Historic Washington State Park offered a herb workshop on the last Saturday in April. Theresa Neely led the workshop with Rachel Colbe’s assistance. The course covered the history of the area and how that affected what was grown there – settlers bringing plants from North Carolina and Pennsylvania as well as the Civil War’s effect on what was grown. She stated that a lot of things they knew worked but didn’t know why.
Neely stated that the area had both sandy soil and was fertile which worked well for the gardeners. She stated what different herbs were said to be good for – comfrey for minor cuts, scrapes and rashes. A prickly ash branch, known as the toothache tree was also shown. Mullein was said to have many uses, all parts of the plant being useful, such as wrap the feet in, respiratory help, torches, good for earaches, rashes.
For planting both Mullein and Comfrey it was recommended to make sure to site them well as they both have deep tap roots.
The workshop included a tour of the garden as well as the preparation of a salve made with comfrey,olive oil and bees wax and two types of herbal tea – mullein and peppermint.
