home remedies – Musicalhossgal

Wild Blue Violet

Posted on March 30, 2026March 30, 2026 by Musicalhossgal

A springtime healer pops up with her friends

It’s the end of March in Virginia, and suddenly there they are, boldly flowering in patches, simultaneously with the bright daffodils, crocus, and yes…Daylight Savings Time.

Making a quiet entrance, after a harsh winter, including the late January ice and snow storm that inundated much of the Nation.

You may also enjoy reading Lady Prunella.

In any case, unafraid of the fact that occasionally it’s been known to snow in Virginia at Easter time, Blue Violet is bravely here, toting some close friends along, spindly spring onions and tiny Ms. Chickweed.

Wild violets (Viola Sororia) are a close relative of the pansy, both residing in the Violaceae family, and are even sometimes called a “wild pansy”.

They are both healers.

Healing herbs are often given a bad name in physicians and pharmaceutical circles now [as described later], but the perky little violet has no idea of this, and merrily grows with friends without a care. Unknowingly sometimes even getting plowed under or replaced for a “prettier lawn” or “better grazing”

Don’t do that. Let it grow in your pastures. Your horses will pick and choose what they want and need.

Native American Uses

The indigenous people of this continent were well aware of violets’ properties, soothing, antibacterial, and moisturizing. They were also utilized for their beautiful blue shaded pigments in art, dyes, and pottery.

Read more on the Native use of violets on the Adkins Arboretum Indigenous People’s Perspective Project page.

Other Violet facts:

FYI:

Violet extract in any form are unrelated to Methylene Blue or Gentian Violet, which are used in the excellent Wound Kote or Blue Kote horse products for wounds and thrush. Totally different compounds.

One more fact. Did you know that there is a whole underground world of these same herbs? They speak of “fairies”! But there’s real power in the roots of underground flowers, written about here in the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine.

Violets’ Buddies

Frequently right among the Violets you’ll spy the wild onions, from which the domestic onions came, that we’ve always enjoyed in our cooking. Prairie folk frequently just picked these wild ones if they couldn’t get a regular onion.

Just about everyone knows how helpful onions are to peoples’ well-being, dropping cholesterol and so heart friendly, but you can read more here from none other than the Arthritis Foundation.

Good stuff!

Now her second buddy, the tiny Ms. Chickweed, makes a comfy bed for the violet to rest in.

Chickweed can be used internally or externally. As a poultice, it is soothing. Internally, it has a variety of applications

It’s possible to combine violets right in to the poultice.

Other chickweed uses include as a soothing tea or infusion for coughs, fevers, and urinary irritation.

Personal advice for urinary discomforts: Use chickweed very judiciously with Slippery Elm, another effective historical remedy for lungs, digestion, and urinary irritation. An article for another day.

There are many articles on chickweed, here is the one that’s particularly interesting, from the Learning Herbs site.

Follow Your Physician’s Advice:

Remember to always talk to your doctor or veterinarian when you or your pet have a problem. Follow their advice first. Herbs alone are frequently not enough to resolve a problem.

Because of so many online quack medicinal claims, the movement towards merging conventional and holistic medicine has been slowed. There was beginning to exist noticeable advancement towards real cooperation between herbalists and doctors.

For instance: healthcare workers offering patients a pad of lavender before going into the MRI tube, nice!

However, this cooperation seems to be more divided now, hopefully only temporarily. One day they will respect one another’s disciplines.

Summing it Up

Be sure and rinse your herbs in clear water and cider vinegar before throwing them on your salad raw.

But most of all, encourage the Violets to stick around, think twice about weeding them out of your garden or lawn and enjoy their beautiful presence.

Throw them in a salad, or simply appreciate the way the herbs all live and work together.

We can learn from their example.

Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to comment, like and share.

Music and horses

Thumb on The Bug (or, Arriving at Rockingham Park)

Posted on July 26, 2018July 26, 2018 by Musicalhossgal

I ran across an old friend on the side of the road, growing in the poor soil full of pebbles, like so many of the most powerful medicine plants do. It was a friend to me, because it was there when I needed it.

When in bloom, it has a funny little flower spike that looks somewhat like a ladies thumb, as pictured in this article. (coincidentally that picture is from a New Hampshire writing)

In the early 2000’s, many of us had gone up to Rockingham Park from Rosecroft Raceway to race in Salem, New Hampshire. My stable decided to go there. This would be the first year in a long time that this track had hosted Harness Racing. It was well known to be a thoroughbred track previously.

I got up there in the driving rain at about one in the morning, expecting my tack room and barn to be ready for me, just like the New Hampshire race office had told me it would.

The night guard at the gate knew nothing about it. I managed to unload four horses and get them bedded down in some stalls. Gates up, Feed, hay, water…

By then I was soaking wet, I dropped the trailer and drove back to the guard shack. “Is there any hotel that I can stay in?” … “aaaahh yaaahhh” he says in a very strange accent, “theaaahs tha manaaaahh down the street”

…I’m thinking in the Biblical sense… Manna from Heaven?!?! “What did you say” … The conversation went on from there, around and around. Finally I realized he meant the Manor Hotel. It didn’t take me long to learn and understand “New England – Eze” It was several “sets of lights” down the road, cheap and comfortable.

To explain something I found out awhile ago, is when you first get to a racetrack that has been shut down for a while, and you happen to be one of the first horses to arrive there before the meet, there are some challenges that one must deal with. First is that a lot of the services that make caring for racehorses easier haven’t arrived yet, such as tack supplies, hay and feed delivery etc.

Another challenge is that the flies will all attack your horses (and you) with long pointy teeth, accompanied by mosquitoes, gnats and other types of bugs… for the simple reason that there are no others around for them to bite. They center around your barn.

Fortunately, my son had begun his blacksmithing career by then. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to bring fly spray. Not even my holistic mix of vinegar and essential oils.

I watched my son struggle to shoe King Blue Chip. Having white socks made him even more sensitive to the biting flies. They were both blowing and sweating and he had not even gotten the shoes off yet. The 17.2 hand gelding would snatch his legs away, thrashing his tail, kicking and stomping. King was getting worse by the minute, even though he was generally a mild-mannered trotter. I was trying to brush the flies off using the old towel method, but I wasn’t having any luck trying to keep up with all of their blood-drawing bites.

A little weed caught my eye. I remembered something I had read, …I was having a mental picture of Native Americans, standing behind bushes, mounted and ready to ambush, at war or on a hunt. The book had said they would rub this plant on their horses backs, so that the horses would not swish the flies and give away their position.

We didn’t have smart phones yet, so I could not google to make sure this was indeed the plant, it had bloomed, and the small flower spike had the signature “ladies thumb” shape, but there are other plants that have similar blossom spikes.

Lucky for us, the marker for this plant was the leaf, which has a spot in the center that is a darker shade of green than the rest of the leaf.

I ripped a handful of plants out of the sandy dirt and squashed them in my hands, ran over to the by-now dueling adversaries and rubbed them all over King, especially his legs and pasterns. I really wasn’t sure if I was getting any of the plant juices or oils on him.

Suddenly King sighed once and stood stock still for the rest of his shoeing.

I never cease to wonder at what God gives us. If only we look, learn, and believe.

In about half an hour, I started to itch in between my fingers, where my calloused hands didn’t protect me. Turns out that it can be a slight skin irritant, but the itch disappeared quickly after washing.

We watched the other trailers coming in through the gate, Ingraham, Bruce Ranger from Florida, many others from all over the country. The shops, track kitchen and even a chapel opening up.

It was going to be a fun summer.