I had an old Italian neighbor friend who’s yard was nothing but ‘weeds’. She schooled me so I wouldn’t harm them, explaining that ALL of her plants were edible and medicinal plants brought here by immigrants (often at great cost). She was 96 years of age and in better shape than me
@@ruthl51 all women were/are herbalists - men hunt and women gather (who goes shopping? - tis endemic in our make-up) read eating on the wild side by nina etkin anthropological - pub by uni of arizona - blow your mind ruth about our ways
I was a wrangler on a Resort and horses always were getting weird wounds... one day I said to my boss dont call a ver just yet I have a natural remedy! I gathered many plantain plants an ground them well and added warm bran mash then applying to the swelling wrapping well and a in several hours a huge splinter was retrieved from that dressing! My boss was truly amazed at that !!
Aloha. I live in Hawaii and I got bit by something. At first I didn't know what it was. There were 2 marks. Some people said it was a spider bite and some people said it was a centipede. I found out as few days later it was a centipede. I used essential oils initially that were helping but not doing the trick totally. I noticed it was hot and becoming red. I literally had a dream about plantain and told a friend who was studying Hawaiian medicine. She got me some from her friend's yard since her friend did not spray and told me to chew it and put it on top of the bite and wrap it in saran wrap. I laid there for an hour and I could feel the poison leaving the site. I did it a few more times and it did its job. I am so grateful for plantain. It grows on our campus at school and I always point it out to my 2nd graders when we are walking on campus. Mahalo for the video and sharing the many uses!
I had this happen to me 2 weeks and since where we rent they spray I had no Plantain. But my neighbor has a ton and I got permission to use it. I could feel the poison leaving the bite. I am sure it was a Brown recluse spider bite. The skin was starting to degenerate and in 4 to 5 days the skin was regenerated! I used a police and changed it 3x a day. I was so excited I am telling everyone! Since I live where we have winter I was wondering if I pick it and freeze it would it still hold it's healing properties? Guess I will try to find out!
@@elainesiebel9212you can make a tincture with it. You can dehydrate it, infuse oil with it, then make a salve with it! I have purchased a Plantain tincture at a local Farmers Market, but will also make my own. It's easy, but takes time.
@@elainesiebel9212 I think you could dry it easily. Either in the sun or in a food dryer (just never go over 40 degrees in a dryer, in order to preserve all the nutritional and medical substances)
That's a neat idea. Buy just wanted to say you might want to boil your water from the spring though, a teacher of ours got a clear glass jar full of spring water so she could hold it up to the light to show us that there were basically almost microsopic creepy critters in the water and that's why you want to boil it first . But thats an awesome idea of your Grand ma 🙂🙏💖
Upon discovering the insect apocalypse back after college in 2011 I vowed to never treat my yard with chemicals and to learn my land. All these years later and I’m still learning, thank you.
@@WineberryHill Alas, if only what we are all learning was true. I live near an old man who is in a costly and abusive relationship with glyphosate, who believes the Earth is flat, lightning can't kill you, pollution laws are needless, democrats are all in league with George Soros and Ashkenazi people to take over the world with lizard people, windmills cause cancer, and that Trump is an honest politician with America's best interest at heart.
I have this plant in my yard. Didn't know what it was. When I asked my local "Master Gardeners" I was told it was a forage plant and not good to keep in the yard. I liked the look of it, so I didn't kill it. Now I'm even happier with that choice. thank you for the information on this powerhouse plant.
I have both broad and narrow leaf in my medicinal garden and leave it to grow in some areas anyway. My store cupboard is filled every year with teas, tinctures and ointments and I never need to go near a doctor. I was taught how to select and make all those things as a child growing up in the Highlands of Scotland. Plantain is called Slan Lus there - the healing plant.
WOW! I once had a short trip to Canterbury, but really wanted to go to Scotland (too old and too poor now) because my relatives came from Tyne on Wear near the border (they were Scots). Thank you so much for sharing that story!
I have been aware of some of the benefits of plantain for many years. When my daughter was young, she got a bee sting when we were out. There was plantain growing right under us, so quickly chewed some up and soothed her sting. Recently I was on a hike, and needed to relieve my bladder. Thought I had found a good hidden spot, then my skin started stinging like I’d encountered nettles. Did a quick Seek plant identification, and sure enough, those plants I was in was wood nettles, of which I was nor familiar! I didn’t know what to do, but saw some plantain growing along the trail, so thought I’d try it. Chewed it up, and spread it over all the stings, and voila! The stinging went away, practically immediately!
My favorite use of plantain is as to rub the leaf in my hands until juicy and apply to bee stings. It takes out the sting immediately and it doesn't swell or anything, just heals. Works also on spider bites.
Growing up in Europe, my grandmama taught me to use this plant for scrapes, small wounds and mosquito bites. It always worked. Since that time, I always have had a respect for it, even in the USA. Same respect, as for dandelions, which are the best cleanser for our liver! I never used chemicals on my lawn and chemical spraying services guys make fun of me, seeing yellow flowers in my front yard. How little they know!
One of my sons would put it in a blender and then in an icecube tray in the freezer. He worked at facility that would bring in classes for outdoor education. If a student was stung he would get a plantain icecube to place on the spot. It worked!
Put in hot water, let it steep then cool. Put it on your face. It feels wonderful and improves the complexion. I keep it in a glass jar in the fridge to use for a couple days. Excellent too in your bath to sooth your skin. Put in a piece of muslin, tie and float in the water.
Narrow leaf plantain does pretty much the same things and my courtyard is full of it. I recommend a video on Lambs Quarters. It’s another amazing plant!
Yes, I love lambs quarters when I was 5 or 6 my Mother would send me out to gather it, It's delicious, I'm 66 now I love free wild food, wild mushrooms, and asparagus both green and white, garlic ramps, berries, thistle, nettles, dandelion greens, I could go on and on, wild plums, elderberry, mulberries I love gathering wild food, canning, making jellies, jams and pies, gathering wild hickory nuts, walnuts,
Great video. Along a similar subject, I had a rep from an exterminator come to my home two nights ago trying to offer me their services. I kindly told him I wasn't interested, and he asked if we use someone else, or take care of it ourselves. I told him no, that we believe that everything has a purpose, and that as long as the insects aren't hurting us or causing destruction to our property, we preferred to leave them alone.
I WANT spiders, centipedes, and even some ants in home...cannibal arthropods CAN prevent infestations OF COCKROACHES AND OTHER PROPAGATER-SWARMERS. Ants find food spills and some will take them out of house...spilled oil and fat can be prevented from slipping hazardry. No poisonous centipedes in Mass....spiders should be identified~~ but low risk. Widows rarely kill, only ill and of course the very young.
All my neighbors cut every green tree, bush, plant, everything, then placed gravel and cement everywhere. My yard is natural, large trees, arboretum forested on tiny plot. Every bug, spider, ant, bees, dragonflies, hummingbirds, swallows, lizards, all gather in my yard. Some seem to say hello. It's amazing.
I always wondered about the etymology of the word plantain and why the weird plants in my lawn were called the same name. Thanks for explaining that and all of its amazing uses.
Thank you. I spent days of my life pulling these out as a young person and throwing them away. We now let them grow; mostly to harvest for our chickens. I'm happy to see it has other uses as well. It's ALL OVER and that is comforting.
@@babsgilbert518 Sounds delicious. I have to tell you this. I once went to a Benny Hinn Evangelistic meeting in Hendersonville Tennessee and people were being slayed in the spirit and appeared to be healed and the aroma in the room smelled strongly of clover I have never forgotten that and when I smell Clover I remember this. It was real believe me.
I made a flower bed just for the plantain so it wouldn't get mowed. I'm working through all the uses, and love knowing this beneficial plant is within arms reach. Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I'll be watching for more.
I have plantain growing profusely on my property. I always liked it. As a kid, we would snip off the tall shoots, fold the stem around itself and pull the stem through the fold. This would pop the seed head off like a little gun. Much less ominous than the realistic toy guns of today. I also just like walking through it. For the past few years, I have been leaving a large portion of my back yard basically unmowed - only mowing once in the spring, and the second and final time in late fall. The result is a beautiful plot of tall grasses and "weeds" that move with the breeze, attract insects and wildlife, and annoy my chemically addicted neighbors. It's a win, win, win. So glad to read about all the other benefits of plantain that I was not aware of. Really enjoy your site. Thanks.
I can see the benefits of this plant, but I would still be the neighbor who would be annoyed by something like this since if grass and ‘weeds’ get too high, it can attract the wrong kinds of bugs like flies, mosquitoes, ticks and make the bad bug population even worse.
We used to do that with the narrow leaf plantain heads , too! In South Wales, UK, where I grew up. I love picking edible leaves from my yard for a salad. Violets, lambsquarters, plantain, purslane, even hairy bittercress - though it’s a bit fiddly with the leaves being so small.
This plant is very well known and appreciated in ROMANIA , and that's for centuries !... the syrop made of the leafs it treats very rapid (and no later helth inconvenients) the caugh , amigdales and throat infections and in general, all depending on respiratory tract... a wonder of Mother Nature ,i use it also for salads and ,along with another wonder plant : horstail, we prepare an unguent-cream /coconat oil based , realy remedy rapidly treating any joints/articulation pain....
Grandma said all these things about this plant ages ago, and there was a lot of it nearby. It was one of the first plants i could tell apart as a kid, and the only one that i did not stomp on from respect. I was 3 and honored this plant. Impressive. I would never forget it.
Good job, I do have plantain growing in abundance and I knew it had bleed stop properties and was edible. I was not aware of it's many other properties and I'm flabbergasted to learn this. More uses, more wild edibles and medicinals, yes please and thank you.
Great to see you talk on the benefits of plantain. I love this herb, use it for bee stings, spit poultice works like magic. Also infuse it in oil for salves, and make a tincture in combo with calendula for leaky gut as it is an astringent and demulcent .
I was always taught that a weed is a plant that you don’t want nor intend to place it. I took ethnobotany in college in Hawai’i. That gave me so much respect for plants and how we use them and need them.
I learned this when I was out in the middle of nowhere with a toothache. A friend of mine picked some plantain leaves and washed them off and told be to slightly chew them and hold them between my cheek and gum beside the tooth. I tasted terrible but it finally gave me relief! I tell people all the time whenever I see it growing anywhere.
I found out about Plantain several years ago. It grows in my garden and the yard surrounding it. I harvest the leaves throughout the summer and the seeds in the fall. I also harvest Prickly Lettuce in my Garden and where ever I find it! I now garden in raised beds and let Plantain and Prickly Lettuce grow in between the raised beds! I give the Saves and tinctures away to skeptical friends who are always amazed at what they do for us!
Thanks for bringing back my childhood memories….i used to pick up the plantain with my grandma…..in the country where I was born it’s called the warrior herb ( approximately translated) since the rebels were using it to heal the wounds….. My grandfather used to make special tonics etc… The tea made from the dried leaves is little bit bitter,they were putting teaspoons of honey in it ❤💐
I had so much plantain coming up around my chicken coop in Oregon that I would pull it and feed it to my chickens. I moved to NW Arizona where there was no plantain so I grew the narrow leaf from seed and bought the broad leaf variety from Azure Standard. Makes me feel at home! They are surviving our hot 100 degree summer so far.
Growing up in the Appalachians we learned all sorts of verbosity from elders. Living here again, the memories return. I use plantain in salves . it has great qualities. Also use in salads
Plantain looks good in a border. We have a wild front garden with trellis to hide all the 'weeds' from sensitive neighbours. We trim (harvest) the grass, nettles and dandelions that protrude from the trellis, but the plantain nestles in and keeps its form nicely.
First time viewer and now subscriber. I’m 71 tomorrow but I sure wished I would have gone to school to learn natural healing and food products. I LOVE foraging! During Covid I was so bored I made dandelion jelly, but I have foraged elderberries, black raspberries ( not a good year for those here where I live the last 3 years) and Mulberries ( been picking LOTS of those when the Black Raspberries do poorly). Love your channel. I’ll be looking for plantain. Only thing I’ve done with them so far was to clean them, coast with oil, sprinkle garlic salt on the and bake till crisp. OMGosh so good but they get eaten too fast. Keep calm and forage. ❤❤❤
true story....my front yard has been grass and weeds since we move in..nothing useful however noticed that dandelion was not growing, then i learned about braodleaf plantain and one day i said I wish i can have this plant in my house...since i was trying to collect it from places were dogs poop and pee was all over the place i never used, failed to bring seeds they never sprout and not even the plant survived... So one day I said " I wish i can have these plant in my home" so winter went and spring came..holly molly my entire side front yard was full of broadleaf plantain...incredible...and when i mean full it was all over the place but only on my side and not in the neighbor's yard...so it was a gift from heaven for sure.
Over the years I have wished plants up on my property or manage to transplant something from somewhere to find some already growing on my property! Hahaha always made me smile ✌️💕
Yes its called be careful what you wish for,,,,,, there your wish came true l too had some of my wishes come true ,,, l prayed Lord it’s been long years not having the green Mopani Tree worm…they edible very healthy even in the pictures of clinics…in that end of year rainy season in Africa the Lord gave us ….Lots and Lots of mopani worms…l was so so happy and thankful…Praise Be to the Lord…..
One time someone was complaining about all the "toe-knockers" growing in her lawn and I said: "Tgem thar "toe knockers" are known as "plantain." Her knowing what it's formal name was didn't change her attitude about it being in her lawn! Oh well🤷🏻♀️ I never use broad leaf killer chemicals or anything like "weed and feed" because I enjoy having clover, lespedeza, and plantain in my lawn! Prefer it, in fact.
What a revelation @WineberryHill 🌱 I had _NO_ idea broadleaf plantain had all these benefits PLUS it produces psyllium husks?! I just like the way it looks 🥰
Ah, good old lawn cabbage. I used to have fun by making up my own names for plants I didn't know, then I 'knew' them. I don't pull anything out of the lawn, my last one day survey identified 39 non-grass flowering plants species there. Mix that with many grass species and some sedges, and it's pure heaven. No species dominates, it never needs watering or fertilization, it flowers, and it grows slowly. Sorry, typical American, going off about my lawn... Thanks for the video! edit: The first time I ever saw shinleaf, it was blooming in the back yard!
I once had a 3 x 3 foot area near the highway that had clover. I found 20 four-leaf clovers one year. Then, the Voles moved in and ate every single clover. Plantain grows there and other plants but no more clover. I got to see a vole one winter as it came for the seeds we scattered for birds to eat. It was cute---about 5", brown and furry with round ears. How can something so cute cause such consternation?
Heh, I call it lawn cabbage too. It also covers my gravel driveway and is near-impossible to eliminate it from there (I refuse to use Roundup or any of those chemicals). Drive over it, it doesn't care. Blasting sun and drought, no problem. Even the big propane torch hardly bothers it. Good to know it's actually a useful plant, now I have an excuse to leave it alone. 😁
Oddly enough, found out about it this week from an old lady. We have narrow leaved plantain (Wegeirch) here, works the same. My grassy areas are full of it :-). Lots of bugs here too and i react quite strongly to all bites. I'm now gathering to dry and make salve.
As i knew about its uses already, i tried to grow it in a large pot. But i found that it likes the wild earth more. At first it grew quite large. But it stopped at a certain point and then started to wither. So i put it back onto the land, where it grows happily since. 😊
I open the back door of my home & plantain is there growing at my feet. 🙃 I read somewhere in earlier days walking travelers stepping on the plant would carry the seeds on the bottom of their shoes or bare feet where by the seed took root in another spot when it fell or was wiped off. ☮️💖🌻
yep, true. I was at an airport when I saw a small child with significant mosquito bites. I gave his mom some of the salve I made and told her about plantains. Native Americans in my area had it included in a video. Works wonders - I react badly to bites and keep this handy.
Now that I am nearing 80 years old, my skin has thinned, and when I was walking through some rough branches in my allotment garden, they caught my arm and produced a quick rip with a fair bit of blood. For some reason, I remembered that I could use plantain… grabbed some out of the path, chewed it and laid it over the wound. It stopped bleeding and calmed… I did that a couple more times.. My arm healed perfectly, quickly, and without a scar! Thanks, Plantain!
I need to learn more about the uses of each weed. You have me hooked on getting to know more about plantain. The videos that have a detailed description of when to harvest, how to prepare, how to preserve, and how to use are very helpful to me. Thank you!
Plantain also draws out infection. But you must keep the plantain moist for it to work. Chew , apply to infection, cover air tight for 6 to 8 hours, or as needed. Repeat if necessary. I promise it works.
Plantain is amazing. We have so much of it in our yard and it's considered scared! My hubby asks if I need to harvest it before he mows. I harvest and dry so much of it every year. Fun fact, it's AWESOME food for tortoises too. They require a high fiber diet.
I learned about this plant a few years ago and I love it! I use it for wounds and bug bites. Works like a charm. Heals wounds in a day or two and stops the bug bite itching in a few minutes and it doesn't start itching again later. Thanks for video would like to see all types to help identify them.
At to go, I'm a chick forest technician from Montreal, my daughter's a biologist, son's a nurse, seen our out west fires? What a mess, I became a stay at home mom, I majored in Sylviculture and left my career over disgust of how things work in Québec, everywhere too for that matter, keep 'em coming, great info!
I Have mostly narrow leafed plantain and i learned to use it on my bug bites. It works quite well at stopping the itchyness. I also give it to the chickens to eat with the other weeds we grow in our yard. Also when the lawnmower was down for a couple weeks, the long flower stems attracted dragonflies who are wonderful predators of mosquitoes.
9:18 I know... It's instantly, spraying poison on your yards, on the ground. IT can't possibly be good for you. And what do they think happens after it kills weeds? They think it magically disappears? Hell no! It remains and continues, seeping into the water table! 😩
Loved this! I already knew this plant is edible, now I know so much more! I'm an artist and created a series of paintings about foraged plants. This is one of my favorites.
Interesting. I've been seeing this plant since I was 6 and literally never new the name of it until a few weeks ago when I started to learn the names plants growing around my residence. Quite fascinating. I dug one up and planted it in a water feature and it's doing quite well growing bareroot in water.
The leaves are very bitter. Not tasty, but very medicinal, especially for topical wound care. The flower/seed heads are mild tasting and can be added to meals tho.
I have a lot of this in my lawn and am growing it outside of my lawn, every time i water my lawn the Plantain gets watered too. It really love lots of water i noticed.
That is so funny! When I was a kid my cousins and I played with that all the rime.😮😅 Pretended the leaves were salad , the green seeds, tea, and when they turned brown/black, called them coffee! Even mixed them in water in a play coffee pot, 😮😅❤😂😂
I refuse to have a traditional lawn, and just keep the natural “weeds” and such to a reasonable height. Not only is my lawn the greenest and easiest to keep in the neighborhood, i enjoy using some of the growth in salads and medicinally from time to time. I have seen these my whole life and had no idea. Thanks.
*I can attest to this personally. Back in 2020 I received a bite to my hand on the web between thumb and index finger and another on the index finger. Happened while I was sleeping, so I don't know what bit me. Speculation is either a Black Widow or Brown Recluse. Bite sites turned necrotic black in the center surrounded by an inflamed red ring. Worse, my entire hand swelled up, red runners of infection starting to spread up to my wrist.* *When it got bad enough that I figured I needed medical attention, this was a Friday evening. Local clinic wouldn't be open until Monday (wasn't going to pay the inflated price of a trip to the ER over the weekend). Then I remembered I had a recipe for a Plantain salve. As the whole property is covered with the stuff, I decided, **_"What the hell? Can't hurt to try."_** So I whipped up a batch, applied it to my hand, bandaged it up, and went to sleep.* *The next morning the inflammation was **_GONE._** Not a little diminished, not slightly better... **_GONE!_** I continued to apply the Plaintain salve and there was remarkable improvement of the condition of my hand over the next few days.* *Now, whatever had been infecting my hand lingered. I would think I was out of the woods, hand on the mend, and then ease up on my application of the Plaintain; then the inflammation would return. Either a tough little bugger of a bacteria or some long-term effect of the venom; can't know for sure. Regardless - full disclosure - it did take 6 months to fully heal and the recurring inflammation to stop, but it was Plantain that ultimately cured it.* *My previous career was as a Registered Nurse with a focus on wound care. I've had the benefit of working with cutting-edge wound treatment techniques, topical antibiotics, and debriding agents. Nothing in my experience has ever had as profound and immediate anti-inflammatory effect as Plantain. If I had taken a course of conventional antibiotics I would have expected it to take two or three days to see improvement of my hand. The Plantain did it overnight. **_THAT'S_** how effective it is.* *Based on my education and career, I don't draw conclusions from unsubstantiated claims; there must be verifiable evidence to back it up. I don't subscribe to Woo-woo pseudoscience, the Great Spirit, Mother Gaia, or any of that other New Age 1960s hippy re-tread nonsense. It's all about the data, the evidence, objective reality for me. Per my personal experience, I can unequivocally attest to the effectiveness of Plaintain in treating topical bites (likely spider) and the resultant inflammation (either due to infection or reaction to the venom).* *Plantain Salve Recipe* *=================* *Ingredients* • 2 cups olive oil, jojoba oil, or almond oil (I use jojoba. I also add Vitamin E oil as an anti-oxidant.) • 1/4 cup beeswax pastilles (I add an extra 1/8 cup to make it a little thicker/easier to stick to dressing and wound bed.) • 2 Tbsp dried comfrey leaf • 2 Tbsp dried plantain leaf (herb, not banana!). If using fresh leaf - which is what I do for maximum efficacy - you will need one loosely-filled plastic grocery bag’s worth of leaf. It reduces significantly in volume once chopped up. If using fresh leaf, refrigerate salve as there will still be residual moisture present. • 1 Tbsp dried calendula flowers (optional) • 1 tsp echinacea root (optional) • 1 tsp dried yarrow flowers (optional) • 1 tsp dried rosemary leaf (optional) *Instructions* 1. Chop up plantain leaf very fine. Infuse the herbs into the oil. There are two ways to do this. You can either combine the herbs and the oil in a jar with an airtight lid and leave 3 - 4 weeks, shaking daily _OR_ heat the herbs and oil over low heat in a double boiler for 3 - 4 hours (low heat!) until the oil is very green. 2. Strain the herbs out of the oil by pouring through a cheesecloth. Let all the oil drip out and then squeeze the herbs to get the remaining oil out. Discard the herbs. 3. Reheat infused oil in the double boiler, slowly adding the beeswax until melted and mixed. Alternately, melt the beeswax in a microwave on low power, then pour into the heated oil infusion (preferred method). If you pour melted beeswax into cool oil, it will immediately solidify and not mix; thus the necessity of reheating the oil. Beeswax takes awhile to melt, so be patient. Keep it heated until just ready to pour into containers as it solidifies quickly as it cools. 4. Pour into small tins, glass jars, or lip chapstick tubes and use on bites, stings, cuts, poison ivy, diaper rash, or other wounds as needed. Refrigerate if using fresh plantain leaf. *NOTE:* The first time I tried Plantain I used finely chopped fresh leaf mixed with Tea Tree Oil and applied directly to the wound (I didn't have time to make the recipe above on that first night of application; only later did I make the salve). I find the fresh leaf produces the most immediate and strongest effect. However, it can be a bit too strong if used continuously in this form; it tends to dry out the skin. That's where the salve has an advantage with its beeswax and the optional herbs to help moisturize and soothe the skin; but it is slower-acting compared to the fresh-cut leaf applied directly. Tailor the form you use to the situation; if you need immediate relief use fresh-cut, but switch to the salve for long-term treatment.
Thank you for such a detailed comment! I, too, am not an herbalist voodoo doc hippie type, although I did grow up in the hippie era. (Best music, most creative variety ever, IMO!) and I, too had heard about this, so went a much simpler route, no additives, oil extraction or anything, I just dehydrated the leaves and crumbled them. To apply, I would moisten maybe a teaspoon of them, and wipe on if, say, my forearms, or hands itching. Then I would rub it in and chuckle at how my skin was green, but it didn't stain me. I would do that over the kitchen sink, so the bits would fall off there and not make a mess. The thing goes away within 5 minutes, and stays gone. It works better than I would expect from a prescription medication, with no side effects!
Thank you for adding the Note at the end because I was a little skeptical that you happened to have all those ingredients on hand (unless you do this for a living or as a hobby) and enough time to do it. It seemed perfectly reasonable the way you explained it. 🙂
Thank you for this information. Years ago a friend educated me about lambs quarter which I now eat daily while it’s in season. Now I’ll do the same with the plantain in my yard.
Great information. I don't use any weed killer (or anything at all) on my lawn. Everything is green and gets mowed to the same height and that's good enough for me. Now I need to go find this plant.
Something interesting about 'weeds': We started a new kind of vegetable garden this year. We didn't hoe, we didn't eliminate any 'weed', we just left it there and covered everything with 20 cm of hay. Then we planted our vegetables into little holes through the hay and the underlying soil. The result is awesome... Hardly any watering, as the soil is covered and doesn't lose its moisture. Vegetables don't rot at contact with the soil, as they are protected by the hay. But the main advantage of this method lies in the nutrition of the soil by the biodiversity of the present 'weeds'. As explained in the video, every plant apports something to improve soil quality, that's why they are living there, it's a continuous exchange of giving and taking nutrients. And the layer of hay adds even more biodiversity, as it contains nutrients and even seeds of a big variety of plants. So this method should greatly improve your soil quality over the years. We are just at our first try, but the results are already very encouraging. If you're interested, go search for 'elementary garden'.😊
My sister had a neighbor who would do that, never hoed or weeded her garden, just covered with hay in between vegetables, corn, potatoes, beans, etc. She always had more tomatoes, beans, corn, etc. than anyone else in the neighborhood.
Thank you so much, I've lived on a small urban greenbelt for over 40 years that I have personally put a great deal of time in maintaining. It's been amazing to me in my retirement years to slowly learn that many 'weeds' that once disgusted me were actually very beneficial plants as you just showed. It's a sad how much practical knowledge we've lost as a culture...
I already researched burdock, but you could do a video on that too!, apparently the roots are edible!, and (i think) the flower-stock shoots!!!. (might've been another thing don't quote me, but definitely the roots) i never thought such an annoying velcro-y plant would be...not such a bad thing after all, -now he is tame and in a special spot in my garden playing nice with my kale, and i am going to be farming both that, and thistle for a frozen veggie mix for when i make soups and fry vegetables, -and since they love to grow ANYWAYS, in any soil without need for love or protection, it will help greatly in my famine i am experiencing here in canada with the bad economy. i already LOVED plantain, but i am still happy to see a video and learn more on it, -next year i am going to grow some greens of them in a gravel-garden, because our driveway...got FILLED with the little baby ones, and the gravel protects them from moisture on the leaves, AND, keeps all the weeds decently out (that i wouldn't want to eat) ANDDDD, they will not get dirt-splash from rain on their leaves, reducing the need to scrub, and also, making it easier to lop-off all the leaves to eat. -we can't have our driveway overrun and turning into a lawn, so i have been pulling them out because i am not going to eat walked-on driveway greens, but, i DEFINITELY am going to farm them in a setting similar, because the leaves are SO many, and SO easy to harvest that way, and they look so clean and fresh, and without pests as the ones who live without the rocks seem to have.
Oh,darnit! I just pulled up (by the roots) a 32 gallon trash can of 4' high thistle from one bed of pachysandra. I guess I'll be adding THAT batch to my JADAM fertilizer. Knew I couldn't add it to my compost pile, as it had started flowering. What else can I do with it?😊
I wasn't aware five years ago about broadleaf plantain before I pulled up every piece. I am filled with sorrow since, learning of it's properties, and I am grateful there are people like you spreading this information about plants. Keep up the good work! I really enjoyed your video:)
When I was young I was a cub scout. I was working on my pinewood derby car & cut my hand using a coping saw for the 1st time. I didn't want my dad to know I hurt myself because he told me not to use that saw unsupervised. So, there I am, bleeding & not wanting to get parental help. I walked out of the garage & grabbed the 1st thing I saw that I could cover my cut with. Unbeknownst to me i pulled leaves from a broadleaf plantain. Perhaps it was unconscious knowledge. IDK but I couldn't have picked a better remedy. Thanks for showing me another, quite useful, use for mullein.
Yes I call it lawn cabbage! I think someone else said that too! I've got tons in my yard. I've lived in my home for almost30 years and now our town has been discovered so property is through the roof. I let my lawn go a little bit but still looks good and this year for the first time I got a registered letter from the police about noxious weeds! There's Tansy and some white lace looking flower and plantain alndand grasses. I was blown away! So sad when a homeowner can't even grow their lawn like they want. Thanks for helping educate people and share the benefits of these wonderful plants.
In the US midwest the native broad-leaf plantain is Plantago rugelii - Rugel's plantain or blackseed plantain. The easiest way to see if this is what you have is to look at the base of the stem. Rugel's will have purple/red tinged stems, while the eurasian Broadleaf plantain or Common plantain (Plantago major) has all green stems.
I grow it like a vegetable broad and narrow leaf we juice it daily with stinging nettles and other greens. My wife was misdiagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago now we had just started juicing six months her cancer was ignored by doctors but it stayed tiny in her body contained at 1mm. My wife is convinced that this plant juiced daily helped her. We have no idea if it did but six months from first seeing the GP it didn't change in size and we were drinking green juice with lots of plantain contained in that juice.
Great video. Would be nice to see more about each of those used, such as in recipes, etc. i appreciated that your video was short and packed with a variety of info.
I have had to move back in with my parents due to the recent passing of my husband. My parents are in their late 70s and have used Round up among other weed killers in their yard for literally forever. And they live on a golf course where pesticides are used heavily and often. I can't grow food in their yard and certainly can't make use of any of these wonderful plants due to the chemicals that are sprayed regularly and it is so disheartening. Thank you for all of this wonderful information. I am hoping to live in my own home someday soon and I look forward to harvesting what is my own yard!
I love that now a day people will say 'this is a theory as to the origin'. It's so nice that you do this too. So many things I was taught when I was in school (or just by adults around me) I slowly learn were absolutely 100% wrong. Adults don't realize how much what they say impacts children. It's important to identify when a theory is a theory and not a fact.
A chewed up mullein poultice definitely works fast on a yellow jacket sting, at least in my experience. I had it held on the sting with a giant. bandaid. I kept sweating and the bandaid fell off 3 times (I was cutting my mother's overgrown backyard) Every time if fell off, I KNEW and would find it right near me, immediately reapplied a new bandaid, and it worked INSTANTLY. .
My parents never sprayed their yard. There were too many useful plants in there. Dandelions, both broadleaf and narrowleaf plantain, white clover, lamb's purse, all were harvested for our use. I always weeded our flower beds (we had several) and our garden with a bucket for sorting out the plants we could use from the weeds we couldn't. We even saved the flowerheads from bull thistles to use as a vegetable rennet for making cheese. And, yes, we raised goats for milk, butter and cheese.
In Northeast Wisconsin my Swedish grandparents often relied on a poultice of plantain to draw out infection. Not sure if that means it is antibacterial or anti inflammatory but it worked!
My husband was stung 6 or 8 times on his arm by ground wasps. His forearm swelled up and the stings were very painful. Antihistamines weren't working so I cut some plantain, ran it through my onion chopper and plastered it on his arm with gauze. Within an hour, he said the pain was better and the redness/angriness and inflammation were definitely better. We took the plaster off at bed time and washed his arm in cold water. Next morning, he had no pain, redness, itching or inflammation. Just a few tiny red sting marks. And no other side effects except a great reluctance to cut the grass in that particular area of the lawn! Can't say I blame him.
I had an old Italian neighbor friend who’s yard was nothing but ‘weeds’. She schooled me so I wouldn’t harm them, explaining that ALL of her plants were edible and medicinal plants brought here by immigrants (often at great cost). She was 96 years of age and in better shape than me
I love it!
@@chuckienunyobiz1882 Love this
Sounds like she was a wonderful teacher and an herbalist.❤
@@ruthl51 all women were/are herbalists - men hunt and women gather (who goes shopping? - tis endemic in our make-up) read eating on the wild side by nina etkin anthropological - pub by uni of arizona - blow your mind ruth about our ways
i let a lot of weeds grow in my yard. for the same reasons. edible or medicinal.
I was a wrangler on a Resort and horses always were getting weird wounds... one day I said to my boss dont call a ver just yet I have a natural remedy! I gathered many plantain plants an ground them well and added warm bran mash then applying to the swelling wrapping well and a in several hours a huge splinter was retrieved from that
dressing! My boss was truly amazed at that !!
I love it!
Sounds like you should be the boss.
That’s just beautiful to hear, i so love plants they seem to speak to me.
This is why I love reading comments cuz there's people that have such meaningful related stories
Who had the splinter?
Aloha. I live in Hawaii and I got bit by something. At first I didn't know what it was. There were 2 marks. Some people said it was a spider bite and some people said it was a centipede. I found out as few days later it was a centipede. I used essential oils initially that were helping but not doing the trick totally. I noticed it was hot and becoming red. I literally had a dream about plantain and told a friend who was studying Hawaiian medicine. She got me some from her friend's yard since her friend did not spray and told me to chew it and put it on top of the bite and wrap it in saran wrap. I laid there for an hour and I could feel the poison leaving the site. I did it a few more times and it did its job. I am so grateful for plantain. It grows on our campus at school and I always point it out to my 2nd graders when we are walking on campus. Mahalo for the video and sharing the many uses!
I had this happen to me 2 weeks and since where we rent they spray I had no Plantain. But my neighbor has a ton and I got permission to use it. I could feel the poison leaving the bite. I am sure it was a Brown recluse spider bite. The skin was starting to degenerate and in 4 to 5 days the skin was regenerated! I used a police and changed it 3x a day. I was so excited I am telling everyone! Since I live where we have winter I was wondering if I pick it and freeze it would it still hold it's healing properties? Guess I will try to find out!
I have heard that First Nations people use the seed heads as a treatment for poisonous snake bites.
@@elainesiebel9212you can make a tincture with it. You can dehydrate it, infuse oil with it, then make a salve with it! I have purchased a Plantain tincture at a local Farmers Market, but will also make my own. It's easy, but takes time.
Works on spider bites
@@elainesiebel9212 I think you could dry it easily. Either in the sun or in a food dryer (just never go over 40 degrees in a dryer, in order to preserve all the nutritional and medical substances)
At 77YO, I prefer eating weeds to weeding my garden (LOL). Thank you. Very useful info.
Smart!
My grandmother taught me that by folding the leaf a little, you can make a cup to drink water from the spring.
Fun!
First you have to find a spring. :)
That's a neat idea. Buy just wanted to say you might want to boil your water from the spring though, a teacher of ours got a clear glass jar full of spring water so she could hold it up to the light to show us that there were basically almost microsopic creepy critters in the water and that's why you want to boil it first . But thats an awesome idea of your Grand ma 🙂🙏💖
I wonder how many of those are actually bad for you, and how many are beneficial?
@@collette2908 The one's that don't kill get told on I hope!
Upon discovering the insect apocalypse back after college in 2011 I vowed to never treat my yard with chemicals and to learn my land. All these years later and I’m still learning, thank you.
We are all still learning!
@@WineberryHill Alas, if only what we are all learning was true. I live near an old man who is in a costly and abusive relationship with glyphosate, who believes the Earth is flat, lightning can't kill you, pollution laws are needless, democrats are all in league with George Soros and Ashkenazi people to take over the world with lizard people, windmills cause cancer, and that Trump is an honest politician with America's best interest at heart.
I have this plant in my yard. Didn't know what it was. When I asked my local "Master Gardeners" I was told it was a forage plant and not good to keep in the yard. I liked the look of it, so I didn't kill it. Now I'm even happier with that choice. thank you for the information on this powerhouse plant.
Don’t take any master gardener’s words as gospel.
I have both broad and narrow leaf in my medicinal garden and leave it to grow in some areas anyway. My store cupboard is filled every year with teas, tinctures and ointments and I never need to go near a doctor. I was taught how to select and make all those things as a child growing up in the Highlands of Scotland. Plantain is called Slan Lus there - the healing plant.
WOW! I once had a short trip to Canterbury, but really wanted to go to Scotland (too old and too poor now) because my relatives came from Tyne on Wear near the border (they were Scots). Thank you so much for sharing that story!
I have been aware of some of the benefits of plantain for many years. When my daughter was young, she got a bee sting when we were out. There was plantain growing right under us, so quickly chewed some up and soothed her sting. Recently I was on a hike, and needed to relieve my bladder. Thought I had found a good hidden spot, then my skin started stinging like I’d encountered nettles. Did a quick Seek plant identification, and sure enough, those plants I was in was wood nettles, of which I was nor familiar! I didn’t know what to do, but saw some plantain growing along the trail, so thought I’d try it. Chewed it up, and spread it over all the stings, and voila! The stinging went away, practically immediately!
Very cool!
My favorite use of plantain is as to rub the leaf in my hands until juicy and apply to bee stings. It takes out the sting immediately and it doesn't swell or anything, just heals. Works also on spider bites.
Great tip!
My dog has been eating the plantain seeds and red clover flowers on our walk in the morning...and she is now full of energy..she is 12..
Growing up in Europe, my grandmama taught me to use this plant for scrapes, small wounds and mosquito bites. It always worked. Since that time, I always have had a respect for it, even in the USA. Same respect, as for dandelions, which are the best cleanser for our liver! I never used chemicals on my lawn and chemical spraying services guys make fun of me, seeing yellow flowers in my front yard. How little they know!
Interesting!
One of my sons would put it in a blender and then in an icecube tray in the freezer. He worked at facility that would bring in classes for outdoor education. If a student was stung he would get a plantain icecube to place on the spot. It worked!
Brilliant me to blessed be x
@@joanneadamovich8114 wow!
Works on Mosquito bites that's a win, win for me.
Put in hot water, let it steep then cool. Put it on your face. It feels wonderful and improves the complexion. I keep it in a glass jar in the fridge to use for a couple days. Excellent too in your bath to sooth your skin. Put in a piece of muslin, tie and float in the water.
Narrow leaf plantain does pretty much the same things and my courtyard is full of it. I recommend a video on Lambs Quarters. It’s another amazing plant!
Yes, I love lambs quarters when I was 5 or 6 my Mother would send me out to gather it, It's delicious, I'm 66 now I love free wild food, wild mushrooms, and asparagus both green and white, garlic ramps, berries, thistle, nettles, dandelion greens, I could go on and on, wild plums, elderberry, mulberries I love gathering wild food, canning, making jellies, jams and pies, gathering wild hickory nuts, walnuts,
As I remember, Lamb's Quarter had a very mild taste, whereas most of the edible plants I'm asked to eat have a bitter taste.
@@lyndaniel3369 Try Self Heal it's very good.
Known as Ribwort Plantain in the UK, it's also the go to for treating nettle stings and not the popularity assumed Dock leaves.
Yes, please make additional videos maybe showing what they look like and how to identify the different varieties.
he did show it
@@LisaG-fu9zpOnly the broadleaf up close, or did I miss something? Always doing two things at once
I didn’t see it either, only the broadleaf.
Great video. Along a similar subject, I had a rep from an exterminator come to my home two nights ago trying to offer me their services. I kindly told him I wasn't interested, and he asked if we use someone else, or take care of it ourselves. I told him no, that we believe that everything has a purpose, and that as long as the insects aren't hurting us or causing destruction to our property, we preferred to leave them alone.
Nice!
I WANT spiders, centipedes, and even some ants in home...cannibal arthropods CAN prevent infestations OF COCKROACHES AND OTHER PROPAGATER-SWARMERS. Ants find food spills and some will take them out of house...spilled oil and fat can be prevented from slipping hazardry. No poisonous centipedes in Mass....spiders should be identified~~ but low risk. Widows rarely kill, only ill and of course the very young.
Same here. Never had a pest man in.
All my neighbors cut every green tree, bush, plant, everything, then placed gravel and cement everywhere. My yard is natural, large trees, arboretum forested on tiny plot. Every bug, spider, ant, bees, dragonflies, hummingbirds, swallows, lizards, all gather in my yard. Some seem to say hello. It's amazing.
@@elw6150 ~ you’re a gem ✨
Yes. We need to Educate ourselves on all the so called weeds. That are not Weeds.
Weeds are a human invention.
I always wondered about the etymology of the word plantain and why the weird plants in my lawn were called the same name. Thanks for explaining that and all of its amazing uses.
Anything but a banana...😂
for sure!
We Also Need to Educate Ourselves to Avoid Inapppropriate Capitalisation.
Thank you. I spent days of my life pulling these out as a young person and throwing them away. We now let them grow; mostly to harvest for our chickens. I'm happy to see it has other uses as well. It's ALL OVER and that is comforting.
As a child, we picked it and made salad with clover heads. Please make another video with more uses. Thank you 😊
@@babsgilbert518 Sounds delicious. I have to tell you this. I once went to a Benny Hinn Evangelistic meeting in Hendersonville Tennessee and people were being slayed in the spirit and appeared to be healed and the aroma in the room smelled strongly of clover I have never forgotten that and when I smell Clover I remember this. It was real believe me.
yes, please do
oh, brought back some childhood memories ... clover flower's delicious sweet full of nectar.
I made a flower bed just for the plantain so it wouldn't get mowed. I'm working through all the uses, and love knowing this beneficial plant is within arms reach. Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I'll be watching for more.
Smart!
I have some plantain growing in with my hostas. Looks like a boarder plant that was intentionally planted there.
I have plantain growing profusely on my property. I always liked it. As a kid, we would snip off the tall shoots, fold the stem around itself and pull the stem through the fold. This would pop the seed head off like a little gun. Much less ominous than the realistic toy guns of today. I also just like walking through it. For the past few years, I have been leaving a large portion of my back yard basically unmowed - only mowing once in the spring, and the second and final time in late fall. The result is a beautiful plot of tall grasses and "weeds" that move with the breeze, attract insects and wildlife, and annoy my chemically addicted neighbors. It's a win, win, win. So glad to read about all the other benefits of plantain that I was not aware of. Really enjoy your site. Thanks.
I appreciate your kind words and am glad you enjoy the content on my channel. Your support means a lot!
We did that too-shooting the seed heads off after making a loop with the stem-I was waiting for someone to mention that!
Me too. I let the wild things grow.
I can see the benefits of this plant, but I would still be the neighbor who would be annoyed by something like this since if grass and ‘weeds’ get too high, it can attract the wrong kinds of bugs like flies, mosquitoes, ticks and make the bad bug population even worse.
We used to do that with the narrow leaf plantain heads , too! In South Wales, UK, where I grew up. I love picking edible leaves from my yard for a salad. Violets, lambsquarters, plantain, purslane, even hairy bittercress - though it’s a bit fiddly with the leaves being so small.
This plant is very well known and appreciated in ROMANIA , and that's for centuries !... the syrop made of the leafs it treats very rapid (and no later helth inconvenients) the caugh , amigdales and throat infections and in general, all depending on respiratory tract... a wonder of Mother Nature ,i use it also for salads and ,along with another wonder plant : horstail, we prepare an unguent-cream /coconat oil based , realy remedy rapidly treating any joints/articulation pain....
Wow, that's so cool! Nature really does have all the answers, huh? Thanks for sharing this with us!
Grandma said all these things about this plant ages ago, and there was a lot of it nearby.
It was one of the first plants i could tell apart as a kid, and the only one that i did not stomp on from respect.
I was 3 and honored this plant. Impressive. I would never forget it.
Nice...thanks for watching!
Good job, I do have plantain growing in abundance and I knew it had bleed stop properties and was edible. I was not aware of it's many other properties and I'm flabbergasted to learn this. More uses, more wild edibles and medicinals, yes please and thank you.
Great to see you talk on the benefits of plantain. I love this herb, use it for bee stings, spit poultice works like magic. Also infuse it in oil for salves, and make a tincture in combo with calendula for leaky gut as it is an astringent and demulcent .
I was always taught that a weed is a plant that you don’t want nor intend to place it. I took ethnobotany in college in Hawai’i. That gave me so much respect for plants and how we use them and need them.
Yes. I believe that is the definition of a weed, because a rose bush in a crop field is technically a "weed" and will likely be removed.
i too took ethnobotany, at UH Manoa.
I learned this when I was out in the middle of nowhere with a toothache. A friend of mine picked some plantain leaves and washed them off and told be to slightly chew them and hold them between my cheek and gum beside the tooth. I tasted terrible but it finally gave me relief! I tell people all the time whenever I see it growing anywhere.
WEED : any plant that is growing where you dont want it... roses are weeds when they grow in a vegetable garden
Or not.
Multiflora rose is a weed most places it grows
Also WEED : any plant that is growing better than your desired crop that you put all the work in for
Rose petals are edible. Wild roses are numerous some places . However Rose hips are a laxative
Roses in a veggie garden are a natural attractant for bees and other bugs which polinate it as well as your garden veggies.
I found out about Plantain several years ago. It grows in my garden and the yard surrounding it. I harvest the leaves throughout the summer and the seeds in the fall. I also harvest Prickly Lettuce in my Garden and where ever I find it! I now garden in raised beds and let Plantain and Prickly Lettuce grow in between the raised beds! I give the Saves and tinctures away to skeptical friends who are always amazed at what they do for us!
Smart!
Thanks for bringing back my childhood memories….i used to pick up the plantain with my grandma…..in the country where I was born it’s called the warrior herb ( approximately translated) since the rebels were using it to heal the wounds…..
My grandfather used to make special tonics etc…
The tea made from the dried leaves is little bit bitter,they were putting teaspoons of honey in it
❤💐
I had so much plantain coming up around my chicken coop in Oregon that I would pull it and feed it to my chickens. I moved to NW Arizona where there was no plantain so I grew the narrow leaf from seed and bought the broad leaf variety from Azure Standard. Makes me feel at home! They are surviving our hot 100 degree summer so far.
That is awesome!
Growing up in the Appalachians we learned all sorts of verbosity from elders. Living here again, the memories return. I use plantain in salves . it has great qualities. Also use in salads
Thank you for sharing your memories with us. It's heartwarming to hear about the traditions passed down by elders.
Plantain looks good in a border. We have a wild front garden with trellis to hide all the 'weeds' from sensitive neighbours. We trim (harvest) the grass, nettles and dandelions that protrude from the trellis, but the plantain nestles in and keeps its form nicely.
First time viewer and now subscriber. I’m 71 tomorrow but I sure wished I would have gone to school to learn natural healing and food products. I LOVE foraging! During Covid I was so bored I made dandelion jelly, but I have foraged elderberries, black raspberries ( not a good year for those here where I live the last 3 years) and Mulberries ( been picking LOTS of those when the Black Raspberries do poorly). Love your channel. I’ll be looking for plantain. Only thing I’ve done with them so far was to clean them, coast with oil, sprinkle garlic salt on the and bake till crisp. OMGosh so good but they get eaten too fast. Keep calm and forage. ❤❤❤
true story....my front yard has been grass and weeds since we move in..nothing useful however noticed that dandelion was not growing, then i learned about braodleaf plantain and one day i said I wish i can have this plant in my house...since i was trying to collect it from places were dogs poop and pee was all over the place i never used, failed to bring seeds they never sprout and not even the plant survived... So one day I said " I wish i can have these plant in my home" so winter went and spring came..holly molly my entire side front yard was full of broadleaf plantain...incredible...and when i mean full it was all over the place but only on my side and not in the neighbor's yard...so it was a gift from heaven for sure.
Nice!
Law of Attraction, and power of mind demonstrated. God bless!
Over the years I have wished plants up on my property or manage to transplant something from somewhere to find some already growing on my property! Hahaha always made me smile ✌️💕
Yes its called be careful what you wish for,,,,,, there your wish came true l too had some of my wishes come true ,,, l prayed Lord it’s been long years not having the green Mopani Tree worm…they edible very healthy even in the pictures of clinics…in that end of year rainy season in Africa the Lord gave us ….Lots and Lots of mopani worms…l was so so happy and thankful…Praise Be to the Lord…..
You only have to ask God and He will plant it in your yard
One time someone was complaining about all the "toe-knockers" growing in her lawn and I said: "Tgem thar "toe knockers" are known as "plantain." Her knowing what it's formal name was didn't change her attitude about it being in her lawn! Oh well🤷🏻♀️
I never use broad leaf killer chemicals or anything like "weed and feed" because I enjoy having clover, lespedeza, and plantain in my lawn! Prefer it, in fact.
What a revelation @WineberryHill 🌱 I had _NO_ idea broadleaf plantain had all these benefits PLUS it produces psyllium husks?! I just like the way it looks 🥰
Tastes good too...wild spinich is what I understood it to be. I harvest is all yeR like spinich eat is all winter✌️
year
Ah, good old lawn cabbage. I used to have fun by making up my own names for plants I didn't know, then I 'knew' them. I don't pull anything out of the lawn, my last one day survey identified 39 non-grass flowering plants species there. Mix that with many grass species and some sedges, and it's pure heaven. No species dominates, it never needs watering or fertilization, it flowers, and it grows slowly. Sorry, typical American, going off about my lawn... Thanks for the video! edit: The first time I ever saw shinleaf, it was blooming in the back yard!
I love it!
I once had a 3 x 3 foot area near the highway that had clover. I found 20 four-leaf clovers one year. Then, the Voles moved in and ate every single clover. Plantain grows there and other plants but no more clover. I got to see a vole one winter as it came for the seeds we scattered for birds to eat. It was cute---about 5", brown and furry with round ears. How can something so cute cause such consternation?
😂 but does your lawn have turtlemunch or stinkmint? Sorry, don't want to drag you into an American lawn contest.
Heh, I call it lawn cabbage too. It also covers my gravel driveway and is near-impossible to eliminate it from there (I refuse to use Roundup or any of those chemicals). Drive over it, it doesn't care. Blasting sun and drought, no problem. Even the big propane torch hardly bothers it. Good to know it's actually a useful plant, now I have an excuse to leave it alone. 😁
Oddly enough, found out about it this week from an old lady. We have narrow leaved plantain (Wegeirch) here, works the same. My grassy areas are full of it :-). Lots of bugs here too and i react quite strongly to all bites. I'm now gathering to dry and make salve.
As i knew about its uses already, i tried to grow it in a large pot. But i found that it likes the wild earth more. At first it grew quite large. But it stopped at a certain point and then started to wither. So i put it back onto the land, where it grows happily since. 😊
Catch and release!
I open the back door of my home & plantain is there growing at my feet. 🙃
I read somewhere in earlier days walking travelers stepping on the plant would carry the seeds on the bottom of their shoes or bare feet where by the seed took root in another spot when it fell or was wiped off.
☮️💖🌻
yep, true. I was at an airport when I saw a small child with significant mosquito bites. I gave his mom some of the salve I made and told her about plantains. Native Americans in my area had it included in a video. Works wonders - I react badly to bites and keep this handy.
Very smart!
Now that I am nearing 80 years old, my skin has thinned, and when I was walking through some rough branches in my allotment garden, they caught my arm and produced a quick rip with a fair bit of blood. For some reason, I remembered that I could use plantain… grabbed some out of the path, chewed it and laid it over the wound. It stopped bleeding and calmed… I did that a couple more times.. My arm healed perfectly, quickly, and without a scar! Thanks, Plantain!
I need to learn more about the uses of each weed. You have me hooked on getting to know more about plantain. The videos that have a detailed description of when to harvest, how to prepare, how to preserve, and how to use are very helpful to me. Thank you!
Ok sounds good!
When I was a young boy, my mother used boiled plantain leaves to dry up a wart on the top of my foot. Worked too!!
Plantain seed can be used like flax seed as an egg substitute.
wow good to know for vegans
Plantain also draws out infection. But you must keep the plantain moist for it to work. Chew , apply to infection, cover air tight for 6 to 8 hours, or as needed. Repeat if necessary. I promise it works.
Plantain is amazing. We have so much of it in our yard and it's considered scared! My hubby asks if I need to harvest it before he mows. I harvest and dry so much of it every year. Fun fact, it's AWESOME food for tortoises too. They require a high fiber diet.
Nice!
Good overview, but I would likemore details in how to make things with it.
I use this mushed up on dermatitis an it's works within 1 night.amazing plant...uk here😊❤
Wonderful!
Could you show a video on how to use plantain? Like make a few of the ways to use it. Thank you for your videos. I'm learning a lot from you.
I learned about this plant a few years ago and I love it! I use it for wounds and bug bites. Works like a charm. Heals wounds in a day or two and stops the bug bite itching in a few minutes and it doesn't start itching again later. Thanks for video would like to see all types to help identify them.
At to go, I'm a chick forest technician from Montreal, my daughter's a biologist, son's a nurse, seen our out west fires? What a mess, I became a stay at home mom, I majored in Sylviculture and left my career over disgust of how things work in Québec, everywhere too for that matter, keep 'em coming, great info!
Thanks for watching!
I Have mostly narrow leafed plantain and i learned to use it on my bug bites. It works quite well at stopping the itchyness. I also give it to the chickens to eat with the other weeds we grow in our yard.
Also when the lawnmower was down for a couple weeks, the long flower stems attracted dragonflies who are wonderful predators of mosquitoes.
We were taught to rub nettle stings with dock leaves but then I learned that plantain leaves work as well if not better.
Learning about these plants may help people to stop spraying herbicides where their children play.
9:18
I know... It's instantly, spraying poison on your yards, on the ground.
IT can't possibly be good for you.
And what do they think happens after it kills weeds? They think it magically disappears?
Hell no! It remains and continues, seeping into the water table! 😩
Not to mention where people grow food to eat. Neighbors spray herbicides and don't care where it drifts.
Plantain was one of the first plants I learned when I was a kid. My "lawn" is a mixture of a lot of things, including some grass.
Loved this! I already knew this plant is edible, now I know so much more! I'm an artist and created a series of paintings about foraged plants. This is one of my favorites.
Glad it was helpful!
I’ll be getting some seeds and sowing. I also let dandelions grow in my yard. Makes keeping up the yard easier when it doesn’t have to be ‘perfect’💚
I have them in the community garden and I use them to keep the soul moist for other plants. I'm going to try them in my soup or salad. Thanks
Interesting. I've been seeing this plant since I was 6 and literally never new the name of it until a few weeks ago when I started to learn the names plants growing around my residence. Quite fascinating. I dug one up and planted it in a water feature and it's doing quite well growing bareroot in water.
Interesting!
I have a plantain FIELD so I’m thrilled to find your suggested uses!
Awesome!
💚 💚 thank you for posting this about one of my favorite plants in the world!
I have mostly narrow leaf plantain in my yard.
Thanks for watching!
I’d love to hear more about ways to eat/prepare it
Green Dean ua-cam.com/video/uBeI3tc6Xdo/v-deo.html
The leaves are very bitter. Not tasty, but very medicinal, especially for topical wound care. The flower/seed heads are mild tasting and can be added to meals tho.
I have a lot of this in my lawn and am growing it outside of my lawn, every time i water my lawn the Plantain gets watered too. It really love lots of water i noticed.
Would you show us how to harvest, clean and gather psyllium husk. I would love that video! Thank you.
I keep plantain leaves in the freezer for emergency poultices. I make a salve with it for cuts and scrapes. So many uses for this wonderful plant.
Great tip!
That is so funny! When I was a kid my cousins and I played with that all the rime.😮😅 Pretended the leaves were salad , the green seeds, tea, and when they turned brown/black, called them coffee! Even mixed them in water in a play coffee pot, 😮😅❤😂😂
Same here! I never knew anyone actually ate/drank this stuff or other things we deemed as weeds as well!
I refuse to have a traditional lawn, and just keep the natural “weeds” and such to a reasonable height. Not only is my lawn the greenest and easiest to keep in the neighborhood, i enjoy using some of the growth in salads and medicinally from time to time. I have seen these my whole life and had no idea. Thanks.
*I can attest to this personally. Back in 2020 I received a bite to my hand on the web between thumb and index finger and another on the index finger. Happened while I was sleeping, so I don't know what bit me. Speculation is either a Black Widow or Brown Recluse. Bite sites turned necrotic black in the center surrounded by an inflamed red ring. Worse, my entire hand swelled up, red runners of infection starting to spread up to my wrist.*
*When it got bad enough that I figured I needed medical attention, this was a Friday evening. Local clinic wouldn't be open until Monday (wasn't going to pay the inflated price of a trip to the ER over the weekend). Then I remembered I had a recipe for a Plantain salve. As the whole property is covered with the stuff, I decided, **_"What the hell? Can't hurt to try."_** So I whipped up a batch, applied it to my hand, bandaged it up, and went to sleep.*
*The next morning the inflammation was **_GONE._** Not a little diminished, not slightly better... **_GONE!_** I continued to apply the Plaintain salve and there was remarkable improvement of the condition of my hand over the next few days.*
*Now, whatever had been infecting my hand lingered. I would think I was out of the woods, hand on the mend, and then ease up on my application of the Plaintain; then the inflammation would return. Either a tough little bugger of a bacteria or some long-term effect of the venom; can't know for sure. Regardless - full disclosure - it did take 6 months to fully heal and the recurring inflammation to stop, but it was Plantain that ultimately cured it.*
*My previous career was as a Registered Nurse with a focus on wound care. I've had the benefit of working with cutting-edge wound treatment techniques, topical antibiotics, and debriding agents. Nothing in my experience has ever had as profound and immediate anti-inflammatory effect as Plantain. If I had taken a course of conventional antibiotics I would have expected it to take two or three days to see improvement of my hand. The Plantain did it overnight. **_THAT'S_** how effective it is.*
*Based on my education and career, I don't draw conclusions from unsubstantiated claims; there must be verifiable evidence to back it up. I don't subscribe to Woo-woo pseudoscience, the Great Spirit, Mother Gaia, or any of that other New Age 1960s hippy re-tread nonsense. It's all about the data, the evidence, objective reality for me. Per my personal experience, I can unequivocally attest to the effectiveness of Plaintain in treating topical bites (likely spider) and the resultant inflammation (either due to infection or reaction to the venom).*
*Plantain Salve Recipe*
*=================*
*Ingredients*
• 2 cups olive oil, jojoba oil, or almond oil (I use jojoba. I also add Vitamin E oil as an anti-oxidant.)
• 1/4 cup beeswax pastilles (I add an extra 1/8 cup to make it a little thicker/easier to stick to dressing and wound bed.)
• 2 Tbsp dried comfrey leaf
• 2 Tbsp dried plantain leaf (herb, not banana!). If using fresh leaf - which is what I do for maximum efficacy - you will need one loosely-filled plastic grocery bag’s worth of leaf. It reduces significantly in volume once chopped up. If using fresh leaf, refrigerate salve as there will still be residual moisture present.
• 1 Tbsp dried calendula flowers (optional)
• 1 tsp echinacea root (optional)
• 1 tsp dried yarrow flowers (optional)
• 1 tsp dried rosemary leaf (optional)
*Instructions*
1. Chop up plantain leaf very fine. Infuse the herbs into the oil. There are two ways to do this. You can either combine the herbs and the oil in a jar with an airtight lid and leave 3 - 4 weeks, shaking daily _OR_ heat the herbs and oil over low heat in a double boiler for 3 - 4 hours (low heat!) until the oil is very green.
2. Strain the herbs out of the oil by pouring through a cheesecloth. Let all the oil drip out and then squeeze the herbs to get the remaining oil out. Discard the herbs.
3. Reheat infused oil in the double boiler, slowly adding the beeswax until melted and mixed. Alternately, melt the beeswax in a microwave on low power, then pour into the heated oil infusion (preferred method). If you pour melted beeswax into cool oil, it will immediately solidify and not mix; thus the necessity of reheating the oil. Beeswax takes awhile to melt, so be patient. Keep it heated until just ready to pour into containers as it solidifies quickly as it cools.
4. Pour into small tins, glass jars, or lip chapstick tubes and use on bites, stings, cuts, poison ivy, diaper rash, or other wounds as needed. Refrigerate if using fresh plantain leaf.
*NOTE:* The first time I tried Plantain I used finely chopped fresh leaf mixed with Tea Tree Oil and applied directly to the wound (I didn't have time to make the recipe above on that first night of application; only later did I make the salve). I find the fresh leaf produces the most immediate and strongest effect.
However, it can be a bit too strong if used continuously in this form; it tends to dry out the skin. That's where the salve has an advantage with its beeswax and the optional herbs to help moisturize and soothe the skin; but it is slower-acting compared to the fresh-cut leaf applied directly. Tailor the form you use to the situation; if you need immediate relief use fresh-cut, but switch to the salve for long-term treatment.
Interesting!
Thank you for such a detailed comment! I, too, am not an herbalist voodoo doc hippie type, although I did grow up in the hippie era. (Best music, most creative variety ever, IMO!) and I, too had heard about this, so went a much simpler route, no additives, oil extraction or anything, I just dehydrated the leaves and crumbled them. To apply, I would moisten maybe a teaspoon of them, and wipe on if, say, my forearms, or hands itching. Then I would rub it in and chuckle at how my skin was green, but it didn't stain me. I would do that over the kitchen sink, so the bits would fall off there and not make a mess. The thing goes away within 5 minutes, and stays gone. It works better than I would expect from a prescription medication, with no side effects!
Thank you for adding the Note at the end because I was a little skeptical that you happened to have all those ingredients on hand (unless you do this for a living or as a hobby) and enough time to do it. It seemed perfectly reasonable the way you explained it. 🙂
Thank you for this information. Years ago a friend educated me about lambs quarter which I now eat daily while it’s in season. Now I’ll do the same with the plantain in my yard.
Great information. I don't use any weed killer (or anything at all) on my lawn. Everything is green and gets mowed to the same height and that's good enough for me. Now I need to go find this plant.
Spider bites recover well with plaintain but add a paste of tumeric, epsom salt and coconut oil.
Nice tip!
Something interesting about 'weeds':
We started a new kind of vegetable garden this year. We didn't hoe, we didn't eliminate any 'weed', we just left it there and covered everything with 20 cm of hay. Then we planted our vegetables into little holes through the hay and the underlying soil.
The result is awesome...
Hardly any watering, as the
soil is covered and doesn't lose its moisture.
Vegetables don't rot at contact with the soil, as they are protected by the hay.
But the main advantage of this method lies in the nutrition of the soil by the biodiversity of the present 'weeds'.
As explained in the video, every plant apports something to improve soil quality, that's why they are living there, it's a continuous exchange of giving and taking nutrients. And the layer of hay adds even more biodiversity, as it contains nutrients and even seeds of a big variety of plants.
So this method should greatly improve your soil quality over the years.
We are just at our first try, but the results are already very encouraging.
If you're interested, go search for 'elementary garden'.😊
My sister had a neighbor who would do that, never hoed or weeded her garden, just covered with hay in between vegetables, corn, potatoes, beans, etc. She always had more tomatoes, beans, corn, etc. than anyone else in the neighborhood.
Hay or straw?? Just double checking, since I've seen people use straw, but not hay.
Thank you so much, I've lived on a small urban greenbelt for over 40 years that I have personally put a great deal of time in maintaining. It's been amazing to me in my retirement years to slowly learn that many 'weeds' that once disgusted me were actually very beneficial plants as you just showed. It's a sad how much practical knowledge we've lost as a culture...
Totally agree!
I already researched burdock, but you could do a video on that too!, apparently the roots are edible!, and (i think) the flower-stock shoots!!!.
(might've been another thing don't quote me, but definitely the roots)
i never thought such an annoying velcro-y plant would be...not such a bad thing after all, -now he is tame and in a special spot in my garden playing nice with my kale,
and i am going to be farming both that, and thistle for a frozen veggie mix for when i make soups and fry vegetables, -and since they love to grow ANYWAYS,
in any soil without need for love or protection, it will help greatly in my famine i am experiencing here in canada with the bad economy.
i already LOVED plantain, but i am still happy to see a video and learn more on it, -next year i am going to grow some greens of them in a gravel-garden,
because our driveway...got FILLED with the little baby ones, and the gravel protects them from moisture on the leaves, AND, keeps all the weeds decently out (that i wouldn't want to eat)
ANDDDD, they will not get dirt-splash from rain on their leaves, reducing the need to scrub, and also, making it easier to lop-off all the leaves to eat.
-we can't have our driveway overrun and turning into a lawn, so i have been pulling them out because i am not going to eat walked-on driveway greens,
but, i DEFINITELY am going to farm them in a setting similar, because the leaves are SO many, and SO easy to harvest that way, and they look so clean and fresh,
and without pests as the ones who live without the rocks seem to have.
Oh,darnit! I just pulled up (by the roots) a 32 gallon trash can of 4' high thistle from one bed of pachysandra. I guess I'll be adding THAT batch to my JADAM fertilizer. Knew I couldn't add it to my compost pile, as it had started flowering. What else can I do with it?😊
In Japan Burdoch is cultivated and the root is called "Gobo".
For sure! I have a baby bunny for the first time in years and it is loving it !
I wasn't aware five years ago about broadleaf plantain before I pulled up every piece. I am filled with sorrow since, learning of it's properties, and I am grateful there are people like you spreading this information about plants. Keep up the good work! I really enjoyed your video:)
glad you enjoyed it
When I was young I was a cub scout. I was working on my pinewood derby car & cut my hand using a coping saw for the 1st time. I didn't want my dad to know I hurt myself because he told me not to use that saw unsupervised. So, there I am, bleeding & not wanting to get parental help. I walked out of the garage & grabbed the 1st thing I saw that I could cover my cut with. Unbeknownst to me i pulled leaves from a broadleaf plantain. Perhaps it was unconscious knowledge. IDK but I couldn't have picked a better remedy.
Thanks for showing me another, quite useful, use for mullein.
I am going to search my yard. I am probably weeding and throwing it away. Dad always said a weed is just a misplaced plant. Great information!
Yup
I disagree, a weed is exactly where it needs to be. A weed is a scout, telling us the soil is having an issue. Search, Soil Works LLC. from ND.
Yes I call it lawn cabbage! I think someone else said that too! I've got tons in my yard. I've lived in my home for almost30 years and now our town has been discovered so property is through the roof. I let my lawn go a little bit but still looks good and this year for the first time I got a registered letter from the police about noxious weeds! There's Tansy and some white lace looking flower and plantain alndand grasses. I was blown away! So sad when a homeowner can't even grow their lawn like they want. Thanks for helping educate people and share the benefits of these wonderful plants.
Thanks for watching!
In the US midwest the native broad-leaf plantain is Plantago rugelii - Rugel's plantain or blackseed plantain. The easiest way to see if this is what you have is to look at the base of the stem. Rugel's will have purple/red tinged stems, while the eurasian Broadleaf plantain or Common plantain (Plantago major) has all green stems.
Interesting!
I grow it like a vegetable broad and narrow leaf we juice it daily with stinging nettles and other greens. My wife was misdiagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago now we had just started juicing six months her cancer was ignored by doctors but it stayed tiny in her body contained at 1mm. My wife is convinced that this plant juiced daily helped her. We have no idea if it did but six months from first seeing the GP it didn't change in size and we were drinking green juice with lots of plantain contained in that juice.
Interesting!
Great video. Would be nice to see more about each of those used, such as in recipes, etc.
i appreciated that your video was short and packed with a variety of info.
Fascinating video.
I don't use chemicals in my yard. I hand-pick all my weeds.
But I'm still not gonna let plantain get a toehold anywhere in my yard.
Yeah, it can RUN!
I have had to move back in with my parents due to the recent passing of my husband. My parents are in their late 70s and have used Round up among other weed killers in their yard for literally forever. And they live on a golf course where pesticides are used heavily and often. I can't grow food in their yard and certainly can't make use of any of these wonderful plants due to the chemicals that are sprayed regularly and it is so disheartening. Thank you for all of this wonderful information. I am hoping to live in my own home someday soon and I look forward to harvesting what is my own yard!
Thanks for watching!
My grandmother used to pick plantain leaves and put them on her leg, underneath her stocking, to help an old burn wound.
I love that now a day people will say 'this is a theory as to the origin'. It's so nice that you do this too. So many things I was taught when I was in school (or just by adults around me) I slowly learn were absolutely 100% wrong. Adults don't realize how much what they say impacts children. It's important to identify when a theory is a theory and not a fact.
Love learning about plants. Would you please make a video on the psyllium husk one?
Thanks ❤
Psyllium husk is an important ingredient for gluten free doughs, since it replaces some properties of gluten, improving the results 👍
A chewed up mullein poultice definitely works fast on a yellow jacket sting, at least in my experience. I had it held on the sting with a giant. bandaid. I kept sweating and the bandaid fell off 3 times (I was cutting my mother's overgrown backyard)
Every time if fell off, I KNEW and would find it right near me, immediately reapplied a new bandaid, and it worked INSTANTLY. .
Yes, I would love to learn more about plantain and other plants.
My grandmother made a poultice with plantain to remove splinters/thorns
My parents never sprayed their yard. There were too many useful plants in there. Dandelions, both broadleaf and narrowleaf plantain, white clover, lamb's purse, all were harvested for our use. I always weeded our flower beds (we had several) and our garden with a bucket for sorting out the plants we could use from the weeds we couldn't. We even saved the flowerheads from bull thistles to use as a vegetable rennet for making cheese. And, yes, we raised goats for milk, butter and cheese.
I love it!
I'd love to know how you made the vegetable rennet! I have bull thistles aplenty!
In Northeast Wisconsin my Swedish grandparents often relied on a poultice of plantain to draw out infection. Not sure if that means it is antibacterial or anti inflammatory but it worked!
My husband was stung 6 or 8 times on his arm by ground wasps. His forearm swelled up and the stings were very painful. Antihistamines weren't working so I cut some plantain, ran it through my onion chopper and plastered it on his arm with gauze. Within an hour, he said the pain was better and the redness/angriness and inflammation were definitely better. We took the plaster off at bed time and washed his arm in cold water. Next morning, he had no pain, redness, itching or inflammation. Just a few tiny red sting marks. And no other side effects except a great reluctance to cut the grass in that particular area of the lawn! Can't say I blame him.
I have used a keaf of the pkant to STOP BLEEDING from a cut…,💙great plant!!! 😍
It works great on poison ivy. I made a poultice for my husband and he said the itching stopped immediately.
Cool! Good to know!
Had to chuckle all the way through this one. I will now stop "weeding" my vegetable garden and start properly harvesting it.
You can also boil it down to a black paste and smoke it as an aphrodisiac. It take a few hours but it does work! I have 7 kids.
LOL
Rofl
And an ugly wife?
😊😊😊😅🤣
Lmao!
I have the long-leaved plantain and it is excellent for drawing out splinters.