Elderberry syrup

It is time for elderberry syrup again. I cannot praise this lovely berry and the syrup made from it enough. I just love it.

I watch with anticipation as the lovely elderflower, which I love more each year, turn into tiny green berries, I then keep an eye on them each week as they slowly plump up and turn first red and then brown and finally a dark dark blue or black. It is hard to describe the excitement I feel, perhaps it has to do with my love for autumn (because I know when these berries start to ripen fall is around the corner, although there is certainly no sign of autumn here yet), or the joy it gives me to gather something by hand and make it into something delicious which will then help my children weather the changing seasons with a stronger immune system, or perhaps I simply feel this way each and every time mother nature brings me what I need for the season ahead, I know I feel the same excitement in spring when I gather my first batch of nettles, 

whatever it is I love it!!

Each year when these lovely berries start to ripen we journey out to gather them for syrup.

We all gather together

We started on one bush/tree and filled this small basket, then found another tree full of ripe berries and had to get a bag from the car to gather in.

such abundance

Once at home we set to work separating the berries from the stems.

The children usually help for a while, and I finish up. This is indeed a labour of love, it takes a long time to separate each berry from the stem, yet I enjoy it fully, a meditative task and my quiet time..

And once finished I had a bowl full of berries, some berries on top in this photo look a little red, these will be separated out when I wash them. You must only use the dark blue/black berries!

Kaleena really enjoys the washing, it feels so wonderful to move the hands around in the water and berries. The berries that are not yet ripe enough will float to the top, if they are in the top layer of the bowl, and are then easy to skim off.

After washing I put the berries ( dried berries can also be used) in a pot and cover with water, I add about half an inch over the berries, and simmer them for about an hour. Then I mush them much like you would when making jam

strain out the pulp, and squeeze all remaining juice out

pour in a jar

add raw honey to taste, quite a bit as the syrup can otherwise be a bit bitter

and label, which is always a good idea, 

when you have all kinds of home cooked concoctions in the fridge:)

These will keep at least 3 months in the fridge. (which reminds me I need to add a date to my label)

I give this as a supplement by the spoonful to the children and myself in these weeks leading up to the change in season, I give it also as an immune booster. The berries are powerful antioxidants, full of vitamins A, B and C, as well as amino acids. For more info look here. I like to keep the syrup on hand all winter, and give it at the first sign of a cold or flu. When I have an abundant supply like now, and it is hot, like now, I also use it as juice, and serve it over ice in a mixture of half water half syrup. 

So delicious!!!

~May you have an abundant supply of these little black pearls~

~with gratitude~

Lavender air freshener wands, and children's art

Inspired by a post I saw the other day on "Golden Sun Family", I set out to find some fresh Lavender sprigs, I was fortunate to find a few big clusters growing by the road and picked up a few. Check here for tutorial on how to make these wands. It took me a bit to get the hang of it, this is a weaving project, and takes a little effort.

Once I got started I realized that these would make great air fresheners for the car, and the bedroom and well the kitchen area as well. The great thing about the wands rather than simply hanging the flowers, is that the little flowers are contained inside the weaving, and so do not drizzle off the stems. The lovely wands have already filled the air with the sweet calming scent of lavender. Once the scent get weaker, a few drops of essential lavender oil could be added.

I added one to the wreath that we made the other day, to add the calming lavender scent to our bedroom

this one hangs in the dining/kitchen area

and this one in the car, I absolutely love to come into the car, and be greeted by the scent of lavender

I also wanted to share some beautiful pictures the children painted this morning. We had some old pieces of wood laying around, and the children have been wanting to do some painting, other than water coloring that is, so we got out the acrylics some sponges and they loved it.

I really love how they turned out.

This one is Keenan's

and this one Kaleena's

so pretty...

~happy, sweet lovely monday to you~

Green Salve

This green salve is something we have been using since we moved to these mountains and were introduced to it almost 4 years ago. The children love it, as do I, and we use it for any and all skin ailments. Bites, rashes, stings, 

bruises, scrapes and more.

It works wonderfully soothing and is so easy to make.

Inspired by A handmade life, I added dried calendula flowers this time.

Otherwise we added the same herbs as we added to our poison ivy spray.

Lots of Comfrey, plantain and some jewel weed, we also added some dandelion leaves.

chopped it all up, added the dried calendula flowers and poured a bottle of  Grape seed oil over it.

Left it in the oven for the whole day on the lowest temperature.

Then left it to strain over night

melted some wax 

and added the melted wax to the warmed up oil, if the oil isn't warm the wax will separate when added,

and here is lovely green goodness, ready for all those summer itches, scratches and bruises.

~Green Blessings~

Poison ivy home remedy

When we woke up this morning both children had red itchy rashes from poison ivy, perhaps a souvenir 

from our recent trip, reminders of good times comes in all sizes:)

Anyways, before we had breakfast we went straight to the yard to find some plants to help with the itch and the subsequent spreading of these rashes.

We are fortunate to have three excellent choices right in our back yard.

Jewelweed

 A wonderful plant with many benefits, which grows in shady spots usually by water, here it is growing by the creek in the back yard. It is great to use fresh, simply break off a stem and rub between your hands and smear the "sap" straight onto the rash, it stopped the itching almost immediately, and it works to dry out the blisters as well. It is also great to put on before entering an area where you may encounter poison ivy and in this way use it as a preventative, or right after you know you have been in contact with the poison ivy to prevent breakout.

 A good wash within 20 min of contact also works as the oils of the ivy has not yet bound with the skin.

Comfrey 

Which is one of my favorite plants. It has so many medicinal benefits, great as a topical solution for any skin condition, great internally in teas as well as tinctures for a number of reasons (check link if interested), grows fast and can be cut down several times over the course of a season, which makes it a great mulch plant, and the list goes on, I love plants that have such a wide range of uses.

Keep in mind before planting, that the long tap root, is not easily removed, and once planted very hard to   move should you regret the chosen location, a new plant will grow from even the smallest piece of root left behind, this also makes it very easy to propagate, but do not be light about where you plant it. 

Common plantain

Another common garden weed with tons of benefits, don't you just love how almost every plant 

around us, serves as food or medicine or both. When I first arrived in these mountains, this was one of the first plants I was made aware of, it is a well know remedy for stings, and we even used it a few times just this past week on our trip, as several children and myself got wasp stings, simply pull off a leaf chew it up in your mouth and apply on sting, it works amazingly every time. It has numerous other benefits as well, check link if interested. 

So here is our basket full of plants, another love of mine, as you may have noticed; baskets full of 

greens, herbs and/or flowers 

back inside, having already applied the fresh sap of the jewelweed to the rashes, we broke open the rest of the stems of the jewelweed and ripped the leaves of the plantain and the comfrey 

put it in a big pot, added water and boiled for I'd say about 45 min, let it cool a bit and strained

we made some into ice cubes, which feels great on a burning itchy rash, and filled some into little spray bottles to carry around with us, for whenever we do not have the fresh stems on hand, and besides the children love anything that comes in spray bottles:)

The rest will be stored in the fridge, and shared with friends

and just because it feels right to end with a flower shot whenever possible, here is another of the thistle that so fascinated me on our trip to Virginia

may your day be poison ivy free:)

Herbalicious

Early spring brings the abundance of fresh herbs.

One of my all time favorite herbs (for tea anyways) is the stinging nettle, it is packed full of nutrition and can be used in fresh tea as well as literally any dish where you would otherwise use spinach.

I go through great length to find spots where they grow away from traffic, and where no one is spraying any pesticides.

It has become a favorite excursion of ours to go wild herb picking, and while I am the only one who pick the nettles, the children love picking especially the red clover flowers, which are just flowering now. They love to eat them straight off the stem, and in this way I know they get their greens as they are not great lovers of salad. ~Yet~

Once picked the clovers go in a jar with water, and I use the flowers each evening for tea. They do not keep well once picked, so I pick no more than I will use in about three days.

The great nettle.

I pick off only the top to encourage new growth, because once they flower they are no longer as delicious, and the flowering happens quickly. If the nettles are slightly pulled the roots will come out, so it helps to use scissors.

Once at home I soak them to clean, put them in a salad spin to get rid of the excess water, and leave them on a tea towel to dry completely before storing them in large ziplock bags in the fridge.

If completely dry the nettles will last about two weeks.

Each evening I fill my tea press with the fresh herbs, adding whatever is fresh and in season.

These days, along with the nettles and red clover flowers, I add Bee Balm (Monarch flower), as well as mint and lemon balm, for added flavor as well as nutrition.

Mmmmmm!!!

And soon we will have wild blackberries for picking and jamming,

as well as....

blueberries!! Yum!

How abundant the natural world.