Yarrow

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Peanut

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Only three species of yarrow are considered native to North America, Siberian yarrow (Achillea sibirica, northern US and Canada), Chinese yarrow (Achillea alpina in Canada but not the US) and common yarrow (Achillea millefolium), which is in every state and province.

Yarrow is one of the most important medicinal plants in the history of mankind. It grows in the northern hemisphere around the world. There are written records that the ancient chinese used it along with the ancient greeks and the romans.

The USDA even has Ethnobotanic data: Several tribes of the Plains region of the United States including the Pawnee and Chippewa tribes used common yarrow. The Pawnee used the stalk in a treatment for pain relief. The Chippewa used the leaves in a steam inhalant for headaches. They also chewed the roots and applied the saliva to their appendages as a stimulant. The Cherokee drank a tea of common yarrow to reduce fever and aid in restful sleep.

The truth is... all tribes used this plant for 100's of purposes...

Yarrow has many, many uses. I’m sure ancient peoples without written language were using it. Who knows how much of their knowledge survived.

The genus name Achillea comes from the ancient Greek warrior Achilles. Homer’s lliad says Achilles used yarrow during the Trojan Wars. He used it to stop bleeding from battle wounds. It’s been used for this purpose through out the 2400 years since.

I’ve used it to save my donkey’s life when he was bleeding to death on a Sunday. I got him to eat a handful of feed soaked with a little yarrow tincture and honey. 12 minutes later the bleeding stopped. Important – yarrow is not a coagulant! It a blood balancer, some describe it as blood mover. It makes blood do exactly what it is supposed to do, it is the “Master of Blood”.

Example - I sent yarrow tincture to a lady I know. She used to help more than one young couple get pregnant. Young women have been using yarrow to help them get pregnant for millennia.

Yarrow is wonderful with many women’s health issues, far too many to list here. The most comprehensive account of yarrow as a female medicine was by the late Maria Treben, an Australian herbalist. She also recommended that every woman from 13 to 90 have a cup of yarrow tea once in a while as a general safeguard.

The Chinese use yarrow to keep stagnant blood from turning into bad blood which according to chinese medicine causes cancer. They also use yarrow for fevers that cause bleeding. It’s on my list of herbs for viral hemorrhagic fevers including Ebola.

My favorite write up on yarrow is 19 pages of fine print in a book by Mathew Wood… Any part of the body blood flows through can be affected by yarrow. This is a plant every prepper should know.

Yarrow is rare where I live so I grow it, it’s a tough hardy plant. Example… pic #1 yarrow from my yard is trying to grow onto my concrete slab porch and is blooming. Now that’s a plant that is easy to grow. :D

Pic#2 yarrow in a pot on my porch. It’s the plant I bought at lowes the other day that almost died. It’s flourishing now. Pics 1&2 were taken tonight.

Pics #3&4 a white blooming yarrow growing beside a pine thicket on a lonely stretch of country road. The county did a lot of work here last summer on the shoulder of the road. Did they kill the yarrow… nope. I took these photo’s last week.

The last pic is a white yarrow in a pot either last year or the year before. Sometimes yarrow will have a yellow bloom.

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Peanut, Thanks, thanks, and thanks again for such a detailed post, with the needed pictures for us city folks (me). This is very important information for good health in a SHTF event or even if way out on the range (think Retreat Venom Jockey) . Are there look alike plants to worry about? This seems like a hardy plant, would it be viable in my Desert Valley? What is the best way to store the useful parts? Now for more city slicker questions: How would I best use / fix this plant--- Ointments, tea, tincture? See I am a complete novice to plant life and their ability to save my life or feed me and I am not bashful about asking the folks (you) that know this stuff. I also liked your suggestion about planting helpful plants verses just plants that are pretty. Being a Desert dweller, I am especially interested in helpful plans with lots of needles/thorns/ pointy painful deterrents. I am sure that just about every member here could raise plants that would be helpful and maybe a deterrents if needed. I especially like the idea of a plant that most would not recognize as beneficial or is good food. Information is power but information the Snowflakes don't know is also a form of power. Please continue posting and if you are willing, maybe the MEMBERS (hint, hint, there guests) could make requests for information on plants in their specific area's. I know that would be a tremendous amount of work, so maybe just a few posts, as time and health allows. I for one am extremely thankful for your interest and help to make this forum as great as it is. Members make the forum, and you are one of our great assets.
 
I'm not a master herbalist, but I do learn from a few. It will flourish in disturbed soils. I witnessed this on that country road. For several years that yarrow had struggled to grow, just a few pitiful blooms. After the county plowed all that up with a road grader last summer... Now there are hundreds of plants coming up.

I buy a plant at lowes every spring. I'm sure one can be ordered from the net.

I make tincture every year for internal use. I also dry some leaves for external applications or a tea if I had the need. The ladies can buy dried yarrow tea on amazon... hint, hint... buy enough tea for a nice bath, yarrow will clear up Varicose veins, which are stagnant blood, yarrow moves blood.

If you want to see if yarrow grows where you live... google "yarrow usda" you will find a usda page with a map... start zooming in on where you live, once your state fills the map you will see which counties yarrow has been reported growing in. You can do this with any plant. Hint... plants grow in counties that have never been reported to a university or the usda. The way they reported... college botany students go out... find, document etc.

Oh... TMT, get you some prickly pear... Opuntia sp, great defense and even better medicine... also food and water in a pinch. ;)


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Yarrow is one of my favorite "go-to" medicinal plants, for all the uses you mentioned and more. It is incredibly useful in the vegetable garden as well. More on that in a bit, but first I must ask you which of Mr. Wood's books are you referring to (with 19 pages of yarrow info)? I have been trying to decide which of his books to buy next, and that one would be my choice. (I don't know of ANY books that devote 19 pages to yarrow, and if it is your favorite, I want it f'sure, lol.)

My favorite write up on yarrow is 19 pages of fine print in a book by Mathew Wood… Any part of the body blood flows through can be affected by yarrow. This is a plant every prepper should know.

I love, love LOVE yarrow in the garden, and have transplanted a goodly amount of wild yarrow which is kept interplanted among my medicinal and culinary herbs because it is known to enhance herbal essential oil production.

Yarrow is a great insect control plant, both for its pest repelling properties and for attracting beneficial insects that eat or parasitize many insect pests. For that reason, I plant it freely in borders.

It is also a great natural fertilizer that is high in minerals. A few handfuls tossed into the compost pile helps to speed things up.
 
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@Grizzleyette___Adams I own 4 books written by Matthew Wood and wouldn't trade any of them. The one with the great yarrow write up is "The Book Of Herbal Wisdom". In some ways, my favorite. It teaches so much about the history of herbal medicine... how it was taught and practiced, going all the way back to the ancient Greeks.

Matt is a facebook friend, sometimes if I post a plant photo and quote him, he replies... The last time was a couple of years ago... About a shrub called "Monk's Pepper". I was honored to learn he follows a lowly wild crafter... There are several such great herbalists that post on my page from time to time, such wonderful knowledge they share that isn't written in books. It's embarrassing if I get something wrong but the best lessons come with a little pain. ;) They promptly correct me. o_O

Although I'd be welcome as a full time student to any of them it's just not possible for me. So, I learn slowly through FB.

So, are you saying yarrow is a "nitrogen fixer" for soil? Can you refer me to your sources? Most plants in the legume family are nitrogen fixers, I've never read this about yarrow, its not a legume. Not doubting you, just haven't read it. :)
 
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@Grizzleyette___Adams

So, are you saying yarrow is a "nitrogen fixer" for soil? Can you refer me to you sources? Most plants in the legume family are nitrogen fixers, I've never read this about yarrow.

I mentioned that yarrow is "a great natural fertilizer that is high in minerals." (It is not a nitrogen fixer.)

There have been much written about yarrow being a mineral-rich fertilizer:

https://www.google.com/search?q=yar...ome..69i57.12008j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
 
@Grizzleyette___Adams I own 4 books written by Matthew Wood and wouldn't trade any of them. The one with the great yarrow write up is "The Book Of Herbal Wisdom". In some ways, my favorite. It teaches so much about the history of herbal medicine... how it was taught and practiced, going all the way back to the ancient Greeks.

Matt is a facebook friend, sometimes if I post a plant photo and quote him, he replies... The last time was a couple of years ago... About a shrub called "Monk's Pepper". I was honored to learn he follows a lowly wild crafter... There are several such great herbalists that post on my page from time to time, such wonderful knowledge they share that isn't written in books. It's embarrassing if I get something wrong but the best lessons come with a little pain. ;) They promptly correct me. o_O

Although I'd be welcome as a full time student to any of them it's just not possible for me. So, I learn slowly through FB.

So, are you saying yarrow is a "nitrogen fixer" for soil? Can you refer me to your sources? Most plants in the legume family are nitrogen fixers, I've never read this about yarrow, its not a legume. Not doubting you, just haven't read it. :)

Thanks a bunch! I will order "The Book of Herbal Wisdom" soon. I can hardly wait to get my hands on it.
 
How in the world do get it past your lips, the stuff is so foul smelling and nasty tasting, a goat won't even it! lol

If your are desperate to have a baby or desperate not to bleed to death... It's pretty easy...

Other wise check for your local "all you can eat buffet" if you are looking for greens... the one near me has senior discount! ;)
 
Echinacea, Goldenseal and Yarrow, over the years I've used a little bit of each, all are rather tough to get past my lips, especially if I got a strong whiff of them before taking them. For me, Goldenseal did the best in helping get rid of a very strong case of bronchitis, a good understanding of what each can do is good to have on hand. One thing I have found is that they seem to work best when seldom used, frequently as a last resort, probably due to them being very strong herbs even when taken in small amounts. We use Echinacea for knocking colds before they can get a hold on us, anytime we feel a sore throat coming on it puts a stop to it going any further. We have had yellow and white Yarrow growing on our place ever since we moved here, even used it in flower arrangements taking it to church on occasion when the flower heads were big, also did this with Bear Grass blooms which had a great fragrance that filled the whole building.
 
I just remembered a couple of old tricks that I like to use to down nasty-bad tasting herbs.

If the herb is alcohol-soluble, I will make a tincture of it which is much more concentrated than as a tea. A few drops at a time under the tongue will be quickly absorbed into the system. Some herbs are very potent and a few drops are enough; others require more.

I let about three drops or so of the tincture sit under my tongue for just a few minutes without allowing it to reach my taste buds, then I take a swig of ice cold water and quickly swallow what is left of the drops in my mouth. Then I repeat the procedure until the required dosage is completed.

Ice cold water helps to deaden the taste buds, and allow you to swallow bad tasting medicines without too much trouble, so if your herb is not alcohol-soluble and is more potent in a water-based tea, then chill it until ice cold before swallowing it.
 
Really enjoyed reading about Yarrow! I have a question in regards to the color..from my understanding only the white is medicinal is that true? I bought a white yarrow plant last year then found a wild plant at my brothers house only a few miles away from my house..I had no idea that it was native to my State of NY..As of past 3-years is when I really got started growing my medicinal landscape and making my own medicines..Ive been making my own Elderberry tinctures for 5-years and have had nothing but good results from it.
 
Really enjoyed reading about Yarrow! I have a question in regards to the color..from my understanding only the white is medicinal is that true? I bought a white yarrow plant last year then found a wild plant at my brothers house only a few miles away from my house..I had no idea that it was native to my State of NY..

Color of the bloom doesn't matter... where the a yarrow plant grows decides it potency as a medicine (as with most medicinal plants).

Yarrow is native to almost all of north america. There are actually 3 native species. It likes cooler climates, the further south you go it becomes more rare. Yarrow loves upstate NY!
 
Last week I heard at the barbershop the county wasn't going to bushog or mow the county road right of ways this year. They were looking to contract to a private company. This means chemical sprays! They are going to kill the thousands of medicinal plants I enjoy seeing when I drive to town.

There is only one patch of yarrow within 20 miles of here. I decided to try to save some of it. I dug up two clumps from the shoulder of the road and put them large pots on my porch.

Both clumps are putting up new sprouts in their new home. I guess they are happy campers!

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Yarrow babies!!!! May they grow tall and fine!

Now that made me smile... yarrow babies! :D

Most wild plants are hearty, down right tough. But Yarrow! Color me impressed. I was surprised when it survived the road grader in 2017. But this is amazing, 5 days after I dug it out of the shoulder of a road and stuck it in a pot it started putting up sprouts! The clump in the other pot is about 2 days behind this one. It has 2 or 3 tiny sprouts starting to grow.

A better shot of plant number 1... It has 3 more sprouts on the far side.

Most of the dead stuff is pine straw, after all, it was growing at the edge of a pine thicket. Of the clumps I transplanted there was about 5% loss.

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>sigh< The little babies actually look joyful! I can almost hear them laughing--no, chortling!--through the computer screen.

I love yarrow so much that I tend to anthropomorphize them, lol.


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