Yarrow - Achillea Millefolium
With its feathery leaves and pretty pink and white flowers, yarrow is a common sight in gardens, along roads, on scrubland and in regenerating wildflower areas. Tales tell of its use in all sorts of wonderfully witchy traditions, in lonely-person’s love prophesying and in deep wound healing. It goes way, way back with us too. Ancient Greek hero Achilles was dipped in yarrow tea to make him invincible. Shame they missed his heel. And yarrow has traditionally been used to stem the blood loss of soldiers, right up until the first world war. It was even found buried with a Neanderthal, in a 60,000-year-old grave. Seems like it’s always been there for us.
Millefolium means thousand leaf, and we reckon that mass of foliage is magic. Being closely related to other amazing plants like chamomile and sunflower, yarrow is also brimming with health-giving benefits. Anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, gut-healing and relaxing, it’s also a dream to pick and dry, and our buns adore the soft, yet cronchy texture.
In our coven, on the first Sunday after a full moon in March, yarrow helps us predict that a) we will always love bunnies and b) this heroic herb will keep them healthy and strong.
Monchable bits:
Bunnies can eat the leaves, stems and flowers.
Feeding guidelines:
Yarrow can be fed regularly to bunnies; introduce all new plants slowly. For a balanced diet aim for a minimum of 5 different plants to complete each meal.
Pick n prep guidelines:
- Always thoroughly wash your forage
- Only feed plants you're confident you can identify.
- Forage respectfully and avoid uprooting small plants.
- Never forage from heavily polluted areas like roadsides and plants that may have been treated with pesticides.
- Get permission if foraging on private land.