Shepherd's Purse

 Just now this cute little wild one is growing around places it aught not to. A rebel after my own heart. Hidden in gardens, peeking through fences and sidewalk cracks, it thrives in disturbed soil and waste spaces.

I discovered Shepherd's Purse, or capsella bursa-pastoris, in our garden a few years ago and instantly fell in love. The dainty little heart shaped buds are simply enchanting. 

Other folk names this plant goes by include:

Lady's Purse, Witches' Pouches, Pick-Pocket, Pick-Purse, Blindweed, Pepper-and-Salt, Poor Man's Parmacettie, Sanguinary, & Mother's Heart. Depending on the quality of the soil is has decided to grow in, it can be a few inches high up to two feet tall.

When dried and infused into a tea, it was considered by ancient herbalists and battlefield medics to be one of the best plants for stopping hemorrhages of all kinds. 

Today's herbalists are still using Shepherd's Purse. Internally, it is especially used for menstrual periods with abnormally heavy or prolonged bleeding.

Externally, the herb has been used for healing minor wounds, cuts and scrapes.

The herb’s ability to stop bleeding can be contributed to the plant's substances that are able to accelerate the coagulation of the blood, and a protein that acts like the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin stimulates contractions of the smooth muscles surrounding blood vessels, especially those in the womb.

Always do your own research and talk with a trained professional before using wild plants for medicine and food. 

Very soon these little guys were overgrown in our garden by more aggressive weeds and plants. If I hadn't captured a few photos as early as I did, they would have been lost for this season. When I went back a couple weeks later they couldn't be found in the sea of tall grass and foxtails. Luckily I was able to snag a few specimens from around the neighborhood during my walks for drying and storing. 

Magickal uses for Shepherd's Purse are as a protective charm against bleeding. Add the dried herb to poppets, candles, offering bowls, and other workings. The seeds have been traditionally used as an amulet for teething children. It is said that eating the seeds of the first three Shepherd's Purse plants you see will protect against all manner of diseases for the rest of the year. In candle magick, the herb can be used in spells to heal bruises, skin irritations and other ailments. A much beloved herb by Frigga, it's a great plant to use in a charm bag for a healthy pregnancy. *Do not ingest if pregnant.  

When it blooms, it has small white flowers that emerge from its cute heart fruit pods. They are sometimes described as having 'triangular' shaped fruits, but they are clearly heart-shapes, along the stem. I guess we see what we want. 

Shepherd's Purse is a member of the mustard family. It flowers almost all year-round depending on climate, and can reproduce many generations each year. 

While on the bitter side, this wild plant, roots and all, has been a food source for hundreds of years, especially in Asian cuisine. The leaves can be added to salads or cooked as a vegetable. The seed pods have a “peppery” taste and the seeds have been used as a substitute for mustard seeds.

In Japan, Shepherd's Purse is an essential ingredient in Nanakusa-Gayu (Seven-Herb Rice Soup) traditionally served on January 7th. 

It is one of the seven edible wild herbs of spring in Japan, which are:

• Water dropwort — seri (せり )
• Shepherd’s Purse — nazuna (なずな)
• Cudweed — gogyō (ごぎょう)
• Chickweed — hakobera (はこべら)
• Nipplewort — hotokenoza (ほとけのざ)
• Turnip — suzuna (すずな)
• Radish — suzushiro (すずしろ)

Nanakusa-Gayu (Seven-Herb Rice Soup)

Makes 6 servings

4 cups water
4-inch piece dried kombu (kelp) <-- you can get this at Fred Meyer in the health food section or at Stay Well Health Food Store on Fillmore)
1 1/2 cups steamed Japanese rice
1 teaspoon sea salt
6 pieces mochi (<--video below)
3/4 cup boiling water
1/2 cup herbs (listed above, or substitute with what you have on hand), rinsed and minced

1. Make the kombu dashi: The best way to make this stock is to soak the kombu in the water overnight, covered, in the refrigerator, then discard the kombu and use the stock. Quick method: Allow the kombu to soak in the water in a saucepan for 30 minutes. Then place the saucepan over medium-high heat. As soon as bubbles start to appear, remove the kombu from the water and remove the saucepan from the heat. Do not let the liquid come to a boil, as the kombu will then give the stock a bitter flavor.

2. Add the rice to the dashi and cook over low heat, stirring to break up any clumps of rice.

2. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the grains of rice swell and begin to lose their shape. Add 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, the mochi, and then the boiling water and stir.

3. Continue cooking and stirring occasionally to prevent the soup from sticking to the pot. When the mochi has softened and has begun to lose its shape, add the herbs. Stir and cook for an additional minute, then remove from the heat and serve immediately.

It is a simple porridge-like soup made with rice and water, or a light broth, seven different varieties of herbs (each chosen for their unique health promoting properties), and sometimes mochi. Possible substitutes for herbs you can't find locally would be basil, watercress, turnip greens and cilantro. Experiment to see what you like. The soup is meant to let the “overworked” stomach and digestive system rest and bring longevity and health in the coming year.

Here's a video for how to make the Mochi as well, though you can leave it out if desired.

Star of Bethlehem Plant

You might see these bright little six-petaled white flowers growing in neglected areas of your garden or yard, or around town in places that grow wild. They are certainly cute and dainty and very easy to admire. Their common name is Star of Bethlehem, but before the time of Medieval pilgrims this plant was known by other names, like Dog's Onion. It is thought this little flower derived its name from the Greek word ornithogalum meaning “bird’s milk flower”. Ornithogalum umbellatum is its proper name.

Related to garlic and onions, they are part of the hyacinthaceae family. They have small bulbs and grass-like leaves. If you ever pull these up and see the bulbs, they do look like wild onions or garlic even, but without that easy-to-spot onion scent. 

Every year when we work our garden soil we find oodles of the bulbs that we guess must have been planted long ago, as our home is around 75 years old. I'm sure whatever was planted back then, the ones we have now are the result of decades of unchecked proliferation. These plants don't need any help, they grow as they please. Some states consider them an invasive species and noxious weed. They are banned in Alabama. If you want to grow them, it is recommended to plant them in flower beds or pots. 

They bloom in late Spring from about May-June. 

While history tells us many stories of people eating the bulbs and flowers as sustenance during famine, they are in fact poisonous, and cooked incorrectly, they can cause heart attack and even be fatal. 

The white of the flower symbolizes innocence, forgiveness, truth, honesty and purity. They are often used in flower arrangements for weddings, baptisms and Christenings where these themes are common.   

For spells and magickal workings, they are well suited for trauma or loss of a loved one. Add the dried flowers to sachets, mojos, amulets and ritual powders to give comfort and to ease the pain of grieving, or any kind of trauma.