Have you tried jun? It is sometimes referred to as the “champagne of fermented drinks”. I remember the first time I tried it. A friend of mine has huge ceramic crocks on the go, full of jun. She prepared a tall glass for me with ice and freshly crushed verbena leaves … that was it,…
Apothecary
All About Calendula (and a Healing Balm Recipe)
A stash of calendula is an essential herbal medicine to have on hand for making remedies to treat minor wounds, burns and infections. This hardy plant is easy to grow, preserve and use, let’s find out how! When winter descends, the veggie garden takes on tones of dark greens and purple. Calendula punctuates the garden…
Honey Fermented Garlic and Fresh Honey Garlic Mash
My two pantry apothecary essentials for winter are honey fermented garlic and elderberry syrup. Garlic gets to work on microbial (including bacterial) infections while elderberry works against the cold and flu virus.
Elderberry Syrup From Dried Elderberries
Try to always have a stash of elderberry syrup on hand during winter. It is definitely one of the better tasting herbal remedies. One the whole family won’t turn their nose up to. In the UK and Europe, elderberry is a much loved traditional remedy. A valuable hedgerow medicine, used since ancient times for all…
Hawthorn and Apple Fruit Leathers
I have left a fair amount of rubber on the road in my time because of a true foragers eye. I drive my family insane by screeching to a halt next to a fertile roadside crop of something wonderful like elder, rosehips and most recently hawthorn. This find was the perfect opportunity to make a stash…
Healing Herbal Gummies
Healing herbal gummies never last long in our house. I started to make them when my first child was small. There is no better way to smuggle in herbs and nutritionals when the kids are sick. We now make a “general tonic” version, there is a stash in the fridge to snack on most…
Cooling Aloe Cubes
There is a big pot of Aloe vera that sits just outside my kitchen door. I cannot tell you how many times I have popped out and torn off a little of the leaf to squeeze out the cooling gel to soothe a minor burn or a mozzie bite. When autumn comes I always try…
Baby Botanical Bath Bombs
At the moment my kitchen smells DIVINE – I have been scenting a batch of bath bombs for our mums for Mother’s Day. They are infused with a gorgeous relaxing blend of essential oils including ylang ylang, rose geranium, petitgrain and oakmoss. Not only do they smell divine, they also look so pretty as we…
Beautiful Botanical Burner Melts
The bulk of commercial burner melts tend be pretty toxic, they are made with petroleum derived waxes and are artificially coloured and fragranced. So what I have done is come up with an alternative that keeps the ingredients pretty much homegrown, local and most importantly natural. Once you have mastered the recipe and experimented and…
Make Your Own Herb and Spice Cold Infused Oils
I could not live without infused oils. I incorporate them into my lotions and potions and they are also perfect for adding zing to stir fries, salad dressings, roast veggies and also as a garnish for soups and dips. Infusing herbs and spices allows the oily constituents of the plants to impart their own unique…