Wild Harvest - Uses for Yarrow

 

Living in the Ponderosa Pine ecosystem of eastern Washington, our property has a bountiful supply of wild yarrow. Being the resourceful, nature loving woman that I am, I began doing research to see what I could do with our abundant supply of this wild herb. Here are some of the naturopathic, medicinal uses of yarrow I discovered.

Yarrow has a History of Medicinal Use

All parts of the herb can be used for oral or topical use. Yarrow is said to have pain relieving qualities. Native Americans used yarrow in some of the following ways:

·         Chew raw leaves as an oral analgesic for general toothaches.

·         Pour an infusion into the ear to ease the pain of earaches.

·         Make a tea and drink as a fever reducer and sleep aid.

·         Boil an infusion and inhale the vapor to relieve headaches.

·         Chew roots and apply the saliva to appendages as a stimulant…

Okay, I’ll probably pass on that last one. But as you can see, yarrow was an important plant in the Native American medicine cabinet. So I say… let’s fill our medicine cabinets with some too!

Where I found these great uses and where you can find even more: http://herb.umd.umich.edu/herb/search.pl?searchstring=Achillea+millefolium