Spring is a wonderful time. In some countries people anxiously wait for the snow to melt so they can go out looking for fresh leaves in the woods. Wild garlic, dandelion, stinging nettle and other precious leaves will be picked up and made into delicious salads, omelets and soups or turned into fresh delicious smoothies. One of this much appreciated plants is the stinging nettle. As soon as the sun is up and the mud is almost dry, friends and families will go out together to pick up the new, young, juicy leaves of the stinging nettle.

     St John’s wort is the most peculiar plant. It can alleviate anxiety and depression just as well as the synthetic antidepressants on the market and without most of those annoying side effects. Very strange indeed, who would have thought that a simple weed that you can pick up in your back yard can do such a marvelous thing?

     Sometimes we have a tendency to look down on some plants. It’s easier to think of them like some humble weeds without much importance or connection to our daily routines. But most of the plants are anything but humble weeds.  Every single one of them is a rich reservoir bursting with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, fibers and organic compounds that can help us live a better life.

     Calendula is a beautiful flower with bright orange petals. It has its origins in India but it was successfully cultivated and it is certainly very appreciated in many European countries. Dried petals are helpful remedy in many internal and especially external ailments of the human body.

     Wild garlic (Allium ursinum) is a small, green plant with little white flowers that can be found especially in the dense woods of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. People tried with little or no success to acclimate and cultivate the wild garlic. Both humans and bears are picking it up in early spring and eating it with pleasure. It can add flavor to many salads, be turned into a delicious pesto or used as a medicinal remedy.

"The study of simple drugs is a study so agreeable, and so exalted in its own nature, that it has been the pursuit of the first geniuses of all ages." (Pierre Pomet, Histoire Generale Des Drogues)

     Dandelion can be found everywhere. Well, not in the parking lot at the supermarket, but it grows practically in every single sunny corner in the countryside. The small leaves can be picked up in early spring when they are fresh and not very bitter and turned into a delicious and extremely healthy salad. I know that not many people have ever had the opportunity or the disposition to eat a dandelion salad but it is definitely worth trying. Your liver will most definitely thank you.