alfalfa is for assimilating

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." 

                                                                                                                   -- Robert A. Heinlein

Alfalfa is a deep-rooted herbal plant that helps us assimilate nutrients. Assimilating information is a core human skill that enables us to be proficient in many ways, so on another level, I'm hoping alfalfa will help me take in, remember, and use the experiences of the past week.

I wish it grew wild here like it does in most rural areas because I'll need a lot. I remember that horses love alfalfa, a member of the clover family -- if you're out riding and stop for a minute, your horse will find herself a bite of something in the clover family. An interesting tidbit about mineral-rich alfalfa is that it also contains coumarin, a blood-thinner. When you smell some plants in the clover family, you may get a whiff of freshly-mown hay -- that's coumarin. The same with sweet grass and sweet woodruff and the fragrance gets stronger as the plant material dries.

These silk bundles have assimilated what they could from dandelion flowers and mahonia roots, stems, and leaves. The mahonia on the right takes best in show for yellowness.

And now I'm off to the healthy food store for some dried alfalfa to make a nice assimilating herbal infusion. See you.