A Plant At A Time: Burdock revisited

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A Plant At A Time: Burdock revisited

Postby Lady Alinor » Sun Oct 09, 2016 3:54 pm

I thought that since it is that time of year....Time to dig our roots, I would drag over a couple threads from the archived site.
Here is part of the 'A Plant At A Time' series that LadyB started:

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A Plant at a time II: Burdock
Postby LadyB » Mon Dec 13, 2004 8:32 am

I'm hauling topics up from the archives before they disappear and consolidating them here in the new forum. I'm hoping to get the entire Plant At A Time series back up and flying....

What say we gather our thoughts and questions and stories about BURDOCK here?

It looks rather like a large blue/grey rhubarb, but it comes with a SURE-FIRE way to tell what you've got. Touch the BACK of the leaf and then touch your tongue. If you taste bitter, bitter, bitter, you've got real Burdock and NOT rhubarb or Colt's foot. I look to burdock leaves to ease swelling and to just suck the black and blue out of bruises. A really GOOD way to make sure you ALWAYS have Burdock bandages around is to cut the BEST leaves (about the size of your hand) into strips and wind them around in a small jar and then cover them with apple cider vinegar. They keep nearly indefinitely, especially in the fridge. If you have to use them on broken skin, be SURE you rinse the vinegar off first! I DID break my toe most SPECTACULARLY by classically kicking the bed and I WRAPPED said toe in a strip of burdock leaf and by the next morning all the black and blue was GONE.

LadyB

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One of my OTHER favorite Burdock ROOT stories was telling my then teenage daughter about how SIX WEEKS of Burdock Root tincture, taken a dropperful 3xs a day would do a real number on teenage acne. She rather ho-hummed the whole thing until HER acne began to mar her lovely face. She did it, she stuck WITH it, she saw absolutely NO improvement until JUST about the end of week six....after that, it was nothing short of astonishing. I remember her telling me that JUST past the six week mark, if she skipped a dose it would try to come back, and if she ate something truly horrifying she'd have a (minor) breakout, but the farther past the six-week mark she continued, the stronger she (her liver) got. Her friends were SO jealous.....and her face never broke out again.

Along with the spectacular results, I don't think it's such a bad thing for a teenager to INVEST in something that's important to them and see the results of sticking with it. Healing all OVER the place!

Lady B

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I have heard that burdock root oil is good for the hair. I was also interested in the acne cure from tincture. I read how to make tincture and oils but not with a root. Could some one tell me how you prepare these with root? If I get to the plants first maybe my dog will look better with out the burs stuck to him EVERY where !

Thanks ~ Eva ~

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I usually wait 'til the fall to harvest a FIRST YEAR burdock plant, that being one that DIDN'T bloom. If you dig up a bloomed-out burdock, the root will be a hollow, worn-out mess....Digging burdock root is ALSO a bear and a half. Don't EVEN think you can pop it out with a pitchfork!! You need to hand-dig around and around the stem, removing soil as you go, so that you can see HOW far down the root even BEGINS. Then you need to KEEP digging the dirt away from the sides of the root as far down as you can reach before you try REMOVING the whole root or you'll just break it off. I watched one growing at the edge of a huge compost pile one year, waited 'til the first frost JUST touched it and started DIGGING. UNNNNNNbelievable how HUGE the root was. In the soft, composty soil it was certainly easier to dig than the 'wild' ones who take up residence in wretched, compacted places, but it was still SOME progect. I believe we got 2.5 lbs of rootness from that one plant.

Once you've GOT the root, clean it, slice it, fill a jar and then pour the vodka over it. Mark it for six weeks hence.

Burdock ROOT OIL would be tough, as there's so much MOISTURE in the root that there's a REAL good chance the oil would spoil and I'm not sure olive oil could extract properties from DRIED roots. I truly do not know. (haven't heard me say THAT much around here, HAVE we?? )

Gail Edwards talks about infusing fresh burdock roots in either oil or honey, so I guess it works! You'd have to REALLY keep an eye on it and get into daily poking to get all air bubbles out.
LadyB

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Thank you Lady Barbara, on the story about your daughter.

My grandson aged 14, who lives with me, will be hearing of this; I hope it will encourage him to try it. I get Burdock Root and make infusions/and sometimes boil up in the pan...It touches me deeply and I make it when I 'get the call'!!!

LadyCrone.

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I want to combine two identically-named threads here:
LadyCrone had another question:
Oh...and...please could you tell me if I can make the tincture with the dried roots...they are organic...and actually come from the states at this time...
thanks
LadyCrone

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My understanding is fresh plant material is preferable, but with roots dried is okay. I use dried roots for my echinacea tincture, but even with this I hear E. augustifulia can be used fresh or dried but E. purpurea must be fresh, still leading me to believe fresh is best.

I love to experiment, so what I would do if you, is make tincture from the dried and, if possible, make one (even if small amount) from fresh root, then compare them in taste, color, experience, etc. I personally would even buy one at a store to compare with as well.

With the dried root you CAN make infusions.

karen joy

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With burdock and yellow dock I've always tinctured the roots fresh, dandelion too, but that's partly because I can GET them fresh right outside. I've done mallow roots fresh and gotten the most god-awful GLOP forming in the decanted tincture, so I began drying them. I do my Osha root dried as that's the only way I can get it. And I have RE-infused the already tinctured roots of burdock when I've decanted them which makes one *KICKIN'* infusion as there's a lot of alcohol still in the roots.

And yes, karen, I heard the same about the echinacea. Angustifolia is OK dried, but purpurea should be FRESH.

LadyB
Lady Barbara, 62!,
http://www.ladybarbara.net
online herb classes!
LadyB

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The full thread is here: http://web.archive.org/web/201310240538 ... 255#p47143

Lady Alinor
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Re: A Plant At A Time: Burdock revisited

Postby Lady Alinor » Tue Oct 11, 2016 4:43 pm

Here's what Jim Mcdonald has to say about BURDOCK
http://herbcraft.org/burdock.html

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Re: A Plant At A Time: Burdock revisited

Postby Lady Alinor » Wed Nov 02, 2016 8:00 pm


Lady Alinor
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Re: A Plant At A Time: Burdock revisited

Postby Lady Alinor » Thu Nov 03, 2016 12:35 pm


Lady Alinor
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Re: A Plant At A Time: Burdock revisited

Postby Lady Alinor » Thu Nov 03, 2016 12:38 pm

Jim Mcdonald gives a Burdock Weed Walk, this is nearly 18 minutes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcgVopuxT8o

kmartin60
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Re: A Plant At A Time: Burdock revisited

Postby kmartin60 » Sun Nov 06, 2016 12:10 pm

I love seeing some of the info saved from the archived site... I hope to see more info and threads brought back again? Greenest Blessings :)


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