We have had it "skip a year" and not emerge during the summer then come back full force the next year. Wife says she uses it for salves and such, as well as mulch in some places.
My comfrey plants are up all over in the front and back yard garden areas, and they already have the pretty pink blossoms on them. I have been using a few leaves in green smoothies, and I also blended some in water and used it as a green fertilizer for my little basil plants that I started in the arerogarden this spring.
Here is a comfrey poultice recipe that I came across. This uses flour and not any oil like the salve recipe did, and it looks like you make it as needed.
Today, I harvested comfrey. (Again) it is an ongoing thing for me in the summer. I blended the chopped up stems and watered the potted plants with the mixture, then took the shredded leaves and put some in the dehydrator, and the leftover ones are going to be a pot of comfrey tea. I tried putting some blended comfrey in my hair, because I read how good the allantoin is for skin and hair. However, even though my hair felt thick and wonderful afterwards (I left it in for about an hour and then rinsed and shampooed it out), I discovered that the tiny bits of comfrey fluff didn’t all rinse out of my hair even though I rinsed it a LOT. So, I am going to make the tea, and use that and see if it helps my hair grow faster and thicker. I was watching a video and they said that besides healing cuts and bruises, comfrey is also great for arthritis pain, so I am going to try putting some salve or a poultice on my knees when they stiffen up.
The experiment of the day, is making a really, really easy comfrey ointment. I powdered the dehydrated comfrey and now I am melting some Vicks, which is not only for chest colds, but also for muscle aches, according to the label. I have it in a pan of hot water, and once it melts, I will try mixing in some of the comfrey powder, putting it back in the container and letting it cool back down to the ointment. I was thinking of using Vaseline, but we don’t have any of that, and all I could find was the Vicks, so that is what i am using. It seems like it could also be mixed into something like icy-hot to be used for arthritis pain. Next trip to the dollar store, i will get some of that and also some Vaseline and see how they work. When I made it before, i just took fresh comfrey leaves, mushed them in the food processor and then infused them in coconut oil in the crockpot on warm for a day. It came out okay, but has to be in the fridge to make it a solid; plus I think that I lose some of the good stuff when the leaves are filtered out after the infusing. This way, it is all in there, but in powdered form, and I have been learning that this is how many other people make their salves and ointments. How do you use your comfrey, @Mary Stetler , @Don Alaska ? Have you ever just mixed it with something easy like Vaseline ?
At the moment, my wife has plantain oil awaiting further processing, but I don't she has has made any comfrey ointment yet. For her plantain, she is infused the oil, and is awaiting beeswax to convert the oil into salve. She did purchase a comfrey-arnica salve from Azure Standard that she uses.
My daughter makes her salves that way for us too. I tried putting comfrey in alcohol, @Yvonne Smith but it was kind of messy to use. I use tinctures internally usually but the comfrey, I just put on a pad.