Plantain for your Herbal First Aid Kit:

The backyard lawn of our current house is full of weeds. Red Clover, Dandelion, Plantain and many others I don’t even know the name of. It looks pretty in its own way in the summer, with all the flowers blooming. Yet, the downside is that it gets covered with bees looking for sweet nectar.

And yes, bees are wonderful, fabulous creatures that help to pollinate our plants and make delicious, healing honey for us, but when you have children who have forgotten to put on their shoes running around, it would be preferable for those bees to get their food from elsewhere.

I knew that, at some point in the summer, there would be stings.

Sure enough, one evening, Mr. Two came limping inside, tears streaming down his face. Upon inspection of the foot, it was apparent that the source of the pain was a bee sting.

Removing the sting by grasping it with fingernails or tweezers can cause more of the venom to be released into the body. Instead, we removed the offending stinger by scraping it off with a credit card.

The next course of action was to visit the lawn to look for some plantain. This amazing plant, considered by most people to be a weed, is the very best thing for bites and stings. The great news is that almost everyone is sure to have some somewhere not far away–on their lawn, their nature strip, a nearby park, or even a garden bed.

Sure enough, my wife was able to quickly find some plantain. She ripped off a few leaves, while I sat Mr. Two on my knee and comforted him. On her way back to the house, she placed the leaves in her mouth and began to chew them, to release their juices.

She then placed the chewed up leaves over the sting site, and held it there firmly.

We couldn’t believe how quickly this seemed to bring relief from the pain. Within 5 or 10 minutes, Mr. Two was nearly back to his old self.

We hoped this would make him realise the importance of wearing shoes outside; however, not two days later, he was stung once again! This time, it couldn’t have been more than a minute that he cried for, and he was up and running around once more in no time. We were astounded at how quickly it worked–especially when most sources say that the pain can last for 20 minutes or more.

The next victim, a few weeks later, was my wife. The last time she had been stung by a bee before that point was at least fifteen years prior. On that occasion, the sting had her in tears, and her foot–where the sting had occurred–was in pain for upwards of an hour. She had iced it to ease the pain, but back then, didn’t know about the powers of plantain.

This time, she had been walking in the grass while wearing sandals, and after her attention was distracted for a minute (“Look at me, Mummy! Look at me!”), a bee managed to find its way under her toe, and sting her. She couldn’t believe the comparison between the previous sting, not treated with plantain, and this one, on which plantain was applied! This time, the pain was somewhat intense for around ten minutes, before becoming increasingly dull. The sting site was a little tender for a day or so, but just a little irritating more than anything.

The final victim of the bees this past summer was Little Miss 6–again, on the foot, two days in a row! On the second occasion, the plantain my wife applied didn’t seem to be working. Ten minutes or so after the sting occurred, she was still in tears from the pain. Finally, we worked out that we were placing it on the wrong spot. After locating the real spot and applying the plantain, her tears dried up quick smart. This well and truly proved to us, once again, just how powerful this herb is!

The easiest way to apply plantain, especially in an emergency, is simply to grab a few leaves, chew them up in the mouth to release the juices, and apply it as a poultice to the area. In the case of our bee stings, we held it there for ten or fifteen minutes, until the pain eased, then apply a fresh poultice, and keep it there overnight with a bandaid.

Another way is to dry out some plantain leaves so that all the water content is removed–either by keeping them in a warm environment, yet out of direct sunlight, or by placing them in a dehydrator.

When the plantain is dry, place it in olive oil, and leave it for at least a month to steep. The oil can be applied to any bite or sting. Alternatively, beeswax can be added to it to make plantain ointment.

However this herb is used, it is one of the best there is for your home herbal first aid kit. You truly never know when you will need it!

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