Kathryn G. and Andrew L. March explain willow's medicinal uses in Common Edible and Medicinal Plants of Colorado, stating that "the bark, roots, leaves, and flowers of various willows have long been used in America, Europe, China and Russia to treat colds, fevers, headaches, coughs, diarrhea, rheumatic pains, wounds, sores, dandruff, and other ailments."
So, the other day when Gregg and I stopped for a hike along his "secret road," we harvested a willow branch. I peeled of the bark and, having no headache at the time, left it out to dry in the house, waiting for my opportunity to experiment with it.
Have you ever sat around waiting--nay, hoping for--a headache? Well that was certainly a first for me. But finally my opportunity came, about two weeks later. Head pounding, I boiled a mug's worth of water (give or take) and dropped in about 1/8 of cup stripped and dried bark (not a lot the first time around), leaving it to steep for about 15 minutes. It sure tasted awful. I added a huge teaspoon of honey, which improved matters slightly, although it still tasted like medicine that you have to plug your nose and gulp down. I didn't drink the whole cup--maybe a third of it--and the exciting thing is it did relieve my headache! (At least, I think it did. We can't discount the possibility of a placebo effect, since I was so anxious for it to work.)
Anyway, long story short, my initial experiment with willow was a successful one, and I'm going to gather a bunch of it to dry and have on hand to use in place of aspirin the next time I'm feeling bad. Not to be too personal or anything but I think I'm going to try it out on the menstrual cramps too. Have you ever sat around waiting--nay hoping for--your period?
One final reason I'm excited about willow is that it can be harvested all winter long, so I'm going to file it away in my mind for future reference should a need arise, say, on the slopes this winter.
Excellent! Now that i am subscribing i actually am reading your blog in a timely fashion. Yay for no more headache and yay for willow! Hey, here is the cooking/photography blog that i was telling you about on the phone the other day. http://userealbutter.com/
Hey Trace! Thanks for the comment. Really, you don't have to feel obliged to read all the wild edible plant entries that don't apply to your locale, but I'm tickled nonetheless. The site you referred is great.