What we’ve done at LearningHerbs is to develop a children’s herbal learning system that engages kids through stories, and encourages them to learn more by providing exciting hands-on activities.
My children love the Herb Fairy stories! The stories kept them captivated and they begged for more when I stopped reading! When you join the book club you get more than just the stories too. You also get:
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Some of the above mentioned plants have medicinal purposes and can be used on their own or in salves. Some other plants we learned to use are comfrey and plantain. I have a big comfrey plant growing on the side of my garden shed but I had no idea what it was until I started learning about herbs and edible weeds. Comfrey is also known as "knitbone" and apparently is such a strong healer than it can aid in the healing of bones! |
Chickweed is one of those weeds that I always despised because it seems to take over and is impossible to get rid of. After reading Herb Fairies and learning that chickweed is edible we tried it and the kids actually liked it! This spring I caught myself actually looking for it to make sure it was coming back :) It is easy to hide in just about any meal! Throw it in a salad, on your sandwiches or mix it into a casserole. My kids say they like it because they can not actually taste it when I hide it in their food. |
My children's favorite edible weed is dandelions! In the spring I no longer get handfuls of dandelions for bouquets. Instead, I get handfuls of dandelions and then the kids tell me, "Now we can make dandelion pancakes!" I did try a recipe once for dandelion fritters, but what we call dandelion pancakes is just our regular pancake recipe with a handful of yellow dandelion flowers thrown in. (*Don't eat the green part of the flower. It won't hurt you, but it is bitter tasting. The yellow part of the flower is the part you want.) All parts of the dandelion are edible and nutritious. The leaves are best eaten when they are young as they get bitter when they get older. Of course, you want to make sure you are picking ones that you know have not been sprayed! |
Have you ever eaten wild plants or weeds? What have you done with them? I would love to hear about it if you have!
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