MyHerbCorner

Posts Tagged ‘Spring’

This weekend I was harvesting lemon thyme, thyme and oregano. In Spring this is not only perfect for a fresh supply of herbs, but also to encourage the plants to grow bushy and bless you with a lot more to harvest in a few weeks.

To produce more herb plants you can also divide thyme, oregano, lemon balm and beebalms before they are to high and start to produce flowers.

Think some parts of New Zealand have just the right time to divide plants while others maybe already harvest the second time and in the Southern Alps they will have their first greens.
What an amazing country, you could visit all different regions within a day by plane.

So… enough daydreams, I got some work to do.
I accidentally didn’t check if I have enough comfrey root tincture which I use as liniment for my back problems, so I was surprised to only find comfrey leaf tincture… oops… ok, right time or not, I have to go into the garden and get me some roots…

Aren’t this roots beautiful? You can see why they are called ‘Schwarzwurzel’ (black root) in German.

They are an amazing painkiller if you have back problems, sprain or twisted ankle. Just chop the root thinly and infuse with Vodka for 4-6 weeks (I leave them inside and don’t strain).
If you want to harvest the roots when they are most potent, do it in late autumn or early spring and dry them to make tincture when ever you need them.
Today I made a fresh root tincture because it’s urgent.
When you apply the tincture as liniment you have to check if it is too strong (comfrey alkaloid can make you faint, I once learned that when I haven’t had the time to boil water to dilute the tincture. When my husband rubbed it onto my back I went dizzy and yes… fainted. Strong medicine indeed!)

So, now I have time to enjoy the moon surrounded with pink clouds…

… and an amazing good ‘cuppa’

Normally I drink one herb only and don’t blend them but I just want to try out the effects of this nice tasting tea with St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum),  linden flower (Tilia cordat), bay leaf (Laurus nobilis) and juniper berries (Juniperus communis).
I thought it might be very effective against colds and flu since St. John’s wort is an antiviral, linden flower helps against sinus problems (and make the tea sweet ;- ), bay leaf is known as an antibacterial and to help the stomach and juniper berries are anti-toxic.
So let’s see what I can find out… at the moment I only know that this tea really tastes yummy

Spring is such an awesome season. Everything is lush and full of life. Trees are blooming everywhere and invite you to make a halt and just awe over it’s beauty.

Not only trees are blooming, the garden is also full of colours and joy. I love to collect flowering thyme and infuse it in honey (Please click here on a link if you want to do the same)

Thyme makes also a great wash for your face if you have oily skin or what about a wonderful bath against back pain? On my wiki you find more suggestions, click here for the link on thyme.

Another colour in my garden right now are this mustard flowers. You can add them to salads or just leave them to seed. They are growing pretty fast and I am always amazed over the generosity of nature. You can just sow a few seeds and got plentiful in return.

A colour which really brightens up a day (or salad ;- )

Yesterday when we made our morning walk the air was pungent from a smell I couldn’t identify at first. But then we came around the forest corner and I saw this beautiful hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna reffered to as Crataegus oxyacantha) in full bloom.

The flowers were vibrant and smelled heavenly.

I started to harvest a big basket of this blood pressure herb. It’s quite interesting that you can use the tea of flowers and leaves for high or low blood pressure because it regulates the blood pressure to normal. What a fantastic herb!

Before I dried them in my ‘dehydrator’ I plucked away the small twig part so the herb would dry evenly.

As you see this hawthorn has still some closed buds. If you collect them you want them to be in full bloom or just to open so all the pollen is in your medicine herb.

I gave the small twig parts with blossoms and leaves into a small jar to make a heart toning tincture.

And here you see the dried material. This is not the brown and crumbled stuff you buy from some herb stores. When you pick your own herbs they are full of colour and intense in flavour when they are dried.

In the book ‘Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine’ by Andrew Chevallier (Page 90) I read that flowering hawthorn is used together with gingko (Gingko biloba) to enhance poor memory. Drunken as tea it is improving circulation of blood within the head and thereby increases the amount of oxygen to the brain. This tea sure tastes nice and would be a lovely gift for our elderly people.

As heart tonic I would not only use the flowering parts, but also the berries . Please click here for an older post of hawthorn. However, add some honey to the tea to enhance it’s action and drink 3 times daily.

I am glad we picked some hawthorn yesterday because it is already raining again. As you can see on the right panel the moon was just new. So this is one thing when you deal with herbs, you can’t be picky and pick them always when they are at their highest by the influence of the moon. From my experience flowering herbs are strongest when collect at full moon, while the roots potency is higher around new moon. But never mind, herbs collected anytime by their own peak time is better then no herb

Daisies (Bellis perennis) are a well known back yard plant and are easy to identify. Children love to pick flowers which you can add to salads or make tea. The leaves as salad are mild laxative and lower high blood pressure. With the flower buds you can make yummy false capers (Here the recipe)

On this lawn in spring it is easy to pick daisy flowers and leaves.

You can dry them or use fresh. 2-3 cups tea daily brings relief for cough and also helps in liver conditions. In herb blends it is known to stimulate the circulation also in modern herbalism it isn’t used anymore.

A tea may also be used to cleans wounds and treat skin irritations.
For impure skin it is used internally to cleans liver and kidneys and externally to clean the skin surface.

You could say it is a spring and summer herb but it supplies us with vitamins and minerals the whole year round (yes even under a blanket of snow you can find it’s mineral and vitamin rich leaves!)

A decoction of one cup leaves and two cups water makes a gargle for inflamed mouth and throat. Please click here for other notes on daisies.

You see, there is a lot of medicine in this little plant

With my children I love to pick daisies to make a table garden.
First collect some daisies and other flowers with long stems.

Fill water into a dish and arrange the flowers.

The big stone will hold the stems down.

After a few hours or the other day the flowers will stand up.

Instead of the stone you can also place a big candle in the middle.
Have fun!

It’s kind of funny that I have never written something about my favorite tree!
I always loved the feathery leaves of an European ash (Fraxinus exelcior) and the seeds on a twig in autumn have been fun to use as ‘rattle’ when I was a child.

There are many uses of this lovely tree and I show you here some which you can do now if you have spring or autumn

First let me say that you can identify this tree easily by its black buds.

Some buds will grow leaves…

…and some will grow red flowers which later turn into black (sorry for the awful blurry pics)

In spring before the leaves arrive it is a good time to collect bark from 3-4 year old ash twigs. You can either cut of twigs and stripe down the bark or you can stripe on one side of a twig without cutting the branch off. Dry sorely in the dark and low temperature.
This bark is great to reduce fever as well as a tonic for the stomach.
Give one tablespoon bark into a pot with 1 cup water and bring to boil. Then lid and let infuse for 15 minutes. Drink a fresh made cup in the morning and one in the evening.

When the leaves arrive and are still young but fully developed go and collect them for an anti-aging tea
Yes it is true according to herbalist Hermann-Josef Weidinger.
A tea of the dried leaves slow down the aging process (ah… don’t look at my photo now, I haven’t tried it but will do :- )
Anyway, you should pluck the leaves away from their stems and dry carefully.
A tea of ash leaves is mild to the kidneys and is therefor used in mild diuretic tea blends.

Soon you can collect ash blossoms in New Zealand! They make an interesting tea which is said to help against lung catarrh. You can make a tea with fresh or dried flowers.

If you live in the Northern Hemisphere collect the ripe seeds.
You can make a ‘detoxifying’ weekend by simmering 20g ash seeds in one liter water and strain into a thermos-bottle. Drink over the day, this is a good diuretic so stay at home and relax

The seeds are also lovely in potpourris or as addition in smudging mixes (click here for an easy way to smudge )