Tales of a Kitchen Herbwife

How to write a good blog post

2012-01-23T07:13:00.000-08:00

I often get asked how to write a blog post, so I thought I would put together a set of guidelines which I hope will be usefulfor anyone who is knew to blogging and has maybe never written a formal article to submit to a party.

It’s helpful to start off a blog party post by saying “This post is part of the UK Herbarium month blog party hosted by ,…… and link the name of the host’s blog.”

Firstly, give a general introduction. Why are you writing this article? What did you feel when you discovered the topic (Dread, delight, horror etc. etc.). What did the topic make you do? (I went and sat in a darkened cupboard/I immediately put on my wellies/I pulled out all my books on/I went and talked to the dog/chickens bemoaning my lot etc.) Finally tell the reader what your post is going to cover in general terms (e.g. In this post I’m going to talk about the effects of the Hammurabi Code on splitting walnuts equally between two heavy weights and show how it is not possible to ascribe the code rigidly in today’s modern climate.)

The next section should describe what you did or what you found, preferably in the order in which you did/found it. It’s good if you can back up what you found with some general research as well e.g. When I found my rose bush, all the leaf buds were fluorescent pink which concurs with the information given in Wild Food for Everyone by Saskia Longbottom but which Grieve and Hildegard of Bingen completely disregarded. I can only assume that since Longbottom and I inhabit the same general location i.e. Middle Yard, it makes sense that our shrubs bear similar leaf buds, even though the shape of my bush (see photo) bears absolutely no resemblance to hers (link to photo of illustration).

The next section should include what you have learned from what you did. E.g. Next time I go searching in a bramble bush I will wear reinforced boots and not bare feet. Although the thorns and subsequent pain and infection were a valuable lesson from the plant to me, I am not sure the 3 week stay in hospital with concurrent expenses really supported my overall wellbeing. However, I can now recognise a blue-faced bramble from 60 yards and have used the emulsion produced by mixing crushed thorns with blood to paint a small sculpture which now sits on my altar.

Your conclusion should be a summary of the entire article reminding your reader what you were going to tell them, what you told them and what you’ve discovered through writing the article including any changes that producing the article have induced in you. E.g when I first started researching this subject I was convinced that all rose leaf buds were green. Now I realise that the colour depends so much on the local soil and the variety of bramble which has deepened my connection with this eighth plant of the sacred Druid Ogham.

Dos and Don’ts
Do try to write your post in a word processor before copying and pasting it onto your blog.

Do read through your article at least twice to catch any spelling mistakes or missed words or words you didn’t know you had written. When someone is reading something you have written you want them to be able to read it easily without stopping and trying to work out what it was you were trying to write as opposed to what you have actually written. When I was drafting this post, I noticed the spell checker had changed the “e” in wellies to an “i”, which may be completely inoffensive in some cultures, but makes me blush and I would have hated someone to believe I would use such a word in an inappropriate setting. If you find you can’t catch your own mistakes and don’t have anyone who will read it for you, leave it alone for a day and then read it out loud – you will soon hear what you cannot see.

Do use short paragraphs and leave a space between each paragraph. You don’t need to indent the first word of each paragraph.

Do illustrate your posts with photos and other illustrations if you can.
Do reference all your information either by linking to a web page or giving a list of references at the bottom of the article.

Don’t copy large chunks of information from elsewhere. Copyright law means you can only quote small amounts of text. Copying paragraphs that someone else has written be it online or in books amounts to plagiarism. You need to learn the arts of summary and reported speech and changing sentences around so they don’t resemble the original work.

Don’t use photographs belonging to anyone else without their permission. The copyright law on photos is different from that of text. Even if a photograph has been paid for by a publisher or appears in any capacity on the internet, the copyright remains with the person who took the photo. Most photographers will happily give permission for you to use their photos provided they are asked before you use them and you tell everyone who the photo belongs to. If you don’t follow these guidelines you are effectively stealing/committing piracy.

I hope you find these guidelines helpful and I look forward to reading a wonderful set of blog posts for the party on 20th February.

February Blog Party : Working with winter trees

2012-01-23T07:06:00.000-08:00

I am very happy to host the first UK Herbarium blog party of 2012. You are invited to join us by submitting a blog post which describes how you relate to trees in winter.

It may be you work with them creatively or educationally – admiring their unencumbered outlines or familiarising yourself or others with their individual bark patterns and markings. Maybe you work with the bark medicinally or create wonderful pictures through bark rubbings. You may work with leaf buds in their dormant forms admiring their different colours and textures or making your own flower essences or infused oils or salves.

Share with us your experiences in words and pictures by creating your blog post and sending it to me before 20th February so that I can publish all those links on that day. I look forward to receiving your contribution.

More tales of Ashwagandha

2012-01-16T05:41:00.000-08:00

I have come to the conclusion that if a plant wants to work with you, they come into your life and their relationship is an easy and fruitful one. This is certainly my experience with Ashwagandha. Being a native of the Indian subcontinent, you wouldn’t expect it to flourish in our relatively cold and wet climate, but for the past three years it has cheerfully grown to maturity, flowered and fruited despite dreadful summers with rain bringing constant soggy growing conditions.

My two original plants came from Debs Cook as seedlings in 2009. From their seeds I gave some away and grew a dozen or so more, but none of them flowered or fruited and although I tried to overwinter the plants, the severe weather conditions killed them all.

Luckily, one of my apprentices had more success with her plants and gave me three cherries. From those seeds I grew sixty plants over the summer and by October felt I could finally harvest and begin to work with the roots.

It was fascinating to see how different plants in different locations had matured in different ways. Those growing in straight lines in the new herb bed were taller, produced more fruit and their roots were twice the volume of their cousins planted in squares in the original herb bed. After washing and scrubbing of the soil, half the roots were tinctured and the remainder chopped up into thin, inch long pieces and dried in my hot cupboard in a paper bag.

The ashwagandha plant and fruit has no discernible smell. I purchased root powder from Baldwins a year or so ago and that too had no smell. My home grown roots smelled distinctive and earthy. In the four or so days between harvested and preparation, they filled the entire outhouse with their particular scent. The tincture tastes as the root smells, dominating other tinctures in my morning tonic and the dried roots also kept their smell when I finally transferred them from paper bag to glass jar last Friday (after nearly three months in the hot cupboard in a paper bag).

Last Saturday was my first workshop of the year. We were studying tonics, so it seemed a good opportunity to try some new ways of experiencing ashwagandha. The night before, I took 25g of purchased root (which was possibly twice as thick as my own) and covered it with cold water. On Saturday morning, the water was transformed into a noticeably more viscous liquid. The roots and fluid were divided into half. One half was simmered with milk and a small handful of three year old apothecary’s rose petals (which retained both colour and scent!) for 30 minutes and the same was done using almond milk with the other half.

Both groups who tasted the Ashwaganda milk commented on its distinctive, nourishing flavour. Everyone enjoyed it. I tasted the cow’s milk version and found it pleasant despite the noticeably bitter aftertaste on the very back of my tongue.

Both Kiva Rose Hardin and Gail Faith Edwards recommend using rose petals to counteract ashwagandha’s warming effects, rather than using the herb on its own. Kiva also suggests pairing it with milky oats for adrenal exhaustion or with nettle seed for those people who have absolutely no energy. In her wonderful article, she offers a useful formula of 2 parts Ashwagandha, 2 parts Nettle, 1 part Peach, and 1/2 part each Lemon Balm and Rose as her personal favourite treatment for adrenal exhaustion, but says, “This is very cooling and calming, and could be made a bit more stimulating and warming with the omission of the Peach and the addition of Rosemary in its stead and a 1/2 part fresh Ginger.”

I’ve not yet worked with Peach as my poor tree has been afflicted with leaf curl since I bought it nearly four years ago. We moved it to a more sunny and sheltered position by the barn wall last spring so I am hopefully it might begin to flourish one day!

There are still ten plants sitting either on windowsills or on the table in my garden summerhouse. Some leaves are dropping, but others are vibrant and green. I am watering them sparingly and have just installed a heater into the summerhouse as the forecast for this next week predicts frosts of several minus degrees centigrade.
The cherries this year were slow to turn from green to orange, so I have harvested the fruits in batches – discarding those which failed to mature and setting the bright orange ones to dry in paper bags and envelopes.

Ten cherries have been given to an apprentice whose ally this year is ashwagandha. She made the point of visiting the plants in the summerhouse as well as the one I’d brought down for the workshop attendees to admire and help themselves to a fruit to take home with them. She emailed me the following day saying, “I was affected deeply by my first real contact with her, so was left a bit dumbstruck.”

Ashwagandha does that to you. You watch her spring to life from a tiny seed, then grow to green maturity in four short months. Her lantern-like fruit pods hide the growing cherries and it is not until those lanterns turn from green to dry brown you notice her vibrant and truly amazing fruits. More months pass until those fruits become winkled and you can carefully peel off the scarlet covering to reveal the white seeds inside; seeds which can be planted to begin the circle once again.

She is a truly nourishing plant. Not only does she feed your depleted systems, she teaches and helps you to grow in so many different ways. Next year I shall try making a healing salve from her leaves and I look forward to another abundant harvest of roots and fruits.

Hubble Bubble, Toil and Trouble or Surviving the perils of January

2012-01-10T10:05:00.000-08:00

Our trials started in November when I was made redundant and we had to consider how to manage our finances to continue living as we wished.

In the middle of December Chris began a series of re-current kidney infections and I had to think about how to support his body to repel the invader, strengthen his tissues and organs whilst minimising the effects of necessary repeat prescriptions of antibiotics. I have used food and drinks as “vehicles of transmission” using what I have in the cupboards plus a few items purchased from supermarket and healthfood store.

These are some of the recipes I’ve developed.

Cranberries are reknowned for their effects in reducing urinary tract infections by reducing the ability of bacteria to cling to the lining of the bladder or urinary tissues. Luckily, being Christmas, fresh cranberries were on sale in the supermarket so I bought several packs to freeze along with some dried cranberries for when the fresh ones are finished.

Cranberry orange drink
1/2 pack of fresh cranberries
Chopped rind and pith of one orange
Small handful each of thyme, bergamot and dandelion roots
Cover ingredients with 2 pints of cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer, covered, for half an hour until the cranberries can be easily mashed. Strain through a sieve pushing through as much of the cranberry pulp as you can. Cool. Store in the fridge. To serve, pour juice into 1/3 of a half pint glass and fill the rest of the glass with water. Drink without sweetening with sugar or honey.

One of the best foods to nourish the kidneys is barley. Barbara Griggs in her Greenwitch Herbal gives a wonderfully simple method of making lemon and barley water.

Lemon and barley water
4ozs pot barley
Peeled rind of one lemon
1 litre of water (probably two by the time you’ve finished)
Put the weighed amount of pot barley in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and then discard the water and swill out the saucepan. Return the barley to the clean saucepan together with the lemon peel and 1 litre of water. Bring to the boil and simmer until the barley is soft and tender. You will probably have to add more water as time goes on so you are left with enough fluid to drink at the end. I cooked it for two hours and added another litre of water in the middle ending up with half a litre of gloop at the end.

Barley water is best served hot when the gloop becomes liquid. You can add honey for flavour.

Although the recipe is for the barley water, you can’t just throw away the cooked barley. The first lot went into an amazing vegetable soup with the last of my homegrown tomatoes, celery, onions, garlic and a couple of carrots. The second batch became a spiced barley pudding; delicious with cream.

Spiced barley pudding
4oz cooked pot barley
4 pieces of candied ginger plus 1tblsp ginger syrup
2 ozs raisins or saltanas
8 cardamom pods,
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ of a grated nutmeg.
3/4pt milk
Gently heat up the spices with the milk then add the cooked barley. Simmer for 30 minutes on a low heat, then serve. I found it didn’t need any extra sweetness, but you may wish to add syrup or honey.

When you’re suffering with a kidney or urinary tract infection you want something which will soothe the membranes and take away the itching/discomfort inside you.

Soothing tea
Take a pinch each of yarrow, calendula, marshmallow and thyme. Infuse, covered for ten minutes then strain and drink. Honey can be added for sweetness if desired.

I used to mix half of the soothing tea with half of the barley water and give it to Chris at least three times a day plus at least 3 of the cranberry drinks.

Of course, after two series of strong antibiotics when he went down with a cold last Thursday, the world came to an end and he turned into a blob for several days. I started him on a regime of 2tsps cider vinegar with 2tsps horseradish honey together with one tsp of elderberry elixir in a mug of boiling water three times a day. You can find the recipes here.

When the blob began to talk and walk again, I changed his medicine to my hedgerow cordial (elderberries/sloes/rosehips/nutmeg/cinnamon/ cloves/ginger) with added lemon juice three times a day. He also started taking raw garlic in honey on a piece of bread three times a day once he finished the last course of antibiotics.

After two more days, he started coughing. Of course I’d given my last bottle of cough syrup to my aunt just before Christmas, so I got him to make up a soothing tea while I dived into my hot cupboard to see what I could find in the way of cough herbs to devise a new syrup.

Soothing cough tea
1inch root ginger finely chopped or grated
1 pinch thyme
1 pinch bergamot
Infuse with just boiled water for ten minutes.
Chris was actually prepared to drink this without honey (which is unheard of!) but added honey for its soothing effects on the throat.

If you want a basic cough syrup, you use equal parts of white horehound, hyssop and marshmallow. I’d been intrigued by Ali English’s latest cold syrup and managed to find the following ingredients in the cupboard and larder.

Cough syrup
1 handful of white horehound
2 handfuls of marshmallow leaves
1 handful of hyssop
1 handful of goldenrod flowers and leaves
3 stems of New England Aster
Small handful of dried elecampane root (there wasn’t time to soak it overnight)
2 inches of grated ginger root
1 large dried homegrown chilli pounded in the pestle and mortar
½ a dried stem of mullein
Place all the ingredients in a large saucepan and cover with water (about 3 pints or so). Bring to the boil and simmer, covered, for about half an hour. I then added the ginger and chilli and simmered for another ten minutes because I’d forgotten to add them before and I didn’t want the syrup to be too hot. Strain the liquid and wash out the saucepan. Pour the liquid back in the pan through a muslin cloth because you don’t want any of the fine hairs from the mullein in the syrup. Reduce the liquid by slow evaporation for as long as you’re prepared to wait. (You should reduce until only 1/7th of the original volume remains but that can take all day, so I just reduced by half.) Measure the volume of liquid and add 1lb of sugar to every pint (UK) of liquid. I ended up with 1.5 pints so added 1.5lbs of sugar. (If you are making this for clients you should reduce original volume by 7/8ths and add 2lbs sugar per pint of liquid to ensure it keeps well). Return saucepan to a gentle heat and stir until all the sugar has been dissolved. Pour into sterilised bottles, seal, label and date. Store in the fridge once open.

The resulting syrup tastes quite good with a nice heat at the back of your throat.

One of my apprentices posed an interesting question when he was posting his annual review at the beginning of the month. He said, “Lately I’ve been pondering the question: ‘Do medicinal herbs work?’ It might seem odd for me to go to so much effort collecting, processing & preserving the above without having a definitive answer to this question! My best answer for the time being is ‘Yes. I think so. For me at least.’ […]I’ve attempted many times to actively heal personal ailments and those of the people close to me. Sometimes these attempts have proven successful […] but just as often they’ve resolutely failed.”

When Chris first became ill and I knew he needed to take the antibiotics, I felt a sense of abject failure. What on earth was I doing spending so much time with my herbs if I couldn’t address this major condition? When I was saying this to a friend, he gently said, “There was a reason antibiotics were developed. They save lives.”

Another part of me knows the kidney infection has arisen because of a congenital malformation which was addressed surgically some 22 years ago and may well have reappeared, so I am immensely grateful for our health service which means we have access to GPs, ultrasound scans and a consultant urologist I have faith in because he fixed the problem last time.

In reality, every illness and dis-ease is a journey both for the person experiencing it and anyone who is supporting that person in whatever way they can. Whilst I am unsure how well I can support the kidney condition, I know the progress of the cold virus was alleviated by all the potions I administered. Even Chris said he was grateful to have me around looking after him, something I couldn’t have done if I’d still been working.

Last but not least, how do you support the carer? Personally I’ve added ashwagandha tincture to my daily tonic to help nurture me through all the stress. I’m also really grateful I made quite so much spiced hedgerow cordial because it tastes wonderful as a hot drink with extra lemon juice. Yesterday, when it seemed I would also succumb to the cold, I added a tsp of Echinacea tincture and so far, it hasn’t developed.

Whatever the outcome of this particular challenge, I find it amazing I can go to my store cupboard and find what I need when I need it and I can turn so many different things into something which helps support others. I'm also incredibly grateful to be part of the wider herbal community who respond to requests for assistance with such alacrity and reassure me I am not in this on my own.

Farewell to the old!

2011-12-31T11:22:00.000-08:00

Blog posts are strange things. I know many bloggers are capable, productive people. They plan their posts, programme the widgits to deliver posts at regular intervals and carry on with their life. It doesn't work like that for me - or hasn't done so in the past. I think about things, really want to share discoveries and then life happens and nothing gets posted for ages.

For several weeks I've been wanting to tie up things with my herbal ally for 2011 - sweet violet but it hasn't happened, so I'm going to give you a run down of some of the things I've been up to.

Back in October, my aim for the remaining three months of 2011 was to catch up with any tasks I'd omitted from Kristine Brown's Herbal Ally challenges. I know I only meditated with the plant once rather than on a regular basis, but things went rather pear-shaped. I did make some salve with the beautifully dark green double infused oil just before Christmas and aim to use it for breast massage on a regular basis next year (New Year resolution No 1!)

When autumn arrived I fully intended to dig up a violet plant and consider its roots, but when I went down to my violet patch at the bottom of my garden (I don't have fairies who live there, just a pile of stones and shells guarded by a hedgehog and a mouse!) I discovered an amazing show of new violet flowers. How could I dig up a plant when they were putting on so much new growth!

Instead, I picked the flowers the day before the December workshop and poured boiling water over them to begin the process of making a violet syrup. I'd left the flowers in a glass jug for an hour or so before I infused them and the smell was positively divine! You can read about the magic of syrup making on Jackie's blog. The syrup was much more pink than the one I'd made in the spring which shows how more potent the fresh violet flowers were despite growing at the wrong time of year!

I've learned so much from this plant, I'm really pleased I chose her for my ally during 2011.

Herbal Ally 2012
Next year's ally has also been chosen during one of my recent. sleepless nights. Although I've worked with her a great deal already, I'm going to walk with all the different kinds of rose who gift me with their friendship and medicine. I spent an hour on Wednesday clearing a secret path to the new dogrose in the field around the corner from my house. I have three others to learn from at the farm along with the apothecary's rose and some US rosa rugosa seeds I hope to plant in the spring.

Tonics: a lesson in trust and sufficiency from rose

2011-12-16T08:53:00.000-08:00

Two days ago I received an email from one of my new apprentices asking what I would recommend as a tonic she could give to her patients. Her question inspired me to write a blog post which I began yesterday.

Tonic is one of those words which you think you know, but when you take time to consider its meaning, the totality escapes you.

When I’m confused I usually turn to Jim MacDonald’s website because he has such a wealth of information and he puts things in ways which can be easily understood.

Browsing through his terms, I found he had written, “"Tonic" is a dreadfully problematic term, because it has so many meanings and can be applied in so many different ways. Really, without using an adjective to qualify what kind of tonic it is, the noun "tonic" is close to useless. To be practical, most people intend to convey that a tonic is an herb that builds up your energy and health and is good for you.”

Jim then went on to quote from a draft copy of Matthew Wood’s Practice of Traditional Western Herbalism, saying that it offered one of the better definitions of the word “tonic”, in that it allowed for all the different manifestations this vague category may take. I looked through my copy of Wood’s book, but I couldn’t find the definition, so I was especially grateful for Jim’s note.

Matt Woods wrote, “A tonic is usually an herb or food that acts on the body in a slow, nutritive fashion to build up the substance of the body. In this sense, the term "tonic" might be considered synonymous with "trophorestorative". It can also be defined as a substance which (like an astringent) restrains loss from the body by "toning" tissues.”

He offers the following categories tonics may fall into: Bitter tonics are used to strengthen and nourish the liver and metabolism (mostly alteratives,), Sweet tonics act primarily on the immune system and adrenals (adaptogens). Oily tonics supply fixed oils and essential fatty acids to tissues to ensure hydration, cell permeability and to prevent atrophy. Mineral tonics provide essential minerals, and sour tonics are rich in bioflavinoids. Protein tonics are rich in protein.

I then turned to Kiva Rose Hardin’s blog and searched for tonics. The first articles offered two tonics, one for the heart made from Choke Cherries and another made from the wild rose.

Chokecherry Heart Tonic
1/4 C Chokecherry bark or bark/flower tincture
1/2 C Chokecherry fruit concentrate or syrup (possibly more if your concentrate isn’t strong tasting, ours is very intense and flavourful but the stuff you get from stores is often tasteless and terribly sweet and just don’t work for this)
1 C Brandy
Sugar/honey to taste (very optional, just depends on your syrup and sense of taste)
1/4 tsp of Cinnamon tincture (or a good pinch of powdered cinnamon)
1 tsp Ginger infused honey (or just add a good pinch of fresh grated ginger)
Generous splash of Merlot or Elderberry mead (optional)
Mix together in pint jar and shake well, allow to age for at least a month. This stuff is strong and somewhat mind-altering (in a relaxing kind of way), so use in small doses. It’s an excellent heart strengthener for people with signs of inflammation, high blood pressure, heart palpitations and general heat symptoms.

Choke cherries don’t grow over here and I’ve never seen them in the shops, which is disappointing because the recipe looks delicious. I’m wondering if I could substitute hawthorn instead or if my hawthorn berry brandy liqueur would be a good alternative.

Hawthorn Liqueur
To a jar full of infused hawthorn berry brandy, add 1 grated nutmeg, one cinnamon stick (crumbled), the chopped peel of one orange, 4 cloves and ½-1 cup full of sugar or honey. Seal the jar with a screw top lid, place in a warm, dark place for 8 weeks shaking regularly, then strain and pour into a sterile bottle. Seal the bottle with a screw top lid or cork and leave in a cold dark place to mature for as long as possible (at least two years).

Wild Rose Tonic
First, make a half pint of infused honey with finely chopped, de-seeded fresh wild rose hips, plus 1 tsp grated fresh ginger, 1 tsp. grated fresh orange peel and 1/4 tsp cardamom. Let infuse for one month, do not strain.
Then:
1 C spiced Wild Rose hip honey (as seen above)
3 Tbs Wild Rose petal tincture (or more, as desired for flavour)
1 C Brandy or Cognac
Mix together in a pint jar and shake well, allow to age for at least one month. This cordial/tonic is relaxing, uplifting and wonderful as a heart tonic, nervine, anti-inflammatory and bioflavanoid rich blood tonic. For a real treat, make a small cup of half Chokecherry Heart Tonic and half Wild Rose Tonic.

When I read through the Wild Rose Tonic, something strange happened. I knew I needed to make the spiced rosehip honey. I made rosehip honey nearly three years ago by liquidising freshly gathered rosehips with runny honey. It tasted delicious, but the seeds were a pain. I wanted to make the honey this year using de-seeded rosehips, but when I gathered my hips from the Sanctuary rosebush after the festival, I didn’t have the energy to sit down and de-seed, so everything ended up in some glorious spiced rosehip and sloe cordial.

(Just a small aside, if you ask an American what they mean by a cordial, they will describe it as fruit preserved in alcohol and a small amount of sugar to be used in drinks or poured over other fruit/ice cream. If you ask me what I mean by a cordial, I will tell you it is made using the same method as a syrup, but a cordial is made for diluting and drinking either hot or cold, whereas a syrup is thicker and can be medicinal or eaten by the spoonful. No alcohol is involved.)

The sun was shining accompanied by an icy wind, so armed with a basket, secuteurs, gloves and wellies I set off for the Friary field around the corner from our house. The original four acres owned by the Friary was half developed for housing on the understanding that the remainder was available for the public. I go there to harvest elderflowers in May/June, horsechestnut in August, late nettle seed and sloes in the winter.

The sloes were abundant. I spent a long time looking at them and was asked by a dog walker if I made sloe gin. It didn’t feel right to collect them, so I left them for the birds, thinking that if I want to make more spiced sloe cordial I can always come back in the new year.

There was only one dog rose bush I knew about and when I climbed to the top of the bank where it grows, there were no rosehips to be seen. Undismayed, I walked around the site noting the catkins of the hazel bushes, the tree still full of eating apples and the dessicated blackberries which no-one had picked. Next year I shall be taking my new herb group, Wolf’s Meadow, to learn the art of wildcrafting in season, so hopefully the blackberries won’t go to waste again.

Looking up into the hazel trees of an original hedge, I found my first rosehips. Only a few, but it was enough to make me trust I would find the amount I needed.
As I wandered through woodland, I found myself singing carols to the holly trees while I gathered some berry-bright twigs to grace my Solstice willow garland before I headed off into bramble strewn wilderness exploring parts I’d never visited before.

If you are constantly seeking a safe way through brambles, your eyes are on the ground. I saw some dead rose briars in my path and followed them to a large bush. I talked to the bush for a few minutes, noting the thickness of the briars and the unusual red hue of the bark. I couldn’t see any rosehips, but was told to go around the other side and keep looking up.

It wasn’t a large harvest, but it was sufficient. The rosehips were huge – three times the size of the tiny hips on my Sanctuary bush. There was even a dogrose flower blooming in the bitter cold – a remnant from the unseasonably warm weather we’ve been having recently.

Back home in the warm, the large hips were easy to slice in half and de-seed, but it did take a long time. I learned why it is better to delay harvesting until the hips are soft – if you squeeze the hip carefully, the entire ball of seeds and hairs can be removed through the end of the hip, leaving only the soft casing behind.

I chopped the rosehips in my grinder as I wanted them small enough to enrich the honey. The cardamoms were ground there too, but I suspect I added a whole teaspoonful rather than one quarter! I wasn’t sure how much a teaspoonful of orange peel might be so I grated a whole orange peel and nearly an inch of root ginger.

When the honey was poured on and the mixture stirred, I have to admit to licking the spoon. The taste was divine and I can’t wait until four weeks’ time when I can start making up the tonic with dog rose petal tincture and brandy.

Later yesterday evening as I sat knitting small presents for my children, I thought back on what I’d done during the day. I realised how grateful I was to be no longer working for an employer, giving me time to follow my instincts which let me trust I would find what was needed in the place I’d chosen to visit.

Springfield Sanctuary Workshop Dates 2012

2011-12-03T04:00:00.000-08:00

For those of you who live within the UK and don't mind travelling, I invite you to join us learn more about herbs at the monthly Springfield Sanctuary workshops. Whatever the time of year or the subject matter we always have fun - drink tea, play with our new friends and chat.

Springfield Sanctuary Workshops 2012
January 14th New Year tonics - Solihull

February 11th Barks as medicine – Solihull

March 10th Herbal recognition - Sanctuary

April 21 Experiencing Herbs - Sanctuary

May 12 Experiencing Herbs - Sanctuary

June 30 Experiencing Herbs - Sanctuary

July 14 Harvesting Herbs - Sanctuary

Aug 25 Harvesting Herbs - Sanctuary

Sept 7-9 Springfield Sanctuary Festival

Oct 13 Roots and wood - Sanctuary

Nov 10 Oils and Salves - Solihull

Dec 8 Creating medicines - Solihull

The workshops are funded by donations. Each workshops costs around £40 to deliver and most people donate between £10 and £20 per session. For more details contact me or see the website

We also need help to keep the Sanctuary in good condition. I've therefore organised some days when people can come and help.

Springfield Sanctuary Work Dates 2012

February 18th – Tree felling and pond clearance
April 7 – Spring preparation
Nov 17 - Autumn clear up

Last chance to apply for a Springfield Sanctuary Apprenticeship 2012

2011-11-21T04:43:00.000-08:00

The opportunity to apply to become a 2012 Springfield Sanctuary Apprentice will close on Wednesday, 14 December 2011.

The twelve month herbal apprenticeship starts in January 2012. You are offered the opportunity to learn more about growing, harvesting and working with herbs to improve personal and family health and wellbeing.

Outcomes: Year 1

By the end of 2011, the apprentice will have:

*improved knowledge and understanding of twenty personally chosen herbs.
*grown herbs from seeds, cuttings or divisions and taken note of their development using drawings or photography.
*shared in practical tasks to manage the Sanctuary herb beds.
*harvested flowers, aerial parts, berries and roots
*made teas, decoctions, macerations, syrups, infused oils, salves, tinctures, vinegars, flower essences and elixirs
*familiarised themselves with a variety of body processes such as respiration, digestion, circulation etc and looked at several herbs which can help to balance these processes.
*participated in an online email action learning group.
*completed tasks set by the mentor and fed back the results to the other apprentices
*begun to share knowledge, enthusiasm and herbal extractions with family and friends

Outcomes: Year 2 (for apprentices who began their apprenticeship in 2011 and wish to continue)

By the end of 2011, the apprentice will have:

*studied a further ten herbs or looked at the original herbs chosen in more depth
*considered further anatomical or emotional processes e.g. fertility, aging, grief
*considered constitutional elements/energetics from a western herbal medicine perspective
*consolidated and continued all the experiences engaged in during Year 1

Expectations:

Each apprentice is expected to:

*choose up to twenty herbs to study during the year
*attend at least six workshops throughout the year and to attend the Herb Festival held in September.
*complete the tasks set by the mentor within given timescales
*work within the Sanctuary herb beds – digging, weeding, planting, harvesting etc.
*keep a herbal diary and/or online blog detailing activities and learning
*evaluate their personal progress at the end of twelve months

Costs: There is no overall charge for the apprenticeship. Apprentices are expected to make a financial donation when attending workshops or the Herb Festival and to offer practical physical help at the Sanctuary. Anyone considering an apprenticeship should factor in personal costs such as time, transport, access to growing space and internet plus a degree of commitment to their studies and to the Sanctuary.

Note: This apprenticeship is for personal development only. Apprentices study at their own pace. The amount and depth of work is self directed. Guidance will be given on sources of information, but handouts covering all topics may not be available. There is no accreditation from an academic body, certificate of attendance or examination process. The apprenticeship will NOT enable anyone to set up in private practice as a medical herbalist.

Working with wood

2011-11-10T08:29:00.000-08:00

As trees finally release their leaves and the sap rests underground, the time comes when we can think about working more closely with them. Making your own energetic or meditative tools is perhaps one of the most relaxing tasks to carry out over the winter period. The article below first appeared in the Fall edition of Circle Magazine back in 2007.

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Working with Wood : A Beginner’s Guide to Wand and Staff Making.

I dropped into woodworking by accident. I am not a practical person, preferring to leave anything like that to the various men around me, but I have always loved wood. When I began following the Pagan path, it became evident that if I wanted any “tools for my trade”, I would have to make them. What I discovered was, creating my own wands and staves was not an arduous task, but one which brought great peace and joy. In this article I should like to share with you what I have learned so you can begin your own way of communicating with those trees and bushes you find around you.

My first wand was a short piece of “Glastonbury thorn” –a tree which flowers and fruits at the same time, collected from a pile of prunings in Glastonbury Abbey in 1996. The same year, I began making ogham sticks, or fews, from the 20 sacred woods of the Druids, using Glennie Kindred’s book, “Tree Ogham”.

Later, I became interested in larger “sticks” and started to sandpaper them to see what difference it made. I found the more you sandpaper, the smoother the wood becomes until it has a wonderful silky feel when you touch it. This can best be achieved by beginning with coarse-grained sandpaper and finishing with a fine grained one. If you then coat the sanded wood with sunflower oil, this polishes the wood and gives it an even better finish.

This polishing technique came about quite by chance when I found a jar of home made calendula salve (double infused oil thickened with beeswax) nearby when I was sanding. I rubbed some salve into the wood to see what would happen. You would not believe how it changes the colour of the finished wand!

Gorse is a wonderful wood to work with, the dead wood turns from light brown to honey-coloured and the live wood, if you’ve sanded it with the bark on goes gorgeous shades of green, white and brown which resemble snake skin. Birch wands rubbed with salve after sanding with the bark present glows with a red tinge.

Each wood has a different spiritual property and a different affinity for the time of year. I love yew, not only for it’s soft orange colour, but because it is the gateway between this world and the spirit world. As a healer and counsellor, I often work with people who are dying or bereaved, so yew is a very special wood for me.

When my friend lost his parents, I made him two fews (ogham sticks), one of live gorse for hope and one of yew finished with comfrey oil, so he could sit and stroke the wood, finding comfort in their touch. Recently, I sent him an elder few, because elder helps with change and moving on. I made myself a necklace of elder beads finished with rosemary infused oil for aiding “life rites”. It is adorned with kestrel feathers to help with farseeing. I wear it during rituals or when I want a focus for meditation or visualisation.

It is best to gather wood from living trees when they are asleep during the winter months or being pruned. You should always discuss your wish to gather wood with the tree itself. Sometimes there will be a dead twig or branch which can be removed without harm or maybe you will find just what you are looking for under the canopy. It may have blown off during a strong wind or storm or left there after animal damage.

Some wood can be gathered and worked fresh (holly and gorse are good for this) but most are better left to dry for at least five weeks before you try scraping or sanding them. The tools I use for woodworking are a pair of secuteurs, a small knife, various grades of sandpaper and vegetable oil or salve of some description. I make a wide variety of infused herbal oils so I always have a wide variety of enhancing energetic properties to choose from. A woodworking apron to protect clothes can also be useful.

You can make wands with both green and dry wood, depending on what you’ve got to hand and whether you want to work with it with the bark on or off. It’s easier to remove the bark when the wood is green rather than when it’s dry. Willow will remain wet for over a year because if you drive a stick into the ground, it will grow. I have a flourishing willow hedge in my herb garden which is made from pollarded branches cut down in November 2005 and left on the ground during the winter. My father trellised the fence for me in April 2006 and they sprouted almost immediately.

A wand can be used to direct energy as in circle casting, or to aid concentration or meditation. If I am making wands in public places, I often refer to them as meditation sticks and show people how to use the property of the wood to help them relax or focus on particular concepts such as ash for connecting with the natural world or holly for experiencing universal love.

The length of a wand is historically the distance from your elbow to your longest finger, but it can be much shorter. Cut your wand roughly to size from a longer branch or twig using secuteurs or pruning shears when you start working on it. A wand does not have to be straight nor from a single branch, it can curve and twist and have Ts or Ys at the end depending on what the piece of wood tells you to do. I use my penknife when I’m working on knots in the wood, or to shape the tip or handpiece. You can also use inexpensive metal files to make whirls or spirals in the wood if this is what you feel called to do.

Sanding does take time and it can be quite hard work. Start with the coarsest grain of sandpaper and work up to the finest sandpaper you have. It’s using more than one grade which really makes the wood smooth. Once you are satisfied with the smoothness, take some plain sunflower oil or herbal infused oil or salve if you have some and smooth it on until the wood stops soaking it up. Put a little on your fingertips and keep rubbing.

When finished, you can decorate your wand however you wish, but I prefer to use fairly natural materials such as seashells, ribbons, crystals, hagstones or other small objects such as acorn cups.

Staff making is a similar process, but slightly different. Your staff should be a thickness which is comfortable to hold in the palm of your hand and a length you feel happy with. It can be shoulder or head height or taller depending on your planned use.

I have a large hazel staff with runes inscribed on it for rituals, a much shorter blackthorn staff with a monkjack deer antler on the top which I use occasionally for stick dancing in Tai Chi and a lighter willow staff which I use most of the time when we are working with sticks. Do remember staves were originally weapons and could seriously injure someone if handled carelessly.

When you have chosen your piece of wood, leave it to dry for several months, then sand it down with the bark still on it. It doesn’t need to be as smooth as a wand, just until you feel happy with the smoothness. Some people prefer to remove all the bark, but I knew someone who did this and then had great trouble identifying the wood afterwards.

If you want to decorate your staff with carving or runes, do this now. Rune carving is much more difficult than you think – take care not to cut yourself. The runes can then be coloured in with a red dye of some description. If you can make a natural dye out of madder or dyers woodruff – both of which yield a bright red colour - all the better.

Once you have decorated your staff to your satisfaction, it then needs to be sealed in some way either with varnish or a clear wood sealant. Leave it to dry somewhere away from dust and particles which may adhere to the sticky surface. It can then be decorated with hag stones, seashells, crystals or whatever you fancy.

If you have made a staff with a Y-shaped top, this can be used as a ‘stang’ or outdoor altar. The stang is placed in the ground and decorated with animal skulls, flowers and ribbons. Again this acts as a focus for personal or group rites or ceremonies.

Although my family sigh a great deal at the number of different “sticks” I have lying around the house or when I bring new ones in to work on, I love my wands and staves. I use them for workshops with my healer development group and people seem to enjoy sensing their energy or meditating with them.

I hope this article will help you to feel confident to try working with wood. It’s a very forgiving medium to work with, offering great fun and freedom from the stresses of everyday life.

REFERENCES
Kindred, G The Tree Ogham ISBN 0 9532227 2 1
Paterson, JM Tree Wisdom Thorsons 1996
West, K Real Witches’ Year Element Thorsons 2004

Chasing the toothbrush tree

2011-11-05T09:49:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning saw me walking to see the dentist, who practices in the row of shops fifteen minutes away from our house. I have a tooth he filled a little too ambitiously last December. The amount of filling began to kill the root and I suffered nerve pain tooth ache for possibly the first time in my life. At the beginning of the year, the dentist said there was no point in saving the tooth, so if it flared up again, the only recourse was to remove it. I like my teeth. I talked to other herablists online and then made myself some sage tea as a mouth wash. It worked beautifully and the tooth has behaved itself ever since.

The dentist was really pleased with me on Thursday, clean teeth, no pain and no evidence of gum disease. I told him about the sage tea but he didn't really seem to understand except to advise me to continue whatever it was I was doing.

This encounter let me to choose "Chasing the toothbrush tree" as my next article to post. It appeared in the February edition of Herbs magazine in 2005.

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In the 2003 Summer edition of Herbs, a reader asked about a tree used by the SAS during the Gulf War for cleaning their teeth. Deni Brown replied that it was probably the "Toothbrush Tree", Salvadora persica, which grew in Oman. This peeked my curiosity as I had just started chatting to someone on the internet who was working in Oman. I asked him if he could find out all he could about the tree and whether it would be possible to send me a sample back so that this could be lodged with The Herb Society for future reference.

This was his report.

"My boss eventually arrived at work and summoned me (as always) I am 'his' Brit. No matter what I am doing part of the 'rules' are that he arrives and I must go take coffee with him. Much to his horror I drink Arabic coffee from large mugs. In their 'language', this is too heavy! I asked him about the toothbrush tree. Oh dear ! It is 'old', they are much more advanced now. I know that, but the mere suggestion that they still have recourse to 'primitive native things' is insulting. After much soothing of ruffled feathers and denigrating us Brits for having an interest in such archaic things, things calm down. Trying to explain aromatherapy and oils etc as 'hobbies' to an Arab is 'hard work'. However he eventually 'simmered down' and we spent the rest of my work day drinking coffee smoking and surfing Omannet on his computer for the appropriate tree.

It turns out that Dhofar (local county is the nearest equivalent) was the main place where it grew but when the agriculture was 'industrialised' for dates & bananas it virtually died out. My boss thinks it unlikely that I'd find one driving around the desert, plus of course there is the added danger that everything belongs to the King and taking without his express permission is theft with the dire consequences that entails (i.e. having one's hand chopped off!). However, he informed me with a happy smile that there is a conservation area, the Oryx Reserve, where they can be seen and I must accompany him and his family (well the male members & possibly small children) on a visit.

He was horrified at the idea I would approach my houseboy for twigs from the toothbrush tree and wonders how I would get it out unless I take it with me, (he would give me written permission! . I really don't understand the rigmarole, as he says it is available in the local market. Also, I have to be careful expressing a desire too strongly as it makes it sort of obligatory that they should make a present of it to me. I almost ended up with set of 'worry beads' worth about £2000 because I said how nice they were!

When I went to Saudi I stopped off at DHL in the airport and asked about sending things to UK. Personal items (like your toothbrush plant). They laughed. You need approval from Interior ministry, Environment Office, Export Licence, a "No Objection Certificate", and permission to collect! There is also a problem with taking photographs of the plant since photographing anything or anyone without permission is illegal.

I did talk to my houseboy about using the toothbrush tree twigs for cleaning teeth. He said that it had a hot, peppery taste and it often gave people mouth ulcers when they first started using it."

So, after that "on-the-spot" research, I turned to the internet and did a websearch. The Oryx Reserve can be found here and more information can be found here.

The toothbrush tree is also being grown in India and Africa, particularly the Nagar Junasagar Srisailam Sanctuary in Andhar Pradesh in India. I also discovered that the Ministry of Health in Abu Dhabi has been researching the antigastric ulcer effects of a combination of P. oleracea (purslane) and Salvadora persica (Aarak/Toothbrush tree) and that roots of the toothbrush tree is currently used, efficaciously, by the Samburu tribesmen in the Masai for expelling the retained afterbirth of camels.

I find it fascinating that so much diverse information has been revealed by one simple question, "What is the toothbrush tree?"

References

S P Simpkin "Sumburu Camel Management Strategies" 1995
M. W. Islam, M. N. M. Zakaria, R. Radhakrishnan, X. M. Liu, H. B. Chen, K. Chan and A. Al-Attas (Ministry of Health, Abu Dhabi) Research into gastric disorders

Apples and abundance

2011-11-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

At the bottom of our garden is an ancient cooking apple tree. It is gnarled and the apples are all shapes and sizes, but there are lots of them. They never store very well as they go rotten very quickly, sometimes while hanging on the tree, but they cook beautifully, providing a tasty filling to some favourite dishes.

The energetic property of apple is cornucopia, an abundance of good things. Our apple tree seems to radiate this property providing us with beautiful pink blossom in springtime followed by the swelling of green apples through the next three months.

I usually start making windfall provisions in August, often leaving the last of the apples for the rooks by the middle of October. This year, autumn has been so mild, I am still picking up windfalls and preparing them while I sit on our patio without the need for coat or even cardigan!

It struck me today that apples bear a secret many people never experience. I must have been in my forties before I saw my first one. If you always core your apples lengthways, you will never see it, but if you cut an apple in half, there it lies – a perfect star. The beauty and simplicity of the star makes you appreciate the sanctity of something so common, something we take for granted.

There are many folklore associations with cutting apple peel in one long thread and then throwing it behind you to discover the name of your one true love. I’ve never done this, mainly because I can’t peel an apple without the thread breaking and I don’t really need anyone or thing to tell me the name of my true love, since we’ve gone to sleep and woken in each other’s arms for the past thirty-three years.

Many of you reading this post will be experienced cooks, but some of you might welcome an opportunity to revisit some simple recipes involving apples.

Apple Sauce
Peel, core and slice a quantity of cooking apples into a saucepan. Shake a reasonable amount of sugar over the apples. Take the saucepan to a cold water tap. Quickly turn on and turn off the tap. This is the amount of water you need to cook the apple. Put the lid on the saucepan and heat the apples slowly, stirring occasionally to ensure they don’t burn. When all the apples have cooked down into a mush (this is how you can tell they’re cooking and not eating apples, the latter don’t lose their shape), turn off the heat and pour the applesauce into a receptacle to cool.

Eat on its own with cream and a biscuit, add to morning cereals or an addition to roast pork. For something a little different, flavour the apples while cooking with cinnamon or a “pumpkin spice” combination (cinnamon, freshly ground nutmeg and powdered cloves) or grated peel and juice of a lemon. Add to natural yoghurt and enjoy.

Since this is the season to remember our beloved dead, I will tell a very short story associated with apple sauce. During my gap year between school and university I lived with my cousin, Mary and her husband, Norman, in the village of Wainfleet, Ontario for three months. Mary would serve our main meal – supper – around 6pm each evening. At 8pm, Norman, who was then in his 80s, would get up from his chair in the sitting room and make his way slowly into the kitchen.

“I’ll just get myself a little lunch,” he would say, his eyes twinkling. Opening the refrigerator, he would reach inside and pull out the large Kilner jar of apple sauce and pour himself a small dish which he would eat with relish at the kitchen table.

“Are you at that apple sauce again?” Mary would call from the other room.

“I’m just having a little lunch.”

“You don’t need any lunch,” Mary would scold as she cleared away his dish and washed it up for him. Norm would just sit with the biggest grin all over his face.

They were a devoted couple and I was so pleased I returned to Canada in September 1976 to celebrate their ruby wedding as he died the following year. Mary was nearly twenty years younger than him and she died three years ago.

Apple and mincemeat pie
Everyone has their own favourite apple pie. This is one my mother used to make which is a little different. Roll out a large circle of short crust pastry twice the diameter of your pie dish. Place the pastry into the dish so the dish in the centre of the circle and spread this smaller inside circle with mincemeat. Fill the remainder of the dish with sliced apples. If you want a very sweet filling you can sprinkle the apples with sugar, but if your mincemeat layer is thick enough, there is no need. The apples cut the sweetness of the mincemeat.

Fold the pastry carefully over the top of the pie so that it forms the crust. If you don’t have enough pastry you can leave a small hole in the centre. Brush the pastry with milk to produce a glaze. Cook in a fairly hot oven (around 200 degrees C) for twenty minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

Apple crumble
Fill the bottom of your pie dish half full with sliced apples (or any fruit. If you are using frozen fruit, defrost first) and sprinkle with sugar. Make enough crumble topping in a mixing bowl depending on the size of your dish using a basis of 4oz flour to 2 ozs margarine and 2 tblsps of sugar. Mix the flour and margarine together using fingertips and thumbs until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. When you think you’ve finished, tap the mixing bowl on one side to bring up any unincorporated lumps of margarine. Add the sugar and fold in with a metal spoon. Sprinkle the crumble topping over the apples. Shake the pie dish gently with both hands to make sure it is evenly distributed. Place in a medium oven and cook for twenty minutes or so until lightly brown.

You can add spices to the apples – cinnamon, cloves or nutmeg or a combination or grate the rind of a lemon and/or pour the juice of a lemon over the apple slices. Add blackberries to the apple if you want to reduce the amount of sugar, but it might be wise to puree the blackberries first if you are going to serve the crumble to older adults, because the pips invariably get stuck in their teeth!

Eve’s pudding (Apple sponge)
Slice 1lb of cooking apples into a greased ovenproof dish and sprinkle 3oz of Demerara sugar and grated lemon rind over them. Add 1 tblsp water. Cream 3 oz margarine with 3 oz granulated sugar together in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon until pale and fluffy. Add one beaten egg a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold in 5 oz of self-raising flour with a metal spoon to give a dropping consistency and spread the mixture over the apples. If you have a large ovenproof dish you may need to double the quantities of sponge topping. Bake in the oven at 180degrees C for 40-45 minutes until the apples are tender and the sponge mixture cooked.

Apple soul cakes
Cream together 8oz of sugar and 8oz margarine in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon until pale and fluffy. Add four eggs, one at a time, beating vigorously after each addition. Add one tsp powdered cinnamon and half a grated nutmeg together with wafer thin slices from two cooking apples which have been peeled and cored. Mix these into the mixture with a metal spoon. Fold in 8 oz of self-raising flour, adding a little milk if necessary, until the mixture reaches a dropping consistency. Using a dessertspoon, spoon the mixture into small paper cake cases (fairy cake size). This should make at least two dozen small cakes. If you want to use muffin cases, place two tablespoonfuls of mixture into each case, making around a dozen muffins. Cook in a medium oven at 180 degrees C for 15-20 minutes until you cannot hear the cooked cakes “singing” when you hold them to your ear.

Apple jelly
Gather an amount of small windfall apples. Wash them well and cut into quarters without peeling or coring in your largest saucepan. Cover with water and cook with the lid on until the fruit is completely mushy. (Usually if you are only using apples, you would only need to simmer for 1½ hours, but since I had added quince and rosehips to my apples, I simmered for two hours until the quinces had changed colour from yellow to pink). Strain through a jelly bag or butter muslin tied to something high and leave to drip for several hours or overnight. Discard the contents of the jelly bag (preferably onto your compost heap!) and measure the amount of liquid extract.

Wash the saucepan and return the liquid to the pan with 1lb of sugar for every pint (20 fl oz) of liquid. Heat gently until the sugar has all dissolved, stirring continuously. Bring the jelly to a rolling boil for ten minutes and then test for a setting point. (I usually pour a couple of tablespoons of liquid onto a pyrex saucer and place in the freezer for five –ten minutes. When cold, if a skin forms when you run your finger very slowly through the jelly it is ready.) If setting point isn’t reached after ten minutes, continue to boil and test every five minutes until a setting point is reached. Pour into heated sterilized jars, cover and label.

Apples are such a versatile fruit but we should never forget to be grateful for their abundance.

Colours of autumn

2011-11-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

I'm currently in the process of revising my CV/resume as part of my search for new work opportunities. I'm including all my published articles and thought I would post all the herb ones here.

Colours of Autumn first appeared in the October edition of The Essential Herb Magazine in 2008.

As nights draw in and the sun’s warmth diminishes, colours of harvest flood the land. Amongst hedgerows, reds of rosehip and haw shine brightly with subtle shades from bright red to deep crimson. High above, vermillion rowan berries hang in tantalising bunches. Single crimson leaves from cramp bark branches, thrust colour into fading grass.

I use a lot of hawthorn products during the year, making tinctures from flowers with vodka and haws with brandy. I gather ripe berries wherever I am - from trees along my field edges in the Cotswolds, my garden hedge in Solihull and trees from as far apart as Yorkshire or Bristol, depending on my travels. I’ve also made hawthorn vinegar, so people who don’t like to use alcohol, can have an alternative format to choose from.

I rarely collect rosehips. The problem is the time it takes to process the hips before drying. You should cut them in half with a sharp knife, then thoroughly deseed before putting to dry in a warm, airy place. The seeds are very effective itching powder. My long-suffering husband, when offering to help, soon complains his t-shirt is uncomfortable and his hands itch. I don’t suffer quite as badly, but holding the individual hips make my thumb joints ache, so very few get put to dry. The majority lie abandoned in a bowl to shrivel into hardness in their own time until I can pour them into a glass jar to use in syrups and decoctions throughout the winter.

Another red comes from apples. Usually the wild crabapple goes from green to yellow once it is ripe and falls from the trees. Along one Cotswold wall is a red crabapple tree, its fruit shining above green brambles and speckled stone.

St John’s wort oil is another bright red influence on my life over the summer, sitting on the kitchen window ledge beaming scarlet rays when sun shines. The beginning of October is time to strain the flowers out of the oil and put it all away in a cold larder.

The other major colour of autumn is black – blackberries, elderberries and the deep black/purple lustre of a copious sloe harvest hiding behind the thorns of the blackthorn trees.

We usually think of blackberries as something to put in desserts, either pies or puddings, but blackberries, like rosehips, are a good source of Vitamin C and can also act as an astringent along with cinnamon if you’re suffering with loose bowels that won’t respond to usual treatments. They make a delightful tea with other herbs such as Echinacea and elderberry - a pleasant immune enhancer to ward off any lurking virus.

I continue to wax lyrical about elderberry and its anti-viral properties. My parents help collect large amounts of berries so we can try new recipes. Elderberry Elixir is made with brandy and honey, taking at least two months to mature. I also put up several jars of elderberry tincture and make elderberry syrup using leftover elderberries. There are elderberries waiting in the freezer to be made into more syrup when the need arises.

Sloe gin is not something I make every year, but when juicy, purple, blushing sloes beg to be picked, I acquiesce, buying enough gin to make up a bottle and a half of liqueur to sit in the hot cupboard in my kitchen beside infusing vinegars of motherwort and sage to be ready for Christmas.

We should never forget gold and orange. Calendula flowers are prolific rays of sunshine to cheer everyone up after constant rain. Someone once told me she was convinced calendula was helpful in combating her winter blues and judging by the delight the flowers bring to everyone who sees them, I totally agree with her. The softness of the petals makes them a joy to harvest, while the resin coating your hands afterwards reminds you what you’ve been picking. We have been able to make a fresh flower tincture while sun shone and on less bright days, the golden heads dry by the kitchen stove.

All herb flowers take a long time to dry; the processing itself is an exercise in patience. It can take an entire October weekend to process herbs I’ve dried during the summer. This includes taking petals off all calendula flowers, spending up to two hours sitting at the kitchen table balancing a bowl on my lap before pouring them into their glass jars and hiding them from the light in paper bags. The prize is using the dried petals for tea during the darkest days, warding off infections and bringing enjoyment with every sip.

Gold is also found in the most unexpected places – hidden in roots of some of our most helpful plants. Goldenseal, useful for its action supporting mucous membranes is known for its golden roots, but dyers woodruff roots also shine with gold before offering up a red colour to the dye. Nettles, too, have tangled golden roots which, when processed, offer support and treatment to aging prostate glands.

Finally, there is always green. When the marshmallow in my garden starts to seed, I go down with my basket and strip stems of as many soft, green leaves and pale green seeds as I can. These make dark-green, silky oil to use for lubricating dry or diabetic skin and other hidden places. The dried leaves are kept for teas to sooth irritated bowels or dry lungs.

Vervain grows profusely during most of the year. Infused oil can be made with either fresh or dried aerial parts. The oil comes out dark and green with no distinctive smell. This is an anointing oil to help assist an understanding of the passing of the year, allowing us time to rest before growth begins again.

Every season has its own unique array of colours, shapes and scents. As sun sets to bring evening dusk, so brilliant colours of Autumn lead us towards both quiet and chaos of winter.

Syrups and Soup

2011-10-23T05:48:00.000-07:00

Shortening days and cooling temperatures bring both a sense of panic to gather in the last of the harvest and provide comforting warmth and reassurance for the coming winter. Last weekend we visited my parents and spent an hour or so picking quinces from the tree and off the floor and collecting calendula seed ready for next year’s planting.

There were also a number of sorry-looking red roses. Most of them were water damaged and past their best, but they all retained a strong rose scent. I couldn’t leave them, so I picked them all and brought them home. I wondered about making some more rose elixir, but there are still several full bottles from two years ago, so a syrup seemed more in order.

The original Farmer’s Weekly recipe for nettle and rose petal syrup suggested it be used for sore throats during the winter when added to milk. Neither plant are those I would normally turn to for a sore throat but the housewife who offered the remedy would not have done so if she hadn’t found it helpful. I love roses for their ability to raise the spirits – something I’m very much in need of at the moment- so I thought I would add another supportive nervine herb, evening primrose flowers and something to ease the throat/chest – marshmallow leaves.

The marshmallow and evening primrose were gathered from the garden and covered with cold water along with some dried nettle leaves. If I had had time and patience, I would have left them to macerate overnight, but this wasn’t possible as I was leaving for two days in London the following morning. The infusion was brought to a simmer for twenty minutes then strained. After washing out the saucepan, the liquid was replaced and slowly evaporated on a low heat to bring it down to two pints.

Then I added 2lbs of sugar and all the rose petals and brought it slowly up to the boil, stirring continuously for ten minutes while my bottles sterilised in a hot oven at 100 degrees C. Again the syrup was strained to remove the rose petals and could have been simmered further to thicken, but I decided it was fine as it was, so I poured it into the bottles and left it to cool. The taste, when added to cold milk, was very pleasant with a definite note provided by the evening primrose.

When we returned from visiting family in Woking on Wednesday afternoon, I set to work making a sloe and rosehip cordial. The rosehips came from the Sanctuary and the sloes from the farm yard. I covered them with cold water, adding 2 quills of cinnamon, a grated inch of root ginger, a grated nutmeg and several cloves. The mixture simmered for half an hour, then I removed the whole spices and blitzed the syrup in the saucepan until it was fully liquidised.

Then came the arduous task of sieving the entire contents to remove the stones and skins. I was surprised how thick the syrup was despite the amount of debris. After measuring the amount of liquid I added an equal amount of sugar and brought it back to the boil stirring continuously until the sugar was completely dissolved. It tasted wonderful, although a mug of boiling water required at least a tablespoon of syrup to make a really nice drink.

Ever since we returned from holiday, the tomatoes have been prolific. It’s wonderful when there is enough to make fresh tomato soup. The recipe I normally use is from my Good Housekeeping cookbook, but I’ve doubled the quantities and left out the rasher of bacon as I didn’t want to defrost a whole packet just for one rasher. The first recipe was the most delicious, but I’ve made others since which have been very tasty.

Tomato Soup
3lbs fresh tomatoes
1 large carrot
1 onion
2 celery sticks
1oz butter
1 dessertspoon of sugar
Water or stock
Bouquet garni of fresh herbs – thyme, parsley, rosemary, winter savory
Salt and pepper to taste
Peel and dice the onion. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and sweat the onion for five minutes on a low heat, covered, until soft. Wash and dice the celery. Scrape and slice the carrot. Add the vegetables to the saucepan and mix in with the onion. Add in the tomatoes, chopped and the sugar. Cover with water or stock. Chop the herbs and add to the soup together with salt and freshly ground pepper. Bring the soup to the boil and simmer, covered, for one hour. Liquidise, then sieve to remove skins and seeds. Serve the soup hot with fresh bread.

One thing which really surprised me, was the profusion of fresh, young nettles growing in the garden. This was too good an opportunity to miss making fresh nettle soup for possibly the last time this year. I’ve also grown chillis for the first time this year so I experimented with a red one!

Spiced Tomato and Nettle Soup
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
3 lbs of fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 carrot, scraped and sliced
4 sticks of celery, washed and sliced
1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 onion, peeled and diced
2 large handfuls of dried nettle leaves or one basketful of fresh nettle leaves removed from their stalks
1/2oz butter plus 1 tblsp olive oil
1 tblsp sugar
Bouquet garni of herbs – thyme, winter savory, basil
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat the butter and olive oil together, then sweat the onion and chilli until soft. Add the vegetables, herbs, sugar, salt and freshly ground pepper and cover with water or stock. Bring to the boil, simmering for forty minutes. Add nettles and simmer for a further 20 minutes. Liquidise. Sieve to remove skins, seeds etc. Reheat and serve with fresh bread.

This is a very tasty and nutritious soup with real heat which doesn’t impede the flavour.

For some time now, I’ve been adding vegetables to macaroni cheese. This lightens what can be a very heavy meal and adds extra flavour. I couldn’t resist sharing both the recipe and photo of the last offering as the fresh tomatoes made it so beautiful! The cheese sauce is made without fat and is the method developed by my mother when she had a duodenal ulcer. I use it to make all white sauces, including parsley sauce and brandy sauce.

Vegetable Macaroni Cheese
Broccoli/cauliflower
Carrots
Fresh tomatoes
3oz of dried macaroni per person
8oz plus 2oz Cheddar cheese grated
1pt (UK) milk
1 tbsp. flour plus extra milk to mix
Bring a large saucepan of water plus salt to the boil and add in the macaroni and any vegetables, excluding the tomatoes. Simmer for fifteen minutes until cooked. While these are cooking, put 1pt milk into a wet saucepan and heat. At the same time, mix the flour and milk into a paste in a cup. As the milk comes to the boil, add the flour paste and whisk until the sauce boils and thickens. Add salt. Stir for two minutes until the flour is cooked. Turn off the heat. Add grated cheese to the sauce and stir until all the cheese is melted. Taste. Add more cheese if necessary. Strain the macaroni and vegetables when cooked. Mix with the cheese sauce and place in an enamel or glass serving dish or in individual bowls. Sprinkle grated cheese on the top of the dish together with halved small tomatoes. Place under a hot grill until the cheese melts and browns to your liking. Serve.

The Frost Place and leaves

2011-10-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

One of the aims of this holiday was to experience glorious autumn colours as we travelled along. There was very little change as we drove down into New York state until the road began to climb into the Adirondack mountains. Then came the yellows, golds and a touch of heart-stopping red.

We see very little red in our UK colours each year. Apparently it has more to do with the amount of sugars in the leaf rather than the species of tree, so the better the summer, the more reds will be seen. It does depend to some extent on the tree. Crampbark has beautiful red leaves in the autumn, yet is almost unknown as a UK tree. I was fascinated to learn that it is now included in new woods being planted with UK deciduous species, so hopefully soon we shall see the distinctive crimson trees begin to make their mark during September and October.

The tree everyone associates with red leaves is the maple. It is native to the American East Coast with long established harvests of spring sap to turn into maple syrup - a long and laborious process resulting in a scrumptious sugar treat.

One of my favourite Grandma Moses paintings is "Sugaring off". She is my inspiration for developing a new creative career when you are in your eighties. She started to paint when arthritis in her hands made quilting impossible. She finished her last painting, a beautiful rainbow, at the age of 101, a week before she died. I was very fortunate to see an exhibition of her paintings when I was in Portland, Oregon several years ago and was blown away by the beauty and vibrancy of her work.

We loved the colours and calm of the location of our hotel, The Woods Inn, which was situated on the shores of a mirror-lake surrounded by turning trees. We weren't appreciative of a complete lack of welcome when we arrived and having to walk up three long flights of stairs to find our room. Poor Jacce, who is arachnophobic, had a terrible time with the myriad of spiders inside and outside the hotel, but their verandah and view provided some compensation.

The following day we crossed from New York State to Vermont over Lake Champlain. Talking to the elderly lady manning the gift shop about the beautiful colours in the hills behind,

"You haven't seen anything until you see Vermont," she said.

Unfortunately, the trees in the Burlington valley had yet to change and the only thing of note was the wealth of fraternity and sorority houses we passed in the university town while waiting for rush hour traffic lights to change.

The following day it rained. Heavily. Driving through Vermont was not a pleasant experience until we stopped at a diner in Franconia, New Hampshire. Herb tea and a pleasant lunch made everything seem more bearable.

As Peter turned the car to pull back onto the freeway, I suddenly caught sight of a sign to The Frost Museum. My plaintive cry from the back seat to follow the sign was actually heard and we drove off in the opposite direction.

It seemed strange to find a museum in the middle of a winding road filled with ordinary houses and the house and barn we eventually stopped at was nondescript and humble except for the sign which said, "The Frost Place and Poetry Centre".

Robert Frost's poem, "Driving through the woods on a snowy evening" has always been a part of my life. I can't remember when I first read it - probably at school, when I read hundreds of poems. It's different now. I read few and write fewer.

The lady who welcomed me was lovely. Pete and Jacce stayed to watch a video of Robert Frost's life while Chris settled himself on the house porch capturing white wraiths of cloud wrapping themselves around the opposite mountains with his camera.

I toured the house. I knew nothing of the poet's life beforehand. I'd always thought him a Victorian Englishman - a lack of knowledge understandable since his success as a poet came from two years he spent in England, but now seeing his home and letters written in his own hand brought him that bit closer. Brought up by his widowed teacher mother and mostly homeschooled after his father's early death from TB, Frost wanted to farm, but ultimately gave himself up to a career as a poet.

The best part for me of the The Frost Place was the poetry walk - a quarter mile colour-strewn leaf path through trees with Frost's poems clearly printed every so often for the pilgrim to read and enjoy. He is an "easy" poet. His phrases talk of simple things painting clear, accessible pictures for the reader. We are given a window into his world - whether it is apple picking, haymaking or watching birch trees bend in a strong wind.

It was a wonderful visit - a place to feed the soul whilst others rested. I saw milkweed shedding seeds, ripe red raspberries on wild canes and wet,red apples glinting in the afternoon sunshine. I was so pleased we turned and followed the sign.

The Frost Place
Your woods I walked today
Red apples shimmering in the sun
Birch and fir tall sentinels
Maple and alder lining the ground with red and gold.

Fat raindrops fell glistening from branches
White stoles wrapped themselves around mountains
As we sat on your porch
Edged with purple aster
Four years of your life laid out within the modest home.

You found it too cold to grow
In dark, New Hampshire winters
Forty four acres not enough
To feed your growing family

You thought to farm
Bur your successful pen brought better fruit
Sat beside the fire
Writing of bending birch
Discarded apples on trees
Your arms and shoulders aching from their picking.

Yet you knew your fields
Sweet whispers of scythes
Penned for your posterity
You left the hay to make itself
Hopeful of summer's heat

As we stood
Grateful for sun,
A welcome respite from torrential rain
Allowing us to walk in your woods
Share in your works
Drinking the colours of fall
Amidst white mountains.

11.15am 3/10/11.

Colours through the mist

2011-10-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

It seems strange a whole week has passed since I last posted. It feels like a lifetime. This time last Sunday we were happily visiting my Canadian cousins, catching up on nearly thirty years of news in a few hours. It was wonderful to realise I still held a place in their memories and photos, even though their children and grandchildren have never met me. The new generations drift further apart no matter how much we try to keep the threads of family together.

It was good to be back in Canada, even if time was painfully short. It felt like home. The sun was hot, the purple and blue New England Aster were a perfect counterpoint to the vibrant yellow of the goldenrod. It seemed fitting the latin name for goldenrod is solidigo canadensis - something our host didn't know. She saw her colourful bank as merely untamed weeds, including the wild grape vines which ran down to the creek. I didn't like to mention how they might support her chest in times of trouble while the grape leaves could give her food a Grecian feel.

There is something about the smell of Ontarion grapes which is quite unique. I have never found it elsewhere. Another cousin's husband had to leave early to tend to his harvest - making ready to produce the local wines the area now specialises in. Crops and harvests have changed since I lived with them. Then the grapes went to large wineries, now those have gone and locals make their own wines. Good ones too if our tastings that afternoon were anything to go by.

It felt wrong to pass by the offer of supper and more conversation, but as the light faded we drove along the Niagara River to watch the calm waters and marvel at the beautiful homes built along the shore line.

The following day we crossed over the border again to view Niagara Falls and experience them from the Maid in the Mist - or Smurfs in the Mist as Chris christened them, because of the blue ponchos everyone was given to wear.

Journeying close to the base of the waterfalls taught me so many different things. The sound of thunder which grows louder as you sit and listen to it. The overwhelming mist which envelops you as you get closer and closer to point of droplet fall. You can see, you cannot hear, you are immersed within the waterfall and there is nothing else. I have so much more to add to my River of Life story now the Falls have shown me part of their reality.

Niagara Falls the town was so different from how I remember previous visits. I don't think it was just the beautiful flowers and impressive night lights from the skyscrapers. Maybe it was the ability to take our time and sit and watch the water for however long we wished rather than trying to do everything there was to do. It was so good to come back and find everything better!

Afterwards we wended our way south along the Niagara Gorge, stopping to admire the whirlpool, having lunch at a farm stand, then experiencing the streets of Niagara on the Lake - my first visit, made all the more special by tea in pots which tasted as tea should!

Dinner that night was at the Seneca Casino - a fantastic buffet for $18 each and $9 from the slot machines to take away with us. The final visit of the evening was to experience the Falls from the American side. Few people, a barmy night and coloured lights shining across from a Canadian tower onto the Horseshoe torrents. It was breathtaking to be so close to the fast-flowing rapids and watch each droplet cascade over the edge. A perfect end to a wonderful day.

A quick wave from the other side of the pond

2011-09-25T07:23:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I am currently touring the East coast of the US with Chris and our two, long-term holiday partners, Jacce and Pete Jeffreys. In fact, "Jeffrey's tours" have taken us around the West Coast of America, Spain and several other sites within the UK.

We were visiting some friends in Fredericksburg last Sunday and Nicole asked me how we'd all met up. It was all down to Jacce's boss getting married in 1980. I wanted to go and see "Hot Gossip" a very riskee dance group from the Kenny Everret show on BBC1 who were appearing in a Birmingham night club. Jacce agreed and soon afterwards, we decided to share a holiday to Scourie in the north coast of Scotland followed by a week in Balmacara near to the Kyle of Localsh where the ferry used to cross to the Isle of Skye. We survived two weeks together knitting and playing bridge and have spent every holiday together since. Between us we've produced seven children, so our holidays for over 20 years in Cornwall have been both noisy and memorable. Next year, when we're back in Cornwall, it will be a beach holiday for the next generation who will be nearing his first birthday!

Returning to America, while Chris has been taking photos of policemen's motor cycles and railroad tracks, I've been searching for herbs. Nicole said she'd been told her native dandelions were poisonous, yet I found our usual dandelions on the "grass" next to the White House in Washington. I also found some violets growing around the base of a tree in the White House grounds and an American conker which is now stashed in my suitcase!

New York was fairly devoid of green - even the trees along the street looked sick and weedy- but Central Park in the rain was wonderful. I even found a first year burdock plant - but it was too wet to take a picture!

Now we've left the cities behind for a while. Today is a family day with my cousins in Fonthill, Canada. It's strange to think that I could have been either Canadian or American if my Grandfather had not returned home to Stratford on Avon from his job as a logger in Winnipeg to fight in the Warwickshire Yeomenary during the First World War. He saw service mainly in Egypt and Galipoli, but shared something in common with my other grandfather - they had both ridden the length of the Rheine at some point during the war!

Tomorrow we shall be visiting Niagara Falls, then on Tuesday we travel south again to Boston through the Adirondacks. I shall be looking for more plants along the way.

Transcendence : A Review

2011-09-15T14:07:00.000-07:00

Several months ago, a random email appeared from a Californian publishing house. Would I like to read a copy of Transcendence by Norman E Rosenthal, M.D. If I were agreeable they would send two copies and maybe I could review the book for them.

Normally, I ignore random emails but this one intrigued me. I know the universe sends me books occasionally. The first was a book on bereavement from an online bookseller when I’d ordered one about dandelions. I offered to return it but they asked me to keep it in compensation for dispatching the wrong order. The second was a pink book of poetry left behind by a fellow passenger on a train. Transcendence is the third.

Norman Rosenthal is a South African by birth, but now holds the position of professor of clinical psychiatry at Georgetown Medical Centre with a private practice in Washington DC. His previous research has been in Seasonal Affected Disorder (SAD).

It seems strange that Dr Rosenthal’s life and my own have run parallel in several ways. When he was a young undergraduate in Cape Town in the early 1970s, he was invited to an introductory talk on Transcendental Meditation. He was interested but did not take the offer of paying a fee and learning more.

Halfway across the world, about twelve months later, I was sitting in a room at the Christian Union of Birmingham University listening to the same introductory talk, probably with a similar level of interest, but I did not feel able to take the next step, pay my dues and be given my mantra.

Both of us took a similar path towards mental health, Dr Rosenthal from the professional viewpoint whereas I was educated by service users spending sixteen years with my local MIND group, five years chairing the West Midlands Regional Council of MIND and five years as a Mental Health Act Lay Manager with a stint as Lay Chair of the Regional Appointments Committee for junior psychiatric doctors before they got fed up with my radical views and found someone more acceptable!

Where Dr Rosenthal has spent his professional life treating people who suffer from mental distress, I spent fourteen years monitoring our local mental health services from the viewpoint of the consumer. I watched the change from the old system to the introduction of a home treatment service and a radicle new approach using mainly psychology to help young people recover from early onset psychosis. Never let it be said deprived inner city Birmingham cannot herald ground-breaking national innovations! I even lectured about them to a Grand Round at Oregon State University Hospital in Portland when I was doing a study tour of diversion from custody in 1995.

Now, I offer support to those who suffer mental distress through my herbs and healing and I teach sessions on how the NHS mental health services work to carers and other support workers.

Dr Rosenthal did return to Transcendental Meditation (TM) and now faithfully meditates twice a day. His book is divided into four sections – Transcendence, Healing, Transformation and Harmony. Within each section he describes the introduction of TM into the West through the visits of the Beatles to Marashi Yogi in the 1960s, provides scientific research to show how TM affects the brain and then gives comprehensive examples of the positive effects of TM with groups and individuals everywhere from schools, to prisons and well known media stars.

It is a fascinating book. I was amazed how the simple act of reading brought on a state of calm which I really appreciated. It is not a book which makes you want to read from cover to cover in one go, but it is perfect for dipping in to whenever you have a spare moment.

Dr Rosenthal has an easy, lyrical style, explaining his points in a simple, digestible format. Points are well illustrated with case studies; each story making the learning more memorable. I was slightly disappointed that most of the case studies related to men rather than women, but I presume this was to emphasise that even hardened male criminals or schoolboy yobs growing up in the most disadvantaged and violent neighbourhoods can become relaxed, reformed, constructive members of society, fully able to take control of their own lives and futures.

I particularly found the research carried out in prisons and schools to be exciting and ripe with possibilities. The outcomes seemed so positive, I truly hope this book serves to publicise the potential of providing TM to the most disadvantaged groups, giving them opportunities currently beyond their grasp.

Personally, I felt the stories involving film producers and other media stars did not strengthen the book in any great way, although I can understand Dr Rosenthal wanting to show how TM can enhance creativity in those whose profession is mass entertainment. The inclusion of Russell Brand left a sour taste in my mouth after his distasteful escapades with Jonathan Ross on Radio 2, but I suspect Dr Rosenthal may not have been aware of his elder abuse on this side of the pond.

It is always a pleasure when a book brings me new information and ideas. Transcendence is such a book. The notes are constructive and highly informative as one would expect from an experienced professional with an acclaimed academic background, but this is not a book just for professionals. It should be welcomed by anyone who wants to know more about this practice.

I gave my second copy of the book to a friend who is a fellow writer. A painter and decorator by trade; he follows the Buddhist path and meditates daily. Like me, he was disappointed the book did not include a full disclosure of the TM technique, but Dr Rosenthal is faithful in keeping the secret of the “movement”. My friend was fascinated by the studies on brain activity and was looking forward to reading more about TM’s applications.

Tomorrow, I leave for Manchester and on Saturday I will fly into Dr Rosenthal’s home city, Washington D.C. In a perfect world, I would love to be able to offer Dr Rosenthal the experience of receiving healing and be able to discuss how this can also produce the state of transcendence he ascribes to TM. I have been very grateful for the opportunity to read his book and I wish him well as his words reach out across the world.

Transcendence: Healing and Transformation through Transcendental Meditation by Norman E Rosenthal, M.D. is published by Penguin at $14.74 and £12.18 from Amazon.

Another successful festival!

2011-09-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

It's always satisfying to see happy faces when you hold an event. This weekend was no exception. With herbs to gather from the fields and hedgerows then turn into medicines to take home, theory was turned into confident practice.

Springfield Sanctuary Festival is a relatively small festival, but this means we are able to share time, food and laughter. The weather made things very difficult, but it rained during talks when everyone was in the dry and the showers were short with lots of dryness and an incredible full moon!

For me, a festival is never about one thing. There has to be music and for Chris, there has to be kites. He and Dave Salmon, a fellow member of Sky Symphony display team performed the almost impossible - three kites flown by two people in a synchronised display! Dave was the wizard, not only controlling two kites but also calling the manoevres!

If you would like to see more about the weekend, please go to the Facebook album.

New garden poem over at Mercian Muse

2011-08-23T06:57:00.001-07:00

If you fancy a quick tour of my summer garden in verse, hop over to Mercian Muse

Lady's mantle - a herb just for women or everyone?

2011-08-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

For the past five months I have wanted to write a blog post about Lady’s mantle, ever since the plant emerged from the long, cold winter in a new and vibrant form. During this time, exciting pieces of information about her uses were brought to my attention which is usually a sure sign I should take closer notice and make a written record of what has been learned.

If you talk to someone about lady’s mantle they will usually comment on its structural beauty - the edges of the leaves resembling a cloak and about the perfect water droplets held in the deep cups of the leaves – giving rise to one of its common names as “Dewcup”.

According to American botanist, Ryan Drum, the 'dew' that collects on the tips of the leaves and in the well of the open leaves is actually a vascular secretion that rises up to the tips of the leave's margins at night, then rolls down into the cup to be reabsorbed in the late morning.

Heather Nic an Fhleisdeir, who runs the Scottish Academy of Herbal Medicine in Eugene, Oregon, says, “I've been using these vascular secretions (dew) for over a decade now directly on the surface of my eyes. As a vulnerary it is soothing to tired, dry and blood-shot eyes. One client used it on a broken capillary in the white of her eye that had been there for years. Within weeks of daily applications the capillary had disappeared.”

Mrs Grieve tells us that Lady's Mantle belong to the genus Alchemilla of the rose family, most of the members of which are natives of the American Andes, only a few being found in Europe, North America and Northern and Western Asia. In Britain, there are only three species, Alchemilla vulgaris, the Common Lady's Mantle, A. arvensis, the Field Lady's Mantle or Parsley Piert, and A. alpina, less frequent and only found in mountainous districts.

Mrs Grieve says, “The Common Lady's Mantle is generally distributed over Britain, but more especially in the colder districts and on high-lying ground, being found up to an altitude of 3,600 feet in the Scotch Highlands. It is not uncommon in moist, hilly pastures and by streams, except in the south-east of England, and is abundant in Yorkshire, especially in the Dales.”

The local abundance of Lady’s mantle is probably why Hill wrote in 1740, “The good women in the North of England apply the leaves to their breasts to make them recover their form after they have been swelled with milk.” This local use was subsequently proved by Matthew Wood in his practice showing how Lady’s Mantle “lifts tissue and structures that have been bogged down: sagging breasts after lactation and abdominal tissue following childbirth.”

Wood believes it is the presence of salicylates and tannins within the plant which enables the plant to be used to drive water from tissues that are damp and weak as well as strengthening fibres, bringing them back together into a health, toned condition.

The part of the plant used was originally the entire plant – aerial part and roots, but use of the roots has almost been forgotten as the overall use of the plant has changed from being a general “woodwort” to “a woman’s herb”. Mrs Grieve mentions that the fresh root was often employed.

Wood has written two useful sections on Lady’s mantle in his books, The Earthwise Herbal and The Book of Herbal Wisdom. He writes at length about the relationship between Lady’s mantle and the kidneys, showing how they both suck liquid from tissues as well as managing the concentration of fluids within individual cells. He says that the herb is indicated in “purulent discharges and infected passageways (e.g. ears, vagina) where there is pain”.

We have to turn to early herbalists to learn more about Lady’s Mantle’s use as a woundwort.

Culpepper says “Lady's Mantle is very proper for inflamed wounds and to stay bleeding, vomitings, fluxes of all sorts, bruises by falls and ruptures. It is one of the most singular wound herbs and therefore highly prized and praised, used in all wounds inward and outward, to drink a decoction thereof and wash the wounds therewith, or dip tents therein and put them into the wounds which wonderfully drieth up all humidity of the sores and abateth all inflammations thereof. It quickly healeth green wounds, not suffering any corruption to remain behind and cureth old sores, though fistulous and hollow.'”

William Salmon writing in 1710, says “It is amazing how Lady’s Mantle can restore the integrity of torn, ruptured or separated tissue as seen in hernias or perforated membranes. “

Wood gives two case histories where Lady’s Mantle restored a perforated ear drum and comments wryly that he believed it would also restore a damaged hymen, which was apparently one of its uses in folklore medicine.

David Hoffman sums up the use of Lady’s Mantle as a “woman’s herb”. He says, “Lady's mantle will help reduce pains associated with periods as well as ameliorating excessive bleeding. It also has a role to play in easing the changes of the menopause. As an emmenagogue it stimulates the proper menstrual flow if there is any resistance. However, in the often apparently paradoxical way of herbal remedies, Lady's mantle is a useful uterine astringent, used in both menorrhagia and metrorrhagia. Its astringency provides a role in the treatment of diarrhea and as a mouthwash for sores and ulcers and as a gargle for laryngitis.”

Lady’s mantle is normally taken as a tea or tincture made from plant material gathered in early summer. David Hoffman’s instructions are “Infusion: pour a cup of boiling water onto 2 teaspoonfuls of the dried herb and leave to infuse for l0-l5 minutes. This should be drunk three times a day. To help diarrhoea and as a mouthwash or lotion, a stronger dosage is made by boiling the herb for a few minutes to extract all the tannin. Tincture: take 1-2 ml of the tincture three times a day.

Matthew Wood prefers macerating the plant material in brandy rather than vodka and recommends a dose of 1-3 drops

Wood gives a much more detailed account of different mediums for administering Lady’s mantle, saying the most extensive information about various kinds of preparations in alcohol, vinegar, water, oil and salt comes from William Salmon. He used all forms internally, observing that the vinegar “..opened more and removes obstructions. … Taken continually all day, so that the amount equals at least four or five tablespoonfuls, It is a most excellent thing against a virulent Gonorrhea in Men.”

Andre Chevalier in his Encyclopaedia of Medicinal plants also quotes Andres de Laguna’s translation (1570) of Dioscorides’ Materia Medica which recommends two preparations of lady’s mantle – the root, powdered and mixed with red wine, for internal and external wounds, and an infusion of the aerial parts, for “greenstick” fractures and broken bones in babies and young children.

It was Karen Lawton, commenting on the Herb Society forum who mentioned Lady’s mantle’s energetic use. She said, “Ladies mantle connects to the whole history of the matriarchy - I use it a lot with patients who have unresolved issues with their mothers and grandmothers. If you observe the structure of the flowering plant you can see lots of differing delicate layers of depth. I harvest her and work with her with my daughter as I am trying not to pass on the female knots of my lineage to her!”

I think she may have picked up this use from Rosemary Gladstar, since Rosemary quotes from Peter and Barbara Theiss in her book, Herbal Healing for women, “Lady’s mantle is associated with the qualities of gentleness, elegance and grace in combination with powerful authority. If a woman finds difficulty in accepting a maternal role, is troubled by thoughts of abortion and suffers from morning sickness and other disorders during the first months of pregnancy, depression after birth and so on, Lady’s mantle is her herb.”

I was recently standing over my patch of Lady’s mantle with a newcomer to the Sanctuary who wanted something for a friend of hers who was experiencing heavy menstrual flooding at the same time as having to come to terms that she would probably never be able to experience motherhood in this lifetime. We picked some new leaves for her to make tincture for her friend. I shall wait to hear whether she finds it helpful.

Karen Lawton also shared a general women’s tonic she makes made from equal parts of raspberry leaf, nettles and Lady’s mantle. The dose is three drops three times a day. Her original recipe used a nettle syrup rather than a tincture and when I asked her why, her answer was that the syrup was what they had large amounts of at the time of creation and it seemed a good thing to add to the mixture!

Lady’s mantle was also used in a recipe for a hand lotion given by Lesley Bremnes on the Herb Society Forum some years ago.

Ingredients
30ml.glycerin 10 drops of essential oil of lemon, rose, geranium or sandalwood
10g carragheen moss dissolved in a little hot water
30ml strong infusion of lady’s mantle
60ml alcohol (Vodka)
Method
1 Stir the glycerin into the dissolved moss
2 Add the essential oil to the vodka mixing well, and then blend the two mixtures. Stir in the herbal infusion, blending well.
3 Pour in a screw-top jar and label. Shake before use if necessary.

I have to confess that I have never had the need to use Lady’s mantle myself, although I have the tincture in my larder and I have encouraged others to make the “women’s tonic” macerated either in vodka or vinegar. Studying the plant in more depth leads me to feel she could be a useful ally during difficult times in a woman’s life, but that her more ancient use as a woundwort should not be forgotten.

Three weeks left!

2011-08-21T06:33:00.000-07:00

Only three weeks until the Springfield Sanctuary Herb Festival 9-11 September. Come and join us for two fun-filled days of herbs, kites, stories and songs! Learn how to dye your own wool from natural dyes harvested from the Sanctuary in Kristina's magical dyeing glade. Join the Sanctuary Apprentices to make your own medicine and Denise Fiddaman for herb walks. If you want to gather your own wild foods, Ian will help you identify what is available at this time of year.

Lucinda Warner and Ali English will be furthering our knowledge of using herbs externally and making tonics from local herbs. If you want to know more about propogating herbs, Sam and Louise from Garden Organic will show you how to do it.

Sky Symphony Kite team will be displaying four times over the weekend. Check the online programme to make sure you don't miss their stunning new kite ballet.

The field will be open for camping and to set up stalls from 3pm on Friday and the festival will kick off with an open mic at 7.30pm.

We're trying to keep costs at a minimum, but we'd welcome your donations to help us pay for the loos and cover expenses. Suggested donations are £40 for the weekend and £20 per day. Email sarah at headology dot co do uk for more details and directions to the venue.

The Cycle of Life

2011-08-10T05:29:00.000-07:00

It is difficult to write when you are constantly away from home and the travelling leads to exhaustion, no matter how enjoyable things might be along the way.

July/August was supposed to be a fun month – a reward to ourselves for all the hard work we had accomplished beforehand. Friends were joining us for the storytelling festival at Much Wenlock. The weather was much better than forecast – only a few heavy showers and some sunshine. The stories were wonderful and the music lovely, but my mother (who is registered blind and has vascular dementia) decided to go for a walk on her own and had to be returned home in a distressed state by a passing neighbour. She then refused to enter the house for several hours, necessitating calling out the doctor and the ambulance.

When I rang my father to tell him we’d arrived at the festival, it was all over, but I could hear the fear in his voice. He’d been taking a nap when it happened. I had to phone my sister in Italy to brief her on events and she visited the following weekend to make sure everything was safe.

The next weekend I was presenting at Herbfest. It was a wonderful weekend full of enthusiastic herb lovers who welcomed the opportunity to make their own herbal concoctions and wanted to expand their experiences.

It was a long and exhausting journey to north Somerset and I was wiped out with the stress of it all when we returned.

The following Tuesday, my cousin rang me to say my aunt had died. Although it was not unexpected news, it was very sad to share the pain of his loss and worry about breaking the news to my mother. The two sisters had been estranged since my grandmother died forty years ago, but I’d tried to keep some level of communication between the two families and was grateful I’d taken time to write to my aunt and sent photographs just before her death which she had been able to take comfort from.

At 7.15am on the Thursday my eldest son rang to say his wife’s waters had broken and she was in labour. I went into work to be told that because I am managed from the Sheffield office and worked mostly from home, I would no longer have a desk or any shelf space. I was devastated.

To put this in some kind of context, it must be explained that although we have a fairly large and comfortable house, in the past month we have finally, after thirty years of no maintenance, had the roof insulated along with the cavity walls, the gutters and facias replaced, the front door, back door, garage doors and porch replaced and the lounge furniture recovered and the lounge redecorated.

This has meant Chris had to clear several spaces including the roof, box room and our daughter’s bedroom as she decided to come home to live permanently after four years away. The front room which houses both Chris and my computers and the piano where I give lessons is completely filled with extra furniture and piles of books and papers. There are only tracks through the debris and I can’t turn my chair round without hitting something.

The thought of bringing the contents of my work desk and two bookcases/shelving units home was too much. I spent the following week in tears. It brought back all the grief from being made redundant eight years ago when I had to literally put fourteen years of work into black rubbish bags to be thrown away when we cleared my office.

At 5.50pm on Thursday 28th, Richard rang us to say we were now grandparents to a 7lb 14oz boy called James Michael. We heard the first baby snuffles as he lay on his mother’s tummy in the labour ward of St Peter’s hospital in Woking. Laura followed the family tradition of short deliveries, only being in established labour for 5 hours and managing with gas and air.

After a two hour journey and then a further hour wait in the hospital the following day, it was wonderful to finally hold the tiny, warm bundle in our arms and marvel at the tightness of his grip. Everyone else remarked how much he looked like Richard, but I could only see the face of someone I’d never met before, a new person to welcome into the family and learn more about.

The Warwick Folk Festival was very enjoyable, with stunning performances from The Spooky Men’s Chorale and Show of Hands. We also appreciated the lazy days last weekend spent with our friends in The Lake District finalising the details of our American holiday in a month’s time.

The joy of all these events has been tempered by the sadness of my aunt’s death and my mother’s increasing frailty. Every time I speak to her she asks me when I am coming to visit. It doesn’t matter I have been there every three weeks for the past year and will be there again tomorrow and every two or three weeks for the rest of the year. It will never be enough, but it is all I can manage.

Summer abundance

2011-07-11T08:09:00.000-07:00

I have never grown as many plants from seed as I have this year. Tomatoes, salad leaves, peas, runner and French beans, basil, two types of spinach, radishes, courgettes, butternut squash, ashwaghanda, holy basil, sweet clover and pokeroot from home produced and bought in seeds.

I’ve also never given away quite so many plants as well – runner beans,
St Johns wort, Michaelmas daisies and other assorted herbs. It was when I was potting up the third batch of St Johns wort plants from the garden and handed over a particularly succulent marshmallow plant that the thought crossed my mind, “If I give away so much, will I have enough for myself?” The compulsion to give was too strong. The plants must go.

There is a Native American tradition which Stephen Buhner describes in his “Secret Life of Plants”. When the tribal medicine man arrives at a home where healing has been requested, tradition demands that the spouse of the person should give away all possessions as gifts to other members of the community. The act is performed before the healing commences in anticipatory gratitude.

Other beliefs teach there is no need to hang on to possessions, because whatever we need will be provided by the universe. I know I don’t have the confidence yet to practice this philosophy, but this year is showing how abundance can be the flipside of gifts freely given.

In response to my plants, I have been given new varieties of tomatoes and lots of chilli plants. The basil seeds which grew so easily and magnificently were a gift during a workshop on seed planting and propagation during a Mercian Herb Group meeting in March. Sharing the runner bean plants has brought me closer to many people I value as friends.

I really should not have worried about having enough St John’s wort. The main bed of plants flowered on June 12th, almost two weeks before their normal day of 21st June. There are already three jars of oil infusing on the sunny windowsill in the kitchen and my first batch of tincture is already a glorious shade of crimson. The recent torrential rain combined with ten days absence in Northumberland and Newcastle has played havoc with my ability to pick the flowers every day, but I know there will be enough for my needs and to give away.

Spending the weekend with my parents enabled me to visit the Sanctuary and see which herbs were ready for harvest there. I missed the last of the apothecary’s rose petals (and Chris wouldn’t let me gather from the three briar rose bushes heavy with blossom at Beamish Museum!), but the William Shakespeare were still blooming even though the petals were heavily waterlogged. I gathered as many as I could and dried them by the kitchen rayburn. They are now infusing in cider vinegar waiting to show their colours at Herbfest on 23rd July.

The walk down to the Sanctuary was also a kaleidoscope of colours provided by ladies bedstraw, red & white clover, knapweed and plantain accompanied by a variety of butterflies, damsel flies and grasshoppers. I watch so many wildlife programmes bemoaning the loss of native habitats. I am so fortunate to have a meadow blooming at my feet!

I’ve already dried two harvests of catmint and ox–eye daises, but more was waiting for me along with a palette of colour provided by weld, wood betony and hyssop. Helped by the three people who attended the Saturday workshop, we picked purple sage, SJW, betony, goats rue, motherwort and enjoyed a wonderful tea of lemon balm and calendula flower.

Janey brought her carding pads and set to work on the wool we boiled for lanolin over Easter. The conclusion was that the wool was really only fit for felting rather than spinning, but it still leaves a wealth of possibilities for future crafts.

I had less than two hours on Sunday to complete my gathering and weeding after preparing Sunday dinner and before we had to pack everything up to come home. I intended to remove the last few docks from the new herb bed, but found myself harvesting and weeding skullcap instead. I also gathered a tiny basket of heartsease which I set to dry for a “hope” tea in the future.

Bees were everywhere – white and yellow/orange-bottomed bumblebees and honey bees. I watched them feeding from red clover and motherwort, climbing around the plant to suck the nectar from each individual floret. Their activity was so different from their sister bees collecting pollen from wide open evening primrose flowers or even St John’s wort flowers, where they appeared to brush their tummy over the pollen or wrap pollen strings around their whole bodies – something I’d not seen before.

The stand of motherwort was so beautiful. I kept looking at it wondering what I could make with it. I’d already gathered enough for vinegar. I have tincture and oil left from last year and it was far too hot and my time severely limited, for me to gather any more. So I left the strawberry and cream pink motherwort and the deep blue of the hyssop to the bees.

It is hard to accept you can’t do everything, especially when colours and scents call seductively to gather and process. There will be further opportunities. The calendula and bergamot are still a long way from flowering, so they and the tansy will greet me when I return in August.

Violet: friends and family

2011-06-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

The last time I wrote about violets, Henriette Kress left me a comment saying, “See, I don’t get violets. We have v.tricolor and that tastes ghastly. No “gentle mucilaginous green” taste, no, it’ll clobber your tongue to tell you to fxxx the hxll off. V.odorata, gentle mucilaginous, check. The rest? The wild dry ones? Most emphatically not.”

This had me worried. I’d never tasted heartsease but it was on my list of things to do with violet’s relations. I’d already chewed a dog violet leaf and that was basically tasteless but more mucilaginous than the odorata. I was intending to do the same with heartsease, but Henriette’s comment did have me wondering. Would it be bitter? Would it be as unpalatable as she described? I would have to “bite the bullet” or rather, leaf and see for myself.

I haven’t found any heartsease growing in the garden this year. For the last five years or so they have wandered around the various beds popping their beautiful flowerheads up out of various beds from late spring to summer. I think I killed them all off by replanting some in the old wheel frame which acts as my sole hanging basket – sometimes I forget to water it and after last winter, nothing survived.

I thought I would have to buy new seeds this year to repopulate the heartsease, but the plants in the Sanctuary had other ideas. They reappeared in March and have been blooming beautifully for the last three months. You may have seen the photos on Facebook.

Last weekend was the menopause workshop where fourteen women got together to discuss, laugh and create amongst the stunning flowers and herbs of the Sanctuary, ending with a beautiful healing circle.

I was standing by the bottom bed while others searched for motherwort, lady’s mantle and nettle to put in their tonics and decided it was time to test the palatability of heartsease. I picked a leaf, chewed and waited to be told to “go away”. It didn’t happen. From the virtually tasteless tiny leaf developed the most amazing amount of mucilage – soothing, calming and definitely welcoming to the tongue.

I picked a bunch of aerial stems and gathered the other women together – presenting them with a leaf each to chew and experience. They all agreed it was pleasant, very mucilaginous and a fascinating experience as most of them had not known the term mucilaginous before.

We discussed Henriette’s comments and agreed that environmental conditions must dramatically affect a plant’s makeup. Finish plants must have a sterner outlook on life than our own as they have to survive in colder conditions with a much short growing period.

I’ve not seen viola tricola growing wild in the UK, but I saw it everywhere when I was travelling from Oregon to California three years ago. I shall look for it again on the east coast when we return to the vast continent to explore from the Canadian border down to Boston in September. There they call it “Johnny jump up” because of its proclivity.

My first awareness of heartease medicinally came from an Israeli herbalist on Henriette’s email list. She talked about using heartsease for childhood eczema, so I steeled my heart to their beauty, gathered a bundle in the garden and made an infused oil. Those I gave it to reported it was helpful, but I might do many other things before handing out a salve now, including using a chamomile water to reduce the heat in an inflamed condition before applying any kind of oil.

James Wong also likes heartease. He talks about using heartease as an anti-inflammatory for eczema and combines it with chamomile in a cream.

Viola eczema cream
Makes one 150 ml pot
2 tbsp (20 g) viola flowers, stripped from their stems (heartsease, viola tricola)
2 tbsp (20 g) Roman or German chamomile, dried (you could use 4x the amount of fresh)
1 tsp beeswax
2 tbsp almond oil
1 tsp vitamin C powder
1 tsp glycerine
2 tsp emulsifying wax
250ml freshly boiled water
1. Place the violas and chamomile flowers in a glass bowl. Pour over the water to cover. Leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Put the infusion into a medium-sized pan (this will form the bottom of your double boiler or bain-marie).
2. In another glass bowl, add the beeswax, almond oil, vitamin C powder, glycerine and emulsifying wax. Place on top of the infusion pan, and warm over a gentle heat, stirring until melted. This takes about 10 minutes.
3. Strain the infusion, then slowly whisk it into the oil mixture until incorporated – the texture should be smooth, like mayonnaise.
4. Pour the mixture into a sterilized dark glass ointment pot, then seal.
USE: Apply to affected areas morning and night. Ideally, apply within a few minutes of bathing, to keep moisture in the skin.
STORAGE: Keeps for up to 6 months in the refrigerator.

Personally, I can never get a cream not to separate, but then I haven’t tried an emulsifying wax. Maybe I should.

My harvest of heartsease this year is infusing into cider vinegar. I thought long and hard about how to preserve it and what I would find most useful. I already have some wonderful oil from the odorata in the garden and the infused vinegar is being used up on salads, so a vinegar to extract all the minerals from the plant seemed to way to go.

If you would like to see many of the other plants growing in my gardens this month, take a look at Facebook.

Times of change: Menopause

2011-06-14T07:40:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I shall be facilitating a workshop at the Sanctuary looking at herbs which can support women (and their families) during menopause. As this is something I am/have been experiencing for the last four years or so, it is a subject I feel intimately involved with. I thought I would share a few things which have helped me to retain a reasonable quality of life during this time.

In today’s busy world, there is considerable pressure to be continually happy and successful in our lives. Our culture idolises younger people and cosmetic companies continually spread the message all women should strive to preserve their youthful appearance “because you’re worth it”. The underlying sign appears to be that if you show any signs of aging, you somehow become invisible and worthless.

These continual messages have caused many women to fear the time when their ovaries cease to function; when they pass from “fertile mother” into that of “wise woman”. They fear the change in body shape, the supposed loss of sexual attractiveness and believe stories that all women suffer terribly from a range of symptoms during the years while their body readjusts to hormonal changes.

They worry about emotional imbalance. Some women talk about feeling “as if they are going mad” because emotions may not be contained as they were before. Periods of unhappiness or grief are considered signs of an inability to cope or function properly and expressing anger is not considered “proper” in a polite society.

Many people associate sadness and unhappiness with lack of self-worth and failure, yet all emotions are part of the human condition. Our capacity for all shades of emotion and sentiment may well increase as we grow older and are exposed to loss, death and bereavement in all its many forms. This is not something to be feared, but acknowledged as a part of life from which to learn and grow.

The usual decade during which the majority of women experience menopause is the fifth. Some women will suffer an early onset of menopausal symptoms in their forties and some women may have to undergo a surgical hysterectomy at any age.
The grief caused by this sudden onset of menopause can catch many women unawares. With the current trends to start families later because of career or partnership commitments can mean a woman loses her choice of whether or not to have a family before she has had time to consider which path she wishes to travel.

There is then the decision whether or not to go down the hormone replacement therapy route (HRT). It has to be a personal decision but anyone asked to engage with this therapy should consider all the facts before embarking on it.

If you do decide to receive HRT, current best practice is that the drug should not be prescribed for more than five years. Many women try to come off it, but because the subsequent menopausal symptoms are so bad, they often go back on the tablets. I have friends who were on the drugs for over ten years because their GP did not reviewed the prescription.

Germaine Greer and Susun Weed have written what I consider to be excellent if controversial books about menopause and they both cite research which shows that HRT does not deliver many of the original claims when it comes to issues like loss of bone density. You really have to get as much information as you feel is helpful and then make your own decision.

One of the most powerful allies in our journey through life is to be aware and knowledgeable about our own bodies and how they work. To be able to find meaning behind a seemingly meaningless situation or symptom is half the battle towards coping with and either accepting or challenging whatever troubles or concerns us.

There are many good books and online resources which look at the menopause from both a sociological and herbal perspective. It is also helpful to discover some basic anatomy so you understand how your body and particularly the reproductive and endocrine (hormonal) system works.

References and websites are included in the resources section at the end of this post. Rosalee de la Foret has written an excellent article about menopause in this month’s Plant Healer Magazine which gives a brief overview of some issues women face from a Chinese Herbal Medicine perspective with some corresponding herbs which can help.

The changes in hormonal activity which women experience can be helped by looking at vitamin and mineral intake in the first instance. It was Henriette Kress who drew my attention to the need for extra B vitamins during menopause. She talked about women who experienced hot feet during pregnancy and how hot feet were a symptom of lack of B vitamins.

Hot feet were something I had suffered with during each pregnancy, but no-one had ever explained why it happened or what I could do to make it better. Of course, since no-one else mentioned it, I thought I must just be really strange and didn’t tell anyone else either. I just went to bed with a cold hot water bottle and waited for my hot feet to disappear!

The same symptom appeared again as I entered menopause. This time I didn’t wait but increased my B vitamins with a supplement. The hot feet disappeared, as did the dreadful heat I suffered for twelve months every time I went to bed. Now, if I stop the tablets, the night heat returns, so I try not to go without them for more than one or two days if I’m away from home.

Paul Bergner talks about mineral deficiency amongst modern cultures. He recommends making up a simple recipe for magnesium deficiency by putting 1 tablespoon of milk of magnesia into 3.5 tablespoons of 5% apple cider or white vinegar and stirring until the milk of magnesia dissolves. If it won’t dissolve, add a touch more vinegar. This produces an ionic solution of magnesium acetate. The mag is 100% ionic and thus nearly completely absorbable as opposed to about 35%
with a pill.

Add one tablespoon of this mixture to one litre of water and drink throughout the day. Don’t exceed this dosage or it can cause loose stools, but he says it is very effective and results should be seen within several days.

Your body can change dramatically during the menopause. Things which have been certainties for the past fifty years are suddenly no longer there and new challenges appear. I can give you two personal examples.

All my life I’ve had greasy hair. It is fine and has always been something I’d rather ignore than take time over. The issues I faced during my teenage years with not being able to wash it more than twice a week has probably scarred my soul!
Once my body began to change I noticed large white patches and a terrible itching on my scalp. At first I thought I’d somehow burned my scalp since the patches had arisen from nowhere, but it soon became apparent I was suffering from terrible dandruff. Proprietary shampoo helped a little but didn’t solve the problem completely. I also noticed I could leave my hair for a couple of days and there was no grease in sight.

Luckily, around the same time, James Wong presented his second series of Grow your own drugs. One of the episodes dealt with dandruff and itchy scalp by rubbing with a mixture of infused thyme and rosemary oil. Over the next few weeks, Chris and I spent a memorable holiday in Spain during the first Icelandic volcanic eruption. One of the good thing about the golf resort we were staying on was that there were large numbers of herbs growing everywhere.

Risking life and limb from stray golf shots, I gathered thyme and rosemary and brought them back with me on the thirty hour coach journey through Spain, France and England. (Never to be repeated!) Once dried, I made double infused oils from both the herbs and mixed a quantity together to apply to my hair. I applied it liberally first thing in the morning, left it for an hour or two and then washed my hair in the usual way.

The herbal oil completely removed the dandruff and stopped the itching on my scalp. I continue to apply it every two or three weeks and haven’t had a recurrence of the problem in eighteen months. One thing which did happen was that I “lost” the thyme oil amongst all the jars of oil in my larder. Instead I mixed first golden rod and then elderflower with the rosemary and still achieved a positive result. Last week I found the thyme oil again, so will be returning to the original combination.

I know my hair will never be spectacular, but I have been able to grow it over the past four years. A couple of months ago, I caught Chris looking at me and his comment was, “Whatever you are doing with your hair, it seems to be working.” I took this as a compliment.

Another problem which many women face during the menopause is vaginal dryness. After seeing a recipe for a wedding night salve made from marshmallow leaves and seeds and a few drops of clove essential oil, I made up my own recipe for a sunflower oil based salve made from double infused marshmallow leaves, calendula and a touch of St John’s wort thickened with beeswax. Originally I included lovage, but it’s just as good without. It works wonderfully, but you do have to be careful about tell-tale handprints left forever on the sheets or pillowcases!

If you have access to a saucepan and fridge, you might want to think about creating your own water-based lubricant. This recipe comes from a long line of female herbalists and midwives who appreciate its properties and was shared by Rebecca Hartmann.

Simmer 1 tablespoon of flax seeds in 1 cup of water until it’s reduced by half (maybe 20 minutes). Strain immediately. (If you let it cool, it’ll be too thick to strain.) Store it in the fridge when you don’t need it as it will only keep for a couple of days unrefrigerated.

You could experiment with scents and flavours; just add herbs or spices to the simmering pot! Mint, cinnamon or fennel can be nice. Start with a small amount, too much of a strong herb or spice could cause burning in sensitive areas. Avoid essential oils for the same reason. Although it might be tempting, stay away from sugar, as it can lead to infections.

The basic lubricant should be condom-safe (it’s completely water-based), but if you do plan to use it with condoms, be sure not to add any ingredients that might damage the latex — i.e., nothing oily or caustic.

There is so much to say about the menopause – everyone could write their own book on the subject because everyone’s journey is different. One of the most important things to do is to learn about your body and take time to listen to what it is trying to tell you. Hopefully this will enable the journey to be travelled more easily.

Calming and uplifting herbs from Kiva Rose
Chevalier, A Herbal Medicine for the Menopause
Gladstar, R Herbal Healing for Women
Griggs, B The Green Witch: A Modern Woman’s Herbal
Edwards, G F Traversing the Wild Terrain of Menopause
Henriette’s Herbal Homepage
Herbs for sorrow
Hoffman, D The Holistic Herbal
McGarry, G Brighid’s Healing:Ireland’s Celtic Medicine Traditions
Rogers, C The Women’s Guide to Herbal Medicine
Shaw, N Herbal Medicine : A Step-by-Step-Guide 1998 Element Books
Shaw, N Herbalism: An Illustrated Guide 1998 Element Books
Shaw, N & Hedley, C Herbal Remedies 1996 Parragon Books Services Ltd
Weed , S Healing Wise : The Wise Woman’s Herbal
Weed, S New Menapause Years
Wood, M The Book of Herbal Wisdom: Using plants as medicines

New story over on Mercian Muse

2011-06-10T06:41:00.000-07:00

Storms seem to elicit great emotion in people. This week the members of Solihull Writers Workshop were asked to write a story associated with storms. You can find mine here

The forgotten few : Willowherbs

2011-06-08T05:47:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, all it takes to make you look at a plant in a new light is sharing someone else’s knowledge. Sharing is hardly a new concept, but it is often hard to achieve or take part in. We wander around in our own little mindset, loaded with knowledge and experience and viewpoints, but unless we share and exchange what we know with others, there is no opportunity to verify and explore and perhaps get a new take on an old friend or enemy.

This has happened to me several times recently concerning different herbs. I have Julie Bruton-Seal to thank for kick starting the process. When I was researching bugle, I read through her Hedgerow Medicine and came across two references to willowherb and rosebay willowherb.

The small-flowered or hoary willowherb (epibolium parvafolium) has been the bane of my gardening life ever since we came to Solihull. It seemed small, weedy and no matter how many times I pulled it up, there were always copious numbers of new plants the following year.

I began to wonder what it could be used for when I noticed Henriette Kress mention that she “threw epibolium in any digestive tea” she was preparing for her patients. Reading Julie’s entry made me realise I had hidden gold in my garden.

Ever since Chris’ father began to have prostate problem in his early 70s and then had to have his prostate removed, I have been concerned Chris might experience the same problems, especially as he has a genetically narrow urethra which has caused orchiditis in the past. A daily dose of saw palmetto and nettle root tinctures is hopefully keeping his prostate healthy, but now there is a new possibility if I wish to use it.

Julie says the small flowered willowherbs are a specific remedy for prostate problems including benign prostate hyperplasia. The plants help to shrink the tissues, arrest cell proliferation and normalise urinary function. They are also effective for a wide range of bladder and urinary problems, for women as well as men, with the astringent and diuretic action toning and detoxifying the urinary tract.

They can be used on their own or with pellitory of the wall (parietaria officinalis), couch grass (elytrigia repens), horsetail (equisetum arvense) and bilberry (vaccinium myrtillus) leaves. If they are good for toning the bladder wall, maybe they would be good along with regular Kegel exercises for stress incontinence – the embarrassment of many women’s life!

Julie says Maria Treben, the Austrian herbalist, was the first person to bring the use of small willowherbs to public notice in recent times. It is interesting that none of my other herbals, including Matthew Wood mention it. The dose is a heaped teaspoonful of dried herb per mug of boiling water and infuse for about three minutes. It is recommended to drink two to three cups a day, with one being taken in the early morning on an empty stomach and another half an hour before the evening meal.

I keep looking at the plants in my garden and wondering if I should now be gathering and drying them for later use!

Rosebay willowherb (chamaenerion angustifolium) is one of my childhood plants. I love the stately banks of pink flowers colouring the hedgerows and banks during summer. Like the smaller willowherbs, its use has been overlooked in recent times, but Culpepper and the American Eclectics used it widely, mainly for its astringent and fehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifbrifugal properties.

Maud Grieve says, “The leaves of the Rose Bay Willow herb have been used as a substitute and adulterant of Tea. Though no longer so employed in England, the leaves of both this species and of the Great Hairy Willow-herb (E. hirsutum, Linn.) are largely used in Russia, under the name of Kaporie Tea.” Julie spells the tea as Kapoori, which may be a more modern translation. I don’t think it would be a good idea to try using the leaves of the Great Willowherb since Grieve goes on to say “Although the leaves of E. hirsutum have also been used as astringents there are reports of violent poisoning with epileptic-like convulsions having been caused by its employment.”!

Grieve quotes Thomas Green’s Universal Herbal, published in 1832 which reports:
- 'The young shoots are said to be eatable, although an infusion of the plant produces a stupifying effect.
- 'The pith when dried is boiled, and becoming sweet, is by a proper process made into ale, and this into vinegar, by the Kamtschatdales; it is also added to the Cow Parsnip, to enrich the spirit that is prepared from that plant.
-'As fodder, goats are said to be extremely fond of it and cows and sheep to eat it.
-'The down of the seeds, mixed with cotton or fur, has been manufactured into stockings, etc.'

The young shoots can be boiled and eaten like asparagus, but modern wild food experts, such as Roger Phillips aren’t keen as they say the taste is too bitter. Given that I’ve never even tried my hop shoots as asparagus substitutes, I can’t really comment.

Rosebay willowherb is used for diarrhoea and other digestive upsets, being both soothing and astringent. The herb also has a tonic action, which Julia says is wonderful for all kinds of intestinal irritation and makes a really good mouthwash.
The Eclectics also used it for typhoid. Last Sunday, I read Juliette de bairacli Levy’s book, Spanish Mountain Life, which mainly talks about her brush with death and almost losing both her children after catching this disease from infected water. It made me wonder whether she would have considered using this plant, if she had had access to it at the time. Her major strategies for herself and her son were starvation, drinking water with lemon juice added and total immersion into cold water during times of the hottest fever.

Luckily, she did finally allow the local doctor to administer penicillin to her baby daughter which probably saved her life when everyone considered she was only hours away from death.

Other conditions treated by the Eclectics with a leaf infusion were uterine bleeding, heavy periods and “foul and indolent ulcers” for which they made a poultice from fresh leaves. Julie uses it for mouth ulcers with success. David Winston is said to use it to treat candida overgrowth.

The leaves of rosebay willowherb can be gathered while the plant is growing in springtime and during flowering in summer. It can then be dried for use throughout the year, by spreading on paper in a shady place until the leaves are crisp. Julie’s recipe for the medicinal tea is to take three or four leaves per cup of boiling water and infuse for five minutes. The dose is to drink frequently during bouts of diarrhoea or as a substitute for tea. It can also be used as a mouthwash for mouth ulcers and a gargle for sore throats.

The flowers can be made into a syrup for childhood diarrhoea or any case of intestinal irritation associated with loose bowels. The dose is a dessertspoonful for children and a tablespoonful for adults every few hours as needed.

Rosebay willowherb syrup (Julie Bruton-Seal)
Bring 20 flower heads in 500ml of water to the boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the colour leaves the blossoms. Strain the juice and return to the saucepan. To every 400ml (approx.) of water add 100g sugar plus the juice of a lemon. The acidic lemon juice restores the pale colour to a bright pink rather like it does when you make violet syrup. Boil the syrup for five minutes, allow to cool a little then bottle and label. This can be kept in the fridge for a few months.

It has been a real joy to discover more about these two plants and I now consider them with much more respect than I did!

Violet : Theory and Practice

2011-06-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

Despite the association between violets and spring, it is not a single season plant. Although the purple flowers disappear in April, the leaves continue to grow throughout the year and are best gathered for oil making or for drying in the summer and autumn when the leaves grow to their largest size.

Until this year when I decided to work more closely with the plant, I have used violets mainly for a double infused oil to offer added moisture to any salve I make. Yesterday I needed a new batch of moisturising and cell-strengthening salve for after my shower, so I mixed together 4 fl.oz. each of horse chestnut and calendula oils and added the last of my 2009 fresh violet leaf oil to bring the volume up to 10floz. To this I added 1 oz. of beeswax and heated it gently until the wax was fully dissolved.

Then I poured it into three containers and waited for it to cool so I could take pictures to show the dramatic change in colour. The salve is softer because I added two more ounces than my usual ratio, but it still holds together and is much easier to rub on than pure oil.

Today I made a new batch of double infused fresh violet leaf oil to replenish my stocks. The size of the leaves this time of year never ceases to amaze me – they are truly four times the size of the April leaves. They grow in tiers, the largest leaves hiding the substantial volume of green canopy below. The underneath leaves are smaller, but will soon grow to replace the ones I picked. The undergrowth in this part of the garden is so dense, I was fully expecting a grown frog to jump out at me, as happened the last time I picked here, but nothing happened!

What did surprise me was the depth of colour from the double infused oil. I’m sure the oil I used yesterday looked only green as opposed to dark green/almost black hue of the one made today.

The cooked leaves went very soggy after two hours, unlike some plant matter which looks as if it has been deep fried and crispy! Once I squashed the leaves together to remove any remaining oil from them, they turned into a small, compact, green, somewhat-slimy lump. I shall leave it overnight to separate the oil and aqueous layer as much as possible and then pour it into clean jars which will be stored with my other oils in the larder.

Violets are a wonderful teaching aid. Anyone who visits my gardens from January to April is offered a leaf to chew, a new experience to bring delight and wonder. What I have not done yet is to offer the same opportunity over the summer with heartsease leaves and see what happens!

Earlier on in the year, I spent a great deal of time reading in various herb books about violets. If you only have access to one book, the most comprehensive description of violet can be found in Anne Macintyre’s ‘Complete Herbal Tutor’. I was surprised she managed to include more details than either David Hoffman or Matthew Wood.

Wood says violets have a long history of use in European medicine especially the blue varieties. He says the leaves and flowers together are used. He says they have a sweet, slightly mucilaginous, slightly salty taste and cool impression. Violets contain flavonoids, mucilage, salicylates, tannins, essential oils, an alkaloid, saponins and minerals (especially calcium and magnesium). The root and seeds contain a substance like emetine, which causes vomiting, hence only the leaves and flowers are used in herbalism (unless of course you need an emetic!).

Violet is suited to cases where the mucosa is dry, when expectoration needs to be increased. It has an affinity to the lymphatic system and is indicated when there is lymphatic stagnation and swollen glands often in the throat and around the ears, in association with dry skin and constipation. As a moistening agent it acts on the kidneys, bladder and chronic arthritic deposits and skin conditions such as eczema.

Violet is described as an “alterative” or “blood purifier”, a perfect addition to spring salads or mineral-rich hot, long infusions. Add violets to red clover, plantain and nettles if you are looking to maximise the mineral content of your tea or combine violets with hawthorn and oatstraw for a more soothing and nourishing infusion.

From times long past violet has been used to soothe hot, dry coughs such as whooping cough, congestion and sore throats. If you are looking for a soothing juice made from the weeds in your garden, try a combination of plantain, chickweed, violet and mallow/marshmallow leaves. Pick the leaves, wash them if necessary then liquidise with some cold water. Leave the blended liquid for a short while before blending again then strain and drink.

It is important to use cold water if you want to extract the most mucilage from a plant. It is the mucilage which coats and soothes the dry throat and chest. It can also help with irritated bowels or be sponged on sunburn.

Violet is widely used in cancer. Wood says it is one of the few remedies with proven track record in cancer involving the breasts, lymphatics and lungs. Also in skin cancer.

The tissue states which call for violet are atrophy and stagnation . The specific indications for using the plant can be shown as follows.

Constitution, complexion, characteristic symptoms- children with swollen glands, dry skin and constipation
Mind, senses, nerves, emotions, personality – shy “shrinking violet”, shy, flabby children with moist skin and palms, recommended for grief and heartbreak and to improve memory and helps moderate anger
Head- severe headaches, eases headache arising from lack of sleep, inflammation of the eyes, infections in the mouth
Digestion –constipation
Kidneys and bladder – gravel, urinary tract infection
Female – breast lumps, benign and malignant
Extremities – arthritis of the wrists
Skin – skin dry, sore, raw (external), eczema
Other – cancer of the lymphatics, breasts, lungs, skin (poultice of fresh leaf and flower is best), epilepsy & nervous disorders.

No matter how much you study and practice with violet, there is always more to learn and experience.

May blog party : Flower essences

2011-05-23T03:38:00.000-07:00

The wonderful thing about blog parties is the diverse wealth of articles produced by participants. This month is no exception.

Ali at Eldrum Musings offers a new (to me) way of considering medicinal herbal doses using the five elements from "earth" to "spiritual" which is the flower essence. She also shares her latest flower tinctures, white archangel and hawthorn.

Danielle at The Teacup Chronicles has looked at the background to flower essences and told her personal story of making and working with dandelion flower essence. I especially love her dramatic photos.

Debs at Herbal Haven has written a courageous article explaining why she doesn't agree with the whole concept of flower essences.

Lucinda at Whispering Earth blog has written a beautiful article, By Sun and Moon, descibing how she has made both a sun essence and a moon essence - something I have not yet attempted.

Jackie at Moongazing Hare has contributed a description of her personal journey with flower essences showing how anyone can make and use them.

My contribution can be found below. Again, it's very much a personal growth story. What I especially love is offering people who come to the Sanctuary the opportunity to build a personal relationship with a plant through making a flower essence. The whole process brings a delight and deeper understanding of possibilities which was not there before they started.

Flower essences : Working with energy and emotions

2011-05-23T02:59:00.000-07:00

My first encounter with a flower essence came on 27 January 1988. I was lying in one of Solihull’s delivery suites with my new daughter by my side. As always, the birth had been quick and incredibly painful (5 hours instead of three and a half, but only because I woke up earlier!) and although my body had been very co-operative and efficient (it knew exactly what to do and told me to go away and let it get on with delivering the baby!), I was left in shock with a traumatised diaphragm because I’d pushed semi-prone rather than sitting up.

The door to the suite was open and my friend from the Solihull Community Health Council (CHC) Mother and Child Special Interest Group walked by. Margaret was an experienced NCT tutor and had been a stabilising influence to our survey of parentcraft classes throughout the borough which was our current project.

I beckoned her to come and meet my daughter as I was incredibly proud of finally producing a girl after two boys. When she saw the state I was in, she unearthed a bottle of rescue remedy from her bag and told me to put four drops under my tongue as often as I could.

“It won’t hurt,” she told me, “and it will help.”

I have to admit, with no herbal knowledge at that time, I was more than a little sceptical, but with paracetamol not touching any of the excruciating pains in my body – both from my diaphragm and the contracting uterus whenever I fed Kathryn – I tried to follow her instructions as often as I could. I suspect if I had taken it every half hour as I would recommend to anyone in crisis now, I would have gained more from it, but thankfully the diaphragmatic pain ceased after twelve hours or so and my general recovery was fairly trouble free.

The next time flower essences crossed my path was in 1996 during an oil making demonstration given by Christopher Hedley at the Chelsea Psychic Garden on behalf of the Herb Society. As we waited for the rosemary oil to infuse in its water bath, he told us stories about his patients.

“If you let people talk for long enough,” he said, “they will not only tell you what is wrong with them, but what they think has caused it.”

Once he treated a lady for a boil on her head. The boil had burst on Christmas Day and, not wanting to disturb Chris on this public holiday, she had gone to her local A&E. Chris said he would much rather have had his day disturbed because the boil became infected from the hospital visit and took much longer to heal. He treated the infection with thyme oil, but the lady also told him the emotional reason for developing the boil in the first place. He treated her emotion with flower essence and everything healed well.

Learning about energy during my healer training, gave me confidence to think about energetic uses of plants. It wasn’t something I could cope with at all during my early years with herbs, but gradually it seemed helpful to think about how plants targeted our emotional bodies as well as our physical ones.

The first flower essence I ever made was marshmallow. It was a laborious process bringing spring water and marshmallow flowers up from the Sanctuary, finding out a suitably sized bowl and then waiting for several hours until the infusion was complete. Marshmallow has a property of enabling people to make friends more easily. It suited my black humour at the time to threaten to send some as a present to the financial department of our managing Primary Care Trust who were giving me grief over my budget, knowing they would not appreciate the irony of the gift.

It was yarrow who taught me the most powerful energetic lesson with three separate instances over several years. The first came when one of my East Birmingham CHC members began his final illness. He’d been in pain for over a year, but no-one could put a definite cause together. His diagnosis of metastasised oesophageal cancer came days before I visited him in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. I was a student healer at the time and John had come to me for healing on several occasions. He was very angry with himself for “not doing enough to beat the illness”. I told him he was doing what he needed to be doing at that time, but I don’t know if the thought brought him any comfort.

I sat by his bedside holding his hand asking for as much love, light and healing as he needed. When I left, I kissed him goodbye on the forehead, not realising he was covered in a foul-tasting sweat which lingered on my lips. Making my way back to the car, I was desperate to find something to take the taste away. There on the steps leading down to the car park were some yarrow leaves. I gratefully picked them and chewed them and the taste was gone.

I didn’t know then about yarrow’s affinity with boundaries. Mathew Wood taught me that property when I read his “Book of Herbal Wisdom: Using plants as medicines”. He told the story of the man whose boss was continually in his face. Matthew suggested he keep a sprig of yarrow in his tool box. The man did this and noticed his boss back off almost immediately, allowing him to carry out his work without hindrance.

By this time I was beginning to offer flower essence making during my workshops – first as a specific workshop with one plant being chosen and a joint meditation - and then as an integral part of most summer workshops. After all, the most important component is at least three hour’s sunshine and access to flowers, so there seemed to be no reason to limit anyone’s activities in this area just because it wasn’t on the official list of things to do that day. Reading about the flower essence makers of Findhorn also showed it was possible to make essences on overcast and rainy days if the intention was clear.

I also learned bowls weren’t essential too. Carrying glass bowls down two fields and up again was not an easy thing to do. You could achieve exactly the same results with flowers spread over the tops of jam jars or glass tumblers. The picture might not be as aesthetically pleasing, but the flower isn’t going to mind!

Some people find it difficult or even impossible to go and sit quietly by a flower and see what it tells you. They look at me blankly when I suggest they wander around the Sanctuary or the field and see which flower calls to them. I remember one woman who did not stop talking for the entirety of the exercise, but even she found a flower which was perfect for her needs. (Lemon balm)

One of the flower essences we made during 2004 was yarrow. In June 2005, a close friend was involved in a traumatic situation and I was terrified of the possible consequences both for them and their family. This worry settled in my solar plexus as a physical pain. It took me several days to remember the yarrow flower essence, but eventually I decanted some into a tiny bottle and took it into work with me. I put four drops into a glass of water and sipped it. I repeated this several times that first day, amazed to find the pain disappeared almost immediately. I continued to dose myself for several days, but the severe pain did not return. It helped to teach me I was an individual separate from my friend. What was happening to them was not happening to me and being so fearful was not an effective way to offer support.

The setting of clear boundaries is something I often find difficult when offering support to others, but yarrow sometimes has to beat me over the head to get me to listen. A couple of years later a yarrow plant suddenly decided to grow outside my backdoor in Solihull. I’d never consciously grown yarrow in the garden, so was surprised to see it appear.

Each day I would open the back door and brush past the plant but never took the time to wonder why it might be growing there or what I might do with it. Several weeks after it started to flower, I realised I was getting very stressed by the clients I was seeing and various issues being faced by my family. The yarrow flower was trying to tell me I needed more help from the flower essence to rebuild and strengthen my boundaries. Needless to say, I took heed of the plant’s message!

The method I use for making flower essence comes from Non Shaw’s little book "Bach Flower Remedies : A Step-by-Step Guide". The sun method is for flowers and the boiling method for twigs, buds and leaves.

The sun method
Gather flowers in the morning when the dew has evaporated, but the flowers have not become too stressed by the sunshine. Pour 1 litre of spring or mineral water into a clean glass bowl and sprinkle the flowers on the surface of the water until it is completely covered. Leave for three hours in direct sunlight in a safe place. Remove the flowers with something other than metal or your hand e.g. a stick and pour 50ml of fluid into a clean dark bottle. Add 50 ml of brandy. Label the bottle and date.

The boiling method
Pick small twigs with flower clusters and young leaves. You will need enough twigs to 3/4s fill a large saucepan. Place them in the saucepan and add 1 litre of spring or mineral water. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for half an hour. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Remove flowers, allow sediment to fall to the bottom, then filter 50ml fluid into the dark glass jar. Add 50 ml brandy. Label bottle and date.

This makes 100ml of flower remedy. As long as you add equal amounts of brandy to the infusion, you can make any amount of what is called by Julie Bruton-Seal the mother essence. I have been using this as my dosing medium, but Julie suggests diluting twice before using the essence. She adds three drops of the mother essence to a 30ml bottle filled with brandy which is then known as the stock essence. This can then be used as follows:-

- Put 20 drops in the bath, then soak for at least 20 minutes
- Rub directly onto the skin or mix into salves or creams
- Put a few drops in a glass or bottle of water and sip during the day
- Make a dosage bottle to carry around with you by putting three drops of stock essence into a dropper bottle containing a 50/50 brandy and water mix or pure distilled rose water. Use several drops under the tongue four times a day or as often as necessary.

People have always said that you can’t overdose on a flower essence, but this refers to the diluted essence, not the mother stock. One of my apprentices misunderstood the dosage of a horse chestnut bud essence they made and took a large teaspoonful (over 60 drops) of the remedy. It was very resinous, which worried the apprentice greatly, but apart from the initial concern no long term harm was done.

Some herbalists don’t find flower essences helpful. This doesn’t mean they don’t use the energetic property of herbs, but they take them as teas or drop doses of tinctures, rather than a diluted infusion. I have made a vervain flower tincture when I didn’t have access to spring water because I wanted a drop dose medium to help people access vervain’s ability to make them ‘let go’.

Although there are standard energetic “uses” for particular plants, it is the close relationship and meditation between plant and human which reveals the use for that person at that time. As with everything related to universal energy, there are no set rules. You have to find what works for you and take responsibility for both accessing and using it.

REFERENCES
Bruton-Seal, J & Seal, M Hedgerow Medicine: Harvest & make your own herbal remedies 2008 Merlin Unwin Books Ltd
Cowan, E Plant Spirit Medicine 1995 Swan Raven & Co
Davies, J R Hawthorn 2000 Element Books Ltd
Davies, J R Marigold 2000 Element Books Ltd
Lavender, S & Franklin, A Herbcraft: A Guide to the Shamanic and Ritual Uses of Herbs 1996 Capall Bann Publishing
Sanders, K “The Spiritual Properties of Herbs” on Herbal Highways June 17 2004
Shaw, N Bach Flower Remedies : A Step-by-Step Guide 1998 Element Books
Wood, M The Book of Herbal Wisdom: Using Plants as Medicines 1997 North Atlantic Books

Summer plans

2011-05-20T03:51:00.000-07:00

Summer is always a busy time. Gardens call us to tend and harvest, but time is really short because we find ourselves travelling across the country nearly every weekend for a two-three month period. Most of this travelling is for fun, but there will be some work involved as well. If you would like to see what the Sanctuary herbs are looking like at the moment, go here.

There are lots of herbal opportunities. Maybe I shall see some of you during our travels. Here is the itinary.

3-5 June Exmouth Kite Festival. If you are in the area, Sky Symphony and other kite teams will be performing next to the rugby club overlooking the estuary. I'm offical tea lady and emergency ground crew for the kites, but I shall be taking time out to wildcraft fennel and yarrow and would love to have herbal conversations with anyone who cared to visit.

12 June (Sunday) Mercian Herb Group visit to Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire. Come and join us on a visit to the historic gardens. Further details can be found here

18 June (Saturday)Springfield Sanctuary workshop on Herbs for the Menopause. There will be oppotunities to make ox-eye daisy flower essence (to help women come to accept the menopause), mugwort and motherwort vinegar and tincture (bring empty jar jars and some vodka and cider vinegar) and meet herbs which can support women through this life event. I'm also offering some energy healing practice at the end of the workshop.

29 June (Wednesday). During my week up in Newcastle for work, I'm taking the opportunity to offer a herb talk to Newcastle Carers, so as well as delivering bereavement training to staff, I shall be taking a basket of nettles, rose elixir, hawthorn vinegar. chickweed pesto and other goodies for people to sample. Should be fun!

1-3 July I'm in Lincoln with the Ageuk Carers Helpline staff training in bereavement and then we go to Winterton where Sky Symphony are performing at the local agricultural show. Let's hope the team are following the antique tractor demonstrations and not the heavy horses!

9 July (Saturday) Springfield Sanctuary Exploring Herbs workshop. July is always a wonderful month to visit, because so many herbs are in bloom along with a wealth of herbs to harvest.

15-17 July Festival at the Edge Possibly one of my favourite festivals - a mixture of fantastic storytelling and folk music. This year will be especially fun as friends are coming with us and Sam Sweeney, Tom Bliss and Nancy Kerr and James Fagin are all performing.

22-24 July. Herbfest 2011. I still can't quite believe I've been asked to speak at this prestigious herb conference at its new venue, Croyden Hall in North Somerset near Dunster where Chris' sister was married last June. Rosemary Gladstar - one of the leading American Herbal Elders - is the keynote speaker and the lovely Glennie Kindred will also be talking about Zen and the Art of drawing. My two talks are both on Saturday afternoon. I'm presenting on "Becoming a Kitchen Herbwife" and "Using vinegars in Herbwifery" which basically means we'll be talking about playing with herbs in your kitchen, wildcrafting, growing and tasting and making things. I'm harvesting and drying a mountain of Swiss mint as we speak to use in some way.

28-31 July Warwick Folk Festival Although this is very close to home, it's held in the grounds of Stephen's old school and we usually take the caravan down and camp. I'm especially looking forward to the Spooky Men's Chorale on the Thursday night and lots of other old favourites. This is the weekend that Richard and Laura's baby is due, so we may be down in Woking instead!

Several people have told me their blog posts for the May blog party will be a little late, so I shall be posting on Monday instead of today.

The forgotten few

2011-05-16T12:45:00.000-07:00

I was sorting out photos from the weekend and realised I had pictures of plants which I’d not taken before. The plants had been growing for ages, but I just hadn’t bothered to take their photos because I don’t work with them or I see them around from time to time but I wasn’t sure exactly what they were. I thought I would share them with you.

Bugle
Every year around this time of year a beautiful flowered stalk appears along the walkway from the summerhouse down to the pump house. I always admire it, wonder if I know it’s correct name and then forget about it for another year. Once the flower stalks disappear, I can never find it again as the area is covered with Himalayan balsam and other large plants.

The photograph finally forced me to identify the plant properly. It was bugle, Ajuga Reptans. Not a plant I remember discussing in any forum. Trying to discover its properties was also problematic. A lot of books don’t mention it, but thankfully Matthew Wood came to my rescue. His Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants is so helpful when you’re trying to find knowledge most herbalists don’t include. He also points you in the direction of other ancient herbals where you can check the original wording and see what else the writer had to say.

Wood quotes Maud Grieve who included bugle in her Modern Herbal, giving its properties as bitter, astringent and aromatic. Grieve , in turn quotes Culpepper, who gives a clear description of the plant as well as its habitat which is still true today. He said, “It grows in woods, copse and fields generally throughout England.”

Culpepper had a high opinion of the value of the Bugle. He described it as a herb of Venus and said, “if the virtues of it make you fall in love with it (as they will if you be wise) keep a syrup of it to take inwardly, and an ointment and plaster of it to use outwardly, always by you. The decoction of the leaves and flowers in wine dissolveth the congealed blood in those that are bruised inwardly by a fall or otherwise and is very effectual for any inward wounds, thrusts or stabs in the body or bowels; and is an especial help in wound drinks and for those that are liver-grown, as they call it. It is wonderful in curing all ulcers and sores, gangrenes and fistulas, if the leaves, bruised and applied or their juice be used to wash and bathe the place and the same made into lotion and some honey and gum added, cureth the worse sores. Being also taken inwardly or outwardly applied, it helpeth those that have broken any bone or have any member out of joint. An ointment made with the leaves of Bugle, Scabious and Sanicle bruised and boiled in hog's lard until the herbs be dry and then strained into a pot for such occasions as shall require, it is so efficacious for all sorts of hurts in the body that none should be without it.”

I really like the idea that everyone should keep some form of the plant nearby. I gathered some flower stalks and will dry them. During my next visit to the farm, I may search for some more if I have time.

Culpepper also believed Bugle was helpful for people “such as give themselves much to drinking[and] are troubled with strange fancies, strange sights in the night time and some with voices….Those I have known cured after taking only two spoonfuls of the syrup of the herb after supper two hours before you go to bed.” Culpepper is unsure how the plant works and it would be fascinating if some modern research were done to see if bugle maintained its efficacy for alcohol-induced hallucinations!

Matthew Wood lists a whole range of specific indications for the herb, from irritable cough, through gallbladder congestion, to oedema, bruises, cuts, lacerations, stab wounds, haematomas and ulcers.

Grieve says the whole herb is gathered in May and early June then dried. The dose is one small wine glass full of the infusion made from 1oz of dried herb to one pint of boiling water given frequently. You can also make a salve for wounds, as well as Culpepper’s syrup. He also suggests a decoction of the herb in wine should help dissipate congealed blood caused by a fall or an inward wound such as a stabbing.

Wall Germander
Wall Germander, Teucrium Chamaedrys, was historically a gout herb. I bought it because Chris developed gout in his hand during a particularly stressful time in his life. The doctor prescribed anti-inflammatories but nothing to dispel the urea crystals, so I dosed him with yarrow, celery seed and burdock leaf. The gout disappeared and has not made a reappearance in the past ten or so years. Nothing like having a herb in the garden to scare away a condition!

Around this time, Roger Tabor, then Chairman of the Herb Society, produced a list of herbs which were disappearing from the wild. Wall germander was one of them, so I decided to plant another one close to the summer house at the farm.

Our garden plant became very woody and fell foul of Chris’ dislike of any plant which dares to encroach where he wants to mow. I cut it back too far one year in an effort to please him but the plant decided it could not cope and disappeared over the winter. The summerhouse plant is still thriving, but almost lost in a sea of encroaching grass.

Wall germander is a creeping evergreen perennial 6 to 18 inches tall. Its scalloped, opposite leaves are 1/2 - 11⁄2 inches long, dark green, and shiny. In late summer, pink tubular flowers grow in whorls from the leaf axils. Grieve says the fresh leaves are bitter and pungent to the taste and when rubbed, emit a strong odour somewhat resembling garlic. (I’ve never noticed this, so must taste a leaf next time I walk by!)

Grieve says “the Emperor Charles V having been cured of gout by a decoction of this herb taken for sixty days in succession. It was employed in various forms and combinations, of which the once celebrated “Portland Powder” is one of the chief instances.”

Portland Powder, named after an ancestor of the Duke of Portland who brought the recipe from Switzerland, consisted of equal parts of Birth wort, Gentian ; Germander, Ground-Pine, and Centaury; all dried, pulverized, and sifted.
Grieve says it was also used as a tonic in intermittent fevers, and recommended for uterine obstructions. The expressed juice of the leaves, with the addition of white wine, was held to be good in obstruction of the viscera.

The problem with wall germander, is that, like comfrey, it contains hepatoxic PSAs which damage the liver. It has therefore fallen into disuse and is not recommended any more for gout especially not for long term usage.

May blog party : Flower essences, Call for submissions

2011-05-10T14:19:00.000-07:00

This month's UK Herbarium blog party features flower essences.

What are they? How do you make them? What do they mean to you? The aim of this set of posts is to discover how you relate or don't relate to flower essences. How do you learn the energetic property of the plant? Do you read a book, discover an internet article or ask the plant to tell you? How do you use the finished essence? Do you use the original infusion or do you use a homeopathic dilution? Have you noticed any difference? What do you use flower essences for? What are your stories? Can you share them with us, no matter how strange or bizarre.

Please let me know if you wish to take part in the blog party (the more the merrier). Once you've written your blog post, send me the link to the article by email at sarah at headology dot co dot uk by 20 May. I know there isn't much time, but this month is proving frantically busy both on a work and gardening front for me, so please bear with me.

If you don't have a blog, but would like to write an article, let me know and we'll arrange a host blog for your post. I look forward to reading everyone's thoughts.

A story for violets

2011-05-07T14:35:00.000-07:00

Kristine Brown's eleventh challenge in her Herbal ally series is to write a story to your ally. I've cheated, including a brief mention of my ally in a short story. You can find it here

I promise to write a more significant story later.

Revising the basics: Infused oils

2011-05-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

With sudden spurts of early summer growth all around us, herbs are crying out for different ways to stay with us and be used. One way is to make an infused oil. They are simple to make and once prepared, you can go off and do other things while they infuse.

Sun Infusion
If you ask a North American how to make an infused oil, (or those who are influenced by their practice), they will describe the sun method of infusion. This is where you fill a glass jar with fresh herb (possibly wilted for several hours or days to reduce the water content), covering the herb with your oil of choice so the entire area of herb is covered and either leaving in the sunshine or another suitable warm place for six weeks or burying in hot sand/earth overnight or for several days.

The only drawback to this method is that if you leave any part of the herb exposed to the air, or if you seal the jar tightly so water vapour from the fresh plant material cannot evaporate, mould may form or the oil may become rancid so that at the end of the six weeks you have to throw everything away. You need to check the oil regularly to ensure everything is ok.

The only herb I infuse by the sun method is St John’s wort. I pick the flowers either daily or every few days, place them in a glass jar and cover them with sunflower oil. St John’s wort is a very delicate flower and needs a very light oil, such as sunflower oil. The jar is then placed, uncovered, in my kitchen window sill until the end of September, early October when I strain out the plant material and place the infused oil in a clean jar, seal and date.

The jar is left uncovered to ensure the water vapour from the flowers can evaporate. You can put a lid on as long as it isn’t sealed, but I have had problems with doing this. If you are worried that flies or other insects might contaminate your oil, you can cover it with a cotton/linen jug cover or a small piece of butter muslin/cheesecloth.

St John’s wort oil can be made cumulatively. If you only have a small amount of flowers, these can be placed in a jar and covered with oil, then a further harvest can be added to the jar on further occasions until the jar is full. The oil will start turning colour after 4-7 days, gradually changing colour from yellow to pale pink to deep crimson as the active constituents of the plants are released into the oil. It will also take on a distinctive aroma, which is unique to St John’s wort oil.

Double infused oils
European herbalists usually prefer to heat their herbs using the double infused method on a stove/cooker using the principles of a bain marie/water bath so the oil of choice does not come in to direct contact with the heat source.

The term, “double infused” means that you use the same amount of oil for two separate amounts of herb. This usually means dividing your herb harvest into two piles which you add to the oil at different times, the first amount being added at the beginning and the oil then being strained and the first portion removed at the end of the required time, then the strained oil is poured over the second portion which is subsequently heated.

If you are intending to use the infused oil as a massage oil or salve for children or frail elders, you may wish to undertake a single infusion for some highly aromatic herbs e.g. rosemary.

Double boiler double infusion classic method
4 oz fresh or dried herb
Enough sunflower oil to cover 2oz of leaves (around 8 fluid ounces)
Either a double saucepan or a stainless steel pot with a lid small enough to place inside another saucepan.
Water
Place half of the herb inside the inner pan and cover with the oil. Replace the lid firmly and place inside the other saucepan which is about half filled with water. Heat the external saucepan so that the water gently boils. Do not let the pan boil dry! Boil for about 2 hours, then remove the inner pan and strain off the oil, squeezing the herb if you can to remove as much oil as possible. Place the rest of the herb inside the inner pan and pour over the oil from the first infusion. Replace the lid firmly and heat the oil in the outer pan for a further two hours. Strain the oil into a heated glass bottle or jar and cap with a screw top lid. If using fresh herb, let the infused oil sit for about three days to make sure any water content separates out. Decant oil. If water drops are left in the infused oil it will go off more quickly. Label the oil with the name and date that you made it.

The need to weigh and measure your quantities of herb and oil is entirely up to you.

Henriette Kress, the Finnish herbalist, makes all her St John’s wort oil by picking up to three inches of the top of each plant stalk i.e. flowers and stem, then infusing using a hot double infusion.

Cookpot/crockpot method
You can heat your oil in a cookpot/crockpot on the lowest setting. You then have the choice of altering the timings and maybe heating overnight for a concentrated single infusion, or for two extended lengths of time for a double infusion.

Remember that oil heats at a temperature higher than water and if you are using fresh plant material, the water vapour will evaporate and collect on the inside of the crockpot lid. Be very careful when removing the lid. Try to lift it up and away quickly so the water droplets do not fall into the hot oil. If this happens, the hot oil can splash and burn you. (I have done this, it’s painful!)

Fresh herbs or dry?
As with making tinctures, some people advocate using fresh herbs for infused oils and others prefer to dry them first. Christopher Hedley recommends always drying calendula petals before infusing in oil because the resin content of the herb is so high. Calendula is probably the only plant material I dry before making oils which means it is usually a winter activity since it can take several months to completely dry the flower heads!

Interestingly, when I brought back some rosemary from Spain and dried it before making an oil, the oil was incredibly pale with little colour or scent, so totally different from my normal fresh infused rosemary oil.

If you use fresh herbs, the oil will contain a certain amount of watery matter which can make the oil go bad if not removed before storage. Removal can be achieved by firstly noticing the globules of water at the very bottom of the infused oil when you are pouring the final straining and leaving it in the pan. The oil can then be left for up to three days to insure the oil and water layers have separated, then decanting the oil again before final storage.

I have had one occasion when making a double infused fresh rosemary oil in a cookpot, where the resulting infused oil came out as an emulsion and took several months before the oil and water levels separated.

The presence of an aqueous (water) component to an oil does expose it to the danger of botulism being present, since the organism lives in water. The botulin toxin is not destroyed by heat so, if it is present, it cannot be removed. The danger of botulism is rare. I have never heard of a case relating to an infused herbal oil in any country and if your oils are only used externally there should not be a problem. You may wish to make lip balm from oils prepared from dry herbs as the botulin cannot live without water.

Which oil?
The type of oil you use to prepare an infused herbal oil depends on your preference and the availability and cost of your preferred medium. Vegetable oils are the most popular medium. Sunflower, safflower, olive, almond, avocado, jojoba, coconut are only a few examples of what is available. You will need to decide what you want to use and what you are prepared to pay for it.

In ancient times, animal fats were the most widely available form of oil and these were used for infused oils as well as lighting. “Leaf tallow” from around the kidneys of an animal is the purest form of fat. It is easily absorbed through the skin and is gaining popularity amongst herbalists who wish to use organic, local, sustainable oils with respect. Beef, mutton, pork, emu and bear fat are all suitable. If carefully rendered and kept in a cool, dark environment, the infused oil can keep without unwanted scent or deterioration for up to a year or more.

Storage
Infused oils should be kept in a cool dark place. If stored correctly they should keep their efficacy for at least two years or more if they remain unopened. You can usually tell if an oil has gone rancid or has no usefulness by the smell/scent. If an oil loses its scent but does not smell unpleasant, it is probably best to discard and make some more.

Salves
Oils are slippery and may be difficult to rub in. You may find it easier to make the infused oil with an oil which is solid at room temperature such as cocoa butter or coconut oil, especially if you don’t want to use beeswax for any reason. Shea butter is another vegetable oil which is solid, but melts at body temperature.

You may need to use a combination of solid and liquid oils to ensure you get a suitable consistency. If you are using cocoa butter, the combination is 2/3:1/3 of cocoa butter to sunflower oil.

To make a simple salve, grate up some beeswax and add it to the hot infused oil, stirring continuously until it melts. (About 1oz beeswax to 8 fluid ozs of oil) Test on the back of a wooden spoon to see whether it is of a suitable consistency, then pour into small jars and seal. If you are not confident to do the spoon test, an easier way of checking is to drop a very small amount of oil plus melted wax into cold water in a small bowl or mug. The salve will immediately cool and you can rub it between your fingers to check the desired thickness.

The salve will thicken on cooling, usually from the bottom upwards if you pour into cold jars. It will usually be a paler colour than the original oil. St John’s wort salve is pink, comfrey salve pale green and dandelion salve pale yellow.

The whole aim of both infused oils and salves is to deliver a dose of herbal medicine through the body’s largest organ, the skin. To improve the transfer through the skin, some herbalists add extra contents such as lanolin or honey. If you decide to experiment with these substances you must ensure the recipient is not allergic to the addition and is not diabetic. Since honey is also water based, it may separate out from the oil if not sufficiently emulsified.

Essential oils
Essential oils can be added to salves to improve their keeping (Vitamin E can be used in the same way) or to add scent. Use the least number of drops possible per fluid ounce of salve and never more than 4. If your salve is going to a household where young children live or visit, do not include any essential oil.

I once gave a calendula lip salve scented with ylang ylang oil as a Christmas present to my boss. Her three year decided to use the lip balm herself and her whole face became puffy. I was mortified, because I had not thought there would be any danger of a child getting hold of the lip balm. Luckily my boss was not upset as the swelling went down the following day, but ever since then I’ve not used any essential oil in any of my salves. The scent of fresh honey from the locally sourced beeswax is enough fragrance for me.

Herbal ally update: Vinegars and Visitors

2011-05-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

My work with violet continues to surprise and delight me. Today I decanted the two infused vinegars I made a month ago together with the tincture.

The first vinegar was made with apple cider vinegar and is a deeper brown colour compared with the shop bought cider vinegar. Both taste sweet and pleasant – none of the harshness you expect from tasting neat vinegar. I poured the apple cider vinegar on my salmon salad at lunchtime and it tasted really good.

The macerated herbs from the vinegars both exhibited a mucilaginous “glow” when decanted. It was as if the vinegar had changed the consistency of the plant matter. This was not the case when the tincture was decanted. The violet flowers had been leeched of their colour and the leaves were pale green, but the overall consistency of the plant had not been affected.

The tincture was pale green with a slightly violet hue and tasted pleasant.

I made a salad with violet leaves last Tuesday when we returned from the farm after our Easter escapades, but I think the leaves now are too tough to be really enjoyable eating. I may try them again later as the violet bed is a vibrant green entity within the garden, but I may leave them until I need to make some more violet double infused oil.

I have made the oil for the past two years and it is a lovely addition to salves where you want to increase the moisturising content of the salve.

Whilst I was bemoaning the loss of violet flowers in the middle of April, I suddenly became aware of another violet flowering beautifully under the wooden patio seat. This was the original violet in the garden, but I had not taken any special notice of it until now.

The difference between this violet and the viola odorata is that the flowers tower over the tiny leaves with a magnificent arching stem. The petals are pale in comparison to the sweet violet and the leaves are a deeper green with a mat finish instead of the bright green lustre of the woodland plant.

The leaf when chewed is more mucilaginous than the sweet violet leaves showing that this visitor, or rather, long-term resident of this garden, would be suitable for many of the uses other violets are renowned.

This violet is the dog violet, viola riviniana. I became quite excited when I first saw it, thinking I might have stumbled across the rare heath dog violet, viola canina, since the latter grows on acid soil, but it seems much more likely that my visitor is the more common variety. It has a delicacy and poignancy all of its own and offered an extension to my violet flower study with its later blooms.

You can find my violet article for the Herb Society in two parts here.

And now it’s May!

2011-05-02T09:26:00.000-07:00

I don’t know where time goes to these days. I seem to have spent the last three weeks in a blur of illness, recovery and frantic gardening/herb growing. When you’re not feeling well, everything is a greater effort – for me it was a sudden, excruciating pain in my neck. It was so bad, I took it to the doctor (haven’t been there in nearly four years!) and she wrote me a prescription for codydramol and told me it would probably get better on its own. She was more concerned with my weight and high blood pressure, so I’m taking steps to manage that through diet, digging, hawthorn and lime flowers.

Luckily I had an appointment booked the following day with my osteopath. He manipulated my neck for nearly an hour, freed the trapped muscle and removed the pain and told me I had a lesion between the muscle and where it joined onto the skull bone. He said it was damage normally seen from having your neck lifted over the washbasin in a hairdresser’s, but since I never go to one, we tracked it down to a combination of my new pillow and spending more time in my unsuitable home computer chair.

What really concerned me, was had I followed to the doctor’s advice and taken the codydramol, my neck would not have recovered by itself, but become more restricted as more muscle groups locked up and I would have had to have suffered the side effects of the codeine paracetamol combination. I love my osteopath.

Once my neck pain disappeared, my tooth started up again. Chris thought I should take it back to the dentist, but since his only suggestions would be antibiotics or taking the tooth out, I really wanted to do something different. Heather Nic An Fhleisdeir suggested I try sage, so I started taking a regular mouthwash of sage and calendula tea – swilling it around the affected tooth and then swallowing.

I normally don’t really like sage but this combination I could drink happily and it worked. Over three days, the pain disappeared and although the tooth is still sensitive, especially when I’m tired, it doesn’t throb and I can chew on it normally. Herbs have come up trumps again!

The other activities which have taken time and energy have been the April meeting of the Mercian Herb Group (a herb walk around my garden followed by elixir tasting in the kitchen) and the Easter Sanctuary workshop where we experimented with making lanolin from a fleece over and open fire. You can see photos of the lanolin making here and photos of the rest of the Easter break activities here. I’ve also put up photos showing all the trees and herbs in the Sanctuary.

Since then we’ve been at home preparing the garden for the vegetables I’ve been growing from seed or buying from the local nursery. Today, Chris has gone off to play with his kit car and I’ve been decanting some vinegars and making up a hawthorn tincture as well as planting more seeds. Maybe one day it will be time to rest again!

Weekend at the farm

2011-04-04T07:26:00.000-07:00

It's always difficult to describe where you live and what the environment looks like. We had a busy weekend with my parents and I've shared the photos showing some of what we did on Facebook.

In the album, you will find lots of pictures of primroses - one of my favourite spring flowers. Primroses (primula vulgaris) get their name from the latin words "prima" meaning first and "rosa" meaning rose. In the middle ages, concoctions were made for use with gout and rheumatism. The flowers were used in love potions and an infusion of the roots was taken for nervous headaches.

Primrose seeds can either be scattered while still green in early summer into a prepared seed or plug tray and covered with Perlite. These seeds usually germinate in a few weeks and can then either be wintered in the plug trays or pricked out from the seed trays when the seedlings are large enough and wintered in pots before planting out into prepared sites the following spring. Primrose seeds, like violet seeds need stratification before they can germinate. In some cases, if the seed is dry, it can take two years to achieve germination, so don't lose heart the first year if nothing grows!

The primroses natural habitat is in hedgerows and under deciduous trees, so they prefer moist soils and will tolerate heavy soils in semi-shade. If you plant primroses in a wild garden, be sure that you do not cut the grass until mid-summer, when the plants will have seeded themselves.

Primroses can be grown in containers. Use a soil-based compost and keep the plant well watered. Jekka McVicar suggests giving only one liquid feeds with fertiliser after flowering.

Primroses are closely related to cowslips, primula veris. Both Matthew Wood and David Hoffman have comprehensive pages on the medicinal use of cowslips, but I had to look in Herbcraft by Susan Lavender and Anne Franklin to find a section on primroses. They suggest both flowers and leaves should be gathered as soon as they open. Both leaves and roots can be dried for future use and the flowers can be crystalised by coating first with beaten egg white and then sugar.

Herbcraft is very much a book about the energetic use of herbs, but their medicinal knowledge is sound. The section on lore says, "The primrose was a plant much prized by the Druids. The poem, 'The Chair of Taliesin', describes the initiation of a bard with a drink made from primrose and vervain. Druidesses carried primroses during rituals as a protection from evil. The Druids used a primrose oil, rubbed on the body, as a cleanser and purifier."

They suggest the whole plant can be infused and used as a treatment for nervous headaches, insomnia and as a cough medicine. The flowers can be soaked in distilled water and used as a lotion for acne, spots, wrinkles and other skin complaints.

The tea can be made in the usual manner, leaving the infusion for fifteen minutes instead of ten. If you want to make an infused oil, pack a jkar with fresh flowers and fill with sweet almond oil. Place in the airing cupboard or other warm place for fourteen days, shaking daily. Strain into a clean, dark bottle and add a few drops of vitamin E oil. Keep tightly stoppered in a dark place.

I wish I had read this section before last weekend so I could have made up some new concoctions, but there's always next year!

Spring Trees

2011-04-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

Gazing out of the railway carriage this morning on the way into work, I was struck by how many trees are either coming to life or displaying blossom. Noticing these changes teaches us so much about our local environment and what is available during the lean time of the year.

The waste ground across from the station platform is growing an impressive array of feral trees, reminding me that every cultivated plot would return to native woodlands within five years if not managed.

The trees are mainly hawthorn and sycamore, but along the lineside, pussy willows were flowering alongside “ordinary” willows and a lone cherry tree was showing the first signs of blossom. The hawthorn leaves were a beautiful shade of light green, but it will be several weeks before the sycamore buds burst. Any elders were hiding, but I know their purple budded leaves are already growing green.

What could we use these trees for?

Bark collection is normally done in winter while trees lie dormant, but the green bark of the young willow branches is a useful source of anti-inflammatory and headache potions. Willow bark can be harvested at any time during dormancy but is said to achieve optimal quality in the spring just as the first leaf buds start to form.

Glennie Kindred says “willow bark has been used for its pain-relieving qualities for at least 2,000 years. The Salix alba (white willow, withe, withy) contains salicin, which is converted to salicylic acid in the body.” Willow bark reduces fever and relieves rheumatism. A decoction can be used for gum and tonsil inflammations and as a footbath for sweaty feet.

The decoction is made by soaking 3 teaspoons (15ml) of the bark in a cup of cold water for 2 - 5 hours. Then bring to the boil. Strain and take a wineglassful each day, a mouthful at a time. The bark can be dried, powdered and stored in an airtight container.

Many herbalist believe black willow (Salix nigra) to be the most effective tree, but the difference is negligible if the bark is freshly harvested. Salix nigra is the pussy willow and has black bark as opposed to the light greens of the white willow. Its properties are much the same, but Glennie says it was used in the past as an aphrodisiac and sexual sedative.

Goat willow or sallow willow (Salix caprea) is used in very much the same way as the white willow, but sallow bark tea is recommended for indigestion, whooping cough and catarrh. It can also be used as an antiseptic and disinfectant.
Young hawthorn leaves were historically known as “bread and cheese” because it often found its way into mouths when other foraged food was rare. They make a refreshing tea for heart conditions and other water retention issues, but don’t take them without advice if you are on other heart medication.

Now is the time to make a cherry blossom elixir. The bark of the wild cherry, Prunus serontina is the species usually recommended for dry, involuntary coughs. The inner bark is the most potent part of the tree, acquired by a mixture of whittling and scraping with a hand-knife. Experiments with modern cultivars of Prunus. avium, the Sweet Cherry, show that good results can be obtained from pruning garden cherry trees.

Ananda Wilson first alerted me to the possibility of using the cherry blossom for a delicious elixir and every year I try to find blooms to cover with brandy and honey for coughs later in the year. The cherry tree in my garden is too high up to gather flowers easily, but maybe this year I will find some at a height I can reach!

Another joy in my garden at the moment is the yellow forsythia. If this were the forsythia suspense of Chinese origin, it would be a staple medicinal herb. The fruit is one of the most common components in Chinese herbal formulas for treating the common cold, influenza, and allergies.

Now would be the time to gather young horsechestnut leaves for salves and tinctures to strengthen arterial walls and support varicose veins. The time for harvest is very short since it must be done before the conical flowers appear.

Elder leaves too could be harvested for bruise salves, but I prefer to allow them to remain on the trees as I would rather use plantain, yarrow or comfrey, but that is my choice. I’m waiting for the flowers which will show summer is just around the corner.

Herbal ally: living life backwards

2011-03-29T05:35:00.000-07:00

Almost three months ago now, on January 7th, Kristine Brown posted the first of her herbal ally challenges - to decorate the cover of the notebook being used to record events over the year.

I have a confession to make here. When someone tells me to do something, I will think of one hundred and one reasons why the instruction/suggestion does not apply to me, even if I have agreed to take part in a course of action. There was no need. Everything I planned to do would be done on the computer. I already keep a herbal journey for all my activities – why waste time and paper writing in another one. I don’t do arty things!

So, I watched other people’s blogs as they produced beautiful covers for their notebooks – glorious colours, intricate drawings, stunning collaged photos. I knew I couldn’t do that so I carried quietly on doing the things I was prepared to do.

This is a review of all my ally activities so far:-
- I have observed and photographed violets plants in five different locations
- I have made several dried violet leaf teas but not consistently nor with any pleasure
- I have eaten two harvests of leaves and flowers in spring salads with great enjoyment.
- I have put up two jars of violet vinegar and one of violet tincture and made a violet syrup.
- From the research I carried out I have written three articles and delivered a short talk to the Mercian Herb Group which has inspired one of the group to look for and find her own violets.
- I have begun the violet meditations but will be surprised if I can do them regularly over a two week period.

I shan’t be growing any sweet violets from seed or cuttings, but I may plant a packet of heartsease (viola tricola) later in the year.

I have been quite active with my herbal ally, but not in the order of the set tasks. It doesn’t really matter because the whole process is about developing and maintaining a relationship with your ally and learning more about them.

Yesterday, after making sketches in my general notebook, I realised that a specific notebook for my ally would be a useful thing to have. I love notebooks. I collect them. They sit in a pile in the cupboard under the stairs quietly waiting for me to fill up my current notebooks. They wait years!

The one I chose came from The Works three or four years ago and has a cloth cover. I knew I couldn’t draw or make a paper collage on the fabric, so I thought about embroidering some other material. A piece of old sheet from the airing cupboard was quickly found and my initial sketch of a violet from the garden was copied onto the material.

This was then inserted into my smaller embroidery circle frame and I spent the evening with a needle and silks. I also used up the last scrap of pink ink in the printer printing off all my recent pictures and a title to make a collage for the first page.

This morning Chris was going out to get a new tax disc for the car and came back with some super pritt glue for the material and some basic glue for the pictures. He’s incredibly good at details, so I let him iron and glue on the embroidery and I did the collage. We make a good team.

So here is the first ally challenge completed. It makes me smile and I’m looking forward to filling up the pages of my newly designated journal.

Violet meditation

2011-03-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

Sitting quietly beside a plant or flower and asking it, humbly, to share its wisdom is not an easy task. It could be thought the plant may not wish to share anything with a creature who has just picked a significant proportion of itself and has already eaten both a leaf and a flower.

These acts were done mindfully. I would never have dreamed in a million years that these vibrant spring plants with their delicate scent would now be a significant part of my foraged spring salads, nor that I could be considering the garden violet patch as a cherished food source. Such is the power of making a plant your ally!

Sketching the violet flower from different angles forced me to notice many new aspects of colour and proportion. Eating both flower and leaf made me very aware this was a powerful plant which left a lasting impression on my taste buds, mouth and me. Eating joined me with the plant.

I was sitting on the bench underneath the kitchen window looking out onto the garden. On my left, two large hawthorn trees were now in leaf. On my right, forsythia twined a yellow love spray around the flowering cherry. Golden daffodils swayed gently in the afternoon breeze. Sun shone. The only sounds were robins answering boundary calls occasionally interrupted by the harsh caws of pristine rooks from the tallest branches of a neighbouring fir.

I held the vision of the violet flower in my mind and closed my eyes.

As a healer, it is relatively easy to slip into a grounded state which allows energy to flow where it is needed. I could feel energetic spirals on my hands, knowing there were friends who would benefit from this healing force, but what of the violet?

Although I could see the violet flower, it seemed to be the white centre which was important. As if to emphasise the point, a white space became a fluttering butterfly flapping its wings. Then I saw a bunch of violet flowers growing together, upright. This was on the right hand side of my field of inner vision. The bunch then moved to the centre of my view, fanning out into a circle like a hollow vase.

As I studied this brilliant white central core, I could see the curled petals of a chrysanthemum, or was it a tightly furled water lily? No matter, it was the colour which was important. White, the colour from which all other colours come, symbolising purity, innocence, peace, or deep spirituality. A colour to wash away and cleanse whatever was needful.

Violet flooded my vision and I felt my third eye open, pulsing in the middle of my forehead. The brow chakra - a place of intuition, of deep understanding, of being true to yourself.

I could feel the sun warm on my face. Red came, then white again followed by green. Within the green I could see detailed drawings of violet plants, complex, tall and high in the centre of my inner sight. The green transformed to blue and then to turquoise, such a gentle colour. Purple returned followed again by white. I felt the spirals of energy disappear from both my palms and knew the meditation was over.

What had I learned? It was a simple sentence which came to me during the meditation.

“It is violet which takes us to all that we are.”

Thank you.

Drawing Violets – another medium

2011-03-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

Part of Kristine’s herbal ally art challenge was to try different mediums. Yesterday I sketched plants and coloured them using crayons. Today I gathered a bunch of violet flowers and leaves for another jar of infused vinegar, along with nettle tops, sorrel, jack-in-the-hedge, marjoram and a little rosemary for nettle and stilton soup.

The hour I was in the garden coincided with the sun emerging through the deep cloud cover, so I sat and sketched a violet flower, both full facing and a side view. It was remarkable how much detail could be seen in the delicate flower. The pale green sepals could only be seen from the side view and if you only viewed the flower from this angle (which is the most common view when looking at the plant) you could easily miss, what to me is the most amazing part of the whole flower.

The flower consists of five petals, leading down to the orange stigma in the centre. Each petal is similar but different. They are have a deep, violet pigment for two third of the length which then becomes white as it nears the stigma. It is only when you turn the flower upside down that you notice the largest petal has purple streaks of colour leading down to the stigma in the middle of the flower.

Recent technological advances in infra-red photography have shown how most flowers have “landing lights/lines” to show the bees where to reach the pollen, but it looks as if the violet flower has its own flight path painted onto this one petal!

Once back indoors, I took the plunge to try painting my sketches with watercolours. The crayons I’d been using said they could be used for water colours, but I didn’t understand how until discussing it with my friend last night. He explained what I should do, so today I experimented.

It was surprisingly easy to paint over the shading with a damp brush and gave the sketches a softer, more even look.

I am incredibly grateful to the kind words of praise and encouragement given me by commentators here on my blog and on Facebook. It is so exciting to be dabbling in a world I never thought I could enter.

Violets: capturing images

2011-03-26T05:50:00.000-07:00

All my life I have known my artistic skills are very limited. I cannot draw or cut straight lines and colouring inside lines was not achievable. I can’t remember what age I was when I knew I could not draw. I remember illustrating my written work in the junior class without any qualms (my primary school only had two classes – infants taught by my mother and juniors taught by Miss Bryan, the headmistress) and I took great delight in designing dresses for the princess of my dreams, even though they all looked the same shape.

I suspect my mother mentioned that my sister’s drawings were more accomplished at some stage, but the real embarrassment came on the transfer to secondary school. Art lessons were not a subject I excelled at. Yet I loved the lino-cut pottery and fabric screen painting we did in the second year. I was even quite pleased with my shading effects when drawing twigs in the third year, but everyone knew art wasn’t a valued subject.

Only people who couldn’t learn Latin and therefore would not be able to go on to learn German or Greek would continue with art lessons to ‘O’ or ‘A’ levels. Those of us destined for academically successful careers were not really supposed to touch art or music with a barge pole. I mean, how could you earn a living from such subjects, and as for sewing or cookery (home economics), those really were for people who couldn’t manage anything else!

So, forty years later, Kristine sets a challenge to draw our herbal ally. Kristine is incredibly skilled in art and design. How on earth am I supposed to do something like that? I quietly forgot about the task, but it remained in the back of my mind.
I know the violets will soon be over. I know I need to do as much with the flowers as I possibly can. Over the past week of glorious weather I have intended, each day, to make more vinegar or a honey or maybe even a flower essence, but work, exhaustion, having little voice and a recurring tooth ache meant I achieved nothing. (You can see I am really good at finding excuses for inactivity!)

Today, it is very cold, cloudy with a light, damp wind. I woke early with my mind determined to think about seed planting instead of sleep. I dug one third of the vegetable bed and planted some peas. We used prunings from the apple tree as pea sticks. I hung the washing out on the line and felt it grow wetter. We sat outside and drank coffee complaining about the cold while the radio cricket commentator complained about heat in Sri Lanka.

Chris disappeared indoors to watch the last of the cricket. I followed. In the middle of removing my jacket, I decided I really would go and sit by the violet bed with my notebook and a pencil and see what happened.

I’d drawn one leaf when Chris called me up to take a phone call. I didn’t use the excuse to go inside, but returned to my chair, pencil and paper. I drew two plants, each with the delicate violet flower hiding amongst vibrant green leaves.

What did I learn? The leaves have a serrated instead of a smooth edge. The leaf has two lobes where it joins the stem. The stem is a circular tube, three or four times as thick as the flower stalk. In the centre of each plant new leaves appear as green tufts. The markings on each leaf are delicate lines, almost like the lines on a hand. They stand out and yet are ethereal.

The violet flower is such a beautiful colour. She hangs her head modestly, reaching only half the height of the leaves. They stand tall all around her, protecting her. The plants felt like family groupings; each one growing one or two flowers, but several leaves with many more to come.

I didn’t hold out much hope for my sketches, but I was quite pleased with the two results. With my increasing long sightedness, they looked better to my naked eye than to the close up camera picture.

I still can’t colour in without crossing the line. I could blame it on a failure to keep a steady hand, but my hand has never been careful or meticulous. The colours are not exactly true, but they are what I had available.

All in all, I’m quite pleased with the results. They will never be great art. I think you can tell they are violets. I hope you can. Maybe I will be courageous with other plants and draw again because the only person I need to please is myself.

Inspired by herbs

2011-03-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

This post is part of the UK Herbarium blog party entitled "Herbal creativity" hosted by Lucinda at Whispering Earth

“Creativity” is one of those words you think you know, but when confronted, as in this month’s blog party, you’re not exactly sure what it means. I looked it up. The dictionary said to be creative is to “make something new which is of value”.

The latter part of the definition is the one I struggle with most. How can you tell if something is valuable or not? To whom do you listen? Individual tastes are so different, what is fashionable and valuable can change almost as quickly as the moon and the tides.

To be creative usually means working with your hands, mind or senses, visualising a concept and then bringing it to life. It can be anything you choose. When you consider herbal creativity, some people might think only of items made from herbs themselves. This could be food, drink, medicines, dyes, clothing, implements or weapons. I’m going to talk about crafts inspired by herbs, where I have used my skills to share something about the herbs I love.

I write stories. All my stories contain herbs in one form or other. Here is an excerpt from “The Bear and the Ivy Lady” published by Loveyoudivine in 2009.

Poetry has always been part of my life. I began writing my own when I was fourteen as a way of making sense of issues which troubled me. I didn’t really start sharing them until I was in my late twenties. Indeed, my mother in law, after reading poems describing two exceptionally difficult events at work, told me I should never show my poems to anyone because they wouldn’t like them!

Luckily, I had the confidence not to take her advice and my first book of poetry was published in 2008, with the audiobook coming out last year. This was a review I received which warmed the cockles of my heart!

From Cherokee for Coffee Time Romance Reviews
Sarah J. Head does an incredible job of painting a picture with every poem she sketches inside At Home and Away. The descriptions are so clear-cut that I could picture and imagine not only the sights and sounds, but the smell and taste, even to the cherries. I found it like walking into a magical garden that opens up for the reader to enjoy all the sights and sounds, allowing a tranquil peace of mind. The assortment blankets the reader in warm thoughts while leaving a joyful sensation inside the heart.

The poems are split between by my gardens and Cornwall. Here is a spring poem

Spring Colours
I came searching for yellow
You showed me daffodils wafting in soft spring breeze
Primroses dancing by the well
A single celandine nestling in grass
It’s star of sunlight pulsing gold amidst green.
Catkins blowing from treetop height over the pond
Their pollen shed, no longer yellow but brown.

I came searching for white
You showed me dazzling bells of snowdrops edged in green
Furred backs of small burdock leaves
Twin plants hiding at the willow’s foot.

I came searching for red
You showed me thin slivers of marshmallow overshadowed by aquilegia
Bright spears of Echinacea pushing upwards towards the sun
Each new shoot the colour of blood, of life.

I came searching for green
You showed me grass, long and damp
Vibrant woad shining proudly above brown soil
Curled cuckoo pint thrusting their way through every surface
Their heart-shaped leaves unfolding with new promise.
Tiny elder leaves bursting from each twig,
Narrow edges thrusting their way into the light
Young nettles, their velvet crimps so enticing
Stinging unwary fingers
Yielding their green to a boiling brew
A toast to freshness, Springtime, new strength!

Poems can be visual, thoughtful or descriptive. Their rhythm can also be used for incantation. Here’s one I wrote several years ago which accompanied tinctures sent to a friend to support them during an especially difficult time.

Distant healing
By the power of the sun I send thee strength
By the power of earth I ground thee
By the power of the moon I send thee peace
By the power of air I send thee love

By the power of oak I send the fortitude
By the power of rowan I protect thee
By the power of elder to watch over thee
By the power of hawthorn I give thee heart

With my hands I picked the herbs
With my hands I steeped them
With my hands I strained the marc
With my hands I poured it

Through my hands flow healing
Through my heart flows love
Through my head I send thee wisdom
Through my mouth I speak the words
To make it so!
Be well, be safe, be at peace!
So mote it be.

The rhythm of words flows naturally into music. All my family are musicians, from my maternal grandmother and her sisters who played their local church organs across three counties, my great-grandfather who took his piano on a wheelbarrow through the streets of Willenhall in the Black Country to earn a few extra pennies during the Great Depression and my Great Aunt who sang professionally in Birmingham and Stratford on Avon at the turn of the 20th century. My sister and I both teach piano. All my children learned instruments, two are singer/songwriters and my daughter is now starting out on a professional music career.

Where do herbs come into all this? I thought you might like to share two herbal songs created in 2010 which were sung at the herb festival held at Springfield Sanctuary last September. The first is a tongue in cheek blues number put together by Stephen and Kathryn in half an hour called “The Summerhouse Blues” and the second is mine, “An Acre of Land”.

If you think of herb songs, everyone’s favourite would probably be “Scarborough Faire” because of the line, “Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme”. This ancient song was originally taken from Child’s “The Elfin Lord”, collected in the sixteenth century when an Elf Lord wanted to marry a young woman, who wasn’t keen, so she set him a series of impossible tasks.

One of those tasks was to “Find me an acre of land between the sea and the shore.” This sentence spawned another folk song called “An Acre of Land”, which I first heard sung at the Cheltenham Folk Festival several years ago. It is another “magical song” which talks about sowing with a thimble, harrowing with a bramble bush and reaping with a penknife.

As my father has indeed given me an acre of land, I wanted to write a song of my own and this was the result. There are lots of herbal references and the tune was inspired by “A frog he would a wooing go” – a nursery rhyme I sang as a child. It is nowhere near as professionally crafted as my children’s, but it was fun and everyone joined in the singing.

What other crafts do herbs inspire? Embroidery is one. I have a herbal tarot set made by Michael Tierra and Candis Cantin. I love them and two years ago I made a bag to keep both the cards and book together while we were on holiday in Cornwall.. One side is a wheat corn dolly and the other, a set of fir trees we could see from the caravan window.

I have another embroidery project inspired by herbs. When Anne McIntyre asked me to speak at this year’s Herbfest in July, I wanted to wear something which would signify a kitchen herbwife. My original thought was a cloak, but I have settled on a summer cotton stole decorated with herbs. It will probably take me several years to make and wont’ be ready for my talk, but this article pushed me to buy material and get at least one herb stencil drawn. Which herb? My ally, viola odorata.

Everyone has skills of some description and herbs have inspired cooks, artists, poets and musicians since time began. No matter how large or small, every act of creativity is valuable because of the delight brought by their creation.

March blog party - Herbal creativity

2011-03-15T05:57:00.000-07:00

I'm late again, but this month's UK Herbarium blog party is hosted by Lucinda at Whispering Earth. Lucinda says,

This is a very broad topic covering anything that inspires us or encourages our creative side. You might want to share some herbal crafts that you particularly enjoy, a short story or poem inspired by herbs, a herbal drawing or photographs or a recipe that you are particularly proud of, be it culinary, cosmetic or medicinal. This blog party is about ideas you have enjoyed playing with and also about sharing with each other some of the ways in which herbs inspire us in all the many facets of our lives.

If you have your own blog then add your post before March 20th and email me the link at whisperingearth@gmail.com -I’ll post the links to all the entries here that evening. If you don’t have a blog but would like to join us anyway you can email your piece as a word document to Debs at the UK Herbarium on debs at herbal-haven dot co dot uk and she will add it to the UK Herbarium blog as a guest post."

So, I now have four days to put something together, take photos and write it up!

Violets – revisiting childhood memories

2011-03-14T06:14:00.000-07:00

Violets have always been part of my life. The challenge of choosing a herbal ally has offered me the opportunity to get to know this plant in a very different way. Until this month, I felt the challenge was running away from me as I’d done nothing practical, but this past weekend at the farm has enabled me to notice new aspects and take a trip down memory lane.

Saturday was the first Springfield Sanctuary workshop. Five of my apprentices gathered together to plant oats, identify young herbs and begin the task of readying the main herb bed for the coming year. Violet flowers were blooming beneath the crabapple tree, so everyone was given a violet leaf to chew and reflect upon.

The expressions on their faces told a story all of their own. Everyone experienced the leaf in a different way. Comments included:-
This is different!
I could happily eat this in a salad
It really cleans your palate!
It tastes nutty
It tastes smoky

I used the remainder of my tiny harvest to put up a small jar of vinegar, using the amazing apple cider vinegar gifted by Nik at a previous Mercian Herb Group. There were so few violets and leaves; I hoped to increase the amount of herb the following day.

Sunday was again a gloriously sunny day with a cold wind. After spending the morning cooking cakes, puddings and a roast dinner with my mother, while Chris and my father battled with the sixty year old water pump, I escaped for an hour to walk to one of my childhood spring playgrounds about a third of a mile away.

On the ordinance survey map, it is called “Town Quarry” reflecting the original use as a stone quarry for the nearby villages and large estate, Copse Hill. Once the stone was removed, it became a place for the disposal of unwanted items – everything from glass bottles and rusty buckets to motorbikes, fridges, prams and once an old Bentley!

For several years, before I went away to school at the age of eleven, my younger sister and I would ride our bikes down to the tip to explore and generally see what we could find. It wasn’t the discarded items which intrigued us, but the spring flowers. We had no primroses or violets in our garden and these grew wild in the tip. I was an avid reader and The Secret Garden was one of my favourite books. I wanted to create my own secret garden, so we carefully dug and transplanted snowdrops, violets and primroses to two different locations at the base of trees.

In the 1980s, Ian Fleming’s nephew bought the Copse Hill estate, in a final attempt to save his marriage. The costs of all the renovations made him almost bankrupt and in trying to set light to both the stable block and the laundry, he was killed by the explosion caused by rising petrol fumes.

His legacy, as far as I was concerned, was to level part of the tip and plant trees. The aim was to stop people dumping rubbish and reclaim the land by sealing off the entrance. This has worked in parts. Where the ground has been levelled and trees planted, there is a quiet grove, with a wide expanse of snowdrops. Hay and straw bales are now stored on what used to be the deepest pit. The rest of the tip has not been touched and still has mature trees and deep gullies. Local people are still dumping unwanted fridges and other items.

It was a lovely surprise to find our first tiny garden still flourishing. The few snowdrop bulbs we planted were now a healthy clump. The violets were yet to flower, but one of the primroses had three pale flowers which shone in the sunlight.

My next search was for the bank of violets where my sister and I used to pick a violet bouquet for my mother each year. It was a real delight to find them growing en masse in the same spot where I used to harvest nearly fifty years ago! I was able to gather a useful amount, which I carried triumphantly home in a paper bag to show my parents.

When we reached Solihull that evening, I added more leaves and flowers to the vinegar and made up a tincture. As I opened the paper bag, my nose was assailed by a forgotten scent. It was light and delicate like the violet blooms themselves - a real joy to discover after so many years.

Violet's historical story

2011-03-10T09:09:00.000-08:00

There is something deeply satisfying about continuing a well-known herbal practice. It is comforting to think of joining all the men and women down the centuries who have gone out into the highways and byways at this time of year in search of the delicate violet flower. It is not just her scent which delights us, she bears within her leaves and flowers the amazing ability to treat a score of different conditions and ailments.

The time for harvest is relatively short. The sweet-scented Violet appears at the end of February and has finished blooming by the end of April. Although there are over one hundred different species of violets around the world, there are five native to Great Britain with viola odorata being grown both for her scent and her medicinal properties.

How far back do we need to go to discover how violets were used? They were mentioned frequently by Homer and Virgil. Mrs Grieve tell us they were used by Athenians 'to moderate anger,' to procure sleep and 'to comfort and strengthen the heart.' Pliny prescribed a liniment of Violet root and vinegar for gout and disorder of the spleen, and states that a garland or chaplet of Violets worn about the head would dispel the fumes of wine and prevent headache and dizziness. Who would have considered violet today as a cure for hangovers!

One of the difficulties when searching for the ancient British uses of plants is being able to identify them from the names given to them in Olde English Herbals. Stephen Pollington gives the example of the name Bonewort (bannwyrt) , a plant which was possibly violet or small knapweed. He says the Latin plant name, “viola” could be known in Old English as bannwyrt, cleafre or bofe.

The Olde English Herbarium states “This plant which one calls viola and by another name banwyrt is of three kinds, one then is dark purple and the second white and the third is yellow, the yellow [one] is however of greatest use to leeches” (Leeches is the name given to anyone offering medicinal help) This herbal also notes, “The scent of sweet violets was used by horsemen in their potions for calming troublesome horses.

Mrs Grieve says the ancient Britons used violet flowers as a cosmetic, and in a Celtic poem they are recommended to be employed steeped in goats' milk to increase female beauty. She quotes the Anglo-Saxon translation of the tenth century Herbarium of Apuleius where V. purpureum is recommended 'for new wounds and eke for old' and for 'hardness of the maw.' She also give a recipe from Askham's Herbal printed in 1550 for insomnia, “'For the that may not slepe for sickness seeth this herb in water and at even let him soke well hys feete in the water to the ancles, wha he goeth to bed, bind of this herbe to his temples.”

The use of sweet violets has been fairly consistent over the centuries. It is a plant rich in vitamins. Mary Beith tells of the Gaelic Regimen Sanitatis (Rule of Health ) compiled by John Beaton of Islay in 1563 “After blood-letting, convalescents were to have a light but vitamin –rich meal of kale, mallow, sage and parsley. In summer this was varied with the addition of borage, bugloss, violets, spinach, lettuce, the tops of fennel and other herbs.”

The sixteenth century herbalist, Gerard, used violets for inflammations, especially of the chest. He said “violets make a plate which is most pleasant and wholesome. Especially it comforteth the heart and other inward parts.”

In July 1634, the Stratford herbalist, John Hall, (who was also Shakespeare’s son in law), mentions using “the mild laxative violet syrup” when treating the Poet William Drayden for a tertiary fever six months before his death. Hall must have known his patient was very unwell and needed to be treated gently, because his normal prescriptions for fevers involved emetics administered in oxymels.

This use of violets as a pleasant laxative continued for centuries. Apothecaries during Charles II’s reign regularly sold a conserve called “Violet Plate” to the general public.

The 17th century herbalist, Culpepper used violets not only for inflammations but also for piles. In his treatment, violets were fried with egg yolks and applied to the offending haemorrhoids.

In 1740, Sir John Hill wrote “The flowers are the part used; boiled water is to be poured on them just enough to cover them and it is to stand all night; when it is strained clear off, the sugar is to be added to it at the rate of two pounds to each pint and it is to be melted over the fire. This makes syrup of violets, an excellent gentle purge for children. The leaves are dried also and are used in the decoctions for slyusters. An infusion of them works by urine.” Rogers tells us that the infusion was made from a cold maceration of the flowers and leaves for 8 hours followed by slow warming to preserve the delicate properties of the plant.

Salmon and Pechey, who practiced at the end of 17th century prescribed violets for catarrh, fever, headaches and pleurisy.

Nineteenth and early twentieth century herbalists were still using violets regularly. Kemsey’s British Herbal of 1838 states, “The leaves of the violet are gently laxative. The syrup is used as a purgative to infants.” This use was echoed by Dr Fernie in 1914 when he wrote, “Violet flower syrup mixed with almond oil is a ‘capital laxative for children’.”

Today, although the general public has no idea that violets can be used medicinally, herbalists are still using the flowers and leaves for a wide range of conditions, from coughs, bronchitis and, constipation through eczema to breast cancer. We may have lost the fields of commercially grown violets around Stratford on Avon and other parts of the country, but if you look hard enough, this shy spring flower continues to offer us her bounty.

References
Beith, M Healing Threads: Traditional Medicines of the Highlands and Islands 1995 Polygon ISBN 0 7486 6199 9
Grieve, M A Modern Herbal 1973 (revised) Random House ISBN 1-904779018
Hadfield, G Hadfield’s Herbal : The Secret History of British Plants 2007 Penguin Books ISBN 978 0 140 51577 0
Hawes, Z Wild Drugs: A Forager's guide to healing plants 2010 Octopus Publishing Group ISBN 9781856753104
Lane, J John Hall and his Patients 1996 The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust ISBN 0-90420104X
McIntyre, A The Complete Herbal Tutor 2010 Gaia Books Ltd ISBN 9781856753180
Pollington, S Leechcraft 2000 Anglo-Saxon Books ISBN 1 989281 238
Weed, S Wise Woman Herbal Healing Wise 1989 Ash Tree Publishing ISBN 0 9614620 2 7
Wood, M The Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants 2008 North Atlantic Books ISBN 9 781556 436925

Violet Magic

2011-03-05T15:24:00.000-08:00

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have periods in my herbal life when things seem very mundane and uninteresting and then something happens which is just so exciting it takes your breath away. That happened to me today, so I thought I would share.

Part of my apprentices' tasks, which I am sharing, is to find a herbal ally for the year and observe, grow and make things from them. My ally is sweet violet, viola odorata. I have a patch of violets at the bottom of my garden grown from a transplant from my parent's farm which was in turn transplanted from the local stone quarry/tip where my sister and I used to play as children nearly fifty years ago.

In the autumn, I gathered a bag full of leaves to dry and I've been trying them as a herbal tea. They are pleasant when drunk with food, but not especially exciting. Now the violet flowers are blooming, I promised myself I would make my first batch of violet syrup. I first came across this in Susun Weed's "Healing Wise" book and Zoe Hawes uses the same methodology in her recipe for violet syrup in "Wild drugs, a forager's guide to healing plants".

The basic recipe is to fill a clean glass jar with violet flowers, cover with boiling water and leave overnight with the lid screwed on. The next day, strain and measure the infused liquid. For every 7fl ozs of liquid add 5 ozs of sugar. Zoe Hawes also recommends adding a good squeeze of lemon juice. Put all the ingredients into a pan and bring to the boil and simmer for a couple of minutes. Pour the resulting syrup into a sterilised bottle or jar, seal, label and date. Store in the fridge and discard if it starts going mouldy. The suggested dosage for a child’s cough or slight constipation is 1-2tsps given at bedtime. If you are making this for a child under two years old and usually make your syrups with honey, use sugar this time.

I gathered the plants yesterday morning after my planned trip to Sheffield had to be aborted at the last minute. There weren't very many flowers, but I covered them with a cupful of boiling water and sealed them in a glass jar for 24 hours. (The recipe says overnight, but I was busy this morning and couldn't get back to them until early afternoon.)

The strained liquid smelt green and uninviting and tasted of nothing much. I was expecting a subtle aroma of violet, but I think it was too cold for the flowers to produce any scent! For 5 fl ozs (1cup) of liquid I added 3ozs of sugar and put it in a pan to bring to the boil while sterilising a glass jar in the oven. Zoe's recipe suggested adding a good squeeze of lemon juice to the mixture, so I found a forgotten half lemon in the fridge, squeezed it and added the juice to the heating syrup.

This is where the magic occured - the syrup suddenly turned the most delightful shade of pink! I wanted to dance around the kitchen with excitement!. I realise it was probably just a litmus reaction to adding the acidic lemon juice, but it would be a fantastic demonstration to show children! (Not quite as good as watching St John's wort oil turn red, but similar and much quicker!)

When the syrup had been brought to the boil and simmered for a couple of minutes, I strained it out through muslin into the sterilised jar, labelled and dated it and left it to cool on the kitchen table. It's now safely in the fridge waiting for a child to emerge with either a cough or constipation. (Don't you love it when herbs can be used for such different things!)

What to read when?

2011-02-26T05:30:00.000-08:00

My world is a busy one at the moment and I seem to spend most of my time, like Alice, running to stay in the same place. I missed the due date for the February blog party because I was up in North Yorkshire offering training to a Carers group and the Army Welfare Service up in Catterick Garrison.

Between the two training sessions, Chris and I spent a wonderful time in York discovering new museums, reconnecting with those we had visited before and enjoying amazing food. We also met some new Vikings from Stoke on Trent outside the Yorvik Museum who offered to come and demonstrate ancient methods of breadmaking at the herb festival if they are free that weekend.

Now we're home again with the luxury of an undesignated weekend, so I can catch up with articles, jar washing and plant maintenance. (Yes, I know, I have strange priorities!)

Here, as promised are some book lists for those of you who are wondering what to read and when.

For complete beginners
These are books with which you cannot go wrong. They are all simple, straightforward, good illustrations, easy to read and the recipes/formulae work.
Bruton-Seal, J & Seal, M Hedgerow Medicine: Harvest & make your own herbal remedies 2008 Merlin Unwin Books Ltd ISBN 978 1 873674 99 4
Bruton-Seal, J & Seal, M Kitchen Medicine: Household Remedies for Common Ailments and Domestic Emergencies 2010 Merlin Unwin Books Ltd ISBN 978 1 906122188
These two books are relatively new, stunning pictures and easy to follow recipes.

Hoffman, D The Complete Illustrated Holistic Herbal 1996 Element Books
ISBN 1 85230 847 8 The first herb tutor I ever bought – very safe, gives practical information which is easy to follow and replicate. All his books contain basically the same information so you can swap one for another.

McIntyre, A The Complete Herbal Tutor 2010 Gaia Books Ltd ISBN 9781856753180 Anne’s new book is lovely – beautiful illustrations, comprehensive material medica and she references all the attributes of each plant which has lead me to new books and authors.

Ody, P The Complete Medicinal Herbal 1993 Dorling Kindersley ISBN 0 7513 0025 X The second herb tutorial I bought. Again, all Penelope’s books are very safe and practical. This one has interesting case studies to illustrate uses and a table of doses for children at various weights and ages which I found useful.

Shaw, N Bach Flower Remedies : A Step-by-Step Guide 1998 Element Books ISBN 1 86204 106 7
Shaw, N Herbal Medicine : A Step-by-Step-Guide 1998 Element Books ISBN 1 86204 196 2
Shaw, N Herbalism: An Illustrated Guide 1998 Element Books ISBN 1-86204-224-1
Shaw, N & Hedley, C Herbal Remedies 1996 Parragon Books Services Ltd ISBN 1-84164-054-9
Chris Hedley and Non Shaw are husband and wife who have practiced herbal medicine since the 1960s. They have been teaching and sharing their herbal knowledge for many years and are beloved by the international herbal community. Their books are easily accessible and full of delightful surprises – being far more comprehensive than the layout suggests. I just wish they would write many, many more!

Wardwell, J The Herbal Home Remedy Book 1998 Versa Press ISBN-13 978 1 58017 016 1
Joyce’s book is the only American book which I’ve included in the complete beginner section because it’s very good and gives you confidence to go and make your own remedies. The only drawback is that she uses some trees which are not local in the UK.

Single herb books
Chevalier, A Nature’s Remedies, St John’s Wort, The natural antidepressant and more 1999 North Atlantic Books ISBN 9 781556 433313 50995
Davies, J R Hawthorn 2000 Element Books Ltd ISBN 1 86204 557 7
Davies, J R Marigold 2000 Element Books Ltd ISBN 1 86204 558 5
Davies, J R Ginkgo 1999 Element Books Ltd ISBN 1 86204 504 6
Davies, J R Saw Palmetto 2000 Element Books Ltd ISBN 1 86204 556 9
Davies, J R Ginger 2000 Element Books Ltd ISBN 1 86204 708 1
Davies, J R Cranberry 2000 Element Books Ltd ISBN 1 86204 707 3
Davies, J R Aloe Vera 2000 Element Books Ltd ISBN 1 86204 709 X
Mars, B Dandelion Medicine 1999 Storey Books ISBN 1 58017 207 5

Delightful read books
These are herb books to curl up with and savour. They are beautifully written from the heart and make you feel good.
Bennett, RR Healing Magic: A Green Witch Guidebook 1994 Sterling Publishing Co ISBN 0 8069 7871 6
Berger, J Herbal Rituals 1998 St Martin's Press ISBN 0 312 192 81 9
Edwards, G F Opening Our Wild hearts to the Healing Herbs 2000 Ash Tree Publishing ISBN 1-888123 01 X
Levy, J de bairacli Common Herbs for Natural Health 1997 Ash Tree Publications ISBN 9780961462086
Levy, J de bairacli Nature’s Children 1996 Ash Tree Publications ISBN 9780961462086
Rago, L O Blackberry Cove Herbal: Healing with common herbs 2000 Capital Books Inc ISBN 1-931868220

Other good books to have in your library
Griggs, B The Greenwitch: A Modern Women’s Herbal 1993 Random House Publishing Ltd ISBN 0 09 182681 0
McGarry, G Brighid’s Healing:Ireland’s Celtic Medicine Traditions 2005 Green Magic ISBN: 0954723023
Anything written by Anne McIntyre, David Hoffman, Penelope Odey

Women’s Herbals
Rogers, C The Women’s Guide to Herbal Medicine1995Penguin Ltd ISBN0 241 13349 1
Weed, S Wise Woman Herbal Healing Wise 1989 Ash Tree Publishing ISBN 0 9614620 2 7 Don’t be put off by the strange writing style, the basic information is good.
Weed, S New Menopausal Years The Wise Woman Way 2002 Ash Tree Publishing ISBN 1 888123 03 6 Some of this book may be hard to take at the time of reading, but it deals with many issues not covered by other authors.

Mens Herbals
Buhner, SH Vital Man : Natural Health Care for men at Midlife 2003 Avery ISBN 1 58333 136 0 This is good, but I found his use of herbal tablets etc disappointing.

Herbal energetics
Some of these books can be difficult to get your head around in the first instance, but certainly increase your understanding of how herbs work from a Western energetic standpoint. Many herbalists have chosen to use Eastern energetic mechanisms. Anne Macintyre uses Ayuvedic, Penelope Odey, Lesley and Michael Tierra all write from a Traditional Chinese Medicinal (TCM) viewpoint. All are equally valid, but since I live in Europe, which has historically used a Unami Tibb/Arabic influenced set of energetics, I stick with that.

Wood, M The Practice of Traditional Western Herbalism : Basic Doctrine, Energetics and Classification 2004 North Atlantic Books ISBN 9 781556 435034 51595
Wood, M Vitalism 2005 (2nd Edition) North Atlantic Books ISBN 978 1 55645 340 5

Using herbs on an energetic level
Buhner, SH Sacred Plant Medicine: Explorations in the Practice of Indigenous Herbalism 1996 Raven Press ISBN 0 9708696 06
Buhner, SH The Secret Teachings of Plants 2004 Bear & Co ISBN-13 978 159143035 3
Cowan, E Plant Spirit Medicine 1995 Swan Raven & Co ISBN 1 893183 11 4

More advanced herbals
Buhner, SH Herbal Antibiotics :natural alternatives for treating drug-resistant bacteria 1999 Storey Publishing ISBN 9781580171489
Winston, D & Maimes, S Adaptogens: Herbs for strength, stamina and stress relief 2007 Healing Arts Press ISBN-13 9781594771583
Wood, M The Book of Herbal Wisdom: Using Plants as Medicines 1997 North Atlantic Books ISBN 9 781556 432323 52000
Wood, M The Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants 2008 North Atlantic Books ISBN 9 781556 436925
Wood, M The Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to New World Medicinal Plants 2009 North Atlantic Books ISBN 9 781556 437793

Wildcrafting books
Hawes, Z Wild Drugs: A Forager's guide to healing plants 2010 Octopus Publishing Group ISBN 9781856753104 Zoe's book was published last year and is a real gem. Lovely pictures and clear, concise information on recognition, habitat and other plants/herbs growing nearby. She also includes some recipes.

Historical herbal uses
Beith, M Healing Threads: Traditional Medicines of the Highlands and Islands 1995 Polygon ISBN 0 7486 6199 9
Hadfield, G Memory, Wisdom & Healing : The History of Domestic Plant Medicine 1999 Sutton Publishing ISBN0 7509 3462 X
Hadfield, G Hadfield’s Herbal : The Secret History of British Plants 2007 Penguin Books
ISBN 978 0 140 51577 0
Paine, A The Healing Power of Celtic Plants 2006 O Books ISBN 9781905047628
Pollington, S Leechcraft 2000 Anglo-Saxon Books ISBN 1 989281 238

Historical herbals
Culpeper, N Complete Herbal 1653 Wordsworth Reference 1995 ISBN 185326345 1
Grieve, M A Modern Herbal 1973 (revised) Random House ISBN 1-904779018
Lane, J John Hall and his Patients 1996 The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust ISBN 0-90420104X
Pughe, J The Physicians of Myddfai 2008 Llanerch Press ISBN 1897853157

Growing Herbs
Brown, D Growing Herbs 1995 Dorling Kindersley ISBN 0 7513 0216 3
McVicar, J Jekka’s Complete Herb Book 1994 Kyle Cathie Ltd 1 85626 346 0 (Some of Jekka’s medicinal herb comments should be verified in other books before accepting.)
Seagull, B The Herb Garden Month by Month David and Charles 1994 ISBN 0-7153-0567-0

February blog party: call for submissions

2011-02-09T03:53:00.000-08:00

This months' UK Herbarium blog party is hosted by Danielle at The Teacup Chronicles .

Danielle says "The theme of February’s UK Herbarium blog party, then, is “Gems from the Herbal Library” – an opportunity to share your most beloved herb books with one another. Tell us about what books you just can’t live without; the ones you could read cover to cover; those you take into the field with you; the ones with all your favorite recipes or those that you always go to first when you need information. In short, please share with us your favorite and most trusted books, and why you love them so!"

Books are something I have always loved and I can easily spent dreamy hours just re-arranging them, let alone reading them! This is also a timely posting as my apprentices have asked for booklists from me and I need to sort out my lists to include some of the latest publications. Now I just need to make time to do it all!

January Blog Party: A host of herbal hugs

2011-01-20T07:18:00.000-08:00

I spend a lot of time during my bereavement courses emphasising the importance of touch. To find another human being who feels safe enough to hug isn’t always possible. Sometimes we have transformed into the prickly hedgehog which makes it difficult for those around us to offer the support we need. Sometimes we just want time alone. If this is the case, it is the perfect time to indulge in a herbal hug or two.

My favourite winter drink was inspired by Rebecca Hartman. Flax seeds decocted with a broken cinnamon stick and finely chopped peel from your breakfast orange is incredibly soothing. Rebecca’s original concoction was made as a relief from period pains, but I have found nothing better for making me sit still and do nothing for however long it takes me to sip the contents of my mug.

Warming winter tea
Place 1-2tsp flax seed together with a broken up cinnamon stick and maybe a couple of cardamom pods and some sliced orange peel, a handful of fresh or half a handful of dried rosehips and the juice of half an orange. Put all the ingredients in a small saucepan and fill the saucepan with cold water. Bring to the boil, then simmer uncovered until the amount of water has halved from evaporation. Strain, add honey to taste and sip while hot.

One word of caution, less really is more in this recipe. We have made flax seed tea twice during workshops using a tablespoon of flaxseed and several pints of water. I’ve also used dried orange peel rather than fresh. It is nowhere near as nice. We found strong flax seed tea on its own almost undrinkable until a drop of cinnamon tincture was added. Too much dried orange peel made the tea very bitter and not to my taste, although others enjoyed it.

Another totally delicious and unexpected drink is Nut Brew. Again this was based on the Hickory Brew recipe from Ananda Wilson's blog. Steeping nuts to make an infusion was not something I'd ever thought of, but it works wonderfully.

Nut Brew
1 part smashed hazel and walnuts (you could experiment with other nuts as well)
6 dates chopped
3 parts water
Simmer for 30 + minutes
Strain a cup at a time, leaving the rest to continue steeping.
Add milk or almond milk to taste if required, but no extra sweetening is necessary.

Sometimes you come across a herbal hug completely by accident. Two summers ago, I began to experiment with elixirs - herbs extracted in honey and brandy. One evening after work, while the sun still shone in the garden, I wandered around gathering herbs which nourished the nerves. In my basket went lemon balm leaves, violet leaves, rose petals, heartease aerial parts, wild strawberry leaves, St John’s wort flowers and four lavender heads. I let them steep for around five weeks before decanting the result into a recycled brandy bottle. It tasted interesting and I labelled it “Uplifting elixir”.

There wasn’t any call for this elixir over the following twelve months, although it did get used as a taste example when I gave talks and was generally well received. Last autumn, my son found himself in an extremely stressful situation, so I gave him a dropper bottle of elixir to take whenever he had the opportunity. He said it really helped.

I also sent small bottles of elderberry and uplifting elixir to my friend in Glasgow as part of his Christmas present. When he tasted the uplifting elixir, his exclamation of “Wow!” really had me wondering what this particular combination was doing. When I asked him to explain his reaction further, he said, “The elderberry is very fruity, and on the nose has almost “vanilla” notes. It’s possible that the tang – similar to the nice sharpness you get from blackcurrant, but without the bitter afternotes that blackberries have – is disguising the spirit to an extent.

“The Uplifting may have just the same proportion of brandy and honey, but it definitely feels in the mouth like a much stronger mix. There’s a tingle on the sides of the tongue that you get with whisky or brandy, and the warming as it goes over is much more pronounced, without being likely to induce a coughing fit.”

My hunch is that the lavender is the main cause of the increased warming effect. One of Kiva Rose’s students once called lavender tincture, “a hug in a bottle” and I know other people have found lavender tincture extremely helpful during stressful times. I’m looking forward to making another batch of uplifiting elixir this coming summer from the fresh herbs in my garden.

Another elixir which is becoming a firm favourite is rose petal elixir. This again was a 2010 experiment arising from articles written by Kiva Rose Hardin on her Medicine Woman blog. The first elixir I made was with a mixture of apothecary’s rose and ‘William Shakespeare’ – a deep scented red rose. To say the elixir tasted heavenly was an understatement.

When I gave a talk on tinctures to a group of complementary therapists in Northampton last November, I took a small bottle of rose petal elixir with me. I stood at the front of the group, cradling the bottle to my bosom and told them I could hardly bear to share it with anyone else – before I passed it around for everyone to taste. At the end of the talk, a woman came up to me, her face alight with excitement.

“How do you make this elixir,” she asked. “It is the best thing I have ever tasted and I could feel it lifting my spirits as soon as I swallowed!”

Luckily the recipe was in her handout.

I’ve made the elixir with dog rose petals, which is lighter and more subtle and with William Shakespeare petals on their own with different amounts of honey. It doesn’t matter how you make it, the result is still wonderful and a real treasure to keep with you during the depths of winter.

Finally, my other favourite herbal hug is my spiced hedgerow cordial. Made from whatever I happen to have gathered from the hedges that day, it is spiced with cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg and sweetened with honey or sugar.

Spiced Hedgerow Cordial
1-2lbs of blackberries
1/2lb rosehips
1 large orange (sliced)
1 and a half inches of root ginger (grated)
1 nutmeg (grated)
2 large quills of cinnamon
6 cloves
3 lbs honey
Place everything in a large pan and cover with cold water (I used about 5 pints). Bring to the boil and simmer with the lid on for about an hour. Strain the liquid and push any juicy bits you can through the seive. Discard the debris and wash the saucepan. Measure the liquid and put on a low heat to evaporate for an hour or so, depending on how thick you want your cordial to be. I had 4 3/4 pints liquid, so I evaporated it down to around 3 pints as I need enough for the party and a residential home demonstration and Christmas. A film will form on the top of the liquid, mix this back into the cordial before you add the honey. Heat very gently until the honey is dissolved. Steralise bottles in the oven for ten minutes, then pour cordial into bottles, seal, label and date. To make the drink, add 1 tablespoon of cordial to a small cup/goblet of boiling water. Sip and enjoy.

You could use half elderberries and half blackberries and more rosehips.

Possibly my favourite is sloes and rosehips flavoured with lemon juice.

Sloe/Rosehip Cordial
1lb sloes
1/2lb ripe rosehips
Place sloes and rosehips in a pan and add 2 pints of water and the juice and zest of a lemon. Simmer for about an hour until the rosehips are soft. Liquidise and measure the resulting liquid after passing everything through a sieve. Add sugar or honey in the ration of 1lb to 1pint of liquid. Heat until sugar or honey has dissolved. Taste. If it is too sweet, add more lemon juice. Serve with boiling water in a ratio of 1/3 cordial to 2/3 water or to taste.

A tablespoon or two of cordial mixed with boiling water in one of my Greenman goblets from Pickering in Yorkshire is a simple but effective way of treating myself when everything else is bleak.

January Blog Party : Call for submissions

2011-01-06T10:29:00.000-08:00

This month's blog party is hosted by Lucinda over at Whispering Earth. She writes "With the festive cheer over and the weather unremittingly grey, January is often the least favourite month of people in the Northern hemisphere. That is why I have decided to give this month’s blog party the theme of Herbal Hugs.

The idea is to write about the herbs you find most comforting, supportive, caring and indulgent or the recipes you just couldn’t be without when you feel a little low and just want a big hug from your favourite plant friends. Perhaps you have one plant in particular that has been of great comfort to you, a favourite tea blend or a bath recipe that always calms and comforts. If so please share them with us here so together we can have a truly uplifting start to the New Year.

If you have your own blog then add your post before January 20th and email me the link at whisperingearth@gmail.com -I’ll post the links to all the entries here on the evening of the 20th.

If you don’t have a blog but would like to join us anyway you can email your piece as a word document to Debs at the UK Herbarium on debs at herbal-haven dot co dot uk and she will add it to the UK Herbarium blog as a guest post."

I know I have a few recipes I love to make during this time of year, so I will be sharing these later in the month.

Finding a herbal ally

2011-01-05T07:37:00.000-08:00

Most of this post was taken from and inspired by a similar post on Kristine Brown's blog, Dancing in a Field of Tansy I've been following Kristine's blog for several years now and have learned many things. She also produces a wonderful children's herbal ezine called Herbal Roots.

As part of a spiritual/herbal renaissance, Kristine is following in the footsteps of Gail Faith Edwards. The idea of a herbal ally comes from Gail's book, “Opening our wild hearts to the healing herbs” I read this book about three years ago and have forgotten much of what she wrote so I am grateful to Kristine for bringing it back into my consciousness and for providing me with a task for both myself and my apprentices.

Gail says, "Pick a new plant each year to focus on. Be sure to grow the plant, or meet it in the wild, observe it, make different medicines and foods with it, use it in many ways, consume it regularly, or use as applicable as often as possible, and constantly observe. Noting all you observe. Keeping your own notes is critically important. Learn to meditate with plants. Learn to take care of them, learn to process and use them, one by one. Fall in love with each and every plant you work with, one by one. Recognize the living being there, the spirit of the plant. Respect its power. Open your wild heart to it."

Susan Weed suggests “Choose a plant that grows very near to you ... no more than a one-minute walk from your door. You don't need to know the name of the plant, or anything about it. You will be sitting with your plant every day, so, if possible, choose one that grows in a quiet and lovely place ... in a pot on your balcony is just fine ... in a park is great ... so is an alley ... or a backyard. "

Susun offers six different green ally exercises to get to know the ally more intimately.
1. Meditate/sit and breathe with your green ally for 3-10 minutes a day
2. Make a detailed drawing of the ally as accurate as possible. Next make a soft, impressionistic drawing
3. Find out what parts of the ally are typically used. Find out if other parts are useful. Make oils, tinctures and vinegars of all the useful plant parts (separately)
4. Observe the conditions the plant chooses to grow in.
5. Write a story from the point of view of your green ally. (If you have trouble getting started, write a warm up page praising your green ally and telling him/her how much you like him/her and why.
6. Introduce a friend to your green ally. Tell them all about your ally.

You may wish to include these other exercises Kristine suggests
• write a song about your green ally
• write poems about your green ally
• if edible, eat your green ally as often as possible try your ally in tea form
• start some seeds of your green ally so you can watch them grow from a seedling into full life
• harvest your ally at all stages of growth
• sketch, draw, paint your ally at all stages of growth

I am going to choose violet (viola odorata) as my herbal ally. She is a herb I have been meaning to learn more about for a while and have not made time to do so. 2011 gives me the opportunity to rectify that omission.

Clearing the decks

2011-01-02T06:01:00.000-08:00

Now the madness of the holiday season is over, it’s a great joy to have a few quiet days on our own before work begins again. May I take this opportunity to wish all my readers a wonderful, herb-filled year!

As much as I love spending time with relatives, the stress of travelling half way across the country during bitter winter weather is very wearing and I’ve been grateful to have these days when we can relax and decide our own activities.
Chris is out with Sky Symphony today, flying kites over Bosworth Battlefield and planning their new routines for this year’s shows. It seemed an ideal time to finally clear my shelves of the remaining jars which still need decanting from last year’s harvest.

The elderberry elixirs I have left in the larder since Kiva Rose suggested she leaves hers intact until use and it’s so much less hassle that way. If I have given the elixir to others outside the family, then it is decanted into recycled bottles or dropper bottles. This year I even sent a sample up to Glasgow in an empty vanilla essence bottle as a surprise Christmas present for a friend. He was suitably impressed by the flavour!

I had not anticipated the variety of medicines I would be decanting. There were two elixirs – dog rose and red clover flowers – both collected from the farm and each surprisingly unique. I love the rose petal. It is not as strong as the red rose petal, but still sweet and enjoyable. The clover is not as sweet and has an almost bitter afternote as if to say, “I am different, notice me.”

I was really pleased with the litre of nettle root tincture which means there is plenty for Chris’ tonic for the rest of this year. It prompted me to make up his daily medicine. He gets a small dose of nettle root, saw palmetto and hawthorn most mornings, while mine is more a blood pressure and nervine mix. We finished the last batch at least a month ago and I’ve not made time to put the new ones together until today.

I love the smell of crampbark tincture and the two year old jar of rue I found hiding at the back of the shelf made me feel very reverential as I handled it. It was so much easier straining the marc through my new large seven inch sieve (a much valued Christmas gift!). This time I used muslin as an additional straining agent, bringing back strong childhood memories of washing the milking bucket, sieve and muslin after pasteurising each day’s milk from our housecow.

In October, I put up three jars of horsechestnut tincture after liquidising conkers with vodka. I don’t think I shall be using James Wong’s method again. I don’t think I squeezed any tincture at all from the largest jar, making the whole process a waste of time and effort. Next year, if I need any more tincture, I will collect the conkers in early August and slice them as before.

There were four vinegars sitting in the hot cupboard, each a wonderful reminder of summer’s final bounty. The colours of vinegars can be so much sharper than tinctures or elixirs. Sage is a glorious pink if the leaves are from my garden or crimson if gathered from my aunt’s plants in Condicote. The fresh motherwort was an earthy brown – probably from being left too long macerating – and both the dandelion leaf and mint were a clear green-tinged gold. The smell of the mint was a true delight!

Medicine making never truly stops during the winter. I still have two jars of fire cider vinegar infusing in the hot cupboard. They were made during the week before Christmas with the last of the fresh horseradish root my son dug for me in October. Chris had been taking last year’s concoction for his cold and I fell into one of my panics about not having enough. Being able to put up more of something makes me feel so much better! Just in case!

I’m looking forward to putting up some Seville orange bitter at the end of the month if I can source some more oranges from the market. They are such an invigorating start to a herbal new year!

December blog party: Adaptogens - A tale of Ashwagandha

2010-12-20T08:33:00.000-08:00

This post is part of the December UK Herbarium Blog Party, No time for stress, hosted by Brigitte at My Herb Corner.

If you had asked me two years ago to describe an adaptogen or name one of the plants which fell into that category, I would have looked at you blankly and shook my head. I may have heard the term, but it didn’t really mean anything to me. Then I ordered myself a copy of “Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina and Stress Relief” by David Winston and Steven Maimes and spent several weeks reading during my ten minute commute to work every morning.

Adaptogens are such incredible plants. Winston and Maimes describe them as “remarkable natural substance that help the body adapt to stress, support normal metabolic functions and help restore balance.

In 1968, Bekhmann and Dardymov gave adaptogens a formal definition. They said firstly, an adaptogen is nontoxic to the recipient. Secondly, it provides a non-specific response in the body – an increase in the power of resistance against multiple stressors including physical, chemical and biological agents. Thirdly, an adaptogen has a normalising influence on physiology, irrespective of the direction of change from physiological norms caused by the stressor.

They almost sound too good to be true.

Winston and Maimes provide a list of 21 plants classified as true adaptogens. The frustrating part is that none of them are UK natives. I suppose this isn’t surprising since the cultures which have studied adaptogens most closely are Ayuvedic and Chinese medicines, with the Soviet Union getting in on the act following the Second World War when they were looking to support their scientists to win the space race. Modern Chinese research was also to do with winning – but sporting achievements rather than the struggle for off-planetary supremacy.

I wasn’t sure I could grow any of the listed plants, since most of them thrive in hotter climates. I’d already tried American gingseng (panax quinquefolius) but it disappeared from the herb bed shortly after planting and I didn’t know what I was really looking for to keep an eye on it. Liquorice (Glycorrhiza glabra) was another short lived purchase, but since it’s a herb I feel I should learn more about, it may be something I experiment with a little more seriously in the future.

Two plants really did call to me. One was Rhodiola (Rodiola rosea) because I was curious to smell its root when mature and the other was Ashwagandha or winter cherry (withania somnifera). Everyone seemed to wax lyrical about it and Kiva Rose Hardin wrote a beautiful article about the plants she grows in her canyon. Despite the differences in our climates, I decided to see if ashwagandha was something I could make friends with.

Luckily Debs Cook was growing some ashwaganda plants from seed in the spring of 2009. She gave me two seedlings and I carefully planted them on the patio and watched their progress. It was a joyful experience watching the two plants grow large green leaves, then flower and produce vibrant green fruits which eventually turned a vivid scarlet as they ripened. I was so excited.

I picked the fruits, carefully drying and storing them in the kitchen drawer. I hoped the mature plants might overwinter, given our previous incredibly mild winters. Obviously the severe frosts and snow during 2009/2010 destroyed that hope, but I still had my seeds.

During one of the spring workshops, we carefully pulverised the ashwagandha fruits to reveal white seeds. Soil taken from molehills filled two seed trays and around 30 seeds were planted. Workshop attendees also took seeds home and I know at least one plant germinated successfully and grew.

I have to confess I am not a green fingered gardener. I do not provide seeds with heated trays or self watering systems. They are placed on the patio and left to the vagaries of the weather. I may water them if I remember.

The ashwagandha seeds appeared happy. Over twenty of them germinated and I took six of the largest plants to the farm where they grew into mature specimens. Unfortunately the lack of water and the early frosts meant they didn’t set fruit that I could see. I dug them up and replanted them in my parents’ greenhouse, but I don’t hold out much hope for their survival in the current weather conditions.

I kept twelve plants in large pots on the patio where they would get the most warmth. Two plants in the same position as last year’s plants turned very sickly. I think the cause might be the sudden appeared of a rogue mullein interloper in the pot. Don’t ask me how it got there. I know I should have removed it immediately but I didn’t. I love mullein and to suddenly have it appear in my garden was a real joy. Of course, next year, I shall probably discover it’s not mullein at all but false alkenet and then I shall be really unhappy!

General advice is to harvest ashwagandha roots after the first frost. I had enough plants, but I couldn’t bring myself to harvest them. I kept hoping one of the plants would set fruit, but none of them did. Then I decided to try and over-winter them. There really wasn’t any room in the house and I don’t have a greenhouse, so I placed them all in the garden shed and hoped for the best. I saw them for the first time yesterday when Chris dragged me out from cooking frangipanes to frolic in the powder snow. The snow was beautiful, but my ashwagandha were all frosted so I suspect I have lost them all.

There is something about ashwaganda I really like. I shall try growing them again next year and maybe this time I will harvest some roots and make my own tincture. My aim is to develop an understanding of the plant’s medicine and I am sure that if I have patience this is something achievable. For the time being they have already brought me great delight and sense of accomplishment brought about by the surprised faces of several herbalists when I showed them my plants.

If you are looking for some stress busting recipes at this challenging point in the year try these.
Kiva Rose’s Winter Cherry Nourishing Electuary
2 parts Ashwagandha
1/2 part Nettle Seed
1 part Tulsi (Holy Basil)
2 parts Elm
This makes a lovely moistening adrenal tonic very helpful in times of stress or depletion, providing energy while relaxing the nervous system and body. It’s fairly temperature neutral, and generally gentle enough for anyone.

Ananda Wislon’s Longevity Electuary
In an 8 oz jar, add:
3 tsp Ashwagandha and or Shatawari powder
3 tsp Spirulina powder
3 tsp Slippery Elm or Mallow powder
2 tsp Siberian Ginseng (Eluthero) powder
1 tsp Cardamom powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
Cover almost full with good local, raw honey
Add 1 tsp of Rose hydrosol or Rose elixir. Dried Elderberry powder is optional as well!
Slowly, to avoid the infamous "cloud poof", stir with a spoon until all the powders are smoothed into the honey. Label and store. Refrigeration isn't necessary.

The longevity electuary is intended to be used daily, eaten by the spoonful, used on toast, stirred in warm milk with ghee, or in yogurt or smoothies. Ananda said, “These herbs will provide you with stamina, clarity, physical and mental energy, good digestion, and strong mucous membranes. It is also a notorious aphrodisiac.”

Last chance to apply for a Springfield Sanctuary Apprenticeship

2010-12-04T06:17:00.000-08:00

The opportunity to apply to become a 2011 Springfield Sanctuary Apprentice will close on Friday, 17 December 2010.

The twelve month herbal apprenticeship starts in January 2011. You are offered the opportunity to learn more about growing, harvesting and working with herbs to improve personal and family health and wellbeing.

Outcomes: Year 1

By the end of 2011, the apprentice will have:

*improved knowledge and understanding of twenty personally chosen herbs.
*grown herbs from seeds, cuttings or divisions and taken note of their development using drawings or photography.
*shared in practical tasks to manage the Sanctuary herb beds.
*harvested flowers, aerial parts, berries and roots
*made teas, decoctions, macerations, syrups, infused oils, salves, tinctures, vinegars, flower essences and elixirs
*familiarised themselves with a variety of body processes such as respiration, digestion, circulation etc and looked at several herbs which can help to balance these processes.
*participated in an online email action learning group.
*completed tasks set by the mentor and fed back the results to the other apprentices
*begun to share knowledge, enthusiasm and herbal extractions with family and friends

Outcomes: Year 2 (for apprentices who began their apprenticeship in 2010 and wish to continue)

By the end of 2011, the apprentice will have:

*studied a further ten herbs or looked at the original herbs chosen in more depth
*considered further anatomical or emotional processes e.g. fertility, aging, grief
*considered constitutional elements/energetics from a western herbal medicine perspective
*consolidated and continued all the experiences engaged in during Year 1

Expectations:

Each apprentice is expected to:

*choose up to twenty herbs to study during the year
*attend at least six workshops throughout the year and to attend the Herb Festival held in September.
*complete the tasks set by the mentor within given timescales
*work within the Sanctuary herb beds – digging, weeding, planting, harvesting etc.
*keep a herbal diary and/or online blog detailing activities and learning
*evaluate their personal progress at the end of twelve months

Costs: There is no overall charge for the apprenticeship. Apprentices are expected to make a financial donation when attending workshops or the Herb Festival and to offer practical physical help at the Sanctuary. Anyone considering an apprenticeship should factor in personal costs such as time, transport, access to growing space and internet plus a degree of commitment to their studies and to the Sanctuary.

Note: This apprenticeship is for personal development only. Apprentices study at their own pace. The amount and depth of work is self directed. Guidance will be given on sources of information, but handouts covering all topics may not be available. There is no accreditation from an academic body, certificate of attendance or examination process. The apprenticeship will NOT enable anyone to set up in private practice as a medical herbalist.

Academic celebrations

2010-12-01T06:15:00.000-08:00

When you give birth, the last thing on your mind is the outcome of the child's education. As the years roll by you experience the first day at playgroup, first day of nursery or school with varying emotions. The transition between primary and secondary school is probably the most traumatic – as a parent you still have enormous responsibilities preparing, applying, managing entrance exams or SATS tests and then sorting uniform and equipment.

You support their interests and activities – providing a taxi service or, in our case, becoming a roadie, hiring venues and feeding band or cast members. Then comes the break. They go to university. You breathe a sigh of relief and relish the silence, supporting with finance and telephone counselling, but at least there is no active involvement with academic studies or writing essays (until the final dissertation when a plaintive voice asks, “Could you just write me a page on different kinds of eye diseases?”).

It has been such a long process, you don't believe it will actually finish. You plan retirement around how many more years of study you need to support. Then suddenly the day comes. It is all over. Degrees are attained and your heart bursts with pride.

We weren't expecting both degree ceremonies to occur in the same week for both remaining offspring, but they did. Despite freezing weather and snow for the final event, they were both glorious days full of smiles and laughter and hats thrown in the air.

Two of the three graduation ceremonies were held in cathedrals. Richard's in Durham with Bill Bryson as Chancellor, Kathryn's in Coventry. Stephen's was held in The Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, with Sir Michael Parkinson giving the final address and congratulations.

It is a wonderful feeling to know you have successfully piloted all three offspring through higher education.

Herbal Gifts

2010-12-01T04:19:00.000-08:00

I am way behind with my contribution towards the UK November blog party on making gifts with herbs. This was the theme of my November workshop and the Mercian Herb Group meeting, so I am posting some recipes we used then, with many thanks to Debs Cook for her contributions and tutelage.

Even though the ice and snow are upon us, if you have a store of dried herbs or access to another source, you can still make herbal gifts. Here are a few suggestions.

BODY CARE

Salt scrub
Ingredients:
1/2 cup oil.(118ml or 4fl oz) Use sweet almond, grapeseed or another light-textured massage oil such as an angelica, dandelion or rosemary infused oil . Don't use simple cooking oil from your larder.
1 cup fine sea salt. Baleine is a good choice. Don't use simple iodized table salt -- it's too harsh. If you have sensitive skin you can substitute sugar, which is gentler.
5-15 drops high quality essential oils. The essential oil you choose for your salt scrub depends on the result you want. Lavender is relaxing, lemongrass is refreshing and rosemary is stimulating. You can experiment and do your own blend.
Preparation:
Put the salt (or sugar) in a small bowl.
Add the oil, mixing well with a spoon or wooden stick. The texture should be moist enough to hold together, but not overly oily. You can adjust the amount of oil to achieve that texture.
Gently tap in the drops of essential oil and combine well. So now you're ready to use your home-made salt scrub -- once a week is plenty. This recipe should get you through three salt scrubs.

Rose Water (Gail Faith Edwards)
Pick blossoms on a sunny day when their scent is at its peak or use an amount of dried, scented rose petals or buds. Put into a stainless steel or enamel pot and cover with fresh spring or distilled water. Cover and slowly heat to just below a simmer. Turn the heat as low as it will go and continue heating for about ten minutes tightly covered. Turn off the heat and allow all to sit, covered, overnight. In the morning, strain the fragrant rose water off. Add a quarter of the volume in alcohol as a preservative. Bottle and keep in a cool dark place. Rose water can be splashed all over the body to tone and refresh. As a wash, it can help heal acne.

This recipe can also be made with dried or fresh elderflowers

Rose Petal Cleanser (Tammy Herring)
Fill a glass jar with dried or fresh rose petals and cover with distilled witchhazel (available from the chemist). Use a chopstick to stir the mixture to remove any air bubbles, then refill the jar so all petals are covered. If you leave the petals uncovered they will go brown within a couple of hours.

Seal the glass jar with a screwtop lid, label and date. Leave the jar to infuse in a cool, dark place for a couple of weeks. Strain and pour back into the original dark glass witchhazel bottles. You may find the scent from fresh rose petals is not strong or even non existent, so it might be worth adding some dried rose petals and re-infusing for two further weeks after you have strained the fresh rose petals. Apply to your face with soaked cotton wool pads.

This recipe can also be made with dried or fresh elderflowers

Herbal soap (Anna Kruger)
170g/6oz grated, unscented, uncoloured, very mild soap
120g/4oz dried or 4 handfuls of fresh herb (see below for skin type) simmered in 375ml (1-1.5cups) water in a covered pan and left overnight
1tsp essential oil
Put grated soap in the top of a double boiler saucepan (or a large bowl with a saucepan of boiling water underneath) and stir in herbal tea. Whisk vigorously until all soap has melted. Add essential oils. Pour into small, greased moulds or waxed paper cake cases and leave to cool Place these in a warm place for 6-8 weeks until dry. If making soap for sensitive skin replace 3oz soap with honey and add to mixture as soap is beginning to melt.

Herbs for different skin types
Normal to dry: chamomile, violet leaves, elderflower, parsley, borage, marshmallow leaves and root.
Oily: Lavender, marigold, yarrow, horsetail
To improve circulation: rosemary, nettle, fennel

Massage Oil
Make a double infused oil from suitable herbs
Deep muscle pain – goldenrod
Light muscle pain and breast tissue issues – dandelion
Sciatica – rosemary and St John’s wort
Arthritis – meadowsweet, ginger, solomon’s seal, plantain
Nerve pain – St John’s wort

The term, “double infused” means that you use the same amount of oil for two separate amounts of herb. This usually means dividing your herb harvest into two piles which you add to the oil at different times, the first amount being added at the beginning and the oil then being strained and the first portion removed at the end of the required time, then the strained oil is poured over the second portion which is subsequently heated.

If you are intending to use the infused oil as a massage oil or salve for children or frail elders, you may wish to undertake a single infusion for some highly aromatic herbs e.g. rosemary.

Moisturising salve
To make a simple salve, grate up some beeswax and add it to the hot infused oil, stirring continuously until it melts. (About 1oz beeswax to 8 fluid ozs of oil) Test on the back of a wooden spoon to see whether it is of a suitable consistency, then pour into small jars and seal. If you are not confident to do the spoon test, an easier way of checking is to drop a very small amount of oil plus melted wax into cold water in a small bowl or mug. The salve will immediately cool and you can rub it between your fingers to check the desired thickness.

The salve will thicken on cooling, usually from the bottom upwards if you pour into cold jars. It will usually be a paler colour than the original oil.

To make a moisturising salve use oils which have an affinity with the skin such as calendula and add violet leaf or marshmallow oil to add moisture. If you want the salve to have a strong scent, add 1-4 drops of your favourite essential oil per fluid oz of oil, but do not do this if the salve may be used by a young child.

You can experiment with adding honey or lanolin to your salve to give it extra softness.

Lip Balm
The easiest way to make a lip balm is to infuse dried calendula petals with 2/3rds cocoa butter melted with 1/3 sunflower oil. When poured into cold jars, the balm will keep solid at room temperature.

Rosebud Lips Balm
225ml (9floz) Calendua Oil
3 Tablespoons Jojoba Oil
45g (1½ oz) Dried Alkanet Root
30g (1oz) Beeswax
12 Drops Rose Essential Oil (optional)
Method - Gently heat both oils in the top of a double boiler for about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the alkanet root and steep for around 30 minutes, to extract the colour from the root.
Strain the root from the oils through a muslin cloth. Return the oils to the double boiler with the beeswax. Once this has melted, remove from the heat and add the rose essential oil drop by drop. Pour into small sterilised pots or jars. Allow to cool thoroughly before putting the lids on.

We first made this lip balm last February following inspiration from The Victorian Farm. Debs found the recipe and it has been really useful. I prefer to make the lip balm without essential oil because it makes my lips tingle. This time we used a combination of calendula and dandelion flower oil which made a lovely rich infusion.

Creams
Creams and ointments are made by emulsifying a mixture of infused oil and water. You can also make a cream by adding your own tincture and oil to a commercially prepared cream or ointment. Christopher Hedley’s basic recipe for a cream is
1oz base cream (eg Aqueous cream)
1 tsp infused oil (e.g. marigold or St John's wort)
2 tsp tincture (e.g. rose petal or comfrey)
4 drops of essential oil (e.g. lavender)
First add the infused oil to the base cream and stir until it is all absorbed. Then add the tincture and stir again, then add the drops of essential oil and stir again. Spoon into small jars with screw top lid and use.

PERFUMES AND SCENTS

Pomanders
Moths do not like cloves, so pomanders are the perfect, sweet-smelling preservative for drawers and wardrobes. Choose which citrus fruit you would like to make into a pomander – lime, lemon or orange. Put in a warm place to dry for 2-3 days. Place sticky tape around the centre of the fruit - one circle for lemon or lime, two for an orange. Using a thick darning or knitting needle, make a hole in the skin of the fruit and insert a whole clove. Make sure you cover the whole surface of the fruit. Remove sticky tape then cover the pomander with a mixture of equal portions of nutmeg, cinnamon and orris root powder. Place somewhere warm and dry for 2-3 weeks. The fruit will shrink so you may have to reinsert any cloves which have fallen out. Shake off excess powder and tie a ribbon around the fruit in the space left by the sticky tape.

Sleep pillows
Gather equal portions of dried lavender, hops and rosemary. Grind the rosemary to release scent. Place inside a small muslin bag and secure firmly. You can add a few drops of lavender essential oil if you wish before securing the bag. The muslin bag can be placed inside a cotton case if desired. Place this sleep bag either on or under the pillow to aid sleep. It can also be used when travelling to aid sleep in a strange bed.

Scent bags
Fill a small muslin or organza bag with your herb of choice – lavender (soothing), rose petals (uplifting), lemon balm and marjoram (soothing), mugwort (to aid dreaming), pennyroyal (to deter insects).

Autumn bounty

2010-10-15T05:30:00.000-07:00

Lying in bed this morning, I watched dark shapes fluttering earthwards in the breeze. The oak tree has begun to shed its leaves. Soon we will be awash in brown mulch and kept awake by acorns hitting the caravan or car roof!

The last few weeks have been a rush of gathering. Red rosehips and blackberries will soon be too ripe to pick and birds will have devoured all the elderberries.

As September departed in warm sunshine, I went foraging in the Friary field around the corner from my house. Everything was still damp from recent rain, so I left the bounty of nettle seed, but I found enough elderberries, haws, sloes and rosehips to make up a large jar of elderberry vinegar for Jacki and a delicious cordial. Since the latter is for enjoying rather than as a medicine, I didn't bother to evaporate it very much, which gave a larger yield.

Elderberry vinegar
Strip elderberries from stalks discarding any green ones and place in a glass jar. Cover with cider vinegar. Podge with a chopstick to remove air bubbles. Refill the jar with cider vinegar, seal, label and date. Keep in a warm dark place for three weeks then strain or use with the elderberries still in.

Elderberry honey
Place elderberries in a glass jar about 2/3 full. Cover with runny honey. Infuse for 4-6 weeks in a cool place watching carefully. Elderberries are covered with wild yeast and if kept in a warm place in too full a jar they can ferment and ooze over the side of the jar or even explode. Elderberries stain pink/purple, so should be wiped up immediately.

To make a delicious anti-viral oxymel, add 2tsp of elderberry vinegar to 2tsp elderberry honey in a mug and fill with boiling water. Otherwise, use the honey to sweeten other herbal drinks for an added anti-viral kick!

Spiced Hedgerow Cordial
An amount of hedgerow fruit – haws, sloes, rosehips, elderberries
1 inch of root ginger (grated)
1 nutmeg (grated)
2 large quills of cinnamon or cassia (whichever you have to hand)
6 cloves
Juice from one or more lemons
As many lbs of honey or sugar as you have pints of liquid remaining after evaporation

Strip the elderberries from their stalks using a fork. Remove any green elderberries. Wash remaining fruits if you think they need it. Place your hedgerow fruit in a large pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer with the lid on for about half an hour. Strain the liquid and push any juicy bits you can through the sieve. Discard the debris and wash the saucepan. Measure the liquid and put on a low heat to evaporate for a while, depending on how thick you want your cordial to be. When you are happy with the consistency, measure the liquid again and add 1lb sugar or 1lb honey to every pint of liquid. Heat very gently until the sugar/honey is dissolved. Add lemon juice to taste. Sterilise bottles in the oven for ten minutes on a low heat and sterilise the tops by putting them into a saucepan and boiling for ten minutes. Pour cordial into bottles, seal, label and date. To make the drink, add 1 tablespoon of cordial to a small cup/goblet of boiling water. Sip and enjoy.

I stole time last weekend to visit my parents and the Sanctuary. I really enjoyed searching for conkers in the empty pasture as light faded. The following day, my father wanted to dig up potatoes planted in the new bed, so while he dug, I gathered a last harvest of calendula petals and seeds, roses for white wine vinegar for cleaning, hops to tincture and New England aster to dry and display. Later, we picked rosehips and elderberries to dry and freeze.

I decided to use technology on the conkers this year instead of Chris and his hammer, so about thirty went into the grinder for an infused oil and the same amount into the liquidiser with some vodka to prepare a tincture. This is James Wong's method. It is a lot easier if you haven't managed to pick conkers in early August when they're still immature enough to slice, but it's going to be a pain to strain when it's ready. Luckily I have some butter muslin and will be able to squeeze! The oil came out a beautiful pale green. I shall be using it in a moisturising salve for my legs along with calendula and marshmallow leaf oils.

Like many people, our apple tree has been laden this year. The fruit is a flavourful cooker, but it's almost impossible to keep. The fruit starts rotting almost as soon as it hits the ground and some years on the tree as well! I haven't had time to pick all the apples on the tree, but I've been trying as much as I can to keep up with the windfalls.

It's a real bonus to sit on a sun-drenched bench and peel a basket of apples while honey bees cover the Michaelmas daises in the border. I bought my wicker gathering basket from Mellingey Mill Willow Craft Centre near Padstow over ten years ago. I love it. A basket of apples fills my largest 5 pint saucepan with apple slices which will then reduce by a third when cooked. I used to cook the apples into plain apple sauce with sugar, but this year I've been experimenting with a spiced apple sauce which we've been eating with Greek yoghurt for dessert.

Spiced apple sauce
Peel, core and slice cooking apples into a saucepan. Add half a grated nutmeg, 1 tsp powdered cinnamon and ½ teaspoon of powdered cloves. Add the minimum amount of water you can (I usually place the saucepan under the tap, turn it on and immediately off again). Place the now covered saucepan on the heat and bring to the boil slowly. Simmer until the apples are all soft stirring occasionally to ensure they don't stick or burn on the bottom. Leave to cool, then freeze or keep in the fridge.

Instead of spices, I've been experimenting with lemon juice, zest and honey replacing sugar. The first batch was too sharp for most tastes, but I'll try again soon.

I've also been cooking apple cakes using a family recipe from Germany. It's a really useful recipe if you have run out of eggs for a fruit or sponge cake or are entertaining vegan visitors.

Apple Cake
12 oz flour (½ plain and ½ wholemeal)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt
6oz margarine
6oz dark brown sugar
2oz walnuts (or mixed ground nuts)
10oz dates (or mixed dried fruits)
½ pint apples stewed without sugar
Prepare cake tin by greasing and lining with greaseproof paper. Heat oven to 180degrees C or Gas Mark 5. Sieve flour with bicarb and salt. Rub flour into margarine until it resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in sugar, nuts and mixed fruit. Add stewed apple and mix thoroughly. Pour into cake tin and place in the oven as quickly as possible. Cook for 1-1 ½ hours until a sharp knife or skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Last night was the October West Mercian Herb Group meeting. The subject was herbs for Halloween and I'd asked everyone to choose a herb and make something from it. Unfortunately it was a very select turnout with only four people, but we enjoyed tasting Judith's clove and ginger cookies and my apple and honey muffins and soul cakes.

The muffins and soul cakes are a useful double act to cook since one calls for egg whites and the other egg yolks. I found the recipes from the internet, but I've adapted them to suit what I had available.

Apple muffins
2 egg whites
240g (8 oz) flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
170ml (6 fl oz) milk
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons honey
110g (4 oz) chopped apples
Preheat oven to 190 C / Gas mark 5. Lightly grease one 12-cup muffin tin, or line with paper muffin cups. Lightly beat egg whites. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients thoroughly. Mix together milk, oil, honey with a whisk in another bowl until they emulsify then add chopped apples. Gently fold in egg whites to the wet mixture. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients. Fold together until just moistened. Batter will be lumpy. Fill greased muffin tins two-thirds full. Bake about 20 minutes until lightly browned.

The muffins have a delicate honey flavour. They seemed a little dry to me, although the others enjoyed them, so I might add whole eggs next time and see what happens.

Soul cakes
6ozs butter
6ozs sugar
12ozs plain flour, sifted
3 egg yolks
generous pinch (1tsp) of dried calendula petals
2 tsp mixed spice (powdered cinnamon/nutmeg/mace/cloves)
1 tsp allspice
3 tbsp currants
2 tsp milk
Crush the calendula petals in a pestle and mortar, add the milk and grind to combine. Sift together the flour and remaining spices into a bowl.
In the meantime, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat the egg yolks and add to the creamed mixture a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the sifted flour and spice mix and stir in the currants. Add the milk and calendula mixture and enough additional milk to form a soft dough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured surface and shape into flat cakes about 5 or 6cm in diameter. Transfer to a well-buttered baking tray and place in an oven pre-heated to 180°C and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until lightly golden. Allow to cool on the tray for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

I didn't add additional milk because I'd reduced the amount of flour from 20oz in the original recipe to 12oz as the former amount appeared somewhat excessive. I took a pinch of dough, rolled it into a ball between my hands and covered it in sugar before placing on the baking tray.

Only three of the three dozen soul cakes I made actually flattened into proper biscuit shaped, but the shape they retained makes them look something special, which is what you want with a soul cake which is made especially to remember and honour our beloved dead. Thankfully we still have two weeks until the end of the month, so there is still time for more foraging, cooking and enjoying the autumn bounty.

Learning more about herbs

2010-09-30T07:53:00.000-07:00

Many people want to learn more about herbs and there are many different ways of progressing both practical and theoretical knowledge. For those who wish to follow a degree course there are a number of academic institutions. Links can be found on the Herb Society education page.

Those looking for a more practical, self developmental approach to learning there are now various herbal apprenticeships being run in the UK. In the US, the apprenticeship movement has been flourishing for many years. Most of the respected herbal leaders such as Rosemary Gladstar, Susun Weed, Margi Flint, Gail Faith Edwards and Kiva Rose Hardin have been running practical or distance learning apprenticeships for many years. To my knowledge, this has not been available except on a very limited scale in the UK.

Anne McIntyre has been offering apprenticeships for several years and is looking to expand her placements. Anyone interested in learning with this wonderful teacher should contact Anne via her website

Sensory Herbcraft are offering their first herbal apprenticeships starting in September 2011. Their courses will be held in Cheshunt, Herfordshire and more details can be found on their website.

I am also offering apprenticeships beginning in January 2011. More details can be found here. If you are interested in discussing a place, please email me on sarah at headology dot co dot uk. If anyone knows of any other apprenticeships being offered in the UK, please let me know.

If you cannot commit to either a distance learning course or an apprenticeship, there are always local herb groups. More are being set up each year. Look in the Herbal Groups section on Herb Society website to find one near you or think about setting one up in your area.

Debs Cook and I founded the Mercian Herb Group which has now divided into an East and West Mercian Group. The East Mercian Group will be meeting in the Derby area and I am hoping we shall be holding meetings in Rugby, Leamington Spa and Birmingham for the West Mercian Group.

Celebrating Herbs Festival: Creating a dream

2010-09-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

How do you describe a dream coming true? This is what it feels like when I think back over the first Celebrating Herbs Festival at Springfield Sanctuary. It started as an idea last summer, but as the months progressed and wonderful people agreed to come and talk about herbs in a Cotswold field, the possibility suddenly became a reality.

We knew the weekend could not just include herbs. There needed to be other activities going on for those who might accompany the herb enthusiasts. Sky Symphony kite team kindly offered to come and perform their stunning displays of synchronised kite flying to music throughout the weekend, turning down two requests to fly elsewhere. David Heeks, a budding children's author from Solihull Writers Workshop agreed to tell stories and delighted everyone with his tales and songs. Nik Mohammed brought his Beginners archery setup and nearly everyone tried their luck at hitting the target.

I cannot thank the medical and horticultural herbalists enough for educating us with their chosen subjects. Anne McIntyre was truly wonderful, her calm and gentle presence exuding a wealth and depth of knowledge of her beloved herbs. She inspired us all to use the information she shared and discover more about the herbs she mentioned.

Unfortunately Zoe Hawes was unable to join us because of illness, but the extra time allowed people to go with Denise Fiddaman on a herbwalk around the Sanctuary before returning to the main marquee for a fascinating talk from Davina Wynne-Jones and Saskia Marjoram on the energetic properties of herbs. Davina brought with her some beautiful pictures of her own herb garden in Barnsley near Cirencester.

On Friday and Saturday evenings we enjoyed imprompu concerts performed by our three offspring – Kathryn, Richard and Stephen together with other festival goers. Dave Salmon from Sky Symphony offered some wonderful covers and compositions including my personal favourite, Susie's Lullaby, while Ian and Heather gave us some memorable folk songs and Johnny Cash numbers. Glynn Morgan had us in stitches on Saturday evening with his message from the Darleks and Janey recited a Spike Milligan poem.

The Head trio also entertained festival goers at lunchtime on Saturday and Sunday with a combination of jazz, blues and folk including a number of original songs composed by either Kathryn or Stephen..

Kristina Patmore and her partner, Cameron, transformed the oak glade beyond the summerhouse into a herbal dyeing arena. The hard spring water gave incredible deepness to colours achieved from various dyes. Amongst those Kristina used were onion skins, nettles, dyers greenweed, madder and woad. The wool she dyed had been pre-mordented with alum. She also experimented with two different dyes, achieving a beautiful shade of Lincoln Green on one sample.

Victoria Logue began the Sunday session, with a fascinating talk on herbs for bees followed by a demonstration of seed planting, which taught me a great deal. Two of the Sanctuary Apprentices, Jacki and Kaz described their herbal journey during the following session before we broke for kite displays and a shared lunch. Jenny Jones and Anne Chiotis completed our Sunday afternoon lectures with talks on the immune system and herbs for stress.

The weather proved wonderful all weekend despite a wet and murky start to Saturday morning. Once the sun came through everything dried up and stayed warm.

It is the joy on people's faces which will stay with me. One person said afterwards, “Spending the weekend there, the camping, the talks, the people, the view, was the best tonic I could possibly have had to set me up for the coming weeks.”

Everyone I spoke to talked about the wonderful time they were having, from the views outside, the awesome kite displays to the shared herbal learning. They asked if we would put on the festival next year. Originally we had been thinking of a bi-annual event, but this year was such a success, we shall try to do it again next year if we possibly can.

Hope you enjoy the photos alongside. Many thanks to Jacki for sharing her photos of the weekend.

New Sanctuary Poem

2010-09-08T04:21:00.000-07:00

Posted over at Mercian Muse

Five days to go!

2010-09-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

It doesn't seem possible over a year has gone by since I made the decision to hold the first "Celebrating Herbs" Festival in the Cotswolds. Now the field is mown where the marquees will be sited and people are camping, the marquees are awaiting erection in the barn and I think I've cooked enough food to feed the speakers and extended family over the weekend.

Chris and my father spent most of last weekend building a new seat around the oak tree near the dyeing area and moving one of the other benches to the new herb bed, so people can sit and admire the view or watch the demonstrations.

You can download the programme from the Springfield Sanctuary website. We've tried to include fun events for all the family, so you don't have to be besotted with herbs to attend and can find other things to do and enjoy.

Kathryn has been appointed musical director for the four impromptu concerts, which should include an eclectic range of music, stories and poetry plus anything else anyone brings along (juggling anyone?).

If you're at a loose end this weekend and fancy a trip to the countryside, come and join us!

Exciting news: Celebrating Herbs Festival 10-12 September

2010-07-28T02:01:00.000-07:00

Chris and I are putting the finishing touches to the Herb Festival which will take place on the Sanctuary fields from 7pm Friday, 10 September 2010 to 5pm Sunday 12 September. Our keynote speaker is Anne McIntyre. There will be other talks and demonstrations throughout the weekend on all aspects of herbs from medicine to dyeing. Chris' kite team, Sky Symphony, will be displaying twice on Saturday and Sunday. There will be a kite workshop and stories for children, along with beginners archery. Each evening we will gather for music and stories, so bring your notebook, instrument and voice! To see the provisional programme go here

More rushing around!

2010-07-21T12:31:00.001-07:00

After trips to Rotherham, Sheffield, Doncaster, Sandwell and Warrington over the past few weeks, we spent a wonderful weekend at the Festival at the Edge indulging in storytelling and folk singers. Monday was spent in London followed by two days at the Cruse conference held at the University of Warwick. Tomorrow we're off to Warwick Folk Festival to stay in the grounds of Stephen's old school and listen to lots of great singers, bands, morris sides and other amazing happenings. I shall still be working in my Birmingham office, but travelling to and from the caravan on Thursday, Friday and Monday.

Does such dashing around allow any time for herbs? Well, we had a glorious workshop on July 10th where we harvested nettle seed, white horehound, SJW, scullcap, lemon balm, sage, ox-eye daises, yarrow, meadowsweet, plantain and betony.

Since then I've put up some tinctures, made meadowsweet and plantain oils and given two herbal talks on roses (to the Mercian Herb Group) and summer herbs (to a residential home for older adults). The rain has reduced my picking to the odd sojourne with the garden SJW - adding to the oil infusing on the windowledge and a small jar of tincture tonight.

The ashwaghanda seedlings are maturing nicely in their pots. I know the online advice says they should be planted straight into the ground, but I dont' trust the slugs in my garden so I have ten plants in pots here and a further 6 in the Sanctuary main bed.

One of the interesting happenings this year has been the appearance of a strange root. I thought I'd inadvertantly dug up a marshmallow root, so I put it in a pot and forgot about it. When it started to grow in spring, it didn't look like anything I'd grown before, so I left it alone and watered it occassionally. It was really exciting when I realised that the root was actually butterfly weed or pleurisy root (Asclepias tuberosa). I first saw this plant growing in California two years ago and although I ordered two plants in two separate years, they'd both seemed to disappear. I'm really glad one has decided to re-appear and is flowering beautifully!

Summer is always a busy time, but soon we'll be off to Cornwall for a well-earned rest! Maybe then I'll have time to put together some new blog posts and prepare for the Herb Festival in September

If you're interested in collaborative poetry, check out my latest posting at Mercian Muse

The joys of harvest

2010-06-29T11:48:00.000-07:00

After complaining about the lack of time to wildcraft in my last posting, the plants have had the last laugh. Everywhere I look something is either blooming or making its green profusion known for gathering before the flowers bloom.

Harvest began in earnest on 17 June when I wandered around the Priory field picking elderflowers to make into elderflower cordial for the workshop at the farm on June 19th. The recipe can be found here.

Cotswold nettles gathered during my visit on 15 May for tincture and vinegar while Chris was flying kites at the Bidford on Avon Steam Faire, were ready to cut again to make a cold water maceration for workshop participants to drink. I suspect I covered the nettles and a few sprigs of red clover with a little too much water as the resulting infusion was lighter than last year although it did deepen in colour as I reached the bottom of the bowl.

During the workshop we gathered catmint, white horehound, white hyssop, lemon balm and sage which are drying laid out on the sofa of the Sanctuary summerhouse. After everyone left, I picked some beautiful yarrow which was flowering next to the greenhouse.

The plants outside the glass were bright pink while those inside were the usual white of the wild plant. I have no idea what makes the flower change colour. I know the plants are both wild, because they transported themselves to that spot and my parents have never grown cultivars in the garden. I can only think it is something to do with nutrients in the soil. The flowers of farm marjoram is deep pink, almost crimson, while the majoram in my garden on acid, clay soil is always very pale pink.

On the Sunday afternoon, before I left for home, my father helped me pick elderflowers and red clover from the field by the bungalow and I plucked a small handful of dog rose petals – just to feel that I hadn't totally missed out on their beauty. Their scent was glorious!

Once home, the elderflowers were transformed into an elderflower water and a new citrus tincture with the remainder of the harvest were put to dry. The dogrose petals made a new elixir and roses from the garden were added to the garden rose elixir, which has a definite rose scented “kick”.

I used the red clover blossoms which my parents had so carefully picked to make an elixir and tincture and put the whole aerial parts on the table in my garden summerhouse to dry for tea.

The star of all this profusion has to be St John's wort. The first two flowers appeared on midsummer's day and I've picked a bowlful of flowers most days since then. Two full 2lb jars of oil are infusing on the kitchen window sill, two similar jars of tincture sit in the larder - the first one has already turned an amazing shade of red! - and a small jar of honey is infusing next to the oil. I can't remember harevsting so much St John's wort in so little time any other year!

Sean Donohoe inspired me in his article on restoration following heat stroke to make some Lemon balm elixir last weekend . It was one of our hottest days and I spent most of the time sitting in the shade under the apple tree. I've already gathered enough for two jars of tincture and Sunday's harvest was enough for both the elixir and a further jar of tincture.

I can thoroughly recommend a soothing cup of yarrow, plantain, lemon juice and St John's wort honey tea. I made one for myself using leaves growing in between our patio flagstones following a visit to the dentist for a large filling last Friday. As I get older, I find such visits more and more traumatising and normally I am laid out for the rest of the night once the anaesthetic wears off. Maybe it was the skill of my new dentist, but I had absolutely no pain or suffering at all! I think my herbal tea helped too!

So, what are the rest of you out there in the herbal world doing with your herbs at the moment? Are the plants flowering earlier or later than usual? Are they more or less prolific or do you feel the season is moving as it should?

Wildcraft frustration

2010-06-14T10:53:00.000-07:00

There are times I envy those who dedicate their entire lives to herbs; who do not face the frustration of other commitments which eat up time and opportunity to respond as seasonal harvests approach.

My first panic attack occurs when pink-tinged hawthorn blossoms appear in hedges. Will there be time to seek out flowers and leaves to make tinctures or flavoured brandy or dry for teas? Things have been easier since we allowed part of our hedge to grow into unruly trees in our back garden. Each May sees them covered with pure white flowers and a small branch makes enough tincture to keep me in medicine for over twelve months.

It only takes half an hour to sit in sunshine and strip everything from the wood into two large glass jars to be covered in vodka and left to mature on the bottom shelf of the larder. This May I wandered into the garden one Sunday morning, still dressed in nightclothes to commune with my hawthorn before getting dressed and leaving to deliver training in Newcastle. Unfortunately we were too early for rose petals below the Angel of the North and no spare time to explore suitable hedgerows for anything else.

At the beginning of June we travelled to Exmouth for the annual kite flying festival. All the way down the M5, I caught tantalising glimpses of white elderflowers, waving ox-eye daisies and pink dog roses, but you can’t stop on a motorway and there are never any places to park a caravan along a quieter road, so I have learned not to remark on any abundance during a journey.

It’s the same if I pass a farm shop, craft market or pottery while we're on holiday. If I mention them to the driver, he will affect that seasonal disorder, “holiday deafness” which means he won’t affect to have heard me until we are at least two miles away from the facility when he will say, “Oh, did you want me to stop?” Of course if there is anything signposted for steam trains, kites, golf or chocolate factories, he will immediately stop the car, turn around and go back! (Before you ask, I’m not really interested in chocolate!)

At least in Exmouth, I knew I could gather some wild fennel and harvested yarrow and burdock leaves to tincture as well. There were no signs of elder trees on the estuary and I’d forgotten the bush overlooking the car park until we drove away, but I wouldn’t really have wanted to gather there.

Last Thursday saw me on a journey from London to Taunton gazing out of a train window at all the beautiful elder trees and dog rose bushes. I even noticed the deeper pink of briar rose bushes. At one point a huge buzzard rose up over a field with a freshly plucked rabbit in its talons! A wonderful reminder of the wild, secret life which continues as we pass by.

My plan was to scour our caravan site near Dunster for elderflowers and rose petals the following day while we prepared for my sister in law’s medieval wedding in the Tenants Hall at Dunster Castle on Saturday. I’d forgotten that most large caravan sites are heavily manicured - not an unruly hedge in sight and no sign of either an elder tree or a rose bush – very frustrating!

It didn’t help that Chris could only think about football and the wedding, so I was left to wander around gathering ivy from oak trees and willow fronds from beside the stream to make myself a circlet to go with my medieval costume for the evening banquet.

Now I will be shut up in my office for a week with piano pupils to teach after work and no time to explore the highways and byways until next weekend. Waiting for the train this morning, the elder tree in the hedge looked decidedly green after all the recent rain, so I can only hope there will be some blossoms left to harvest at the farm next weekend!

June Blog Parties - Calls for submissions

2010-06-02T03:09:00.000-07:00

I don't know where May went to. Well, I do - a lot of it was spent on the M1 travelling "up north". The two weeks we were away seemed to stretch into at least a month of events and experiences. I missed both blog parties, which was upsetting as I had worked out what I wanted to write for both, but had no time or energy to transfer the words from my head onto the computer. Maybe those of you who read this blog could let me know if you would like to read my thoughts on speedwell and "Keeping yourself alive: sexuality in maturity". If so, I might post them later in the year.

The next UK Herbarium blog party will be hosted by Lucinda over at Whispering Earth. Her chosen subject is “Leaf and Blossom, Bark and Berry: My Favourite Tree Medicines“. Lucinda is flexible as to her definition of ‘tree’and shrubs such as crampbark and blackberry can be included. This is actually a good time to talk about crampbark because it is probably the only bark collected while the tree is flowering, usually, bark is harvested when trees are asleep.

If you haven’t joined the UK blog party before but would like to it’s easy; write a piece and add it to your blog and send Lucinda the link before the 20th June and she’ll add it to the list on her blog on the 20th. If you don’t have your own blog, if you send your post to Debs Cook as a word document to debs at herbal dash haven dot co dot uk. She will then add it as a guest post to the UK Herbarium blog.

The Herbwifery Forum International blog party for June is on the subject of "Beating the heat of summer" and will be hosted by Kristine Brown on her blog Dancing in a field of Tansy I might have trouble with this subject as I can't remember the last time we had a hot summer!

A fairy tale

2010-05-11T03:22:00.000-07:00

Some of the folk over at Down to Earth Forum have been discussing anxiety - when it occurs and what can be helpful in managing the emotion. I asked if they knew the story of the soldier, the inn and the axe. It was one told me by my mother when I was a child - the moral being that it is never worth worrying about something which might never happen. Some people asked to be told the story, so I have written my own version from what I can remember and have posted it here.

April blog party: Herbs for aches and pains

2010-05-05T08:32:00.000-07:00

This post is a belated addition to the April UK Herbarium blog party - better late than never!

It took me years to appreciate the subtleties of pain. My first insight came from discussing different methods of pain control during labour with an anaesthesiologist as part of a year long study of parentcraft classes offered by our local community midwifery services. We talked about relaxation techniques, drugs, tens machines and an innovative offering of acupuncture.

I knew about gas and air – it was my only pain relieve when my three children were born. Later I learned that pethidine was also a common form of pain relief offered at accident scenes and in ambulances with the dangers of addiction. Individuals would be blacklisted by the service if they appeared to be asking for the drug for very minor incidents.

Later, I became involved with facilitating patient feedback from a pain clinic. Once more there was a hierarchy of distraction, relaxation and acupuncture before the drugs and nerve blocks were offered. It is interesting that my sister has gained great benefit from the acupuncture offered at her local pain clinic in Derby, something she wasn’t expecting when it was first offered!

Some years ago I attended a lecture on pain management from the medical director of our local hospice when I started to become involved in the development of end of life services. He talked about the two different pain trees – aspirin and paracetamol /opiate derivatives and the importance of understanding the source of the pain before offering something to help the individual cope.

He also stressed the involvement of emotional and spiritual aspects to pain – something you don’t expect to hear about in a post-graduate lecture theatre – but which hospice doctors are often adept in discovering and helping with because they take time to talk to their patients and are not afraid to discuss the most difficult subjects. Even more importantly, they take time to listen.

It really should come as no surprise to learn we hold emotional pain within different areas of our bodies. This is very evident from research done on back pain. I remember a talk from a skilled osteopath, who told the story of a lady who came to him with chronic back problems. As he worked on her back, she told him how unhappy she had become since her husband retired. Their time together was nothing like she imagined it would be and his invasion of what had been her personal space and activities because he no longer had anything else to do, was proving intolerable.

Once she identified her “real problem”, her back pain disappeared, helped not only by the osteopath’s skills but his ability to listen and support her in talking about her situation.

Aches and pains should never be ignored. They are messages from the body to tell us something is happening or needs to happen. Hopefully those messages allow us to act before pain becomes so intense we lose the ability to function. Everyone is different. Everyone responds to pain in a different way.

Having observed the difference in response to pain in my family and Chris’ family, I have come to the conclusion some of it is neurological – some people’s nerves are closer to the surface and are more vulnerable – and some is learned behaviour. It is much easier to deal with pain with a calm demeanour rather than rushing around shrieking as if the world were ending!

So where do herbs come in to all this?

As always, herbs can be fantastic allies within a regime to support the whole person. Where aches and pains are concerned I would actually extend the whole person concept to the whole family. Being emotionally attached to someone in pain can be the most difficult thing anyone has to endure. You cannot bear their pain for them, however much you wish to.

The guilt and concern of being pain free when someone else is hurting also needs to be addressed and supported. Nervines can be helpful in this situation – chamomile, lemon balm, motherwort, skullcap and even St John’s wort as either teas or tinctures can be helpful in stressful situations. Remember that children are able to cope much better with either their physical or emotional pain if the person who cares for them is perceived to be strong.

Pain often comes from muscle tension or spasms. Anything which eases the tension either through warmth, relaxation or massage can be extremely helpful. No household should be without a hot water bottle and/or a wheat pillow which can be heated and laid over the affected part.

Fomentations and poultices can also be used in the same manner – chamomile, mustard, horseradish, ginger – always remembering to check the area regularly to prevent skin blistering.

Many herbs can provide relief when administered in a soothing massage oil or salve.

Dandelion flower oil is useful for a light muscle massage. Last year I went to give a herb talk at a sheltered housing complex. One of the women asked if I had anything for the pain in her shoulder. The only oil I’d taken with me was dandelion flower, so I gave her the salve and told her to rub it in and see what happened. She reported the pain eased considerably.

Rosemary is a favourite for soothing back massages. A German friend of mine is a professional oboist. His orchestra pit is very cramped as it is almost underneath the stage and he has to hold the same position for long periods whilst he is playing. He suffers with severe back aches and pains which have been greatly helped by his wife massaging him with rosemary oil. I made them a selection of St John’s wort, angelica and rosemary oils to take home with them one year and before we met the following year, they requested another batch of rosemary oil!

Golden rod infused oil can be another help in deep muscle massage.

Where pain has a nerve component such as sciatica, St John’s wort and rosemary oil blended together can bring relief. If there is also an inflammatory element, St John’s wort and meadowsweet can bring relief.

Pain from inflammation also needs to be treated internally. I’ve found plantain, calendula and turmeric to be especially helpful here. Sage and elderflower can often be used for their cooling effects.

Where muscles are actually spasming, crampbark can be helpful. When dealing with period pains, Howie Brounstein pointed out that menstrual pain is a bit like having bitters in our diet - you want to know our abdominal muscles are working at maximum capacity to ensure they are removing the womb lining in the most efficient way. To remove the pain entirely, to lose any efficacy of their function is actually counter productive.

If you do suffer with monthly or occasional problems, I would suggest reading the relevant chapters of Carol Wood's book, "The Woman's Guide to Herbal Medicine" which is available online. Her chapter on menstrual problems is very comprehensive, giving ideas for dietary changes, exercises and herbal supplements which can help with PMT and menstrual pain. She suggests cutting out wheat and wheat products for a month if you have a tendency towards bloating and says that severe pain can sometimes be cause by lack of calcium which can be helped with calcium supplements.

If the muscle spasms are in your legs, then crampbark tincture and magnesium supplements can be helpful. If the spasms could be of a nervous origin, you may want to try a gentle nervine. A friend of mine was suffering with spasms in her upper abdominal muscles recently. She came to one of the talks I was giving for the Mercian Herb Group where various tinctures were handed round for people to try. She liked the motherwort tincture so much, I gave her the bottle to take home with her and she told me recently the spasms are much diminished.

Pain can also come from joint damage or disintegration. Matthew Wood and Jim Macdonald have been doing a lot of work with using mullein root for straitening the spine and solomon’s seal for supporting the regeneration of mucous membranes and cartilage around joints. You can find Jim’s excellent discussion papers on the two herbs here

During the February workshop, one of the participants created a salve for her frozen shoulder with Solomon’s seal root, plantain and St John’s wort oil. She emailed me later in the week to say she had used it and been able to sleep without pain for the first time for weeks.

One of my apprentices also created an arthritis salve during the previous year’s salve workshop. He used plantain, ginger, SJW and meadowsweet. He gave it to his father for the arthritis in his hands. His father reported the salve had been the most effective pain-resolver he had ever used. His mother in law also tried it and found it helped her arthritis as well.

Children can also suffer joint pain. Most parents will be woken in the night at some stage of their child’s development by screams relating to “my knees hurt”. In my pre-herbal days, I soon learned that wrapping the offending joint in firm bandages was just as effective as a dose of Calpol and today I would also massage with St John’s wort oil. Some children also benefit from physiotherapy to help them stretch their limbs, especially if they have excessive “growth spurts”.

This has been a long post, but aches and pains are a complex area of study. I haven’t mentioned using Californian poppy or our own field poppy which will soon be gracing the fields. I have not used them yet, but maybe, one day, I shall have stories to share about these plants.

In conclusion, the next time you find yourself or your loved one in pain, it may be helpful to answer the following questions.
How did this pain arise?
Will it feel better if I rub it, warm it or cool it?
Will it feel better if I gently stretch or move around?
Who might be my herbal ally at this point in time?
How can I help myself relax/rest?
And when the pain is diminished, ask yourself what you have learned!

Update since Spain

2010-05-04T08:56:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe it is only two weeks since we returned home from Spain. The physical exhaustion of 32 hours in one position with little sleep really took its toll both physically and mentally. There seemed to be no time to recover before we were having to cope with various family stressors coupled with another weekend away at the farm.

The herb workshop was lovely and you will see some photos on the right of the blog. Everyone had fun. We planted lots of herbs and seeds and Chris even managed to give most of the summerhouse a new coat of preservative.

Daffodils were fading fast in the glorious, warm sunshine, but the whole Sanctuary was alive with blues, whites and yellows from forgetmenots, ground ivy, dandelions and creeping comfrey.

Even though I was exhausted, the supper party for my uncle and aunt’s golden wedding was great fun. I sat next to an Egyptologist from Oxford University and spent most of the time quizzing him about his lifelong research – Egyptian methods of preparing the soul for the afterlife. One of his students has just completed a PhD on Egyptian interpretations of dreams. I would be fascinated to read it and compare their interpretations to those of Freud and other writers.

Sitting opposite me was an expert on orchids and she has agreed to identify the new orchid which appeared in the field this time last year.

It would be hoped that a Bank Holiday signifies a time of rest and relaxation – maybe with a few hours spent pottering in the garden or sowing vegetable seeds. As always, the forecast was grim. It was to be expected temperatures would return to freezing since blackthorn blossom was in such profusion in the hedgerows!

Chris spent most of Saturday creating a portable framework to carry the backdrop for Kathryn’s musical, The Girl with the Crystal Heart, which is being performed in the Dovehouse Theatre at Langley School tonight and tomorrow night. My job, besides providing the embroidery prop, was to feed the cast and extras during the Sunday dress rehearsal and on performance days.

So Bank Holiday Saturday was spent picking nettles, garlic mustard and sorrel from the garden and turning them into nettle pesto and nettle and sorrel soup. Henriette Kress asked for the recipes when I mentioned them on Facebook, so here they are.

Nettle pesto
4oz pine nuts
4 oz grated parmesan cheese
2 crushed garlic cloves
Leaves and flowers from six garlic mustard plants
Enough nettle leaves to fill a 1 pint saucepan
8 fl oz extra virgin olive oil.
A handful of fresh basil leaves
Blanch nettles and garlic mustard leaves for one minute in boiling water. Drain. Transfer leaves, pine nuts, cheese and garlic cloves to liquidiser and keep adding olive oil until the mixture blends easily. The original recipe calls for about 4 oz of olive oil, but my leaves were in such a compact block, I had to use loads of oil. This made 2 jars of pesto and tastes really good.

Nettle and sorrel soup
4/5 pints rich chicken stock made by boiling a chicken carcass for 4 hours with 2 tablespoons winter savory vinegar, 2 dried bay leaves, 5 peppercorns, a sliced onion and 3 sticks sliced celery. When using stock, discard herbs and chicken bones but retain vegetables for the soup.
½ basket of nettle leaves removed from their stalks
2 large handfuls of fresh sorrel (I gathered most of my plant). You could use less and cook for less time than I did.
2 peeled and sliced carrots and potatoes.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Add fresh ingredients to the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are just soft. Blend, check seasoning and serve with fresh bread topped with pesto!

Sunday I made two and a half loaves of sandwiches for the thespians, chicken a la king, flapjack, ten pints of steak and kidney stew and a vegetarian curry.

Bank holiday Monday, cooking completed, I made double infused oils with the rosemary and thyme collected in Spain. I also cleared the backlog of tinctures still left in the larder – skullcap, dandelion leaves, dandelion roots, Jim Macdonald’s wonderful bitter!, an opal fruits tincture, citric bitter and a forgotten bergamot elixir. Perhaps now I will have room to make some more!

Guest blog post: Cleavers

2010-04-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

Today's guest blogpost is by Jacki, another of my apprentices. She tells the story of her discovery of cleavers

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Until a few weeks ago I’d never even heard of Cleavers (Galium aparine)! I hadn’t included it as one of my herbs to study as part of the apprenticeship with Sarah. I guess I couldn’t have really if I’d never heard of it! I’ve become more aware of it and how it could be useful to me. Recently, I started asking questions and researching it and, as promised, below is the outcome.

I do recall it growing, at the bottom of my garden, sometimes completely covering the old fencing by the end of summer. Since the new fencing was erected I don’t see it anymore. I think it has ended up in my neighbour’s garden. I wonder if I could ask for it back! I doubt it still exists to be honest; she is very handy with the weedkiller spray.

I can’t remember what first drew my attention to it more recently. I’m thinking perhaps I was just browsing in a book and one of the alternative names given to it caught my eye. Afterall, who wouldn’t be curious about a name like ‘sticky willy?!

It has many other names: Goosegrass, Barweed, Catchweed, Cleavers, Cleavers Goosegrass, Cleever, Clivers, Eriffe, Goosebill, Goosegrass, Grateron, Grip Grass, Hayriffe, Hayruff, Hedge Clivers, Hedgeheriff, Loveman, Mutton Chops, Robin-run-in-the-Grass, Scratweed, to name a few.

It’s found in Australia, Britain, China, Europe, Iraq, Mexico, Turkey and the US. It grows anywhere but prefers a loose moist soil in partial shade. It will reproduce easily and can be invasive (really!). Although the origin is debatable Angela Paine has included it in her book exclusively about Celtic Herbs.

It uses little hooked bristles on the stems and leaves to attach itself to objects and climb its way upwards. I remember looking at it one year and feeling the fuzzy roughness.

The leaves are narrow, spear-shaped and occur in rounds of six to eight leaves, at intervals, along the stem. Flowers bloom April thru til September. They are white and star-like, growing on a separate stem rising from the same point as the leaves. The seeds are contained in little round balls, covered with hooked bristles that attach themselves to everything and anything that brushes passed them, which ensures dispersal of the seeds.

It is edible raw. I have a friend who has started cutting it up and putting it on her porridge in the morning...but I’ve always thought her rather strange! It can be used as a pot-herb (which my online dictionary tells me means, any plant having leaves, flowers, stems, etc., that are used in cooking for seasoning and flavouring or are eaten as a vegetable) or it can be added to soups. I have a lovely recipe for a kind of pastry-less quiche. I often make it when I have a glut of eggs. It is great warm but can be sliced and eaten cold. It contains, butternut squash (or is it sweet potato?), red onions, eggs, spinach and is topped with feta cheese before baking. I would like to try substituting the spinach for cleavers one day.

I read somewhere (?) that using the plant as a vegetable has a slimming effect on the body but there wasn’t any further explanation. Perhaps it is how it helps the elimination process that accounts for this but I’m unsure. Does anybody have any further information?

Several sources quote Cleaver seeds as a good coffee substitute. It simply needs to be dried and lightly roasted and supposedly has much the same flavour as coffee. I find it quite surprising that this isn’t better known. I have every intention of collecting the seeds and will, hopefully, be trying it out on people...so beware! I thought a good way of accumulating a large enough supply would be to simply send the dogs off through the undergrowth because they will come back covered in them whether I want them to or not. For some reason Sarah didn’t seem to think this would be the best way to harvest the seed!

Medicinally it is used both internally and externally in the treatment of a wide range of ailments.

A quick inventory: it is said to be alterative (gradually induces a change, tending to cure or restore to health), anti-inflammatory, antiphlogistic (counteracting inflammation), aperients (purgative), astringent, depurative (promotes elimination via natural channels of the body), diaphoretic (inducing perspiration), diuretic, febrifuge (lowers body temperature to prevent or alleviate fever), tonic and vulnerary (wound healing).

(Please forgive my need for the definition of certain words but I had to go back to my dictionary to clarify some of the meanings)

The fresh plant or juice is used as a medicinal poultice for wounds or ulcers. Other skin problems such as seborrhoea (greasy, oily), eczema and psoriasis will benefit from using it externally on the affected area. A ‘tea’ can be made for this by placing one teaspoon (I’m guessing this means dried) of cleavers in a cup of boiling water and allowing the mixture to steep for at least thirty minutes. Use it to wash the skin when it has cooled. It is a good hair tonic and can help alleviate dandruff.

Cleavers is an excellent herb for the urinary system. It increases the amount of toxicity eliminated by the kidneys and can help soothe cystitis.

As a good cleansing herb it will assist liver problems. It will help clear the liver of toxins. Cleavers is often used to detoxify after long periods of using medications that damage the body. It is a general detoxifying agent in serious illnesses such as cancer. It is used particularly for cancer involving the lymphatic system.

Cleavers stimulate the lymphatic system and relieves swollen lymph glands. The lymphatic system is responsible for eliminating the toxins and waste products that accumulate in the body. If the system is not functioning properly the removal of the toxins can become sluggish and impaired. Too much toxicity and the lymphatic system can actually become damaged itself.

Its detoxifying effect can help rheumatoid arthritis and gout. I think I also saw some information about cleavers being useful for high blood pressure but I seem to have lost that somewhere along the way.

An infusion of the herb has shown to benefit in the treatment of glandular fever, tonsillitis and hepatitis.

Now for the science bit! I’m only copying this bit in case somebody thinks it’s useful, it’s all a bit over my head at the moment (even with the help of a dictionary). The plant contains organic acids, flavonoids, tannins, fatty acids, glycoside asperuloside, gallotannic acid and citric acid. It also contains the constituent asperuloside, a substance that is converted into prostaglandins by the body. Prostaglandins are hormone-like compounds that stimulate the uterus and affect blood vessels.

A medicinal tea is simply: 3 heaped tablespoons of dried or fresh herb to a pint of boiling water. Allow to stand for 10 minutes and when cool take mouthful doses throughout the day.

Another recipe I found is: Place one teaspoon cleavers and one teaspoon uva ursi in a cup of boiling water and allow the mixture to steep for thirty minutes then drain. Add honey to sweeten if the tea is too bitter for your taste.

Just for interest I’m also listing some of the other uses I found for it while I was doing this research:

· Several Native American tribes used an infusion of the plant for gonorrhoea.

· It has been used as a love medicine by one North American tribe. An infusion of the plant was used as a bath by women to be successful in love.

· Gerard writes of Clivers as a marvellous remedy for the bites of snakes, spiders and all venomous creatures (one advantage living in England – no seriously venomous critters around).

· It provides food for the larvae of many butterfly species.

· A red dye is obtained from a decoction of the root.

· A thick matt of the stems, when used as a sieve for filtering milk, was said to give healing properties to the milk and is still used in Sweden for that purpose.

My particular interest is twofold. Firstly, I have a cat, Princess Icky Poo, she has kidney disease and also often gets cystitis. Damage to the kidneys is irreversible and progressive so I’m really interested in anything that will help with the management of the problem. I chopped some fresh leaves very finely and added them to her usual wet food. I was delighted when later I examined the bowl to discover almost all the leaves were gone. Incidentally, I also regularly give her parsley the same way.

Before anybody tells me off, I did check it was OK to give her cleavers before including them in her meal. It would seem that I’m not the first to make the connection. Gregory Tilford in his book, Herbs for Pets, states that, ‘cleavers is a safe long-term aid in the treatment of feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD), and the herb may also be useful for chronic low-grade kidney inflammation’.

Oh and did I mention that the dogs, rabbit, chickens and parrots are all having some too?!

The second reason for my interest is more personal, I want to use it for its detoxifying properties. I may include other herbs at a later date but firstly I’m just going to use cleavers so I can better monitor the result.

I started to realise, that if I’m going to use the herb over a significant amount of time, I could have a problem. I am going to need to store it. An easy way to do this would be making a tincture using a reliable method but I don’t want to work using alcohol so that’s when I started to get really confused. Although some sources suggest drying, others seem to think that it is not a good idea because it can lose too much of its potency by the drying process. It sounds simple enough to dry the herb but how would I know if it lost its worth? It’s annoying because I’m sure you can actually buy cleavers as a dried powder.

Juicing seemed to be the next suggestion. What a palaver, I thought but apparently not according to some. Note to self, don’t bother re-decorating the kitchin before attempting this. Actually, upstairs I have a juicer. I bought it a couple of years ago (literally) for my daughter but as it is still upstairs, unopened and unused I might just claim it back for myself. Having extracted the juice it can be frozen. One idea is to freeze it in ice cube trays. Once frozen, they can be popped into a tightly sealed polybag for storing.

The next problem seems to be collecting it. It’s more an issue of when rather than how. I think even I can master the gathering process! Apparently, cleavers has a very short life cycle and is best harvested from the beginning to the middle of its flowering period, which seems to mean that it can only be harvested for about a week! Do I really have to be monitoring the parks and canals daily waiting for just the right moment to go collecting my stash? Other information suggests that it needs gathering before it flowers. This seems a lot simpler information and makes much more sense, to me, the worth of the plant will go into the flowering process. It also gets tougher with age.

Incidentally, I have just seen mentioned that I could make a cleavers vinegar. I don’t think Princess Icky Poo will be that impressed but it will be good for me. I wonder what it would taste like in honey.

I’m looking for recipes to try out now. I want to find and try as many as possible.

Most of my work thus far is mainly theory as I explored this worthwhile ally. I guess what I have really shared is my investigation and decision making process. I will need to update it at some point to including my successes, failures and conclusions.

The best bit is I also discovered that much more scientific research is being done on the plant and it is of great interest to pharmaceutical companies. Do you think they will contact me if they need any help?!

Postscript. I have been experimenting with the recipe from Brigette http://www.myherbcorner.com/wiki/index.php?title=Mac_%26_cheese_%26_Onion_weeds

The truth is I saw the recipe and instantly changed it (typical). I exchanged the macaroni for wholewheat pasta and because I don’t know what onion weed is I use an onion and then put in whatever else I want (e.g. cleavers, nettle). It’s a good way to ‘hide’ the herb! It’s really simple and taste lovely.

I’m looking forward to trying it using ‘jack by the hedge’ (garlic mustard) but haven’t found any near where I live yet.

References:

Gregory L. Tilford, Herbs for Pets (2001)

David Conway, The Magic of Herbs (1973)

Richard Mabey, The New Age Herbalist (1988)

M Grieve (Mrs), A Modern Herbal (1931)

Angela Paine, The Healing Power of Celtic Herbs (2006)

Annies Remedies: http://www.anniesremedy.com/remedy_use145.php

Deb Jackson & Karen Bergeron: http://www.altnature.com/gallery/cleavers.htm

Michael Vertolli: http://www.vitalitymagazine.com/cleavers

Brigitte Myherbcorner: http://www.myherbcorner.com/blog/?p=2522

April UK Blog party: Herbs for aches and pains

2010-04-20T12:32:00.000-07:00

April's more clement weather sees most of us out working with plants in whichever way we can. Increased activity can often bring aches and pains to areas we haven't used in a while. Here are some fascinating articles for this month's blog party. Thank you to everyone who has participated this month. My article will be a little late as I'm recovering from a 32 hour coach journey through Spain and France to get home after our flights were cancelled due to the Icelandic volanic eruption. I know I shall be trying out new recipes to help with my aches and pains!

Brigitte offers some helpful advice on preventing aches as well as recipes to treat them if they do occur

Debs shared some exciting recipes for bath soak, salve and linament in her article here

Elizabeth has been studying sweet marjoram for her contribution to the blog party and has found new ways to help aches.

Lucinda reminds us we can never lump any kind of malaise into one "idea", but need to discover which herb best helps which kind of condition.

My contribution covers my experience of learning about different pains and their controls and how herbs can be helpful.