Cleavers: The Cleansing Velcro Plant

Today as I went wandering through the garden looking for cleavers to photograph I was captivated by the variety and abundance of weeds growing everywhere. 

 

Healers all, I felt such a gladness come over me. Every square metre of ground let run wild, had a fabulous collection of medicinal plants. Under the orchard where we have neglected to mow for nearly 3 months, and with the spring growth it was just delightful. Represented were so many plants I am already familiar with and so many more yet to discover. 

 

Cleavers, quite a nondescript plant and more often a real annoyance to most gardeners has been used for centuries as a champion to assist with lymphatic drainage, and detoxifying the body. 

 

All over the world and throughout so many different cultures this plant has been used for the same purpose. Now to me that is really saying something, and I certainly won't be looking at it in quite the same way anymore. Next time It's burred seeds stick to my clothes I'll discard them more carefully and bless them on their way. For more details read the full post.

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Spring Wild Green Cuisine (Archive for the ‘Cleavers’ Category)

How I Got Hooked on Weeds—and Why You Should, Too

When I moved to a small organic farm in 2004, I quickly got hooked on weeds (note plural). First, there would be salads of chickweed—a grassy-tasting plant that popped up just after the ground thawed in spring. Next, from the marshy banks of a creek, tender, peppery watercress would sprout. Soon after, dandelion greens would proliferate, adding a bitter note to those spring weed salads. And then, along an old wood road up the forested mountainside, would come a flush of stinging nettle—we'd harvest the leaves with gloves, boil their sting away, and add them to pastas and pizzas. Finally, by high summer, my favorite weeds of all would emerge from plowed fields: a high-rising, spinach-related green called lamb's quarters, and a low-slung, creeping plant called purslane, with its succulent, lemony leaves.

We never found much of a market for these delicacies (save for the watercress, which chefs loved). But they became staples of the farmhouse kitchen, supplements to the cultivated greens that went mainly to the farmers market and to our CSA shareholders. Now that I spend more of my time off the farm and in a city, one of the things I miss most is easy access to these flavorful wild foods.

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