Towpath Herbs

 Towpath Herbs by Michelle Martin

Intro

The green approach/ Centuries old herbal remedies have been taken away if you like forgotten and no longer passed down through generations. certain remedies recommended are based more on superstition, old pagan and religious festivals and beliefs than strong evidence.

The forgotten remedies are due to the lack of knowledge by today's society reformed by what we see on TV and chemical economy in the Weston world. We have lost and forgotten to use what is natural and is available in our towpaths, woods, mountains, and rivers.

I hope you will receive your natural instinct to go foraging for wild flowers growing naturally ready for use 

On my journeys around the canals in Britain, I have come across many herb wild flowers. What you find is very rewarding both beneficial for your health and as a refreshing drink or use in salads and soups, and its free.

Hopefully this blogger will help you collect the many edible herbs on our canal towpaths as you cruise around, I have chosen familiar common and easy to find and recognize herbs that you can use for medical and common ailments.

importantly have fun with your findings with yourself and your family,

Who knows you may be teaching the young ones that it is not just the supermarkets that have edible food.

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Cleavers

Cleavers also known as sticky willy.

My favorite plant on the towpath. I dry this out every year, try to pick it before it goes to seed. Fresh is best but drying it out can still make a good tea infusion.

Deep acting cleanser and diuretic which will strengthen and stimulate the lymphatic system and hence and improve the immune system and fluid balance.

This is also a long lasting remedy for viral infections and for other diseases of the lymphatic system where there are swollen glands such as tonsillitis.

The infusion will sooth all mucus membranes, reducing information in the mouth, gut, vagina and bladder. It soothes irritated membranes of the urinary tract and promotes urine flow.

Used externally as well as internally it is also a beneficial help to dry skin diseases such as psoriasis & dandruff.

Crushing the leaves can be used on sores & blisters. The roots yield a red dye and the seeds make a good substitute for coffee.

The young leaves can be added to salads- soups.

It is said that Cleavers has been effective for cancer, these claims can not be disproved or confirmed in today's research.

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Infusion.

To make a tea, just take a handful of Cleavers and add hot water. with all the herbs you can mostly do this. Leave to stand for 5 mins.

If you do not have a coffee pot like this one just use a teapot and use a sieve.

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Meadowsweet

 June to August

Meadowseet can be taken as a remedy for colds, influenza, high blood pressure, and any other blood disorders.

The simplest is a infusion. On two occasions I have made it to strong and the taste is not great, just use a palm full of fresh flowers to make it not to strong. If you add licorice to the meadowsweet the taste is do much nicer.

You can dry the flowers out on a dry day by spreading them on a cloth to let the insects disperse and when you go picking them the smell is lovely.

Meadowsweet glycerine medicine.

add 60% Glycerine to 40% water

Pour this mixture into a jar with your meadowseet flowers and put the jar in a sunny windowsill. 

after 2 weeks sieve the mixture through a coffee paper and use a sieve to support it. once the liquid is all in the jug, bottle it and label it.

Meadowsweet is similar to the chemical drug aspirin, it can bring down a fever and diarrhea. So using meadowsweet it can help illnesses for which one would prescribe aspirin and help cure articular rheumatism, gout, kidney, bladder complaints, cellulitis, arteriosclerosis and insomnia. 

Meadow sweet tea and medicine uses

indigestion

excess stomach acid

gastritis

heartburn

arthritis

rheumatism

hiatus hernia

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Great Mullein

June to September

I have not really found this plant yet, and I have not read enough on it but it seems a very useful herb for all sorts of ailments.

Great mullein is clothed with soft, whitish wholly hairs. It can reach the height of 6ft 2m. The yellow flowers grow in clusters at the top of the stem. The stalks of the plant were dipped in suet or pitch and used as candles.

This plant is very mucilaginous with a soothing softness and contains antiseptic properties.

Externally an ointment or compress can help towards burns, piles, ulcers, chilblains, skin infections, neuralgia, and painful rheumatic joints. It is also mildly sedative.

The dried leaves can be put in a herbal cigarettes

Before you drink it you must strain it through a muslin to eliminate the fine hairs on the leaves which can cause irritation inside the mouth and and skin.

To make a drink put the flowers and leaves in boiling water and infuse for 15 mins, strain the liquid through a fine sieve or muslin into your cup.

for a tea the uses are

Dry irritable cough

bronchitis

swollen glands

To make a oil use virgin olive oil, pick the flowers on a dry sunny day and lay them on paper to dry, when dry put them in a jar and pour the oil on them.

Use a cloth to seal the jar with a rubber band not the lid.

Leave it in a sunny window for 2 weeks.

When the flowers have faded the oil is ready to pour slowly into another jar, there will be a layer of water at the bottom, leave this behind.

uses

earache

nerve pain

hemorrhoids / piles

chilblains

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Yarrow

for me I have collected yarrow and hung it to dry and save through the year, it makes a nice calming drink.

It flourishes along the towpath, the Greeks were said to carry this plant into their battles preventing open wounds from bleeding, I had a splinter at a lock and I pulled it out and the blood kept flowing so I chewed a yarrow leaf and held it on the wound and also rubbed it in for 1 minute, it soon stopped, a leaf stops a nose bleed. By making a tea with the flowers and leaves it can help a heavy period, because it has the ability to stop bleeding and break up stagnant blood preventing clotting, it can also help a cold by provoking perspiration also soothing indigestion, preventing flatulence and clear catarrh, mucus problems.

A compress made from the infusion or dilutes tincture can soothe varicose veins.

If you inhale yarrow by the means of steam from a bowl it can relive hay fever.

Yarrow also help high blood pressure by dilating the capillaries, and also thrombosis, bleeding beneath the skin, as well as hemorrhoids.

For a wound strip and use the leaves and pack into a wound, it is antibacterial naturally so you will not get an infection from the leaves. This is an amazing herb.

You can make a tea with the flowers and leaves.

Uses with a tea & tincture.

Colds and fevers

high blood pressure

tension

weak digestion

blood clots

heavy periods

varicose veins

Alternatively to make a tincture use vodka.

Chop fresh leaves and flowers, put in a jar with the vodka and cover. Leave in a dark cupboard for 2 weeks. Shake it every 2 days and then strain and bottle it.

Take 20 drops in water 3 times a day

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Feverfew 

I love this herb, it is one of my favorites.

Take a leaf off this plant a chew it, the taste is very strong and to you it maybe unpleasant but it is worth it, you will recognize the taste as being similar to a headache tablet, that's because it is a natural headache relief. 

If you suffer with headaches and migraines this is the best form of relief.

There is many other ailments this plant is useful for 

treatment of fevers, rheumatoid arthritis, stomach aches, toothaches, insect bites, infertility, and problems with menstruation and labor during childbirth.

I found Feverfew growing on the Macclesfield canal by a bridge but I have seen it in many places I have traveled on my narrowboat. It is worth growing it in your garden and on your boat as a very important helper to relieve your pain.

I love it.

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