5 Medicinal Herbs Every Family Should Grow (Natural Healing at Home)

Maggie (00:01.985)
Dandelions. Are they the pesky weeds that you just can't get rid of? Or are you one of the many pesky humans who keeps trying to get rid of one of our creators' most wondrous gifts? Welcome to Women Folk Revival, where we are deeply rooted and wildly intentional. I'm Maggie.

Meara (00:23.926)
and I'm Meara And today we're getting off that porch into the yard, or at least Maggie's yard anyway. Maggie, what is your yard looking like this year? Because I know mine's a no-go with all of the spraying that the rental company has decided to do to our yard. So we've moved everything into baskets, containers, and grow bags. Actually, we had grow bags last year. So even if you don't own your own land, or if you do,

Maggie (00:30.124)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (00:41.836)
Yes.

Meara (00:51.778)
you can still grow your own medicine. Did you know that? It just looks a little differently depending on where you're planted. So before we get any further into things on a quick note, remember this is all for educational purposes and we're just sharing what we've learned and what we're using in our own homes. So we're not diagnosing your research.

Maggie (00:53.975)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (00:58.541)
short.

Maggie (01:10.463)
and always do your own information and make your best informed decisions. And let me just say that it's okay if you're one of those people that have been getting rid of your dandelions because Meara used to be one of those people.

Meara (01:18.508)
Yes.

Meara (01:28.204)
I'm the pesky one.

Meara (01:33.13)
I used to spray them. They were terrible or so I thought. But they're not. So let's talk about what is growing right now and what you're seeing pop up this season. Yeah, let's do that.

Maggie (01:33.61)
Yeah.

Maggie (01:44.193)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (01:47.627)
Yes.

Maggie (01:52.009)
Okay, so in my yard, and let me just say for reference sake, my husband and I kill our grass. We lay down tarps and cardboard in big sections at a time. And once everything is dead, we take it away and then we just see what grows. And it's always something new and it's something wonderful. So right now in our yard, have

White clover, we have red clover. We have dandelion. We have chickweed, hairy bittercress, purple dead nettle. We have, I also have some comfrey popping up. I have jewelweed popping up, which I thought it was way too early for jewelweed, but I've got a huge patch of grass where jewelweed is starting to come up already. I've seen cleavers and yarrow.

The flowers are now, but the leaves are just like the comfrey. And all of these things are available right now. They're not all edible, the majority of them are, but they're all medicinal.

Meara (03:05.686)
Yeah, a lot of these are also worldwide, not just local in your state. Let's dive a little bit deeper into a few of these. So for example, the Purple Dead Nettle. What do they look like and what can it be used for? I know last year I made a poultice using that with dandelion for joint pain. I pulled it up and tossed it a few years ago, but you know, Maggie helped me realize that.

Maggie (03:09.889)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (03:35.596)
you helped me realize that this was medicinal.

Maggie (03:38.766)
And purple dinnital is great for seasonal allergies. That's how I use it. Another, if you do suffer from allergies, goldenrod is another one. It's not up yet. It should start coming up here soon. And you're probably thinking goldenrod causes hay fever. It does not. It just blooms around the same time as ragweed and ragweed causes hay fever.

Meara (04:04.622)
That's the cause.

Maggie (04:07.399)
Golden Rod can help you through that. Back to Purple Dead Nettle. So it is, I think at most, maybe four or five inches high. It's got a square stem because it's part of the mint family. It is not true nettle, just called dead nettle. And it's purple and it is everywhere. It's got little purple flowers on it.

Meara (04:11.746)
Back to purple dead nettle.

Meara (04:29.614)
And it's purple.

Maggie (04:35.573)
It is similar to Henbit, so just don't go out and pick something without knowing what it is, because Henbit is bad for you. But yeah, typically, and when you're driving in the country and you see farmland and you just see this field of purple, that's generally all purple deadnettle. Yes, so you can always go if you have permission to go up and check out some of these.

Meara (04:55.95)
that's

Maggie (05:04.717)
Don't use it from farmland because they spray chemicals on crops and it won't be any good for you.

Meara (05:13.6)
else. You were telling me earlier not to use not to pick anything from the roadside as well, right?

Maggie (05:20.309)
Along the roadsides, yep. And any land that you're not sure if they spray or not, you know, always be safe than sorry, yeah.

Meara (05:23.202)
Why not?

Meara (05:33.55)
cautious. What's with the roadside? Is it just because of the back splash from, you know, the cars and the trucks and all of that?

Maggie (05:40.767)
Yeah, you know, and oil leaks and there's all kinds of pollutants that come and even, you know, the road itself is garbage. yeah.

Meara (05:48.878)
pretty nasty. They are with all those potholes here in Ohio. Okay.

Maggie (05:54.954)
Yeah, I mean what it's made from, know, especially when you know, they're they're laying it down and those poor people that that have to do that and all the health complications that so just stay away from roadsides stay away from, you know, crop fields. and like I said, any place where you're unsure if they if they spray or not.

Meara (05:58.061)
Right, now I got it.

Meara (06:19.096)
but you can still obviously go and find them and see what they're about and stuff like that. Try to identify them. So what's going on with Mullen? How do you say that? Meline? Meline?

Maggie (06:25.737)
Yes, yes you can.

Maggie (06:34.473)
No, million.

Meara (06:36.972)
Okay, I know that they're tall and they have fuzzy leaves.

Maggie (06:38.731)
I know. Okay, so mullion is a biennial, so it's around for two years. It'll start out as a rosette on the ground, and then a second year it'll grow into these tall, beautiful stalks.

Meara (06:55.662)
so it takes two years for them to grow. It's not like it dies in the first year and then comes back. Is that what a biennial means? What did you say? Biennial? That's pretty cool. Okay.

Maggie (06:57.25)
And yes, yes it does.

Maggie (07:06.667)
Yes. Biennial. Mm And Malian is very cool. I don't know enough about it yet. There's so many herbs. And the coolest thing about herbs is that they do so many different things. And, you know, if you put it into your body and, you know, safe manner or use it, however it's meant to be used, it will know what to do.

It'll go into your body and it will fix what needs to be fixed. These are these are miraculous medicines and and they are God given and we should know them and we should be using them. know, pharmaceutical drugs, they come in and they might cure a problem that you're having, but then they're going to create 15 more problems. Herbs don't do that.

they'll come in and they'll fix the problem. And then they might be like, hey, this is happening. So let's go ahead and take care of this too, before it becomes an issue for you. They're amazing. So million, you can actually use, you can smoke it kind of like a, like a smudge stick and you, you walk that smoke into your face. So you don't smoke it Meara We had this conversation earlier.

Meara (08:15.233)
Yeah.

Meara (08:28.59)
That's it!

Well, you never know. People try anything these days.

Maggie (08:35.499)
and you just kind of loft it. Kind of how you would use tobacco medicinally in that way. And it's great for all kinds of respiratory issues.

Meara (08:50.06)
It is, I do know that it's great for soothing the lungs and for chest support. Quick note, when you use it as a tea, you wanna strain it very well because it does have those really tiny hairs that can irritate your throat. I do know that. And I have heard it be called the cowboy toilet paper, but I couldn't remember why, so I had to look it up real quick. And it said it's called cowboy toilet paper because its large, soft, and fuzzy leaves provide a convenient, natural, and available alternative for hygiene.

Maggie (08:54.445)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (09:00.503)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (09:16.535)
Huge. Yes.

Meara (09:19.35)
in the American West.

Maggie (09:21.035)
Yes, huge leaves. And they are. so soft. So soft and lovely.

Meara (09:25.902)
So they use it like toilet paper then.

Maggie (09:29.805)
Sure, I know hikers use it. I do know that some people do get irritated by the hairs. I wouldn't use it if you just have to go number one. A little...

Meara (09:37.932)
Ew.

Maggie (09:48.8)
A little urine is not going to hurt you. There's actually doctors out there. There's one, I forget his name, but he's part of the doctors group and he actually speaks about, I think it's called urinology, where urine can be used in a medicinal way. You don't have to drink it. You can drink it, but you don't have to. You can kind of just put it on your skin. You let it set for a while because it's filled with stem cells and all kinds of goodness.

Meara (10:17.218)
Where are we going with this? No!

Maggie (10:17.842)
Anyways

Maggie (10:23.533)
So don't use Millian for toilet paper for number one, but I would say if you're in a situation, then go ahead and use it for number two. It's very soft, very lovely.

Meara (10:24.095)
Ha!

Meara (10:36.526)
or just find some water nearby and wash. But yeah, with that, okay. So moving on to Dandelion.

Maggie (10:42.113)
Well you can bury the leaf, Meara. You don't want to put your fecal matter in a creek or stream. You can bury the leaf when you're done with it. Keep it all safe and sanitary.

Meara (10:49.718)
No, why didn't say all that? You can poo in a hole and then get some water and wash your bottom.

Maggie (10:57.569)
Sure, just make sure you have that water go into the hole and don't release it into the stream.

Meara (11:04.12)
Meggie, who's pooping in a sh- nevermind. Anyways, we're moving on to Dandelion. Such weird image. Yeah, gotta give him that. Dandelion is a multitasker. The roots can be roasted for leaves, and then Meggie's absolute favorite. is- you are like the Dandelion queen with the salads and-

Maggie (11:10.113)
People are crazy.

People are crazy.

Yes.

Maggie (11:25.037)
So, you can do everything with dandelion. my goodness. And it's so good for so many things. So many things. And it's so safe. So all parts of the dandelion can be used. The flower, the stem, the leaves, the root. It can all be used. In fact, the root, not only can you make a tea from it, and you can make a tea from the leaves and the flowers as well.

Meara (11:33.741)
Multi-password.

Meara (11:37.474)
Mm-hmm. That is.

Maggie (11:53.359)
You can also make jelly from dandelions. I've seen that before. But you can also use the root to make a coffee substitute. Kind of how you would use chicory, which I think has a closer to coffee taste than dandelion. But still, still good. Dandelion is the king of herbs, in my opinion, just like frankincense is the king of oils.

Meara (11:58.351)
Honey and fusions.

Meara (12:24.12)
Okay.

Maggie (12:24.67)
It's you, it's, it's for everything. It's for everything. And yes, it's so, it's so versatile and it's everywhere. So let's just talk a little bit about the nutrition of dandelions because this is big. So vitamin A, extremely high in vitamin A, one of the highest wild greens of, with vitamin A. It's high in vitamin C.

Meara (12:28.577)
Ahem.

Meara (12:33.902)
It's everywhere.

Meara (12:39.63)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (12:53.204)
It's very high in vitamin K. There's also vitamin E and of course, then you have some of your minerals. Calcium, very high. Iron is high. Potassium is high. Magnesium. This plant is full. You know, and these are some of the most important vitamins and minerals that our bodies need. And vandalines have them.

Meara (13:06.278)
wow.

Meara (13:19.36)
Yeah, they are.

Maggie (13:23.694)
You know, not to mention all the things that they will, they will help, you know, they help with the aid and digestion. They're a diuretic. They can help. You can make salves with it for pain. Like extensive pain too. Yes. Liver support. They do everything that if you, if you look at your life right now, any ailments that you have, I promise you, if you start

Meara (13:37.41)
liver support.

Maggie (13:52.522)
Eating dandelion, excuse me, my goodness. I need some dandelion. You know, if you start eating dandelion and drinking dandelion tea and using the root, the root is very, very medicinal. Your health will be impacted so much.

Meara (13:59.215)
Or maybe a sip of water.

Maggie (14:22.081)
and you will just start feeling so much better just from Dandelion alone.

Meara (14:27.16)
Sounds like black seed. Black seed's very nutritional as well. Yeah, dandelions are all over the place. Even after they sprayed our yard, my husband's like, they're not gonna pop up. They're popping up. My kids, like, you guys used to eat yours. I remember last year, my kids started eating them. Because when you guys came over, you introduced us to eating the dandelion. And then my kids just didn't stop. you know, so it's all over the place.

Maggie (14:30.092)
yeah. Yep.

Maggie (14:45.323)
Mr. Dell.

Maggie (14:50.625)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (14:57.757)
I there's there's no way to get rid of them. OK, our creator wants you to have them. He's going to make sure that you get them. Man cannot cannot stop it. OK, man does not trump our creator. Man does not want you to have them because obviously if we're sick, then we're they make more money off of us. This is free, free medicine and free nutrition.

Meara (15:12.685)
Alright.

Meara (15:20.558)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (15:25.13)
It is. It is.

Maggie (15:28.021)
some of the most powerful medicine.

Meara (15:31.406)
really is and there's a lot you can do with them. Let's move on to Chickweed and Violet, the gentle giants.

Maggie (15:33.549)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (15:38.487)
Yes, chickweed is all over my yard and it's fantastic. It's just this carpet of, it's just so lovely. has these little white flowers on it and it's edible as well. you can make an entire salad out of chickweed if you wanted, or though you could add some dandelion leaves and dandelion flowers. You could add violet flowers to your salad and then

A little off topic here, but one of Meara's favorites, not really, hairy bittercress. You can also add to your salads. It's a very airy and wispy plant and flower. It is. And it's got a peppery taste similar to arugula. So if you like arugula, then you would like hairy bittercress. We'll see. There you go.

Meara (16:11.767)
Lord.

Meara (16:17.966)
It's pretty.

It's pretty.

Meara (16:29.166)
You're teaching me so many things because I didn't know half of this. I knew a lot of it, like the support with the medicinal side, but I didn't know like all these things you could do. So when you're sitting there talking about adding all these things into a salad, my mind instantly goes to wheat salad. What kind of dressing can I put on this? And that hairy bitter crust, the hairy piece, Lord, that's going to turn somebody off. you know, I'll mix it in with the

Maggie (16:53.41)
Whatever kind of dressing you want, Meara.

Meara (16:58.614)
regular salad that I get from the farmers market and I still use ranch. I'm learning how to make it but ranch, know, Ranch. See, we're not a million percent crunch. We're crunchy but I still like my ranch and I gotta get away from that.

Maggie (17:01.592)
Sure.

Maggie (17:06.204)
my goodness, that's all I use is ranch.

Maggie (17:16.014)
Mm-hmm. And let me just say, you're sitting here and talking about how I know, you know, I know so much about all this stuff. I know very little. That's how much there is to know about these herbs. That's just how miraculous they are. I mean, it's mind blowing.

Meara (17:29.934)
You

Meara (17:37.558)
Yeah, so the violets are good for the lymphatic support and chickweed is really good for your skin.

Maggie (17:41.452)
Yes. Yes. Aside from, yeah, aside from having so many minerals and vitamins in them as well. Violets are very fun. I'm very familiar with them. I have made a violet honey. I've made syrup from violets.

Meara (17:59.887)
What's what you did? Is that what you did last two years ago when you showed me and the whole thing was turning purple? What was that you were making? Was that? Yeah. I remember you doing that. was so cool.

Maggie (18:06.605)
Yes, that was violet syrup. Yep. And then I ended up, I ended up using that in my batter to make pancakes. And then I put the syrup on top of the pancakes and I had little violet flowers on them as well. And it was, it was lovely. It tasted so good. Violets are very sweet. You can make a lemonade with violets. Yes, they did. Yep. Yeah.

Meara (18:18.478)
I remember that.

Meara (18:25.112)
Thank you.

Meara (18:29.388)
Your kids helped you, didn't they? That sounds like a really fun project. Yeah.

Maggie (18:36.309)
My kids are, we have taught them to, if they see, you know, when the dandelions go to seed, they will run and charge at them and spread them. And we do, anytime we, they, you know, they go to seed, we spread them because we just want more and more. And they help me forage. They'll help me pick violets and dandelions and purple dead nettle.

Meara (18:43.362)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (18:51.886)
just won them all over. Yeah.

Meara (18:59.534)
Yeah, you always send me pictures of what you get. they're so fun to watch. The kids look so excited when you send those to me. You know, funny story. About three, four years? No.

Maggie (19:04.044)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (19:08.279)
Yeah.

Meara (19:15.352)
Gosh, we've really reconnected that long ago? No, three years ago. Yeah, so okay, four or five years ago, before Maggie and I reconnected, I didn't even realize that those white fuzzy seeds blowing all over the place were leftover from dandelions. I thought it was a whole separate weed. So the things you learn in such a short period of time and you look back and you go, man, was that silly? I didn't have a clue, but some people, some.

Maggie (19:22.893)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (19:30.145)
Really?

Meara (19:43.244)
Some people who aren't even crunchy or who are like us know that. I just, for some reason, I guess, I don't know why I didn't know that, but fun fact of the day.

Maggie (19:50.7)
Yeah, yeah, they do that. And so this will feel like a salt vessels. They will do that, too. They'll get that fluffy white. So this was edible, too, and medicinal. And those have thorny leaves on them. And where I love them, they're beautiful. I detest them because if you step on one of those leaves. my goodness. I'm always barefoot. And it is it is painful, but they're

Meara (20:18.055)
yeah.

Maggie (20:20.567)
They're beautiful flowers and they're good for you and they're good for the environment. I let them grow.

Meara (20:27.406)
Yeah, barefoot is. Being barefoot is painful. You and I are both barefoot. I've been barefoot my whole life. I used walk up to the store and have my friend go in, my childhood friend, and get me some snacks, because I never wore shoes to the store. And then Maggie comes along.

And here we are, driving to my house barefoot. I said, you wear shoes? You said, no. I said, oh my God, you're my soul sister. I don't wear shoes either.

Maggie (20:48.813)
My man, you know My dad has gotten on me my entire life go put shoes on go put shoes on, know I'll be helping him, you know build the deck or building something go put shoes on your ghost up on a nail I've never I've stepped on the nail once and I was much older and it was on a drunken night in a field with horses and I never got tetanus by the way, just poured some whiskey on it and it was fine

Meara (20:59.212)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (21:03.843)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (21:16.526)
Okay

Maggie (21:16.941)
I've gotten stung by bees maybe five times in my life. go barefoot. It's so good for you. And no, I don't, I don't drive with shoes on either because it, I need to feel the pedal and my dad particularly gets on me for that because it's unsafe and it's a law to wear shoes or whatever. Well, law or not, you know, we're all safer if Maggie doesn't have shoes on while she's driving. So I'm not going to wear shoes.

Meara (21:24.206)
Last year I got one.

Meara (21:31.981)
I don't either.

Meara (21:44.495)
Meg, can't drive without shoes on. No. So real quick, let's touch on yarrow and comfrey. I do want to say that ground ivy is also considered a herb, but like you said, it's one of the less known herbs. It's traditionally used for my congestion or ear infection, and it spreads really low to the ground. And then the yarrow and comfrey. It is. Yarrow and comfrey, the first aid hitters. Yarrow is amazing. I put it on my...

Maggie (21:49.655)
You

Maggie (21:55.639)
Mm-hmm. Yes.

Maggie (22:01.304)
Yeah. But grow it because it's beautiful. Yes.

Yes.

Meara (22:11.136)
At your discretion, I put it on my children. If it's not near their face, and even for adults, you don't want to put it in your face area because it's like a powder and if it gets in your lungs, it can upset your lungs.

Maggie (22:23.853)
You

I'm frozen here. Were you frozen? Just me? Okay, so Yoro, yeah, you dry the leaves and you make, it's called a septic powder from it. But it's phenomenal. I've, I mean, I've close to save somebody's life with Yoro before. And it stops blood instantly. And that I think was our...

Meara (22:45.911)
I remember that.

Maggie (22:53.806)
creator intervening because this woman was a neighbor of mine and we did not know each other very well but she called me up and she sliced the tips off of her fingers and wanted to know if I could come down and when I got there I don't want to say too much because it's pretty gruesome but her fingertips were like fountains and she was on blood thinners because she had just had surgery and I'm thinking my goodness you should go to the hospital and she's like no I I trust you and

Meara (23:00.654)
Thank you.

Maggie (23:24.202)
So I, you know, I put Yaro on her fingers and it's extremely painful. But it stops the bleeding instantly. It was instant. And I was even not familiar with, I knew what Yaro did, but I wasn't that familiar with it. And I had never used it in that capacity before, but it stopped the bleeding and she left it on and her fingers healed underneath of it. It kind of turned into a scab.

Meara (23:34.702)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (23:53.399)
It's also antiseptic and antimicrobial. And you know, can barely tell anything happened. They just, the gyro came off when her finger was healed and done. It's amazing.

Meara (23:58.457)
Okay.

Meara (24:08.436)
Yeah, I remember when you were telling me that story you're like, I really didn't know what I was doing. I just kept throwing it on there and the bleeding stopped. Yours was scary for you. I remember.

Maggie (24:16.16)
in.

And comfrey is wonderful too, also called knit bone. It will regrow bones and it will heal wounds exceptionally fast. Now one thing to know about comfrey is do not put it on a, you don't want to put it on a fresh wound. It is so fast at healing that if there is an infection, you could actually heal over the infection.

Meara (24:23.683)
at us.

Maggie (24:46.83)
So use something like yarrow or aloe So many so many herbs you can use for something in that sense But then once you know, it's it's clean and it's good and starting to throw comfrey on there and it'll it'll be gone in no time You will So they tell you not to eat comfrey I will say that people have been eating it for thousands and thousands of years But everyone will warn you not to eat it

Meara (24:58.382)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (25:03.694)
you

Meara (25:14.894)
Hmm.

Maggie (25:16.96)
I'm not telling you to eat it, I'm not telling you not to eat it. I'm just telling you that it has been ingested and you can make capsules of it as well, but know what you're doing first. your research and join in. Do an herb school.

Meara (25:17.262)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (25:31.382)
Yeah, that, with... Yeah, for sure. So the most important part is don't guess. If you are 100 % sure, if you're not 100 % sure of what you're picking, leave it alone. There's tools like Picture This or Seeker Amazing. Is there one in particular that you use?

Maggie (25:39.97)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (25:45.207)
Yes.

Maggie (25:48.908)
Mm-hmm. I use picture this.

Meara (25:52.726)
Okay, yeah, they're like a botanist in your pocket pretty much. Or you can grab like a field guide, like the old school approach. Okay, so notice the patterns too. Patterns are really important. Square stems often mean mid-family. Learning the patterns will help you identify plants pretty much anywhere you go. So from Maggie's yard to your own backyard or your balcony. So here's your challenge for this week. Go outside and find one plant you usually ignore.

Maggie (25:55.608)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I've got lots of books. Yep.

Meara (26:18.99)
Take a picture, identify it and learn one thing about it. And then see how that changes your space. Even if a single step, even a single step like that can change your space, whether it's sprawling a yard or balcony with pots or a container garden. You know, your roots are deep when your intention is wild. So remember that also this is all for educational purposes.

Maggie (26:43.766)
I like it.

Meara (26:48.108)
We are just sharing what works for us that might not work for you. And this is definitely not medical advice. Always check with a qualified professional before you try something new.

Maggie (26:48.248)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (26:59.0)
But absolutely go out and eat a dandelion. We all know what dandelions are. Eat it.

Meara (27:02.456)
Try it and let us know what you think on our Facebook page or our Facebook community page because I am interested. That hairy bittercress, I wanna know what you guys think of that. And thank you for being a part of this revival. Keep your rhythm steady, your heart intentional and your roots wherever you are planted. Until then.

Maggie (27:07.939)
Yeah.

Maggie (27:14.688)
It's good.

Maggie (27:25.07)
Stay rooted and stay wild.

Meara (27:27.585)
Stay wild!