Viewing entries tagged with 'bacteria'
VIOLET Viola odorata
A couple of years ago I was contacted by a woman whose father had a cancerous tumour. She was looking for a source of violet plants as she wanted to treat him with this age-old remedy. She planned to make a poultice every day from the leaves and flowers. Impressive stuff! and needless to say she was going to need a heck of a lot of violets. My garden is my treasure chest, so many humble little plants and often unwelcome weeds are the real stars when it comes to making natural medicines. The violet however never fails to attract my attention. When the sun warms the flowers, that divine scent is released. This for me is the sweet herald of spring and hope renewed. For more details read the full post.
THYME Thymus vulgaris
Three years ago, whilst doing a tour of the South Island to visit herbal clinics and health shops, I fell in love with thyme. We were driving across from Queenstown and I noticed thyme growing wild along the side of the road. Being me I had to stop the van and have a closer look and in doing that realised the hills for miles and miles were actually covered in thyme. That sort of thing can nearly send me into a swoon. It was mid-winter but I could imagine the hills in summer, the thyme in flower, the scented air and the bees at work. I collected a little and I'm still using that same thyme in my kitchen. It has lost none of it's flavour and is the sweetest thyme I have ever tasted. In fact I made a chilli con carne just last night for dinner and added a little. It was delicious. I struggle to grow thyme here with the heavy clay soils. The soil is too cold and waterlogged during winter. For me the answer is to grow thyme in containers. I harvest the flowering tops at the height of the summer when the active ingredients are at their strongest. Then I make a tincture which I use in my fungus salve. Interesting that the very thing that supports fungus conditions is the cold, dark and damp, highly intolerable to the thyme plant. By introducing the light and the warmth to our body, encapsulated in the thyme herbs totality we make fungus unwelcome and unable to thrive. These are the old ways of looking at plants and healing which we can learn through quiet observation. For more details read the full post
BLACK WALNUT or Juglans Nigra
I've planted two walnut trees over the years here in our gardens and neither of them have survived. People always tell me 'but they grow like weeds!' Yeah right, not for me they don't. For many years whenever I took a trip down South I would see these beautifully lush trees growing along the banks of the mighty Waikato River. They looked so exotic and I used to try and figure out what species they were. One day the penny dropped and I recognised them as thriving walnut trees. Then I understood why they hadn't been happy, here, in my garden. Walnuts naturally choose fertile, moist, lime rich locations. I have read that European settlers coming to the eastern parts of the USA would often choose to build their homes near a stand of walnut trees. They understood the best place to plant a garden. All that goodness seems to be absorbed by this stately and medicine rich tree. It has many gifts to share; nutrient dense food, exceptional medicine and the finest timber. Read the full post for all the details.
Make your own apple cider vinegar Part one
Every year, when the apples are ripening and falling off the trees faster than they can be eaten or bottled or given away it's the time to turn some of them into apple cider vinegar. Apple Cider vinegar is touted as an amazing cure-all by many. Unfortunately there is a dirth of research, yet I believe that if nothing else is it is undoubtedly the healthiest vinegar out of all vinegars available. Apple cider vinegar should have a dark cloudy sediment, which is called 'the mother' and is the mark of an unfiltered and unpasteurised vinegar. That's what we are looking for. Vinegar is the product of a fermentation process and we want the good bacteria alive and kicking. They do the good work in our gut. Unpasteurised cider vinegar has been shown to lower blood glucose levels, and to bring the body into a more alkaline state. This is something most of us need to consider as most of our diets, often heavy in processed foods, meat, grains and dairy tend to create an acid situation in our bodies which can cause lack of energy, excess mucous, infections, depression, headaches, irritability, and, make some of us prone to arthritic and gouty conditions. It is recommended to take one or two tablespoons of the vinegar in a small glass of warm water first thing in the morning before eating. If you can't manage that then anytime is better than no time! For more details read the full post.
KEEPING IT SIMPLE
I attended a seminar yesterday talking about herbal solutions for skin problems. We all get (well I know I do) overwhelmed and confused by the information about the "bad" ingredients in shampoos, conditioners, moisturisers, hand creams, washing powders, detergent, etc etc etc. For more details read the full post
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