Story of Yarrow

"Yarrow has feathery, ferny, soft leaves of a dark jade colour. On woody, erect stems, its flowers will bloom between 12 inches and 24 inches above its base. Flowers are composed of hundreds of small pearly white florets, compacted into flat bracts.
In the spring, yarrow smells like fresh lime."

It is truly surprising what one encounters when exploring herbs.I first met my Yarrow plants while hiking in Guelph, Ontario. I had found a railroad with a very large embankment. Guelph is a garden city so the area was truly beautiful with flowers.
Having very little, I picked a bouquet of wildflowers and made myself a dried flower arrangement.

Alternative Paths: The Reason for this Website

A man I had met on the street had recommended Yarrow tea and Evening Primrose Oil as natural alternatives for anticoagulant medicines.

I had been terribly depressed about my blood clotting problem, as well as my circumstances in Guelph, so I went for an all or nothing approach and quit taking my prescription pharmaceuticals, replacng these with Yarrow and EPO.

I was extremely surprised to find that my blood clotting disorder diminished in a short time, and I was actually cured!!

I liked my herb wreath so much I took it with me when I moved to the Ottawa Valley after a new job.

In two more years I had moved from my townhouse to an apartment on the river. I still had my dried flowers. I planted the wreath that I had kept and hoped for the best ; I had very little money and wanted to plant something.

The first year I was disappointed to find two tiny feathery ferns about an inch high from the ground. But the next year I enjoyed the softest and most lovely Yarrow I had ever seen.

It had made many clumps over the winter and grew very beautifully in the enriched compost plus soil and hose-watering. The Yarrow you see in the fields is often very dry and continues to bloom even in sand, but it is half-sized and tough.

I picked my yarrow first for tea, when the stalks and leaves were young and tender and the blooms new. When it is fresh and new, placing it in a wash bucket of cold water extracts a lovely real lime scent- so the plant is at the time most mellow and exquisite.

Yarrow in Tea

I use dried Yarrow flowers in arrangements, and have also experimented with tea blends.

Since I gave these to a Doctors' extended scientific family, it would be rude to elaborate the teas blends, their having found what I believed about the herb blend to be functional medicinally, but a version of this is to be found in Companions / Recipes.

I have often bunched dried yarrow into a tea egg and use it for healthful flavouring in soups in the winter. Whether you know it or not, it is giving a tonic to your blood and digestion.

As you will see from the yarrow chart, yarrow is made into a preparation for hemmhorhoids, among many healthful uses, so drinking it is an internal balm, if you resent touching that which is unspeakable . ooh la la!





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