Tuesday, September 22, 2009

What a weed!

Jewelweed is one of my favorite plants weeds.  Most people hate it but I think that is only because they have no idea how valuable it is!  What a blessing our Father gave us when He created Jewelweed.  Jeremy and I harvested Jewelweed this week. We filled a huge black trash bag, brought it home and put it on the kitchen table.

Jewelweed!

I chopped quite a bit of it up and made 1.5 gallons of tincture to treat poison ivy.  If you even think you've touched poison ivy (or oak or sumac) just wash it off with Jewelweed!  If you don't realize it and break out - use Jewelweed to get over it in a matter of days instead of weeks.  I use this a lot in my own family but I end up giving many jars away.

Elijah is my little poison ivy magnet.  He gets poison ivy every time I turn around - even in the winter time!  I guess that is because he is such a nature loving kid.  And, well, nature includes poison ivy tucked in and around our farm!

I love the flowers on Jewelweed - they are so beautiful and delicate.  When you make your tincture, be sure to include plenty of flowers.

Jewelweed bloom

I am also drying much of this harvest so that I can use it in my Jewelweed Soap and my Jewelweed Salve....both of which help Elijah get over his poison ivy very quickly. Once I get it good and dry, I store it in air tight containers until I need it.

I think I am going to need to harvest more just for drying.  It is one of the most popular soaps and salves that I sell locally.  Many of the farm stores have a VERY small tiny minute white bar of soap called "Poison Ivy Soap" at their cash registers.  This bar of soap is probably about 1 or 2 ounces and they are selling it for $9.00!!!  NINE DOLLARS people!  Are they crazy?  Does anyone really buy it? It says it contains Jewelweed but I am not sure how they do that and keep it pure white.

My soap is a lovely pale green because it is made with plenty of plant material!  I'll be putting it back up on my website soon.  I sold out this spring when the poison ivy began to emerge.  And since Jewelweed isn't ready until summer, there wasn't much I could do about that.  Once it is done curing, I'll put it back up - along with my salve.  It was a good lesson to me to keep more of a stock of dried Jewelweed so that I can continue to make both....even during the.....ahem......."busy" season next spring.

Beautiful!

For more pictures and instructions on how to make your own tincture...use the search engine here on my blog. Just type in Jewelweed to learn more!  And be sure to thank our Father for His wisdom in creating this incredible plant and for blessing us with something that can lessen our suffering with poison ivy. I believe poison ivy came about because of the fall....but in His immeasurable mercy He gifted us a cure!  And if you think about it, He created it before poison ivy was a problem!  What a loving Father we serve!

Blessings,

8 comments:

  1. I discovered the blessing of jewelweed this summer while researching herbs (after purchasing your herbal course this last winter--what a great jumping off place it was! ) I had read elsewhere that it was impossible to dry it due to the high moisture content--so I am glad to fid that it IS dryable and still works after dried--excellent news, thank you!

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  2. Oh my - I just got over a 3 week course of poison something. I live in South Florida, but I visited my sister in upstate New York and we went for lots of rides in the country. We went to a cemetery in a town called Oak Hill in Greene County, NY where my ancestors are from - and we were digging around looking for family members there. We had to do some clearing off of grave stones since some were lop sided and fallen over and others were covered with plants. I didn't think twice - I stuck my left hand down there and cleared away. Then I touched the left side of my face and various other parts of my chest, right arm, etc. After I got home I began to itch like crazy and had welts all over the areas described above. I must have bought 4 different over the counter anti-itch creams, the best of which was Gold Bond because it had menthol in it, which temporarily made the hot, itchy skin feel soothed. I also went to the Dr. and got some prescription creams which, in my opinion, did nothing at all. It still took 3 weeks for all the itchiness to subside and now my left hand is peeling everywhere I had the rash. That's because, unlike my face, I scratched it to my hearts content. I also tried the method of putting my hand under the hottest water I could stand so that it would start to itch, and then feel as if it was being scratched by the hot water - an entire "itch cycle" which would keep it from itching for at least another hour or so.

    If only I had known about your salve. I wonder if Jewelweed grows in South Florida (in the areas not covered by buildings) - I'm going to look it up.

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  3. Can you send me some seeds? I can't find anywhere that sells them - and I know I can grow them in my butterfly/hummingbird garden. I have a moist area in the yard where I have a small pond - I could grow it there....

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  4. I don't think we have jewelweed growing here in Kansas. So I would buy some of your salve (yes, I have paid the $8 for the tiny white bar of "poison ivy soap" in the drug store). We have lots of trouble with the ivy here on our farm and both of us are sensitive to it, and fight it every single summmer.

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  5. I am so glad you posted these photos.

    My husband had a bad case of poison ivy for weeks, and using Jewelweed soap and scrubbing the areas with it were all we could do to finally get it under control. His skin is still healing weeks after the sores are gone!

    I had not looked for photos of it, but since we have so much poison ivy, I am sure hoping we also have Jewelweed. My daughter loves to look for weeds and wildflowers, so I know she will enjoy looking this up and trying to locate some.
    I am going to link this post to my Poison Ivy post.
    Thank you again~

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  6. I wanted very much to attend your class today, but it didn't work into our trip this time. I haven't given up hoping for another opportunity! Anyway, since we were home, I went on a "medicinal plants" guided hike locally. Each person was given a plant to search for along the hike. Wouldn't you know, Jewelweed was the plant assigned to me. It was very exciting because I recognized it from your blog post!

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  7. hey cheri:

    i found some jewelweed on side of one of our back roads and pulled some up. i tried to grow it but it did not live. have you ever transplanted jewelweed?
    thanks so much
    kay

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  8. Hi Cheri!

    I hope y'all are doing well.

    I have a question that has nothing to do with jewelweed. :-) How do you make a line through the word like you did in the word "plants" above? Is that just a wordpress feature? I can't figure out how to do it on blogger. I think it's so funny when you do that.

    Thanks,
    Andi

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