Yarrow for Wound First Aide

The herb yarrow (Achillea millefoleum) has had many names, attesting to its many, many uses. Its particularly well known for its ability to quickly stop blood loss and help heal wounds.

When my son was 8 years old, he cut his foot badly one day on a bit of rusty metal.

With his sister’s help he hobbled to the kitchen where I was chopping veggies for dinner. It was the most blood I’ve ever seen issuing from one of my children, and for a moment my brain kind of stopped working.

Then, as I reached for a towel to stop the bleeding, I remembered. Yarrrow (Achillea millefoleum). One of its older names is Soldier’s Woundwort. As with “Skullcap” (helpful for headaches), the older names of herbs give clues as to their uses.

I went to find some yarrow (there wasn’t much because it was getting almost no water in the spot I had it… note to self: water yarrow). I picked some leaves, chewed them up (bitter), wadded them crudely against the cut as best I could find it amongst the still-seeping blood, and wrapped the foot up.

Chewing a herb to soften it and make it stick better to where it’s needed is an old-as humanity technique called “making a spit-poultice.” I know – it doesn’t sound very hygienic. But I can personally attest to its effectiveness.

We replaced that yarrow spit-poultice with another one at bedtime. At the same time, I added a squirt of yarrow tincture for good measure. He objected because it stung, which was probably the alcohol in the tincture rather than the yarrow itself. In hindsight, I should have diluted the tincture with water first.

At that point, when we did the second spit-poultice and the yarrow tincture, it was about an hour or two since he had hobbled into the kitchen. The bleeding had completely stopped. The wound had tightened and seemed to have shrunk, puckering around the edges. It looked clean.

My worry about whether I should have taken him to get it stitched up disappeared.

Over the next few days, we soaked the foot in warm salty water twice daily and kept it covered, but did not dress it with anything. Then its owner decided it didn’t need covering any more, and went back to his bare-footed ways.

The People’s Medicine

It’s really worthwhile learning some basic herb-lore. As Wise-Woman Herbalist Susun Weed says, “herbalism is the people’s medicine;” the herbs and weeds are “green blessings, allies,” growing at your doorstep, ready to help.

For free, and without side-effects.

More on Yarrow Coming Soon

Yarrow is a herb of many uses. An online search will reveal an extraordinary array of medicinal uses for it, as well as a few culinary uses, and it’s also a helper in the garden.

One lesser-known use for yarrow is in oral health care, where its anti-inflammatory, antiseptic/anti-microbial, and astringent properties make it very effective as a tooth cleaner and gum-health supporter.

More on that in Yarrow for Oral Care.

Byline

Kate writes at ARealGreenLife.com about thinking differently and living a more natural, connected, and sustainable life. Check out her free downloads page or her blog.