I went to harvest some wild bamboo to use for stakes and poles (featuring in my Jackie French grapevines, coming soon), It’s amazing what resources are around you when you start to look. I have found many bamboo groves around the Bunbury area, most in plain sight. Bamboo is a classic and valuable resource and can be used for all kinds of things (I’m going to try making wind chimes). Look for it around waterways or in depressions in the land especially if you are in a dry climate. In wet tropical areas I imagine its everywhere!
So there was in the thicket and for some reason I was rushing to cut the bamboo and cut my finger with the pruning saw. The cut was fairly deep, the pruning saw had hit with a lot of force. I was stoked on this misfortune because I had wanted to try out a medicinal weed known as plantain, which is renowned around the world for its amazing wound healing properties. Plaintain (Plantago species) is prolific and very easy to find, I see it everywhere in grass verges, it seems to like tough hard soils and often grows amongst turf. There are a few different species and it is sometimes known as ribwort or ribgrass, here I have used common plantain. The leaves and juices from the leaves have been shown to have anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory qualities and they also contain special proteins that assist in healing. There is also evidence that shows it has powerful immune boosting qualities, treats diarrhoea, giardia, ulcers and can even fight cancer! The seed husks help with digestive tract cleansing.
To use just pick some leaves, chew ‘em up and you have a poultice, too easy. Or add to salads, sangas or smoothies, experiment!
NOTE: Always make sure you know your plants before ingesting, and be mindful of environmental contaminants such as poisons and animal shit.
A truly majestic specimen
For more info check these links: http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/objtwr/imported_assets/content/past/plantain.pdf
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBCwokAH9Rk
