MyHerbCorner

In our area harvest time has started. The fields and gardens are full of ripe veggies and fruits.
I saw some red berry loaded hawthorns and a lot of acorns.
In our garden hazelnuts and walnuts are ripe and we enjoyed this cute little visitor

I guess not everyone is happy to see a hedgehog in New Zealand since they endanger indigenous bugs and lizards.

There is also this beautiful flower blooming which I have never seen before.

The leaves have spots on them and the plant is building a lantern-shaped husk like I have seen in physalis. After a few Google clicks I found out that this flower is called Nicandra physaloides and belongs to the night shade family. It is also known as ‘Shoo-fly plant’ because the juice of the stems and leaves can be added to milk and set out for flies. When flies drink from this liquid they die shortly after.
It is also known as ‘Apple of Peru’.

My calendula gives me some flowers and I am so happy to see this uplifting colour intense herb in my garden

To keep some colours indoors I also make potpourris from the leaves which fall down of fresh flower bouquets while they scent our dining room. I love also the smell of dried willow leaves… mh… so autumn like

But the best of all is our colourfull meal fresh from the garden! We even cultivate oyster mushrooms!

Please click here for a sneak peek into my husband’s mushroom farm

The UK Herbarium is inviting you to the next blog party on the 20th of March with the subject:

‘My herbal treasures in March’

Spring and Autumn are the best seasons to dig up things like dandelion roots for coffee or medicine, so we might share the same things at the same time in the Northern- and Southern Hemisphere of this beautiful planet.

If you live in the UK or Commonwealth you are invited to share your favorite herb(s), recipe(s) or harvest of this special month.

Post it on your blog before the 20th of March and send the link to:
brigitte at myherbcorner dot com

I will collect all posts and will open the party with the links here on myherbcorner on the 20th of March.

If you like you can make yourself a cup of plantain tea which is my favorite herb.
You will find some words about this lovely herb on the 20th and I hope you join in the fun.
I am already curious about your post

My vinegar with the apple skin and core is doing well

It bubbles clearly and no mold has formed

The other vinegar project from the post I made recently (please click here) didn’t show much fermenting process so I added skin and core of two apples in the hope of souring.

Think it didn’t work because the apple juice was pasteurized… oops… forgot to use the unpasteurized… so lets see what happens now

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UP-DATE!

Just had a look and hurray!
After two days my other vinegar also ferments with the help of apple peel

Today I discovered my yarrow oil was already infusing for 7 weeks!
Gosh I should have checked the calendar where I keep track of making and decanting herbal medicines…

I was lucky to find my yarrow oil in good quality with such a green colour I really felt blessed.

Yarrow is a fine herb for chickenpox which my kids sooner or later will bring home, so I will make more of this fine herb oil. Also the a wash with fresh yarrow will help the kids and I am very happy to find it growing all year round in my area… what a blessing!

My daughter turned 7 last week and I started to keep her busy in the kitchen, by peeling carrots…

… and cutting beans which we picked from the garden

It is great to teach her how to cook, she even made a rice at the weekend, all by her self!
Her favorite work is peeling the beans out of their pod.

We also made a nice rosemary salt together…

… mmmmm, we just love this herb salt!

I feel so blessed to be able to show our kids how they can grow their own food or make their own medicine.
Life can be so fulfilling and exiting

This post is written to take part at the February Blog Party of the UK Herbarium with the subject

“Emerging From Winter With Herbs”

Elizabeth is hosting the party on the 20th February on her blog Apotheblogary.
So find this and other posts there on the 20th

If we look at the winter-blue we see it is mostly a phenomena which is enhanced by less sun and not enough Vitamin C as well as green food in the diet. Daily a spoon of raw Sauerkraut over the winter keeps us healthy and provides us with enough Vitamin C, but when the sun is lacking we just feel blue.
Best for me is to get out and search for chickweed. This herb is loaded with minerals and you can pick it year round (yes even under a cover of snow if you know where it grows ;- )
Don’t wash chickweed! It has most of it’s vitamin C stored on the surface of it’s leaves.
Make a nice endive or other winter salad, add chickweed and dream of spring which is just around the corner in the UK

Maybe you also find some daisies here and there which are great in salads and bring also a smile onto your plate.
If you are lucky enough you might find a sweet scented violet…

Ah… that’s it!
Look for all your flowers in the medicine chest and make a nice smelling potpourri!
The smell of lavender and rosemary is so uplifting and then a few cheering flowers… perfect

I also love to dive into a hot rosemary bath which scent let my spirit wander into Mediterranean gardens where I dream of taking part at a lecture by Hippocrates of Cos under an olive tree and…
… gosh… the thought of rosemary scent alone let me wander over miles (and centuries) away…

If I still feel gloomy I reach for lemon balm tincture. This herb is not only my ’survive medicine’ in the holidays when kids can stretch your nerves, but also when the sun wont shine. A few drops diluted in water and taken three times a day or every hour (if necessary) make the waiting for sunny days easier. You can take the tincture or tea over a long period of time (at least for 3 weeks) and you will soon recognize the wonderful uplifting effect.

One great visionary of the 11th century named Hildegard of Bingen wrote down a lot of mood lifting remedies.
She advised to drink a cup of cowslips tea from dried blossoms and leaves, sweetened with honey for 3 weeks. Morning and evening one cup would help especially against the winter-blue (Ref: Mit dem Kraeuterpfarrer durchs ganze Jahr, Hermann-Josef Weidinger, 1988, Verlag Niederoesterreichisches Pressehaus, St Poelten – Wien)
How great this sweet smelling herb is just one of the first spring flowers to arrive!
It is also great for the lungs and maybe you have it already in your medicine chest as a cough herb?
Like to try it out for the blue?

Or what about one of my favorite recipes by Hildegard of Bingen called ‘Gute Laune Kekse’ (‘High Spirit Cookies’ or Uplifting cookies / sorry if the translation is incorrect, I just tried my best here ;- )
The cookies were invented exactly for the winter-blue and are supposed to cheer you up due the fine spices nutmeg and cinnamon.

I once got the recipe from my aunt who is a big fan of the Abbess Hildegard

What you need:
45 g nutmeg powder
45g cinnamon powder
10g clove powder
1,5 Kg spelt flour
400g cane sugar
4Tbsp Milk
2Tbsp Honey
200g grounded almonds
4 eggs
pinch of salt
4 teaspoon baking powder
500g butter

How to do:
1. Mix nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves well together
2. Give spelt into a big bowl (it is important to use spelt since it grows only without spraying or fertilizing and there for it is the healthiest and most natural grain)
3. Cut the butter in small pieces around the flour edge, in the middle make a pit and add the eggs
4. Knead all well to a dough
5. Now add baking powder, salt and spices and knead well again
6. Then add honey and milk and the ground almonds and knead again until it is a nice dough.
7. Give in a container and keep in the refrigerator for one hour.
8. Then preheat the oven to 180 degree C and roll a sausage with the dough (around 3-5 cm in diameter)
9. Cut 1 cm slices, give on a buttered baking tray and bake for 6-8 minutes (or until brown)
10. Let cool and store in an airtight container.

These are medicine cookies so don’t eat more then 4 a day!
Don’t hesitate to make the full recipe, I am sure you will find some people who will enjoy them too.
Take them to a tea party and feel your high spirits while everyone will smile with delight
I also heard they are good for the nervous system… mm… how delicious medicine can be

By the way, Elizabeth blog party tea (1 tsp of nettle, 1 tsp St. John’s Wort, and a half tsp rosemary) is really wonderful!

While I sip my cup, I’d like to add another ‘Emerging from Winter‘ post I call ‘Spring cleaning!‘

When spring arrives all greens are jumping out of the ground and also our mood is jumping with the enjoyment of warm sun rays scented of sweet violet blossoms and lovely green weeds.
(This sure is a spectacular emerging from winter ;- )

Our ancestors used this time for the ‘big spring cleaning’ and I’m not talking here only about the house 
Using the spring greens for cleansing excretion organs like skin, lung, kidneys and intestine was followed by blood cleansing (and not the other way round!)

Some of the bitters we discussed in the last blog party bring our sluggish digestive tract into movement and since we can go out into the fresh air for a walk to pick the herbs we inhale not only the clean air but also the long awaited spring sun. I would add yellow dock roots, dandelion roots and leaves teas for the cleansing of liver, kidney and skin, so don’t forget your shovel
Dandelion leaves, nettle and cleavers are fine cleansing teas for the urinary tract.

To make a gentle but effective spring cleaning cure you have to use a herb (e.g nettle or dandelion) over a period of at least 4-6 weeks (because the cells of your liver are reproduced in 6 weeks and the cells of the kidneys in 4 weeks)
In this time start your day with a cup of cleansing tea and choose a light diet with spring greens, soups and apples or whatever fruit winter has left over.
Drink at least 8 glass of water (best you drink one before every meal and the others throughout the day)
In the evening drink a cup of cleansing tea again.

Bring spring herbs like nourishing (and cleansing) nettle into your kitchen and cook it like spinach or make a tasty Nettle Souffle.
Use the nice young dandelion leaves in your salad and add daisies not only as decoration, but also as spring cleansing herb for the urinary tract (click here for a Spring salad recipe).
Chickweed is another fine example for this.

Good blood cleansing herbs are birch leaves, dandelion leaves and roots, daisy leaves and flowers, horsetail, fresh nettle greens, violet leaves, yarrow leaves and watercress. You can choose one or more of the herbs and make a tea cure over a period of 3 weeks. That’s the time your body needs to renew every cell of your blood

After your body got rid of toxins you can start to nourish your body. Switch from teas to infusion (infuse e.g dandelion or nettle for 4 or more hours) which are rich in minerals and vitamins or make tonic teas like burdock for the urinary tract, peppermint or milk thistle for the liver and so on. Most nourishing infusions are also tonics so they are a really good choice.

I can guarantee you that a  gentle bodily spring cleaning will give you a lift out of the winter-blue and makes you fit for spring
I wish you a good time and the enjoyment of a beautiful herbal life!