Yarrow or botanically known as Achillea millefolium is one of the most precious herbs you can have in your garden.
A few years ago, my good friend and colleague Garth Kent told me about the use of Yarrow on bleeding wounds. Well I heard it ant it sort of sank into the sea of information. Last year Linnie started a vegetable garden at home and being the health nuts we are, we wanted to do it 100% natural and organic. This meant, for one, that we did not want to spray any chemical pesticides or herbicides. Linnie did a lot of research on organic gardening and decided to make use of companion planting.
Yarrow is considered an especially useful companion plant, not only repelling some bad insects while attracting good, predatory ones, but also improving soil quality. It attracts predatory wasps, which drink the nectar and then use insect pests as food for their larvae. Similarly, it attracts ladybugs and hoverflies. Its leaves are thought to be good fertilizer, and a beneficial additive for compost.
It is also considered directly beneficial to other plants, improving the health of sick plants when grown near them.
When she told me about Yarrow, I immediately remembered what Garth had told me, years earlier. Well, we planted some and it’s growing all over the veg garden. Some time ago, Danika cut her little finger badly, trying to cut an apple into slices. I was at work and Linnie was at home with the children. When an incident like this happens, my children are trained well. The nearest one will run to see what the matter is, if it’s more than they can handle, the will make alarm and we will get involved. One will run for our natural first aid kit,while the others will stand by for further instructions. In this particular instance, Linnie remembered about the fact that Yarrow stopped bleeding instantly. We had never used it but she decided to give it a try. So while she cleaned the wound, gushing with blood, with some Silvermax, Heidi-Mari ran to the garden and ripped off a piece of Yarrow leaf. Linnie bruised the leaf in the pestle and mortar and applied it to the wound.
Immediately the blood stopped, and the pain was gone instantly! The wound was healed by the next evening.
Now that was our first experience with Yarrow.
About a week ago, another alarm went off. This time it was David. The two boys were already in their bed, supposedly asleep, when we heard the blood curdling cry. I assumed that the one had hit the other one over a toy or something. I was making my way over there to go sort it out, when Josua came running in, shouting: “Come quickly dad, it’s David and there is blood everywhere!”
Now, if that did not get your adrenaline pumping then seeing the blood would. It was blood down his neck, his arm, on the stairs, on the bed - well, like Josua said, everywhere!
We assed the matter quickly, while shouting a few commands like Rescue!, Injura!, towel!and amongst them Yarrow! The older children ran to fetch what we requested. In the meantime I had put my hanky over the wound on the back of his head, but within seconds it was drenched in blood. I found a pile of serviettes, put them on, but the same happened. What seemingly had happened was that they played and David slipped and fell with the back of his head on the corner of a step.
It was then that I personally experienced the miracle of Yarrow. One of the older ones handed me a few leafs of Yarrow. I put it on the wound, and the bleeding stopped as if someone had turned off the tap!
I was amazed. We treated him for shock with more Rescue drops, and Injura drops. We put a little Traumeel S ointment on for the swelling, but the bleeding had stopped. For safety and to keep watch over him, we had him sleep near us for the night. What was furthermore amazing, was that David never once complained of any pain! The next day, he was his old self again.
So, I would seriously urge you, get Yarrow, and plant it in your garden, immediately.
Some other uses for Yarrow include the following.
