Weeds ~ Chickweed Tincture ~ Whiskey Butter ~ Asparagus ~ Garden Planting Starts

I have been weeding the rose bed, which may get all torn out and roses moved.  Every year one particular rose plant in one area dies.  I think they get more shade than sun, so I may have to re-think what I'll plant there for color.  Anyway, I had a good amount of chickweed, cleavers and dandelions in that bed too.

I got all of them into the dehydrator for other uses, including facial cleansers, and even got a bit of dandelion root dried.

I took a good amount of fresh chickweed, and chopped it up.  I am making a tincture from it.  Two pints that will sit for 4-6 weeks.  The jars are packed with chickweed, so when I strain them, I won't have much.  I will need to make more I think.  Almost any online site will tell you how to make a tincture, but almost zero will give a testimony on what it cures or heals or helps heal.  I'll be sure to be back with a testimony when this is used.

I took some fresh chickweed, ground it up into a poultice, and placed them on my eyes at the end of the day.  It reduces inflammation and gives your eyes a soothing rejuvenation of sorts.  I followed the recommended time, and kept them on my eyes for 20 minutes.  I had to use paper towels.  I am fresh out of cheese cloth and gauze.  I can say my eyes felt great, and I honestly felt my eyesight was a tad sharper.  I have been outside in the wind, and my allergies are a bit flared, so this was a nice treat.

I had fresh cleavers available and I made an overnight tea infusion for lymph congestion.  I still have laryngitis and it's driving me nuts.  I'll let you know if this helps.  The recipe is in Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes for Health book.  I am also drinking a combination of apple cider vinegar (2Tbsp) with honey (1 tsp), and a half cup of water for it.  It is getting better.

As soon as our goldenrod blooms, which won't be for a while, I'll be drying it for next allergy season.  I found a recipe in this book 

for an different allergy tea to drink . I borrowed this from the library (again).

I have parsley up in the garden (from re-seeding from last year), and I made whiskey butter for steaks and sweet potatoes.  Last year's garlic is still providing.

Our asparagus is doing great right now.  I brought in a little over a pound of it, and decided to try a new fresh salad recipe.

Shaved asparagus and white bean salad.  It's from Clean Eating online if you want to try it. We enjoyed this for our lunch break on Wednesday.   It's delicious.  Hubby took a vacation day, and we....

....planted 93 seed potatoes (Red Norland, Kennebec), chard, kale, shell peas, and sugar snap peas.  Then it rained, which we were so thankful for.  I'll have to get back out later after it dries up and plant the beets, carrots and radishes.  Overall, we were thrilled we got that much done.  A bit of mowing was accomplished, as well as picking up tree debris.  We planted our seed potatoes whole this year.  We felt, in our soil, they produced better this way, as opposed to preparing them by dicing them up prior to planting.  Oh, and we started our day with a morning motorcycle ride prior to all that work.  Then we ended the evening with another grill out on the porch to celebrate while the rain came down.  The kids joined us, as it was their first day back to school after Easter break.

I'm thankful it's wet out and more rain is in the forecast.  I can get some of my "rainy day" list checked off.