As an instructor at SIHA, I teach my herbalists to follow nature, and spring is the perfect time to listen. As the earth is beginning to renew itself for the new year, it is supplying us with wonderful, beautiful nourishment….yes, the first plants that pop up in spring!
I know we have all heard of Spring Tonics as folklore, but these tonics play a very important purpose in our lives that many, unfortunately have forgotten. It is time that we start looking to nature to guide us in our health once again.
As I was walking around my yard, I saw a few of our spring tonic friends already: dandelion shoots, chickweed, plantain and red clover. I know more will be coming soon but let’s talk about how we can use these plants now for their special nourishing properties.
Chickweed is a very common plant in just about everyone’s yard. It is highly valued for its therapeutic constituents known as saponins, which loosely translated means “soap-like”. Chickweed’s soap-like property aids the body in absorbing fat soluble vitamins and helps to rid the body of accumulated fats from the winter. It contains many vitamins and minerals as well, beta-carotene, calcium, magnesium, potassium, niacin, Vit. C and zinc, just to name a few.
Chickweed can be eaten raw in a salad, juiced, cooked or made into a tea. It aids the liver, kidneys, lungs, stomach and skin.
Next we have our dandelion, often called a noxious weed. This is one of the herbs no herbalist would want to be without. The entire dandelion plant can be eaten, leaves, roots and flowers. Dandelion is as a blood builder and cleanser because of its high content of Vit. K, Vit. C, Vit. E, manganese and calcium. Dandelion is excellent for the liver, kidneys, skin and blood.
The leaves can be added to salads or cooked as you would any other greens. The roots can be roasted for coffee or used in stir-fry meals, and the flowers can be made into a tea or just simply added to your salad and eaten. The raw juice squeezed from the stem is an excellent remedy for warts.
Plantain is a great plant that grows all season long, and with good reason! The leaves help to soothe and eliminate inflammation from bee stings, spider bites, cuts and bruises. The leaves should be macerated (either cut up or chewed up) and applied to the affected area. Plantain is very high in Vit. A, Vit. C, beta-carotene and calcium. When eaten, it has a wonderful ability to remove inflammation and mucous of the throat.
Plantain can be made into a tea or used in a salad or juiced. The younger leaves are less bitter in the spring. As the summer wears on, the leaves and stems become somewhat bitter, but that doesn’t bother me, I eat them anyway. These are just a few reasons I welcome spring; it is a wonderful time to rejuvenate the entire body.
If you would like to make a Spring Tonic with dried herbs that you buy, I recommend this one;
Bohemian Blood Tonic
Burdock root Arctium lappa
Dandelion root Taraxacum officinale
Yellow dock Rumex crispus
Blue violet Viola odorata
Chickweed Stellaria media
Plantain Plantago major
Cleavers Galium
Nettle Urtica dioica
Blend the herbs to your taste, steep in hot water for 10 minutes, remove herbs, add honey if needed and Enjoy your Spring Tonic.
A note of caution; if you are not sure if your plants have or have not been sprayed with a chemical for weed control, please do not pick and eat it. Also, you must be fully confident in your ability to properly recognize the species of plant correctly before you attempt to consume them in any way. At SIHA, we have a great Family Herbalist course that will help you get started with identifying plants as well as many other natural ways of taking care of yourself and family naturally.
For more information on the Family Herbalist course and others at SIHA, please visit our course catalog at https://southerninstituteofnaturalhealth.com/courses.php.