Todmorden and its Amazing Edible Landscape!

Jan 10th, 12 / 0 Comments

I just received a link from a friend in the USA about a village in the UK and their amazing edible landscape http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2072383/Eccentric-town-Todmorden-growing-ALL-veg.html

I found it really inspirational, so great to hear a bit of positive news for a change….

It is so good to hear what a group of good hearted people can manifest when they get together and put the work in :)

I can’t believe it is already January 10th, how this year has flown by!!!  Still I don’t think it’s too late to wish success to any and all of you that are undertaking interesting growing projects this year.  Maybe with a bit of guerilla gardening and a few more organised projects like Todmorden we can change not only what our country looks like but also how it feels and how we feel about each other, and hopefully grow enough wonderful fruits, vegetables and herbs so that no one need go without…

So a very happy new year to one and all, and happy growing!!

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December Strawberries!!

Dec 21st, 11 / 0 Comments

Tommorrow is the shortest day of the year! I love cold, crisp, blue skied winter days with evenings all cosy in front of the woodburner. Last Friday was a special treat as there had been a fall of snow overnight and passing through Cranham woods the following morning was like a winter wonderland, so so beautiful. There hasn’t been so much of that this year (yet?!!) though. As if to prove it, this afternoon I even noticed the strawberries are still struggling on with their unbelievable second wind. There are large fruits hanging off some of the plants – outside in December??!! Obviously their chances of ripening are beyond slim but who’d have thought it this time last year! In fact the ultra mild autumn has led me to be extra lazy in my garden, there are still things that need putting to bed and clearing up, but the urgency just hasn’t been here without the cold (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!). I am looking forward to the return of the light though, I spend far too much time indoors at this time of the year sat on my bum dreaming up big plans for the coming year, but I guess that is what this time of year is all about. So on that note I wish you all a wonderful solstice and a cosmic 2012 full of positive change :)

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Photographer Stephen Studd

Nov 1st, 11 / 0 Comments

Any of you that have a copy of either of my books may have noticed that the photographer for both was Stephen Studd.  I am extremely grateful to him for the beautiful photographs he took for each book and so I am really happy to see that he has done really well in this years RHS photography awards.  He received one 1st place, two 3rds and a highly commended – well done Steve.  To see his winning shots follow this link http://www.rhs.org.uk/Competitions/Photo-competition/Grow-Your-Own .

Of course I love plants and everything about them so I really enjoy seeing well captured images of them, so it seems does Alan Titchmarsh on who’s show Stephen will appear with several of the other RHS winners on Thursday 3rd November.

If you would like to improve you plant photography you can join Stephen on one of his workshops in 2012, for more details follow this link http://www.stephenstuddphotography.com/

For me things are slowing down, the nights are getting ever longer and most of the plants are drawing their energy into their roots and dropping their leaves in a bid to survive the harsh weather to come.  I have been doing some 1-2-1 tutoring with a woman who is visiting from Kenya.  I thought it would be challenging for me as I normally teach during the spring and summer when the plants are at their most energetic, flowering and vying for attention.  However I have been surprised at the sheer abundance of plants to work with.  The hedgerows are still dripping with their autumn fruits, not only rose hips that I mentioned in my last post but also sloes, haws and going underground lots of healthy roots such as horseradish, dandelion and my homegrown echinacea.  Plenty to work with!  And so I have added a new workshop to next years programme of events, it is entitled “Remedies for Winter” and I plan to make all kinds of syrups, oils, salves and tictures with whomever joins me.  I will also be repeating “The Medicine Garden – Practical Sessions” after the sucess of this year.  I have plenty of other workshops listed for 2012 and will be adding more in the coming weeks, so if you are interested check them out at http://www.gatewaystoeden.com/Workshops(479239).htm

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Rosehip Syrup Recipe

Oct 26th, 11 / 0 Comments

Yesterday I walked along a local hedgerow with Faye Hatcher looking for seasonal remedies. This is the second time I have been interviewed by Faye this year whilst we look for wild medicine. The first interview was broadcast in spring. This second interview will be broadcast on her BBC Radio Gloucestershire lunch time show over the next couple of days.

One of the seasonal fruits we came accross was that of the wild rose, also known as dog rose (Rosa Canina) and I mentioned making rosehip syrup. With 20x the amount of vitamin C weight per weight as oranges rosehips are really valuable as a tonic, especially at this time of the year with all the colds and flu starting to make an impact. Being antiviral and antibacterial a few teaspoons of syrup mixed in warm water can really help shake the snivels quickly and soothe a sore throat.

To make the syrup first collect some rosehips this is best done after the first frost of the season as this will help soften the fruits skin making it more permeable. Give the rosehips a quick rinse and then mince them finely, you can do this in a food processor. For 1kg (2lbs) of hips get a pan of 1.75 (3 pints) of water boiling. Add the hips and bring it back up to the boil. Then leave the mixture to stand for 15 minutes before draining through a jelly bag, you could also drain through a clean tea towel or even a pair of tights! While the liquid drains through bring another litre (1.75 pints) of water up to the boil and once all the liquid has drained out put the mashed hips into the new pan. Repeat the process, bringing the mixture back up to the boil and then leaving to stand for a further 15 minutes before draining again.

Now you can discard the mashed hips and you are left with quite a large quantity of orange liquid. You may want to pour all this through the jelly bag one last time to be sure all of the fine hairs inside the hips have been caught and discarded as they can be very irritating if any get through.

Now simply add 750g (1.6lbs) of sugar to the liquid and bring it to the boil. You can boil it for a short while to reduce it slightly, but make sure you have stirred well and that all the sugar has dissolved.

Now all you need to to is bottle the liquid in glass jars. I recommend using a few small or medium jars/ bottles rather than just one or two large ones, as once each bottle has been opened it will need to be refrigerated and used within 2 weeks. The unopened jars can be stored in a cool dark place until needed but make sure to clearly label them so you don’t forget what treasure awaits inside!!

This syrup is so sweet and delicious many people don’t even wait until they are sick and just enjoy using it for its taste, which also means kids like the taste too, a bonus when it comes to herbal remedies!!

I’m sure you can appreciate why I did not divulge the recipe during the interview as it would have been a lot for any listener to remember, or scribble down on a handy scrap of paper. It sounds more long winded than it actually is so have a go, there are plenty of hips still around and will be well into November. Plus you never know what else you may stumble across whislt foraging around in the hedgerows…

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EU Traditional Herbal Medicines Directive

Aug 23rd, 11 / 0 Comments

Since the introduction of this directive accross the EU in April this year you will find that the majority of commercially available tinctures, herbal capsules and tablets will slowly disappear from the market place. The reason being as I have mentioned before is the need for an expensive and time consuming licensing procedure. As a result only larger companies and the most popular herbal remedies such as St John’s Wort and Echinacea will end up being licensed. So it is becoming more important than ever to learn how to make tinctures, to harvest and process remedies oneself otherwise so many natural remedies will be lost to the majority of people forcing us to rely more and more on chemical based medicines produced by the large pharmaceutical companies. This bothers me as so often minor ailments, allergies, cuts and scrapes can easily and effectively be treated by familiar plants growing close to home.

A similar thing is happening to food stuffs. recently I went to buy some mesquite from an online shop. Mesquite is a powder that comes from the ground up pods of the mesquite tree, historically it was the most important food for the Native Americans living in the Sonoran, Chihuahuan and Mojave deserts. Because of new directives throughout the EU mesquite is now classified as a novel food (despite its long history of use in the Americas) and cannot be sold for human consumption. There to protect the consumer I do feel that these directives have gone too far. The good news is that you can still buy many of the herbal medicines as simple dried herbs, roots and barks. You can in fact still buy mesquite meal and the most interesting use I have now seen it listed as is to put in an egg timer to count down to 2012!!

It’s a crazy world, that is for sure. On that note I am off to my allotment to gather up some chamomile flowers to put in my late night tea this evening. Happy growing, harvesting and processing folks!

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20 Amazing Plants!

May 31st, 11 / 0 Comments

I am totally delighted as today I received the first copies of my latest book! It is entitled “20 Amazing Plants and their Practical Uses”. It is a bit of a relief as I am heading off to the Sunrise Festival http://www.sunrisecelebration.com/ tommorrow and wanted to take along some copies to sell. I will be giving a talk about plants being the ultimate renewable resources (one of the working titles!) and a couple of wild medicine walks were I will be leading people around some of the hedgerows and corners of the site to point out medicinal plants. If you are heading down to Sunrise come and find me, I will be based in the Tin Village area. If you do so you will be one of the very first people to get a look at my new book! I am hoping we will have glorious sun as we enjoyed for the same event last year, fingers crossed!

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The return of nettle!

Mar 21st, 11 / 2 Comments

What an amazing moon, the so called super moon on Saturday night. My partner and I went to Avebury to watch it rise, it was more like a sunrise, large in the sky as predicted but also a deep, deep orange, what a treat.

Yesterday like Saturday was a glorious blue skied treasure for those of us in Gloucestershire and so finding myself with time to spare I decided to spruce up my back garden ready for spring. It seems that while my attention has been elsewhere the small patch of stinging nettle I cultivate in a circular bed at the bottom of my lawn has made a bolt for freedom. It has escaped the boundary at the edge of the bed and is now attempting to turn my wonderful and diverse medicine lawn into a nettle monoculture! It is dangerous to give in too much to the enthusiasm of nettle as with a little lack of care it will, I’m in no doubt, achieve it’s goal. So before tugging at the roots to pull it back into my prefered degree of disorder I decided to trim the tops and brew myself a tasty infusion. I did not leave it in the water long, there was hardly a colour at all to my brew and yet the taste was deep and thick, almost soupy. Hooray for nettle! I love it.

I guess I will be having quite a few nettle teas in the next couple of weeks before removing those ever searching, spreading roots. Luckily I will feel the benefits as the nettle helps cleanse my blood making me strong for the summer whilst also helping reduce any symptoms of hay fever that without its regular use begin to appear by early summer. There really is no such thing as weeding in my world, or at least need not be.

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Shoulder pain, Skullcap and new legislation…

Feb 24th, 11 / 0 Comments

I have recently injured my shoulder, probably partly due to too much time sat here at the computer with bad posture, and possibly partly due to hefting around huge quantities of wood. The wood came in the form of quite large branches pruned from ancient apple trees in an orchard I am helping bring back from near dereliction into productivity. I always like to carry as much as humanly possible pushing my physical boundaries as I walk half a mile accross rough ground back to the trailer, not necessarily the best idea as my shoulder is now incessantly reminding me! Some time has passed since the mammoth pruning session and my shoulder is still twinging, so I decided rather than continue to grumble to myself I better do something positive.

I have started to add copious quantities of tumeric and ginger to my diet for their anti-inflammatory properties. To counter the pain I thought ah! yes willow bark, perfect as it not only relieves pain but also has anti-inflammatory properties. I don’t have any stored at home so I went online to buy some, while I was there I thought to also get hold of skullcap, another pain relieving plant. I have tried and tried to grow skullcap but the slugs love it so much that in my current garden there is never enough left for me to harvest. Still I can buy it online, however that is possibly about to change…

New legislation is coming into force accross the EU as of the 1st May that will require all herbal products to be licensed or they will no longer be permitted to be sold legally. The licensing procedure as I understand is extremely costly, estimated at between £80,000- £120,000 per single herb. What that means to you and I remains to be seen but Skullcap was listed in a recent article in The Independent newspaper (http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/europe-to-ban-hundreds-of-herbal-remedies-2171781.html) as one of the remedies that would be under threat after the new legislation has gone through. Yikes! so I will be buying it in quantity just in case it is suddenly no longer available and a punishable offence to supply it. I can’t quite get my head around the new legislation although of course it is being put in place to protect us from these beastly witchy herbs.

I guess the fall out may be good for me, teaching people to grow, gather and prepare their own home made natural remedies will maybe take off as a result! I suppose you always have to look for the silver lining. I am teaching a six part course which begins in mid April http://www.gatewaystoeden.com/Practical-Sessions(2293690).htm if anyone is interested in learning the skills for themselves!

In the mean time I am going to make my supper now with plenty of ginger and tumeric and follow up with a cup of skullcap infusion and enjoy the beautiful colours that are edging into the sky as I write this.

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A search is on for the time thief!

Jan 16th, 11 / 2 Comments

Wow, 2011 already, in fact already 2 weeks in! Has someone been stealing time? Feels that way. Maybe the culprit is my second book “Plants the Ultimate Renewable Resource” I am just doing the finishing touches today ready to send it off to Paul and Ruth tommorrow. It’s a funny feeling finishing a book, I don’t think there is a point, certainly not that I have ever reached, when I think ahh yes that’s it – perfection!! Each time I read back through I find little sentences that could be better constructed or processes that could be more clearly explained. However at some point with a little discipline you just have to let go before in a moment of nervous anxiety you rip it all to peices!! So although not absolute perfection yet with Pauls hawk like eye I’m sure it will be by the time it reaches the shelves in spring!

In the mean time I am going to brew myself some fresh ginger root to boost my circulation on this rather damp chilly afternoon. Hopefully now I have identified the time thief I will have a little more time for blog entries, well maybe once I have satisfied the tax man with all my sums that is!!

Wishing one and all a year of love, peace, laughter and plenty of time outside to make friends with and play with the plant people!!

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Yarrow, gut health and other stories…

Nov 8th, 10 / 3 Comments

It has been so long since I last posted an entry, I have been so busy writing my new book “Plants the Ultimate Renewable Resource” trying to keep on track so that it is finished by the end of the year.  I think I am getting there although it seems there is always way too much information for the number of pages I have to fill.  I have also been planning a selection of workshops for next year and have finalised the first one.  It is called “The Medicine Garden Practical Sessions” and will be run over the course of the growing season (April-September) one Saturday a month.  I will be teaching how to prepare and gather many of the remedies featured in the book but will also concentrate on building ones relationship with individual plants and how to gain knowledge directly from them, a subject that was barely touched upon in the book but that provides the basis for most of my work.  I am really excited about teaching it, now all I have to do is find some people keen to share the journey with me!

I think my plant of the month, this month, has to be yarrow.  Why?  Well yarrow really is one of my all round favourites, it has an incredible ability to help staunch bleeding and rapidly heal the wound, is a fantastic cold/ flu/ fever remedy – just start drinking infusions of the fresh leaf as soon as anyone in your work place or household develops any symptoms and you will remain protected, if you already have the cold yourself drink it anyway as it will help your symptoms clear up more quickly.   The last reason I value it so highly is because it stimulates digestive enzymes.  I cut some leaf last week and am in the process of steeping it in brandy.  After two weeeks I will strain off the yarrow and be left with a wonderful tincture.  Taking a little squirt of this tincture (maximum of a dropper full) mixed in a mouthful of water 5 minutes before each meal will stimulate your digestive enzymes and help your body digest and process all the food you are putting in it.  I find using yarrow in this way through the winter really helps process the heavier, perhaps more fatty or sugary foods that we often end up eating at this time of year.  The good thing is that by using yarrow tincture you are supporting your body and stimulating it to do the work itself rather than using artificial enzymes or chemically produced medicines that will perhaps do the job for your body but leave your digestive system more atrophied than before.  So get out there while there are still big deep green patches of yarrow scatted accross your lawn and get the brandy out!  Your belly will thank you!

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