Planning for the future

My blog has been quiet for a long time. With everything going on in my life it was hard to find the energy and enthusiasm to create new articles of interest to both me and my readership.

The pandemic affected everyone. Lockdown should have meant less responsibilities, less travelling around the country but it didn’t. We survived 2020 with all our families intact and new friendships forged through building our local community. 2021 was a different matter. We lost seven people dear to us, including my oldest friend, who spent her life fighting for the rights of asylum seekers.

My father-in-law also left us at the age of 94 after a short illness in January 2021. His death meant we had to clear his home in Surrey after a lifetime of living and travelling around the world. We sold the house in October but still have a number of items filling our house and a lock-up waiting for attention.

My father was slowly deteriorating over the two years and needed more care, mostly provided by my sister and myself plus three local carers. Staying at the farm for three days out of every fortnight plus extra visits during hospital appointments or emergencies ate into our time and energies.

My 88-year-old uncle left us in February this year and my father, now 93, followed him in July as the hay was being harvested in the fields around him. The world has changed forever and currently we are stuck in limbo until probate has been completed.

As if that weren’t enough, we also suffered a serious burglary at our house whilst we were away on holiday in Cornwall, four days after my father’s funeral. The added stress has not helped anything.

However, on the bright side, we envisage the Sanctuary staying with us for the foreseeable future. This year’s festival was small but enjoyable and my arm was twisted to begin the apprenticeship again next January. More details can be found on the apprenticeship page of this blog

Herbs have continued to be my lifeline. Without their support and calming effects, I doubt I could manage to achieve everything I do. We take a daily tonic, tweaked to address any current difficulties. Chris has hawthorn, dandelion, nettle root and willowherb/saw palmetto, while mine is vervain, lemon balm, SJW, motherwort, Solomon seal, agrimony, plantain and I’ve just added black cohosh to try and deal with solid hip muscles. Skullcap is my saviour when times are very hard.

Chris managed to fall onto the ball during walking football at the beginning of July resulting in a seriously swollen knee with bruising which reached first the top of his leg and then went down to his ankle. Luckily, nothing was torn or broken.

The swelling dissipated along with the bruising thanks to an arsenal of bruise and anti-inflammatory herbs (initially plantain, yarrow, comfrey, Solomon seal and agrimony, followed by chilli to address the deep internal bruising) delivered in tincture form three times a day and a salve rubbed on when needed. He lost no mobility, for which we were very grateful.

Thanks to help from friends over the summer, we were able to bring the Sanctuary back to life, planting calendula and ashwagandha beds and bringing in new respiratory herbs and nervines.

The autumn has been filled with harvesting and processing. All our apple, pear and quince trees produced bumper crops this year, resulting in many hours spent making jams, jellies, cordials, stewed fruits, puddings and liquors.

Pear cordial

An amount of pears, peeled and sliced

Spices (cinnamon, ginger, 3-6 cloves, star anise)

Zested lemon peel

Place the pears, spices and zest of the lemon in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil with the lid on and simmer until soft. Put all the contents of the pan through a sieve and measure the result. Clean the saucepan and return the seievd remains. For every pint(litre) of “stewed pear”, add 1lb(1kg) of sugar. Add heat and stir gently until the sugar is fully dissolved and the cordial has just come to the boil. Pour into sterilised bottles. Seal, label and date. Keep in the fridge once opened.

This cordial can be used as a hot drink with boiling water. I find all cordials too sweet so like to add the juice of half a lemon to the mixture. It can also be poured over ice cream or other desserts or used as a sweetener for porridge.

The hedgerows have also been offering abundant haws, sloes, conkers and enormous rosehips. The haws are steeping in brandy, sloes I left for the birds this year as my shelves are still full of sloe gin! I still have to make a double infused horse chestnut oil and the rosehips are sitting in the dehydrator waiting to be tested for moisture after several days drying.

Horse chestnut double infused oil

An amount of conkers

Sunflower oil

Double boiler.

Place the conkers inside a robust bag and bash them with a large hammer on a suitable surface until smashed into small pieces. Divide your pieces into two piles. Place the first pile in the top of a double boiler and cover with sunflower oil. Fill the bottom saucepan with hot water and heat on your lowest heat for two hours after bringing the water to a boil. Make sure the saucepan doesn’t boil dry at any time.

After two hours, strain the oil and retain it. Compost the spent conkers. Place the second pile of conker pieces in the top of the double boiler and pour over the single infused oil. Heat for another two hours. Strain the oil into a container and leave it to sit for a while or overnight. Compost the spent conkers. Pour the double infused horse chestnut oil into a sterilised, wide mouthed jam jar, seal, label and date. Keep in a cool, dark place. It should keep for at least two years, if not longer. If you pour it into a bottle it will go off sooner.

Next week will see the root harvest. Solomon seal needs weeding and probably a few roots harvested for tincture and oil. Dandelions are definitely on my agenda as my stock of dried roots has diminished and some tincture is due. I’ll search for burdock but have already made some leaf tincture which should be sufficient this year. The weather has continued mild, so the ashwagandha may be left for another month and the first frost.

Life goes on. I’m still teaching piano to my ten pupils. The oldest have been passed to my daughter for the higher grades and new “tinys” have appeared to fill the gaps, with all the enthusiasm and exuberance five year olds bring to a new adventure!

Novel writing also continues. I’m now working on the third story about children in Roelswick set in 2007.

We continue to travel hopefully and look forward to meeting new herb lovers along the way.