Flower Power Quilting Book

Here in Western Washington we're having some early spring weather complete with sunny, warmer days.

I've found they've got me craving early spring greens, and I stumbled upon a friend's garden that has an entire bed covered with lovely chickweed (Stellaria media). See the inset on the top left of the photo to check out its flower. It looks like 10 petals, but it is actually five.

This beautiful, delicate plant is one of my favorites, and I've been enjoying chickweed in all sorts of ways over the last couple of weeks. I've added it to my salads, мейд a cream cheese spread with fresh chickweed, basil and thyme, and even added chickweed to my lasagna.

The recipe we want to share with you for this branch though, is for chickweed pesto.

To make this wonderful early spring treat combine:

2 cloves of garlic, 3 Tablespoons of pine nuts or sunflower seeds, ¼- tsp. salt, 2 packed cups chopped fresh chickweed, ½- cup olive oil, and ½- cup Parmesan cheese in a blender...

THEN...Blend well!

Serve this over pasta or just use it as a dip for crackers or vegetables. You can even freeze some in case you decide to make a lot at once.

It's delicious and filled with nutritional value as well. A great example of food as medicine.

Chickweed is high in vitamin C, calcium, and iron as well as many other important minerals. It is also very nourishing for the lungs.

Eating chickweed also thins the membranes of your cells so that nutrients are more readily absorbed and utilized. Chickweed is used topically for skin eruptions, hemorrhoids, cuts, wounds, burns, etc. It is one of our favorite diaper rash remedies as well.

So, enjoy this early spring treat, knowing that it is one more amazingly healthy thing you can give to your body.

OH! Some tips on where to find clean, non-toxic supplies of chickweed... Check in winter garden beds, compost piles, fields in early spring where no one sprays herbicides, greenhouses (inside and around them) and at local organic farms. Farmers will be MORE THAN happy to give you their "weeds." Watch out for local parks or places that might be sprayed or get high pet traffic.

Once again, there is more info on this in Roots and Branches that comes with the Herbal Medicine Making Kit at

Enjoy!!!

Kimberly Gallagher, M.Ed. and John Gallagher, L.Ac are Community Centered Herbalists who run LearningHerbs. They are creators of the Herbal Medicine Making Kit and the Wildcraft! An Herbal Adventure Game board game. John and Kimberly also mentor herbal studies online for people of all experience levels at HerbMentor.

• Home Remedy Secrets, Building Your Own Herbal Medicine Chest at LearningHerbs. • Supermarket Herbalism: A 7 day email and video eCourse at FamilyHerbalRemedies • HerbMentor News Monthly Email Mentoring at HerbMentor