Spring Dandelion Welcoming
Written by Paula Youmell, RN
As I start to write this, on March 10th , our North Country weather is predicting an ice storm. I ask myself, why the Dandelion conversation? I use the word conversation because I always invite questions, comments, conversation around all of my Wholistic Health posts. Engaging with each other is how we learn and grow.
Back to Dandelion… Soon, they will be out in full force. Our yards, if left to the wisdom of Mother Nature, can be a sea of these yellow, bobbing heads. I heartily and happily invite you to allow the Dandelions to flourish everywhere. These beautiful first flowers and color in our yards are incredible nourishing medicine for the liver and digestive tract. Dandelions are a true gift of wild food. If we follow the cycle of the seasons, we can see that Nature gifts us just what we need when we need it.
For example:
Wild Violets and the gift of Vitamin C after long Winters.
Dandelion and the gift of bitter liver stimulation to remove stagnation in the gut and body from Winter’s stillness.
Wild Leeks: These Spring beauties are a gift to digestion, the intestines, the liver, cellular health, and life in general. Eat raw, sauté very gently, add to soups and stews. I add Leeks after the soup or stew is finished and the cooking heat is turned off. Just enjoy them, bad breath and all.
Dandelion greens, flowers, and roots (roots are Autumn medicine) are all about the liver. Dandelion is a bitter tonic supporting digestion and the spring cleanse out of winter heaviness in our cells and life force energy. Dandelion is bitter, all parts of the plant. This bitterness stimulates the liver and gallbladder. When you eat fat, or a fatty meal, the liver and gallbladder need to get to work. In comes Dandelion and its bitter stimulation to support both the liver and gallbladder jumping into digestive action. The bitter herb stimulation invites the bile in the gallbladder to be released into the small intestine for fat emulsion and digestion.
Dandelion is one of the herbs that traditionally goes into the tonics called Digestive Bitters. These are taken with meals for the very purpose of stimulating the liver and gallbladder. Bitter, with every meal, supports keeping stagnation out of the liver and gallbladder, nourishing both organs for the prevention of stones and disease. And, bonus here, this bile supporting benefit helps to keep you regular with your colon habits: daily pooping is an important health habit. Think coffee and its bitterness, again, stimulates the liver and colon to poop.
Dandelion is very high in nutrients. They provide deep nourishment for cellular health and are a recommended herb/food for skin conditions, which I will get to.
Just some of the power packed nourishment in Dandelions:
Vitamin A
Vitamin C
Vitamin K
Calcium
Iron
Magnesium
Antioxidants
Carotenes
Chlorophyll
Inulin: prebiotic that feeds gut microbes for maintaining a healthy gut microbial population
All of these nutrients, and there are so many more, support digestion and reduce inflammation. I am not a big fan of reductionist nutrition, breaking food down into the “oh it is rich in these vitamins and minerals,” because when we eat a whole food diet the details are taken care of. Whole foods, and I have written many, many blog posts about this whole food eating habit, are Nature’s balanced food. Whole foods innately provide exactly what we need.
Spring Wild Food Invites:
Enjoy Dandelion greens raw or very gently sauté; very-very lightly,
Eat the yellow flowers raw from the yard, in salads, and added to soups – stews – stir fries after the cooking is finished
Just for learning fun, read up about the Dandelion root for late Summer and Autumn harvesting. You can dry them, make a decoction with them, tincture them for long term storage use, and eat them raw right when you pull them out of the ground.
Got zits or skin problems? Skin problems always have a liver component, meaning the liver needs to be nourished to support the skin’s health. Get the liver nourished and properly functioning and you can support clearing up skin issues.
For the skin, try Dandelion leaf and root tea. You can also add some Burdock Root, Red Clover flowers, and Stinging Nettle leaf to this mix and you have a gentle liver and skin health nourishment blend.
Making Herbal Infusions and Decoctions (AKA medicinal teas): https://www.paulayoumellrn.com/making-herbal-infusions-teas
The above four herbs can also be tinctured together to use as a skin nourishing supplement over the Autumn and Winter months.
Cancer: The above herbal blend does wonders to cleanse and nourish the liver and blood so your immune system can do its job in healing cancer. Add some Peppermint as Peppermint’s healing oils and chemical constituents are amazing for digestive tract issues, cancer, skin conditions, and for improving the circulation movement of the herbal medicine through your whole body.
I invite you to remember the Forager’s Ethical Principle of Plant Gathering: Take only what you need and make certain to leave plenty of plants so the plants can reproduce and repopulate the area that you are wild harvesting them from. As a general rule, I suggest no more than 5-10% of a patch. Learn to move into other areas the next time you wish to harvest, not returning to the same patch over and over. If you take all of the plants, this contributes to a plant extinction in that area. Read up on the history of American Wild Ginseng for an idea of what happens when people just “clear cut” plants for profit. Many other plants have suffered this over harvesting problem. We do well to remember that wild plants are not in a domestic garden getting replanted every year. Think before you pick, cut, dig, and harvest.
Wild plant books:
Peterson’s Field Guide books are excellent to start your wild plant, foraging library. Find the field guide specific to your part of the world. I use the Picture This plant identification app and follow it up with field guide research to verify plants that I am unfamiliar with.
Paula Youmell, RN, Wise Woman Nurse®’s written information is from her wisdom, research, training, and experience in Western Medicine (Functional Medicine RN) and Natural Medicine. Her website contains the details of my educational trainings and experience. Her views are not necessarily the views of the Potsdam Food Co-op. When we make choices about our health, use other’s advice, and make choices based upon that advice; we are taking our health into our own hands. Our choices, and any actions that result from said choices, are entirely our own responsibility. Yes, this is my disclaimer. -Paula Youmell, RN
