Wildcrafting: How to Make Your Own Herbal Poultice For Cuts, Bruises, Stings, Sprains

How to Make Your Own Herbal Poultice For Everyday Cuts and Bruises

1. Pick a handful of your desired herb (leaf and/or flower) and either massage and break the herb up with your fingers or chop it finely on a cutting board or in a food processor — or for a real old-school method, chew on it and spit it out (though probably best if you’re going to use this one on yourself, of course. To avoid the ick factor).

2. Apply the plant material directly to the wound, scrape or irritated area. If you like, you can wrap a cloth around the poultice to keep it in place.

3. Keep it there. For minor issues I might leave the plant material on for 20 minutes, but for more serious issues I will keep it on for many hours or until healing is complete. To keep the poultice strong, I might add in fresh herbs every hour or so.

            Here are my go-to poultice herbs that can be applied to everyday uses (Remember: always talk to your doctor before trying new protocols, especially if you are on medication) :

* Comfrey is known for its ability to quicken the healing of bruises, swelling, sprains, and breaks. Allantoin, a chemical compound found in comfrey, helps to stimulate tissue growth and regeneration. It’s important to apply comfrey only to clean wounds, since its ability to quickly close open wounds can spell trouble for an unclean and infected cut. A comfrey poultice can also be applied to broken bones to speed up the healing time.

* Plantain is one of the most common backyard weeds. It has astringent properties that help to reduce swelling and analgesic properties that serve to reduce pain and itching. In herb circles today, plantain is often referred to as nature’s band-aid. I often apply plantain poultices to bug bites and bee stings with great results. Plantain can also be helpful for drawing out splinters that just don’t want to come out.

* Yarrow is especially useful to slow or stop bleeding in open wounds. Yarrow was historically used on the battlefield for its antiseptic and analgesic properties and was packed into wounds in combat to help keep them clean and prevent solders from bleeding