tarragon in recipes.
The herbal uses seem like a never ending list. It seriously has some amazing properties that cover just about every single need. From being anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, anti-spasmodic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and more!
It has traditionally been used to staunch bleeding, help with decrease menstrual flow, stimulate menstruation (when amenorrhea is present), treat mastitis, help with toothache pain, relieve anxiety, help with insomnia, heal and tone the mucous membranes- even drying up a cough when sputum is present. It works well on the gallbladder and stomach to help with digestive issues, flatulence, and the stomach flu. It has shown to work well at dilating capillaries, increase blood flow, and treat and prevent varicose veins. It’s most common uses seem to be in managing fevers, providing pain relief, and preventing infections. It can be made into a tincture and used as a bug repellent also.
Yarrow can be used fresh as a poultice, in a salve, tea, dried and ground into a powder or tinctured in 100 proof vodka. And while all aerial parts are safe, the leaves and flowers are the most commonly used parts. Yarrow does come with a warning though. While generally safe, it isn’t recommended to ingest it while pregnant and/or nursing. Susun Weed also cautions against large amounts during menopause.
Make sure you are positively identifying all plants before using them for any medicinal or edible purpose. You wouldn’t want to confuse yarrow with something less friendly like poison hemlock. Thankfully, Grow Forage Cook Ferment has an excellent guide for double verifying some of these look-a-likes. Check it out here.
Have you found yarrow growing in your yard? What are you favorite uses? Looking to purchase some? Please check out our shop to find our locally harvested (wild from our farm) organically grown yarrow and remember to make sure you grow wild, get out in nature, and connect to your roots!
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