Actually , these are from a package of seeds my daughter-in-law sent me. I had intended to dig some starts the last time I was out there last year, and then didn’t get the chance. I asked her if she could send me a few starts; but instead she ordered me a seed packet and sent that. I saved them all winter and planted them in the container this spring, and then transplanted them into the ground this week. By next year, I should have seeds if I want to grow more plants.
My comfrey has been thriving, and I have about a dozen nice plants growing, some in the front yard and some out back. I have been watching videos about making comfrey salve, so I decided to try a really simple recipe that i watched on youtube. It is just comfrey leaves soaked in an oil for a day or so in the crockpot and then strained well. I also added a few mint leaves for some fragrance. After washing and chopping a big handful of leaves, I put them a little at a time into the food processor and shopped them even finer, packed all of the chopped leaves into a quart jar, and covered them with coconut oil. I put on a loose lid and have them sitting in hot water in the slow cooker for the next 24 hours, and then I will cool and strain them and squeeze out as much of the oil essence as I can. To harden it, I would have to put the coconut oil in the refrigerator , so I am thinking about just setting it out on the counter, and then giving it a shake and getting some of the salve from the lid each time I want to use it. I will decide that after i see how it turns out.
Be careful what you wish for. My comfrey grows wild now out with my wormwood and some blackberries. I always wanted an edible forest with medicinals. I will get it finished by the time I am dead.
We have lots of comfrey as well. I will definitely tell my wife about @Yvonne Smiths way of making the salve. She uses comfrey salve all the time, but she buys the stuff.
I was just watching a video about a guy who had a bad scratch in his eye. He took some comfrey leaf, blended it with a little water to make a poultice and put that on his closed eyes for a half hour. He said that in just that amount of time, it had completely healed the eye ! Here is the video , for anyone interested in watching, and i am now perusing youtube for more information about comfrey and eyes. It immediately made me think about poor @John Brunner when he had the painful stye in his eye, and wondering if the comfrey poultice would have helped heal that, too ?
Have you heard of "Guerilla Gardening" @Mary Stetler @Yvonne Smith @Faye Fox or anyone else? It is a term that is new to me and I wondered if anyone else was familiar with the term.
That's an interesting thought, Yvonne. I could only find one website that talked about using comfrey in the eyes. and it said to use a cold infusion as an eyewash for strained eyes, although it said it "helps repair any damage." I gotta admit, I'm funny about what I put in my eyes. And those styes I woke up with a couple of Thursdays ago felt almost all better by the following Tuesday. My ophthalmologist still told me to not stop the tea bag treatment for a while. I don't really know if the green tea helped, or if any hot compress would have worked.
Guerrilla Gardening is the act of gardening – raising food, plants, or flowers – on land that the gardeners do not have the legal rights to cultivate, such as abandoned sites, areas that are not being cared for, or private property. I guess it's like Guerilla Hunting.
I guess some preppers who live in apartments and such are now doing it in preparation for the apocalypse. When I read about it, I immediately thought of @Mary Stetler and her wild things. This guy said one of the favorite things to plant is sunchokes, as many people don't know what they are and they would be a food source to fend off starvation if need be. I reckon some medicinals as well as food could be planted. I know it was done with cannabis for years in parks and wildlands.
I have the land so no need for others'. Years ago, I threw some sunchokes in my manure pile but for some reason, they died back last year. I guess they are gettiing crowded out. I have planted wild plums and mulberries. did not have much luck with elcamagne and other medicinals of my choosing but there are plenty that choose to grow here. The wormwood, comfrey...I put in and will keep trying others as they survived. For years I kept planting hickory nuts as they are native here but the squirrels et al dig them up as they sprout. But the squirrels forget how tasty they are.
I was out today picking some of the comfrey leaves and have them washed and in the dehydrator to use in soups this winter. I have a lot of them so I do not know if I will get them all picked and dried or not. I have lots of the sweet potato greens, too, and i am thinking that i should pick and dry some of those for winter greens as well.
We have lots of comfrey too @Yvonne Smith. I don't know what my wife uses it for, but we do sell the plants. There seems to be an increasing demand for it here. I don't recall her using it in soups. I'll have to ask her.