It's an ill wind...

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MaggieJ

MaggieJ

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It's an ill wind that blows no good.

True! We have had horrid wind all day, an ill wind indeed, but when I went out to gather bunny greens there was an abundance of poplar twigs with leaves and also willow whips and a couple of large limbs. I gathered up the poplar and the bunnies are feasting tonight, plus I have lots to dry for winter. I'll be gathering and bundling willow in the morning, unless it is raining too hard. Both these trees are difficult to harvest from because most of the branches are out of reach... so the wind was a helper today.
 
I was relishing today how lucky we are to have this pain in the butt willow tree (well stump, really) that I keep having to prune back all the time until we could rip it out. but, now that we have rabbits, I'm thinking of keeping it :) it has the most perfect sized branches and yummy leaves!

I had heard that willow contained aspirin like or aspirin itself, compounds. anyone else heard of this?
 
dandee":1oa8dfnv said:
I had heard that willow contained aspirin like or aspirin itself, compounds. anyone else heard of this?
Click to expand...
Yes, I've read that for this reason it's probably a good idea not to give to a doe near or soon after kindling, so she doesn't have trouble with clotting. Others know far more than I, though. :)
 
I feed willow fairly regularly and have never had a problem. It does contain aspirin-like substances and the inner bark is excellent for pain control. I've used it a time or two when I've been out of aspirin and it is very effective. The leaves have less of this substance. Willow has been used the world over for animal fodder for centuries.
 
We haven't been impressed with the wind, we're moving my brother this weekend and we've had to tie the stuff down in the pickup trucks so it doesn't blow out. The crosswinds out on some of the country roads here are pretty rough and blowing the trucks all over the road. Fortunately the rain has just come in bits here and there so it hasn't been much of an issue but the wind can go away anytime!!
 
I'm not impressed with the wind either, Truckinguy, but if it's going to blow, the least it can do is help me harvest tree branches for the buns. Hope everything goes okay for getting your brother settled. :)
 
About willow (thread DRIIIiiiift)....Most willows have the salicylic acid under the bark (that very first layer of "stuff") and all but a very few have it in leaves, as well. The herbalists (and pre pharmaceutical people) would brew up a tea made of bark to cure a headache or muscle aches. Pretty cool stuff.
 
but...any willow? what about the decorative "corkscrew" type? I've got plenty of that, I'm sure it is bunny-edible, but do you think it is also medicinal?
 
I'm not so familiar with the ornamental varieties, so I couldn't say for sure. But I think you'll find it has the same properties, although it may be weaker. Try googling the variety name with keywords like "medicinal" or even just "uses".
 
Though white willow is the one mostly used for tea, I found this in an entry about Salix matsudana (corkscrew willow):

The fresh bark of all members of this genus contains salicin[226], which probably decomposes into salicylic acid (closely related to aspirin) in the human body[213]. This is used as an anodyne and febrifuge[226].

Here:

http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?Lat ... +matsudana

The above looks like an neat site in it's own right. And it would appear any willow is worth a try! Thanks again MaggieJ!
 

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