Winter Look: Alfalfa -- Medicago sativa
Channel: Wisewood Apothecary
Date: 03/01/2017

Alfalfa -- Medicago sativa: The father of all food, is what the word alfalfa means, and it lives up to it by being a mineral, protein, and vitamin rich plant-based source of food that can be found all year round. The B vitamins that it houses, are a good contributing factor in keeping morale and energy up as well. The seeds from alfalfa's tell-tail curly little seed pods and it's leaves are the edible parts, with the roots making a great toothbrush substitute (you can use regular charcoal for the toothpaste) and the young spring shoots being a choice edible. When protected from ice and snow, you can often find greenery even mid-January, though you might have to dig around a bit. Ideally, you will have harvested this plant throughout the warmer months, as the leaves are best dried and ground to obtain most of the flavour and nutrients. The ground leaf powder can be utilized any time of the year by adding it to teas, soups, stews, and even your supply of flour. It will not only diversify and broaden the nutrional profile of a soup or a stew, but it will also help thicken the liquid, helping to make you feel full, longer than a thin broth would.