Last Saturday, May 13th, 2017, the wind howled and the clouds gathered but that did not dissuade those gathered to pull the Dyer's Woad from the pastures and mountain properties surrounding Eden, Ut. The annual weed day is an effort to control the spread of Dyer's Woad which is considered to be a noxious weed in Utah and especially in the Ogden Valley.
Resident's of Eden gather annually in May to pull together and stop the spread of the plant. Then after the mornings work is done, they descend upon the Bowery at Eden Park to be fed for the service they have rendered their community.
Century 21 Gage Froerer & Associates fired up the grills to prepare to serve Hamburgers, Hot dogs, and Brats, with all the fixings. Fruit, chips, cookies and drinks also awaited those that braved the whipping wind and threat of rain.
The mountain air was filled with music provided by local musician John Burrows, who braved the cold on Saturday to provide us with beautiful music.
The attendees at Eden Park were also given a demonstration on dying from the leaves of the Dyer's Woad plant by the members of the Ogden Valley Mountain Arts & Music Festival.
The darker yarn is from the young leaves and the lighter is the dye that is rendered from older leaves. All from local weeds!
Dyer's Woad was traditionally used to make a beautiful blue dye for cloth. It was also used anciently by the Celts and Britons to paint their skin blue prior to battle, remember Braveheart? They believed that it helped to protect them.
In fact, today we know that aside from the gorgeous blue dye that you get from the leaves of the plant, it has many very positive medicinal attributes. Among these are the fact that it is an anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, anticancer and antiviral. To learn more of it's benefits check out the Treat and Taste Blog.
It just goes to show that a weed is just a plant growing where you don't want it!