Autumn's Bounty

After summer’s heat, the change in both daylight hours and temperature comes as an unwelcome shock. This year’s abundant harvest brings an added workload and also joy from the riot of colours flooding the land.

 Amongst hedgerows, reds of rosehip and haw shine brightly with subtle shades from bright red to deep crimson. In newly planted coppices, poisonous, pink spindle fruit and necklaces of woody nightshade entice the unwary visitor to touch where they should not.  High above, vermillion rowan and crampbark berries hang in tantalising bunches. Single crimson leaves drifting 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. The brandy is a useful aid with motherwort tincture for unexpected heart palpitations. I gather ripe berries wherever I am, from trees along my field edges in the Cotswolds or my garden hedge in Solihull and this year I’ve been gifted with berries from Shropshire. Today I’ve been making hedgerow cordial and tomorrow I shall be experimenting with a new recipe for hawthorn ketchup.

Rosehips are an annual joy. These days, I rarely take the time 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 and tiny hairs are very effective itching powder, but I usually dry my hips whole, so don’t have to worry about them. The only time I process is when I make a rosehip honey, which is truly delicious and worth all the extra trouble. This year, the hips are larger than I’ve ever seen them before, which makes picking a shorter task than normal.

Another red comes from apples. The harvest this year has been truly prodigious. The trees were pruned two years ago and have responded with larger fruit and incredible sweetness. It’s been a time for chutneys and jellies to store up for winter.

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 hot weather affected the amount of flowers I was able to pick this summer but thankfully, there is one jar of oil already strained, another in the windowsill, a small jar of mullein flowers infused with the St John’s wort flowers to make an effective ear ache oil and a small bottle of tincture in the larder.

Sunsets are an unexpected source of joy at this time of year. The blush of pink as the golden disk disappears over the horizon can deepen to  many shades of red over breath-taking moments as we stand mesmerised by the glorious colours. If we are very lucky, a short time later, the brilliant white of moonlight shines down to bless the earth from the opposite direction.

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. Both blackberries and elderberries ripened in early August. Every year they appear weeks and now months before their normal harvest time and we have to rush to harvest and process before they disappear for another year.

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’ve made two batches of blackberry vinegar this year, which is an ancient remedy for winter coughs and sore throats.

I continue to wax lyrical about elderberry and its anti-viral properties. Our favourite recipe is Elderberry Elixir is made with brandy and honey, taking at least two months to mature. I also freeze several boxes of elderberries if I can use for workshops or extra syrup if necessary. This year I’ve made a hedgerow cordial with the leftovers from strained elderberry elixir and freshly picked haws, hips and new spices. The result is very tasty and makes a good non-alcoholic alternative to mulled wine.

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.

Many 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. They also make a fabulous double infused oil to add to homemade moisturising salves along with horse chestnut and marshmallow.

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.

Violet leaves grow profusely during most of the year. Infused oil can be made with either fresh or dried. The oil comes out dark and green with no distinctive smell. This is another moisturising oil useful for chapped winter skin.

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.

October and nettle seeds

The south facing branch of the sycamore tree across the road from my suburban home has turned from green to yellow, showing autumn is finally here. The warm days of the past few weeks have brought both respite and a lengthening to the late growing season, but it is good to be reminded the wheel of the year is turning and change will follow soon.

September always fills me with panic. Have I grown enough? Has the harvest been enough? Have I foraged everything I need. Enough is such a strange concept. How many people do I need to treat? How many people will I need to feed over winter?

In previous years I could plan and estimate but these strange times make things more uncertain. Winter is coming and all I want to do is find my sheltered place, line my nest and hibernate for the duration. I know it won’t be possible but I can hope.

October is the time of roots and seeds, preferably gathered after the first frost, whenever that is. My ashwagandha plants are still vibrantly green. They were so late germinating and then growing back in July that they have hardly put out their flowers and the seed pods are still green. I will wait to see if any of them turn to orange in the next few weeks. Otherwise everything will be dug and dried or tinctured. There is no rush.

What I did find whilst I was pulling up the dead broad and climbing beans was a hidden last harvest of nettle seed. I remember finding some last seeds this time of year in local parks in the first year I gathered. I’d forgotten the time of gathering was quite so long.

Reading through foraging posts on social media, it seems everyone has finally discovered nettles make more than leaves for soup and fibre for fishing lines. The seeds carry a rich nutritive density. As with any medicinal plant, you do need to harvest and consume with caution.

The fresh seeds when eaten can send some people “high”. The American herbalist, Kiva Rose Hardin first pointed out that if you have a “dry” constitution then nettle seed will dry you out further. She lives in New Mexico, so she is very conscious of moisture and the lack of it. Another issue we have discovered is that if you have misused “recreational drugs” somewhere in your past, nettle seed will cause you difficulties.

We tincture fresh nettle seed  to support kidney failure, as first highlighted by David Winston. It is especially helpful in dealing with kidney pain when you haven’t drunk enough fluid. The dry seeds support exhausted adrenal glands. The usual dose is one teaspoonful taken in yoghurt or porridge or as a seed topping to salads.

We usually recommend they are consumed for at least three months or until the “patient” can’t stand the taste of them anymore. I have one friend with an incredibly stressful job who is still happily consuming her nettle seed two years after they were first given to her.

Dried nettle seeds can also be an aid to reducing dietary salt. They can be ground with salt crystals in a ratio of two: one to produce a useful condiment. If you want something a little hotter, add chilli flakes to the mix.

It worried me when nettle seeds at the farm were turning black and dropping off back in July, thinking I had not found enough for fresh seed tincture. The following month I found another stand of vibrant green, enough to put up nearly 5 litres of tincture. After our herb festival in September, huge nettle plants now covering all the Sanctuary like rampant triffids, dangled their seeds so seductively I was forced to pick them, even though I was there to harvest my damson tree and time, as always, was very short.

I did manage to pick my usual five pounds of damsons and these are now sitting on my jam shelves ready to eat. The quince harvest is very sparse but luckily my friend has a tree and shares her largesse with me. Two bottles of spiced quince gin and three of vodka are now infusing in the larder until Christmas and twenty small jars of quince jelly were made over two days this week.

Now, there are more nettle seeds from the garden drying in a paper bag over the kitchen radiator. I should have added another batch from underneath our hawthorn tree but I was too tired and now it is raining.

What I did pick was an orange flourish of calendula, waving from underneath the runner beans. I’ve lamented the lack of a dedicated calendula bed for the past two years, but collecting a few flowers here and there, self-seeded in the vegetable beds have given me a few to dry for anti-viral tea and enough to turn into oil for skin salves when next needed. There was even a rogue chamomile plant this year, providing enough to fill a tiny jar for emergency use in the future.

This gentle week at home has given me the time to decant this summer’s St John’s wort oil. Only two jars this years, but still plenty in the larder from previous summers. The dried vervain, yarrow and sage have also been poured into glass jars, labelled and put away. The vervain will be mixed with chamomile and lemon balm for IDGAS tea, yarrow for colds and conditions which require an anti-inflammatory and sage for mouth/tooth infections.

There are still bags of St Johns wort flowers, plantain leaves, red clover blossoms and other mysteries to emerge from the “hot cupboard” and put away but not today. I still have tomorrow. 

Of burns and bereavement

When a blogger fails to post for a long time, regular readers may wonder what is happening in real life to cause such silence. I rarely post about family events but on 9th February my mother died, following a long, debilitating struggle with ischaemic dementia which left her unable to move, speak or see. Death is a journey we all face alone and those who watch and share and wait can only wonder and hopefully grow through their own lessons offered during this time.

In my last paid employment, I spent eight years travelling around England training various organisations, including community nurses and army welfare officers, how to cope with loss and bereavement. I learned a great deal from the stories people shared and was able to make suggestions about things to look out for following bereavement.

The first was the lowering of immune health by grief which often causes the first twelve months to be fraught with viral infections and other more serious conditions, especially if a carer has neglected their own health to look after the person during the final period of their life.

The second was a propensity towards accidents and other events caused by a lowering of attention span or inability to be “sensible” or even to process information.

You could say that my gall bladder issues have stemmed from providing support to my parents over the years and neglecting my own health. On Thursday, March 26^th 2015, I managed to burn/scald myself by tipping an overfull pan of boiling bolognaise sauce over my left thigh whilst trying to keep our back door from flying open in the wind. Whilst I was more concerned about losing half the contents of the saucepan, the accident provided a wonderful opportunity to learn about treating burns at home with herbs and other household products.

The general UK advice about treating burns can be found here .  It  says

• Stop the burning process as soon as possible. This may mean removing the person from the area, dousing flames with water or smothering flames with a blanket. Do not put yourself at risk of getting burnt as well.
• Remove any clothing or jewellery near the burnt area of skin. However, don't try to remove anything that is stuck to the burnt skin because this could cause more damage.
• Cool the burn with cool or lukewarm water for 10 to 30 minutes, ideally within 20 minutes of the injury occurring. Never use ice, iced water or any creams or greasy substances such as butter.
• Keep yourself or the person warm. Use a blanket or layers of clothing, but avoid putting them on the injured area. Keeping warm will prevent hypothermia, where a person's body temperature drops below 35ºC (95ºF). This is a risk if you are cooling a large burnt area, particularly in young children and elderly people.
• Cover the burn with cling film. Put the cling film in a layer over the burn, rather than wrapping it around a limb. A clean clear plastic bag can be used for burns on your hand.
• Treat the pain from a burn with paracetamol or ibuprofen. Always check the manufacturer's instructions when using over-the-counter (OTC) medication. Children under 16 years of age should not be given aspirin.

What it doesn’t tell you is anything to aid the cooling or healing process. Nor does it identify first (reddened skin) or second (blisters) degree burns but only tells you when to head for hospital for

• large or deep burns – any burn bigger than the affected person's hand
• full thickness burns of all sizes – these burns cause white or charred skin
• partial thickness burns on the face, hands, arms, feet, legs or genitals – these are burns that cause blisters
• all chemical and electrical burns

Also get medical help straight away if the person with the burn:

• has other injuries that need treating
• is going into shock – signs include cold clammy skin, sweating, rapid shallow breathing and weakness or dizziness
• is pregnant
• is over 60 years of age
• is under five years of age
• has a medical condition such as heart, lung or liver disease, or diabetes
• has a weakened immune system (the body's defence system), for example because of HIV or AIDS, or because they're having chemotherapy for cancer

Although my burn measured the distance from my knee to a hand’s width up my thigh with two blisters measuring 1” by ½”, I decided I preferred to stay at home rather than spend up to four hours in a crowded A&E department.  It’s been a while since I looked at first aid treatments for burns so I was unaware of the advice to cover with clingfilm. I did know the aim was to keep the skin intact if possible to reduce the chance of incurring infection.

After dropping the saucepan I removed my socks and trousers and rushed upstairs to kneel in the bath with my thigh under a running cold tap for as long as I could. I moved, reluctantly, when my toes told me they were developing frost bite. Then I sliced off two large aloe vera leaves from the triffid which sprawls over our upstairs window and lay on the sofa daubing the juice from the centre of the leaf onto the entire area of the burn.

It is amazing how aloe vera removes heat from burns. It is also really important NOT to treat a burn with any oil or salve until ALL the heat has gone. This is because oil traps heat underneath the application.

If you don’t have any aloe vera plants or juice then look to other cooling herbs – elderflower, rose, chamomile, bergamot (preferably wild monada fistulosa). These can be applied as a tea, herbal water or diluted infused herbal vinegar.

After a couple of hours, I used a St John’s wort salve that I had to hand since St John’s wort is specific for healing burns. I covered the burn area with clean cotton fabric (I use a piece of old sheet for most of my first aid treatments!) fastened at each end with micropore tape. I wanted the burn to be open to the air so it didn’t become soggy.

I didn’t take any painkillers because the soreness disappeared after the first night of sleep and the burn itself was only painful thereafter if pressed.

I continued treating with St John’s wort for three days. I was concerned that the blisters were still filled with liquid, so on the fourth day decided to try a honey poultice. I mixed calendula (for skin healing), St John’s wort and yarrow( to reduce any inflammation) oils with a teaspoon of honey (a gift from Cornish herbalist, Nick Jones, last August) and spread it over the wound. When using an oily poultice like this you do need to add a plastic backing unless you want stains all over your clothes!

Two days after applying the honey poultice, all the blisters had dried up and the burned skin area was diminishing. I then made up a salve from calendula, St John’s wort and yarrow and this has been applied twice daily ever since.

It takes at least three weeks for a burn to heal. I’m really pleased with how my burn is progressing.  It itches occasionally which tells me new skin is growing.  I try very hard not to scratch!

Two things I might have done differently would be to have applied a cooling vinegar or flower water after the aloe vera and not applied the salve until before bedtime (around 12 hours after the accident).  Knowing now how effective the honey was, I would have applied the poultice sooner and maybe made two applications (one per day) for two or more days.  If the wound had been worse I could also have applied a marshmallow root poultice to keep the area moisturised.

This summer I am also going to make a burns honey from apothecary’s rose, bergamot and evening primrose flowers. I made a jar several years ago when Kiva Rose Hardin first posted her recipe but no-one suffered with any burns so I ate the honey instead! Kiva Rose recommends the honey for burns where there is a chance of infection. Given how successful ordinary honey is at drawing moisture from a burn blister, I can see how an infused herbal honey would be even better.

Everyone hopes accidents will not happen but if they do, they provide a useful opportunity to learn new skills.

A holistic approach to managing eczema

Eczema is a condition suffered by people of all ages and at different times of life. The dictionary definition tells us that it is “an inflammatory condition of the skin attended with itching and the exudation of serous matter” (where serous means watery, resembling serum). 

It looks as if the condition was first given a name in the middle of the eighteenth century using Latino-Greek foundations of  “ek” meaning out of and “ze” (from “zein”) meaning “to boil or ferment”.

Eczema, no matter its origins, can be a miserable, life-restricting condition, bringing pain and frustration both to sufferers and their families.

A description of the symptoms of the most popular form of eczema can be found in a UK patient leaflet.

• The skin usually feels dry.
• Some areas of the skin become red and inflamed. The most common areas affected are next to skin creases, such as the front of the elbows and wrists, backs of knees, and around the neck. However, any areas of skin may be affected. The face is commonly affected in babies with atopic eczema.
• Inflamed skin is itchy. If you scratch a lot it may cause patches of skin to become thickened.
• Sometimes the inflamed areas of skin become blistered and weepy.
• Sometimes inflamed areas of skin become infected.

Typically, inflamed areas of skin tend to flare up from time to time, and then tend to settle down. The severity and duration of flare-ups varies from person to person, and from time to time in the same person.

• In mild cases, a flare-up may cause just one or two small, mild patches of inflammation. Often these are behind the knees, or in front of elbows or wrists. Flare-ups may occur only now and then.
• In severe cases, the flare-ups can last several weeks or more, and cover many areas of skin. This can cause great distress.
• Many people with atopic eczema are somewhere in between these extremes.

The leaflet also goes on to ask “What causes atopic eczema?” and provides the following response.

“The cause is not known. The lipid (oily) barrier of the skin tends to be reduced in people with atopic eczema. This leads to an increase in water loss and a tendency towards dry skin. Also, some cells of the immune system release chemicals under the skin surface, which can cause some inflammation. But it is not known why these things occurs. Genetic (hereditary) factors play a part. Atopic eczema occurs in about 8 in 10 children where both parents have the condition, and in about 6 in 10 children where one parent has the condition. The precise genetic cause is not clear (which genes are responsible, what effects they have on the skin, etc).

Atopic eczema has become more common in recent years. There are various theories for this. Factors which may play a role include: changes in climate, pollution, allergies to house dust mite or pollens, diet, infections, or other early-life factors. However, there is no proven single cause. There may be a combination of factors in someone who is genetically prone to eczema, which causes the drying effect of the skin and the immune system to react and cause inflammation in the skin.”

Whatever the underlying causes of eczema, it cannot be treated in a simple way if the condition is to be managed effectively. Putting a steroid cream on a patch of skin is only going to appear to help the skin to look normal again and hopefully stop the irritation. In reality it does nothing to affect the source of the outbreak, merely pushing it back inside the body to reappear in another form some time later.

Eczema needs a holistic approach. Hopefully you will have a period of time when the condition is relatively “quiet” to put together your own “plan of campaign” which will include strategies for both prevention and flare-ups, so you have support available when the time comes.

You need to think about eczema from the inside out. The skin is the largest organ in the body, so for someone to be showing signs of eczema there is some imbalance inside the body which is forcing its way out.

I have put together some questions to ask both yourself or anyone you are caring for which may help you to understand what may be happening within the body and some herbal suggestions which may help you to manage the condition.

Everything starts with digestion.

• What are you actually eating (as opposed to what you think you are eating)? Keep an accurate food diary for at least seven days and preferably two weeks. Include all snacks, treats, sweets given by doting grandparents or other carers/colleagues. 
•  Is there any allergic reaction to the three main food groups - wheat, dairy and solinaceas (potatoes, tomatoes and peppers). Do a three week exclusion diet for each group and see what happens when you start re-introducing the food.

Help digestion.

• Take a bitter half an hour before you eat to get your stomach working. Use chamomile as a tea to help you improve your digestive function.
• Help the liver to detoxify whatever is not helping you. Use dandelion and burdock or milk thistle seeds. Eat milk thistle leaves in salads.
• Stop drinking coffee and alcohol and see what improvements are made.
• Stop simple carbohydrates and concentrate on whole foods, lots of vegetables, fruit and pulses. 
• Eat good fats and meat.

Keep hydrated.

• How much water do you drink during the day? 
•  How many good fats do you consume in your diet? If you have been cutting back on fats to lose weight, this may affect your body’s ability to hold moisture. 
• Think about the type of fat you eat and whether you could change this to something healthier. Experiment with using coconut oil or ghee and see if you notice any changes.

Keep moisturised

• Do you need to shower or bathe every day? Would a strip wash do on alternate days? 
• Use a moisturiser either in the bath water or after you shower but before you dry off. Pat yourself dry, don’t rub. 
• Use a calendula/chickweed salve or cream several times during the day to keep your skin well covered. Remember to use a cream every time you wash your hands. If you want to add mucilaginous herbs to your cream try marshmallow, violet or heartsease. 
•  If your scalp is itchy with dry skin/dandruff/dermatitis soak your scalp with an equal combination of double infused rosemary and thyme oil for an hour before washing or showering. Continue to do this once a week for several months and you should notice a real difference.

Identify your current stress factors

• What is causing you stress at the moment? Is this financial? Work-related? Family related? Incident related? Emotional e.g. fear, anger, grief? Exhaustion?
• How much sleep are you getting? Is this because you find it difficult to sleep or because you don’t go to bed early enough?
• How much are you able to relax? Can you designate time to relax? Can you do breathing exercises/meditation/visualisations to aid relaxation? Do you have a favourite activity or hobby which pleases and relaxes you?
• How much exercise do you do?

Identify your triggers

Keep a diary and notice when your eczema becomes more bothersome.

• Where were you?
• What were you doing?
• What did you touch?
•  What did you eat? 
• What cleaners/aerosols/air fresheners/dishwasher cleaners/washing powder/fabric conditioners were you using or exposed to?

Identify all your avenues for support

• Who can help you?
• Do you have enough helpful information? If not, where might it be obtained?
• What physical support do you have available including food, plant and plant based materials/medicines, cleaning items, natural fabrics etc?

Determination/enthusiasm for change

• How much do you want to improve your health? On a scale of 1-10, how much do you want to change? What would have to happen to enable you to move up the scale by 0.5?

Dealing with an eczema outbreak

If you are dealing with an eczema outbreak which is hot and red, don’t use an oil or cream directly on the skin. Use a chamomile or elderflower water to cool the area down and soothe it. Drip it over the area and rub in lightly. Once the area is cooled and no longer inflamed, use a salve made from chamomile, calendula and chickweed to reduce the itching. If there is danger or presence of infection add St John’s wort oil. Use chickweed double infused oil in the bath or after a shower.

You can also use anti-inflammatory herbs internally to reduce the outbreak. Think turmeric, yarrow, plantain, calendula.

Recipes

Here are some links to recipe or articles with herbal products you can easily make yourself to help manage your eczema.

• Bitters
• Double infused oil (chickweed, calendula, St John’s wort, plantain, violet, marshmallow)
• Elderflower or chamomile water

Something to remember

Herbal remedies are rarely instantaneous. You need to allow one month for every year you have been suffering from the condition. This also gives you the time and opportunity to make any lifestyle changes you feel may be helpful. Don’t forget to look back and compare what is happening now with what was happening when you first started to make those changes.

• Have they been helpful?
• Do you feel more able to manage your condition?
• Would you do this again or would you do something different?