MyHerbCorner

Yesterday after baking bread I burnt myself terrible by the hot baking dish.
Cooling it in running cold water I saw blisters forming all over the hand (looked like a string of pearls which was kind of funny… besides of being painful…)
Anyway, I cooled it for around twenty minutes and applied a cold pack in a cloth.
The cold pack was getting liquid very fast, but it kept on cooling while I rushed into the garden to get some fresh calendula (Calendula officinalis) (to the surprise of my husband and oldest son who watched me vanish in the rain)
There have been only four to five flowers so I picked a good bunch of leaves.
Returned into the kitchen my husband mashed the herbs in our mortar and I applied them as a poultice directly onto the burnt hand.
Covered with a tea towel I also applied a new cold pack from the freezer.
I left the poultice on for one hour but changed the cold pack more often.
To my surprise all blisters but one was gone. The pain also subsided fast and I applied a calendula ointment which came handy for the night.
My husband of course offered to buy me a ‘wound healing cream’ from the Pharmacy… guess this kind of teasing is keeping our relation ship… hm… ah… interesting?
Anyway I told him to sit back and watch my herbs magic
And it worked!
While my husband thought I can’t do anything for a few days because of the terrible burns, amazing calendula gave me a good nights sleep (after another big heap of ointment) and in the morning I had no more blister anymore
There is a bit of tension on the skin but no pain.
And yes, my husband was very impressed and said how amazing this herb is

If you have no calendula around then I highly recommend to get some seeds.
You can sow them in your garden where it is enhancing the taste of strawberries, keeping salad and other plants healthy or you can even grow it in pots when there is only a windowsill for this cheerful orange flower.

In frost free countries they bloom the whole year round where as in snowy regions they grow well in a pot inside.

To make an ointment pick orange calendula flowers when they are dry from dew and fill loosely into a small jar until it is around 2 centimeters under the rim.
Top the jar with virgin oliveoil and make sure the herb is well covered.
Screw on a lid and lable with content and date.
Next day push the herb slightly down into the oil and top up with additional oil if needed.
Then let it infuse in your cup board for 4 weeks.
Strain the oil.
For every cup (250 ml) of oil add 30 g beeswax into a bowl which fits on a pot.
Now you pour water into the pot and place the bowl with oil and wax carefully on top.
Bring the water to boil and stir the oil carefully until the bees wax has melted.
Now your ointment is ready to be filled into small jars. Let the medicine cool before you fit the lids.
Lable the jars and keep out of sunshine in a dry cool place. Maybe your medicine chest?
This ointment works well for burns, cuts, chapped hands and much more.
It is a gentle ointment useful for children as well as people with sensitive skin.

Makes a great gift too

Her feet touches softly the grass of the path nurtured by morning dew.
As she reached the bottom of the hill the sun already starts to rise in the eastern sky.
Slowly she goes her way up through the gorge surrounded with 2 meter high blooming broom.
The blossoms smell sweet and are visited by lazy buzzing bumblebees.

It is quiet early but here and there some insects are already warming up and reach out for a sip by the yellow goodness so bountiful in spring.

As she reaches the summit she smiles and says thank to her mother the earth.
She says thank to father sky who smiles back with a wonderful blue and then she opens her backpack.
A water bottle filled with clear spring water is placed carefully next to the dropper bottle half filled with Schnapps.
This is an alcohol used for generations in her family and is called ‘clear water’ because it is clear as water who runs down the stony stream.
From a cotton bag she pulls out a small special clear bowl made of glass.
Carefully she fills the bowl with water from the bottle and enjoys the reflection of the sun rays.
Opening her heart to the wild flowers she picks some of the yellow broom blossoms and let them float on the water.
As the surface is covered with blossoms she says thanks to the plant kingdom and places the bowl on a high spot on the summit.
While the sun is blessing the content of the bowl she lays down on the ground and let her spirit glide.

For hours she lays and finally the flower essence seems to be energized with healing powers.
Holding the bowl up to father sky she says thanks to the sun for her light, warmth and daily blessings.
Reaching the bowl down to the earth she says thanks to mother earth who gives her a place to live, breath and thrive.
Stretching the hands with the bowl to her surrounding of broom she says thanks again for their gift of healing flowers.

Then carefully she lifts the blossoms out of the bowl and says thank while filling the precious liquid into the half filled dropper bottle.
She closes it and shakes it well before holding it up to the sky to say thanks again.

With a heart filled of love and joy she leaves the summit and goes back down into the small village.
Her precious flower essence will help people who are seeking light and healing.

Finally the end of winter is in sight here in New Zealand and we share the excitement with many other live forms like this special ‘copper skink’ which you can find only on the North island of New Zealand.

Copper skink’s are life bearing which is fascinating (at least for me)

On my walk not far from home I meet a lot of sheep who are also enjoying the warmer days

Sometimes I just have to stop and awe at the many different cloud formations…

… or listen to the sound of the many little creeks we have.
Here are a lot of goodies in sight for a herbalist

When I went up to the summit I was amazed over the 10 minutes walk through a broom field.

The broom is so high you can’t see anything and I was just surprised of the quiet surrounding. not even a bird was near, only a bumblebee or two.

I am looking forward for the broom to bloom which should be in one or two weeks.
Then I will bring a bottle of water, my ‘flower essence making bowl’ (which I use only for this occasions) and a dropper bottle half filled with Schnapps to make a broom flower essence

How exciting to be surrounded with walls of yellow broom (not to mention the insects and bumble bees… guess I will bring with me some plantain in vinegar as an first aid just in case I got stung)

Until then I will enjoy the colour of my newly made calendula tincture

It will go into my face cream which is very nice.
Calendula tincture is also great against acne or other inflamed skin problems, just wipe your face with a cotton ball and some tincture after cleaning the face with water and oatmeal (or here another simple and great face wash)

I got a question about ‘what to do for oily hair?”
Since I have no such problem I can only give the report of what I learned from other people.
The first thing is to look at the cause of oily hair which can be poor diet, environmental pollution, wrong (harsh) shampoo, stress…

Is the diet fine than look at the shampoo.
Most shampoos are to harsh and you have to try out to find the right one for your hair.
Of course you can also make your own with soap wort or the way I showed here.
Some people are making their own shampoo by making a strong herbal infusion (4 tbsp dried herb to 1 cup of water) and mix it with baby shampoo (1:1) which is very mild.
This is a good way to bring herbs ability to nourish and strengthen the hair into the scalp.
But as I said for good healthy hair eat a well balanced diet and drink nettle infusion which is rich in minerals and nourishes your hair from inside out.

You don’t need to wash oily hair every day.
Some people use corn flower to massage it into the hair and then brush it out so the hair isn’t oily (the starch binds oil)

Some people give half to one teaspoon of soda to their hair rinse which is alkaline and gets rid of the oil.

To normalize the hair constitution and to strengthen the hair you can give a splash of vinegar into the last rinse. For oily hair make a herb vinegar out of sage or peppermint which are highly efficient in this case.

Yarrow tincture is said to have a drying effect to oily hair. Give a splash of tincture to a cup of warm water and rinse the washed hair with it. Massage it into the scalp.

If you have success with other herbal treatments my friend and I sure would like to hear from you.
Please make a comment.

Everywhere in our New Zealand area you can smell the sweet scent of an amazing plant called violet (Viola odorata)

It is amazing how strong such a tiny blossom smells.

I was drawn to this lovely flower and made a flower essence like you do when making ‘Bachflower remedies.’
Here is a link to an earlier post on making flower remedies.

After 3 hours infusing in the sun I filled my ‘Mother essence’ bottle and took a sip of the left over violet water.
Mmmm, it was awesome perfumed by the flowers and different from the calendula essence, this remedy went to the lower abdomen and gave me a feeling of being grounded.

That surprised me because I wasn’t prepared to feel grounded by this gorgeous plant.
When I made the ‘Stock water’ I also gave only 3 drops of the ‘Mother essence’ into the Schnapps filled ‘Stock water’ bottle (for the calendula I used 10 drops!)
And into my little ‘Medicine water bottle’ filled with filtered water I also added 3 drops of ‘Violet Stock water’

Now I can’t wait for the return of my friend so she can try out the violet flower essence.
I am already curious if she will have the same feelings like me… and don’t worry, I wont tell her until she tells me how she feels when taking this special remedy

If you have already made a Viola odorata flower essence I would love to hear how it works for you. Please write me a comment.