Garden Camp Week 6: Plants as Medicine

Long before we had hospitals or the kinds of doctors many of us visit today, humans relied on plants, and a keen understanding of their properties, to treat many of our maladies and discomforts. This week we explored some of the plants that we grow and that grow wild around our town that have healing properties - in other words, plants that we can use as medicine!

We looked at plants that don't grow wild, but that we can grow in gardens, such as chamomile, calendula, oats, and lavender, as well as plants that grow wild in Maine (even though none of these are native to our state): St. John's wort, mullein, mint, plantain, and stinging nettles. The wild card of the day was cinnamon: did you know that it comes from the bark of a tree that grows in Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh? And it's not only for flavoring apple pie; it's also said to help lower blood sugar. 

Once we got to know the medicinal plants laid out on the table, we started processing them for sun tea! We added chamomile flowers for their soothing cold/allergy symptoms and helping us relax, mint leaves for helping with an upset stomach and cooling us down, mullein flowers for the way they help our respiratory systems, and St. John's wort, which is said to help lighten the mood when we're feeling sad. We didn't add the fresh stinging nettles because their stinging compounds were still active, but we put in some dried nettle leaves to add a healthy dose of vitamins and minerals. 

We kept careful count of what quantities of each herb we added to the tea and wrote the recipes down in our journals. Then we added water, capped the jars, and set them out in the sun to start infusing.

We also set some calendula and St. John's wort flowers to start infusing in olive oil, to make into salve later. Speaking of plants that are good for your skin, our snack today was made from it! We ate oats and cinnamon (don't forget: bark powder!) over yogurt drizzled with some maple syrup. While some oats went into our yogurt bowls, other oats went into a food processor to become... face masks! 

That's right, disbelieving gardeners. One of our favorite breakfast ingredients with lots of healthy fiber for our hearts also makes a soothing moisturizer . The natural fat in oats helps soften and protect our skin. Once we blended them with water and rosewater, those of us who were feeling adventurous applied the oats to our faces, and then we all sat in the shade and read garden poetry. Mrs. L read a famous poem by William Carlos Williams that you may recognize: 

The Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

We ended the day with one of the most exciting moments in every veggie farmer's July: garlic harvest! This onion-family plant is a dear friend to the immune system; its sulphur compounds help our bodies get rid of toxins. Plus it makes our food flavorful and delicious!

Soon-to-be fifth grader, or giant bundle of garlic with legs and arms? 

 We set the garlic out to cure in the school basement (ideal place in that they're out of the sun, but less ideal in the fact that there isn't much air flow). Curing is when garlic dries out slowly so that it will store all winter without going rotten or moldy. With this amount of garlic, we will have plenty to eat and plenty to plant this coming fall! Can you believe we're already thinking about the fall? Don't fret - plenty of weeks of garden camp magic still ahead.