Celebrating Herbs Festival Programme now available

The exciting programme for the 2012 Celebrating Herbs Festival 7-9 September held at Springfield Sanctuary in the Cotswolds is now available to download. We welcome a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to delight you. There will be opportunities to listen to herbal elders, make your own medicines from personally harvested herbs, sit back and enjoy the music or kite displays or just soak up the peace of the English countryside.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Herbal sunshine: Scenting my world with colour

This post is part of the UK Herbarium July blog party hosted this month by Debs Cook at Herbaholics Herbarium

It would be easy to write about the issues leading to a summer of despair. It is more difficult and therefore more rewarding to discover small moments of joy which shine their rays upon a dark and soggy world.

For me, these fleeting glimmers concern colours and scents. Not the ubiquitous green of mature summer leaves hanging down from thick canopies or the lighter green of sodden grass which squelches underfoot, but the fresh green of teasel, shooting up from spring rosettes to spear the air with their pointed arrows.

On a rare dry evening I hunted dog rose petals. The wind was not content to let me walk along the lane regardless of his strength, tossing my new cardigan and paper bags into the deepest, mud-filled puddle. Briars offered no shelter as I plucked their pale pink petals, so when my bag was full I retreated across a field of stunted lucerne, to fill my basket with white treasure. With this first harvest of elderflower, I suddenly remembered how much its scent delighted me, sucking its perfume into memory for another year.

There have been other white jewels offering themselves to me. Stunning yarrow flowers, coloured by feeding insects whose scent is only released when you touch the leaves. The pink-tipped valerian, whose perfume strokes me as I sit nearby. It calls me to remember other times, other scents which lift the darkness.

The rain has damaged so many of my roses and St John’s wort, yet yellow stars continue to shine despite the moisture. I watch honey and several varieties of bumble bee brush their legs against anthers, adding to the yellow pillows carried there. The brilliance of yellow against mugwort’s green delights me with gold emerging from hidden depths.

There is something special about gathering herbs whilst surrounded by bees. They visit each tiny flower with industrious diligence, no matter what else happens around them. The catnip continues to blossom despite weeks of downpours and every time I visit, their blue haze is filled with buzzing.

Now is the time to play with flowers; to drink deep of red clover blossom or purple self-heal. Their mineral-rich tea slides smoothly over my tongue bringing calm and appreciation. Clutching my basket, each flower calls to me, not for their own sake but to bring happiness together. Pinks, yellows, purple and electric blue pierce my heartstrings, searing colours on my brain, assuring me their honey-drawn essence will continue to soothe and uplift a struggling soul into happier times.

Celebrating Herbs Festival 7-9 September 2012

                                         You are invited to attend the third annual
                                       Springfield Sanctuary "Celebrating Herbs" Festival                     
                                        held at Wynyards Farm, Upper Slaughter, Glos GL54 2JR 

                  from 5pm Friday 7 September to 5pm on Sunday September 9th 

Keynote Speaker: Christopher Hedley

Ali English: Making your own Tonic Wines

Charlie Farrow: Herbal Fumigants

Sarah Firnberg: Herbs for the endocrine system

Lucinda Warner: Herbs for the digestion

Growing Herbs

Debs Cook: Herbal First Aid for the Garden

Herb Walks

Wild Foods, Poisonous Plants & Medicinal Herbs

Sky Symphony Kite Display Team
Music, Stories, Craft stalls  

                                                            & much, much more!

Cost: By donation (suggested £40 w/end, £20/day)
Further details: Contact 0121 707 8269 or 07920145639 or sarah@headology.co.uk

                        Or visit www.springfieldsanctuary.co.uk

                            Camping available plus shared meals each evening.
                    Bring cake and something to share with others.
Poster and fliers available. Please pass on to anyone you think might be interested in attending. If you would like a craft stall, please get in touch.

Revising the basics: Herbal Vinegars

When I first became interested in herbal matters, vinegars did not cross my horizon. Everyone talked about tinctures or teas. It took a very wet summer to introduce me to herbal infused vinegars. I was desperate. My herbs were growing but there was no opportunity to pick them dry. I knew if I picked them wet and tried to dry them I would probably end up with a mouldy mess. Covering them with vinegar seemed a viable alternative.

No-one talked about ensuring a specific concentration of vinegar as they did with alcohol extractions. Indeed nobody seemed interested in herbal vinegars at the time. To me, they appeared as a life-saving way of preserving my harvest.   

Good-quality vinegar is a living, breathing entity. Most medicinal vinegars are made from cider vinegar, but if they are to be used for other purposes such a salad dressing or as a cleaning agent, other types of vinegar can be used. Herbal vinegars are very simple to make and last for several years.

To make infused vinegar from fresh herbs, gather on a dry day once the dew has gone from them and shake them to make sure that you are not going to include ants, flies, spiders or other insects in the mixture. Fill a glass jar with the aerial parts and pour cider vinegar over them. You can include stems if they are not too woody or you might want to use only the leaves and flowers. 

Stir the mixture with a chopstick to bring all the air bubbles to the top (you'll be amazed how air bubbles stick to the leaves) and then screw the lid of the jar on tightly. (This is to ensure that when you pick the jar up regularly to shake it, the lid doesn't fly off and you end up with herbs and vinegar all over the kitchen!)

If the weather does not co-operate with a concept of dryness, pick your herbs damp, shake off the excess water and then leave in a warm place for a time. Using wet herbs will make a less-concentrated vinegar, but you do what you have to do!

If you are in a hot climate, you can use the sun to heat your vinegar. Place the vinegar jar in a sunny window or in a greenhouse where the sun can warm it over a period of time. You don't need to worry about botulism poisoning when you make herbal vinegars because the toxin cannot live in the acid environment. You can strain the vinegar after 3-6 weeks and use it, or leave it as long as you want. You can also use this method to make vinegar from raspberries, blackberries or hawthorn berries.

If you live where the weather is not reliable, it is probably best to infuse your vinegar in a cupboard which is regularly heated either by water pipes, a hot water tank or some kind of radiator. The heat does not have to be strong or continuous, but the vinegar does need to be warmed on a regular basis. I have a cupboard where the hot water pipes from my central heating system warm the air even during the summer time when all the heating is off. This is where all my vinegars are macerated.

Historically, herbal vinegars had a major place in a healer’s repertoire. When the crusaders came back from the Middle East, the major medicinal influence was Avicenna. If you lived in a Norman castle and came from the ruling classes, you would wake up each morning to a steaming drink of herbal vinegar and honey for its health-giving properties. This combination, known as an oxymel has been handed down over the centuries, but has only resumed popularity amongst herbalists in the past fifteen years or so.

The major benefit of using cider vinegar as a medium is its ability to extract minerals from a herb. Nettle is the plant which springs immediately to mind, but other mineral rich herbs such as violet, red clover, hawthorn berry, mugwort and motherwort are others which make a delicious drink. In fact Susan Weed recommends motherwort vinegar as the only way to ingest the plant in a pleasant form!

If you are trying to avoid using alcohol for medical, financial or religious reasons, working with vinegar and honey is a perfectly acceptable alternative alongside dried and fresh plant teas and decoctions and cold water macerations.

Vinegars are useful remedies for sore throats or other minor infections. A general oxymel combination is 2tsp vinegar with 2tsp honey in a mug of boiling water and sip.

Vinegars can also be used as cleansing agents. Infusing any kind of citrus peel in white wine vinegar for three weeks can produce a powerful grease-buster, which when mixed with bicarbonate of soda can be used for any household cleaning task from windows to oven interiors. Try using rosemary vinegar as a final rinse in your hair. This vinegar can also be used to clean your toilet or wash down kitchen surfaces if you want a bacterial wipe. If you are post-menopausal and suffer with dry hair, use fresh elderflower infused vinegar. The floral aroma is wonderful!

Chamomile vinegar can be used for fungal infections or other nasties in confined body spaces such as under arms, behind ears, in the crotch. Remember to dilute the vinegar if the skin is inflamed or sore or the patient may not continue with the treatment after the first application.

Vinegars can also be very helpful in releasing minerals from bones when making stock. Cover any kind of bones with cold water; add peppercorns, a bay leaf, sprigs of thyme and sage and two tablespoons of cider vinegar. Chopped onions, garlic and celery can also add nutrients. Bring to the boil; simmer for 3-5 hours or more. Strain and either use as a base for soups, sauces or stews or freeze until needed.

Making herbal vinegars can become addictive. Once you have made chive, fennel or purple sage vinegar their beautiful crimson colour is entrancing. Elderflower is yellow/cream and rose petal is a very delicate pink. The flavours are completely different as well. 

Try inviting your friends to a vinegar tasting session as an aperitif to a dinner party with freshly made bread. Some will wax lyrical about rose or golden rod while others will refuse to leave until you gift them with enough winter savoury to make their own infused vinegar! If you arrange a tasting session without bread, never serve the vinegars neat as they will be too strong for most palates. A teaspoonful in a shot-glass with water can be gently sipped and savoured with greater enjoyment.

Once you have a selection of vinegars you can mix them into tonics just as you would tinctures. When I was still working in an office, I would take in a bottle of vinegar mixture to make an oxymel which was the first drink of my working day. Most people thought me mad, but just occasionally I would make a drink for a colleague with an intrusive cough. Their reaction was always one of surprise that it worked so well and tasted so good.

Anyone visiting my home is amazed by the number of herbal vinegars lining the shelves of my larder, but they have become an integral part of my life. No cold arrives without a mug of fire cider vinegar with horseradish honey and sore or tired throats are instantly relieved by sage vinegar and any honey which happens to be at hand. It was a wet summer which drove me to vinegar making, now, as we experience another, it is vinegars which again give me hope.

REFERENCES

Brown, D The RHS Encyclopedia of Herbs and their uses 1995 Dorling Kindersley ISBN 0 7513 0203 1

Bruton-Seal, J & Seal, M Hedgerow Medicine: Harvest & make your own herbal remedies 2008 Merlin Unwin Books Ltd ISBN 978 1 873674 99 4

Edwards, G F Opening Our Wild hearts to the Healing Herbs 2000 Ash Tree Publishing ISBN 1-888123 01 X

Green, J The Herbal Medicine-Maker’s Handbook Crossing Press ISBN-13 978 0 89594 990 5

Tierra, L A Kid’s Herb Book for children of all ages 2000 Robert D Reed Publishers

ISBN 8850003 36 6 51995

Wardwell, J The Herbal Home Remedy Book 1998 Versa Press ISBN-13 978 1 58017 016 1

Weed, S New Menopausal Years The Wise Woman Way 2002 Ash Tree Publishing ISBN 1 888123 03 6

Personal Herbalism: Doing my own thing (and sharing it!)

This blog post is part of the UK Herbarium June Blog Party hosted by Ali English on Eldrum Musings. You can find a list of other party entries on her blog. The theme is personal herbalism – what makes your herbalism personal to you and what is it that you do that makes your herbalism uniquely yours?

As with life itself, everyone’s herbal journey and identity is unique. We all start from a different place, learn similar things in a different way or learn different things in a similar way. It is a continuing journey which does not end. What we do affects others and this influence and legacy provides a never ending and evolving story.  

What you read below is part of my personal journey.

When I first wondered about herbs back in 1995, it was purely from a research perspective. The character I was writing about would only have herbs to heal her wounded warriors. I needed to know what she would have found and grown around her.

I joined the Herb Society as the organisation’s title seemed to imply I would find what I was looking for.  It didn’t. Maybe I wasn’t asking the right questions, but no-one else seemed interested in the medicinal uses. Such knowledge was for qualified herbalists who went to university or undertook distance learning. They talked to each other using Latin names and terms I only half understood. I can nod and smile with the best of them, but I felt a fraud. It reminded me of my day job where I translated between doctors and patients when things went wrong.

I started reading books and growing herbs at home. I understood a little more, but it was still very much looking at one herb for a particular condition. I read about making oils and tinctures and vinegars, but felt this wasn’t something I could do at home.  I mean, you don’t make medicines in your kitchen, do you? It has to be clean and sterile and titrated down to the nearest drop.

It was Judith Bergner in her book, Herbal Rituals (a Christmas present from my co-writer in Oregon) who gave me the confidence to make tinctures and vinegars.  I had a jam jar with a screw top lid and a chopstick in my kitchen drawer but, more importantly, I understood her instructions and when I carried them out, it worked. I knew what they looked like, smelled like and had an inkling of the taste.

I did try making herbal oils following David Hoffman’s pictures. I bought a double saucepan specially. Oils were fun. They were mostly green, but sometimes their colours and frangrances amazed me. Calendula gave me an essence of sunshine, friends who offered massage raved about angelica’s aroma and subtle healing skills and St John’s wort took my breath away. How could a yellow flower deliver a stunning crimson oil from immersion in sunflower oil on my kitchen windowsill?

My confidence was cemented by escaping to the Chelsea Physic Garden one Saturday on the train. Travelling to an unfamiliar part of London, I sat for three hours listening spellbound to the stories of Christopher Hedley as he made double infused rosemary oil as he talked about his past, his patients and his healing.

By this time I had more land on which to grow herbs thanks to my father. I spent long hours going through Poyntzfield Herb Nursery’s catalogue deciding what to buy and how much I could spend.  This was only a hobby and Chris was constantly telling me we didn’t have much spare cash. With three children and school fees to pay, there wasn’t much left over to fritter away.

I’d joined Henriette Kress’ email discussion list and was soon able to discern who knew what they were talking about and who knew less than I did. After several years of watching plant life cycles I knew what they looked like, where they liked to grow, which parts I needed and how long I had to wait until I could harvest.

Life sent me lessons; simple ones to begin with. Slowly I began to build up herbal stories of my own rather than relying on the stories others told. The most difficult lesson I learned was that everyone has their own journey. Even when I believed herbs could help and support them through difficult times, it was their decision whether or not to use them. It was not up to me.

I took the decision very early on not to train as a medical herbalist. It was too expensive both in time and money and I could not afford either. After much thought I realised I did not want to be totally responsible for a stranger’s care; friends and family yes, but others no. There was too much hassle involved with exams, insurance, setting up a practice and trying to make a living in a hostile world.

What I did want to do was share my passion for herbs. I wanted people to recognise the hedgerow and field plants growing all around them; to know what they could help with and how to prepare them safely. I wanted to encourage them to make their own remedies, to experiment and enjoy what they were playing with.

I came across other herbalists in distant countries who shared their knowledge freely and inspired me. Their passion re-ignited my own.

It was the plants themselves who shared the most complex knowledge. They taught me to be still, watch, smell and listen. They helped me to interpret concepts explained by others so in turn I could share this information with those around me. I learned to stop trying and to relax.

I began to have faith in the parcel of land gifted me by my parents. I called it Springfield Sanctuary after the three springs which flow there. The initial workshops I offered were prepared and structured around a single topic, but I was less successful in keeping to the subject at hand when it came to the actual day.

It was pointed out to me by a friend that rigid structures were unnecessary. Visitors had their own agendas. If we could communicate and meet individual needs, this would constitute success. I learned to believe not in numbers attending, but that the people who needed to be there would arrive.

We always walk around the herb beds identifying a proportion of the herbs. I try not to do too many because there is only so long anyone can stand and listen, especially if there is a cold wind blowing. We always make something depending on what herb is available in suitable quantities in the correct season.  I encourage people to do it themselves. Newcomers collect easily identifiable herbs and make a tea, others might be sent to harvest blossom, while someone with limited mobility or energy might be invited to sieve nettle seed or transfer dried herbs into suitable containers.

What I have noticed is how people change during their herbal day with me. They may arrive bowed down with cares and worries but within a short time I watch them chat and smile and hug. They may ask questions for themselves, family members or friends and together we think about which plants might offer suitable support for different situations.

It is relatively easy to think of plantain if you have a splinter, but more challenging when a complex emotional situation has arisen. The energetic side of herbs was something which terrified me when I first started my journey. It seemed so complex and ethereal and I had no wish to complicate my studies when there was so much else to consider and absorb. 

Several years later, thanks to Non Shaw’s lovely book on Flower Remedies and my spiritual development as an energy healer, it seemed simple both to make my own and to sit with a plant and see what it might tell me. Recognising my initial reluctance helps me to understand when others find it difficult to walk along this path. Everyone sees things differently and has different skills and strengths which make them unique.

If I look back over the past seventeen years, I can see how herbs have become an integral part of my life. I think about them, touch them or use them every single day and I cannot imagine being without them. I know I share this passion with many people across the globe but I also realise others in my community and country have no interest or knowledge. They do not believe they have any part to play in their own health, nor any inkling of how much they could do to help themselves using the plants around them.

I want to offer them the opportunity to change.

You could say I am a herbal evangelist and I have been guilty of evangelising in my early years. I have been known to lecture complete strangers on the benefits of nettles without their consent but I hope I am learning a different way to pass on such knowledge. I aim to be a herbal facilitator, to ease the relationship between humans and plants so individuals can take back the knowledge which was so familiar to our ancestors and grow in confidence of their own herbal skills.

When I was very young I wanted to be a doctor, specifically to take away the dreadful pain my parents suffered from various conditions. That was not to be but I’ve been shown there are other ways to relieve pain. I am a healer and my relationship with herbs as a kitchen herbwife is what makes my herbalism unique.