Sunday, February 6, 2011

Herbal Ally Challenge 3 and 4

I haven't drawn my dear friend dandelion this week , but I found an older drawing and a few of my favorite pics to share plus another tea recipe.
Dandelion Tea
8 Dandelion flowers
12 oz. boiling water
Honey to taste
Boil water ~ pour over flowers ~ steep 5 to 10 minutes
strain ~ add honey to taste ~ Enjoy !
Dandelion ~ Taraxacum officinale


Diuretic , Tonic , Stomachic , Aperient , Deobstrent

In other words ..........

Beneficial for urinary problems and urinary ulcers , obstructions of the liver , gallbladder and spleen , diseases of the biliary organs , rheumatism , digestive problems , sedative. Skin diseases such as eczema.

Other Uses

Sap from Stems ~ Is used to remove warts

Roots ~ Can be used to make a red dye

Leaves & Roots ~ Liquid Plant Food

Flowers ~ Beer and Wine

I'm looking forward to trying dandelion as a liquid plant food and making the red dye this Spring. I had never heard of using dandelion as a plant food before , found that to be very interesting.

~ Dandelion Blessings ~

8 comments:

tansy said...

i've used the blossoms to make syrup, jelly and fritters but never thought to make a tea! now i'm itching to get out and pick some to try...come on spring!!!

i love your drawing! did you add it to your journal?

karisma said...

Interesting! I thought that tea was made with the leaves although one would imagine the flowers would be nicer. I must give it a whirl. Mind you my dandelion flowers have all turned into wishes! Our extreme heat conditions have made nearly everything go to seed or curl up and die.

I also love the drawing, very nice. :-)

Flassie's Fil'a said...

I heard that dandelion flowers are good for depression. Not sure where I heard it. Have you heard of it before?

A liquid food plant. Mmm. That is interesting and a red dye too.

Have you made dandelion lemonade?

God Bless You and Yours!!!

JoyceAnn said...

Hi Kristine ~ I have some blossoms frozen , was planning to make Dandelion wine , but never did. So I made a cup of tea after finding that recipe , it was tasty. I've made jelly and fritters too , hope to make syrup this spring. I didn't add the original drawing to my journal ,have plans to frame it. Although I may add a copied print of the drawing later. Glad you mentioned the idea.

Hi Karisma ~ The tea was pretty tasty , so be sure to give it a try. Glad you liked the drawing , Thanks !

Hi Flassie ~ I haven't read anything to that effect , but dandelion does have sedative properties. So it makes sense that it would help with depression. I've never made dandelion lemonade , have you ?


~ Dandelion Blessings ~

Comfrey Cottages said...

Beautiful picture:)Come on spring! I want to try the flowers in tea also. Isn't that funny, used them every which way but tea! Very nice Joyce Anne :) xx

Flassie's Fil'a said...

No I haven't made the lemonade yet. I hope to this summer or spring.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue;
But they don't get around
Like the dandelions do.
~Slim Acres

Happy Valentine's Day!

I seen tansy was making
herb vinegar and looked
up cleaver vinegar and
found some info. Think
I will make a cleaver
vinegar. I added some
links at my blog about it.

God Bless You and Yours!!!

Kelley said...

I love dandelion flowers too. They do make me happy just seeing their bright yellow flowers! I recently found a long forgotton bag of dandy flowers I had picked last year.. all turned to seed now. Husband looked scared.. your not thinking of PLANTING those are you?! Can't wait 'til Spring!

AkasaWolfSong said...

Dear JoyceAnn....
This was especially helpful to me...I suffer from extreme eczema and right about now it is driving me nuts! I will gather some leaves for that, this spring. As for the flowers that has to be a priority too.
I am also intrigued by using it for plant food...I'm willing to try it as well.
I love your drawing!
Hope you have a good week, and your kids arrive soon...stay safe and warm my friend!
Blessings on the gentle winds to you! xoxo