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~

Homemade mosquito repellent

Yesterday I had a lot of mulching to do, my sister has commissioned me fix up her yard.

I do wish I had some before and after picture of the shade garden I put in for her, but that was before I started blogging and documenting everything.

Anyhow, as it is a shade garden and right by a little creek there is typically loads of mosquitos. And the times of the early morning or at dusk when it it not too hot to work, even more so.

I have long been wanting to make a homemade mosquito spray, as I do not like to use regular repellent, and find that the natural versions from the health food stores, does not work very well.

I found this idea on The Herb Gardener, this spray includes garlic and cayenne pepper, and to that I added some yarrow. I used I'd say 6-7 big cloves, smashed them up skin and all, put them in a food processor with about a cup of water and 1t of ground up cayenne powder, the recipe calls for fresh peppers, but I did not have any on hand. 

To this I added a good amount of yarrow, flowers leaf stem and all.

Mashed it up really good in the food processor, I love the way it looked and even smelled, I do love garlic, and then I set it in the sun for a few ours 

before straining it through cheese cloth into a spray bottle.

Once strained I added a few drops of lavender essential oil.

I applied a liberal amount to my skin, wondering if the cayenne was going to burn in any way. It did not,

it did feel a bit sticky at first but once dried that went away. I think it worked really well, perhaps not 100%, yet really well, I could do all my mulching without feeling the constant attack of the mosquitos and when I came inside had not one bite.

This may not be the repellent I would use if I was going to town, well actually I rarely put on repellent, but for garden work or a hike at twilight this is the perfect solution for me, with the added bonus of absorbing the benefit of the garlic through the skin.

~Happy rainy monday~.

Yeah, we are getting some rain:)

Making Echinacea syrup

Using herbs has become a way of life for us, and every year I become more proficient and add more knowledge and experience to this wonderful way of caring for my family 

( even so I am certainly still a novice herbalist )

I enjoy all aspects of the herbs, from growing and caring for them, to harvesting and then preparing the herbs.

I love using fresh herbs whenever possible, and right now the Echinacea are in full bloom which is the time to harvest the ariel parts, last year I made tincture from the roots, and the plants I have growing now are just slightly too young for harvesting the roots (which should be done in early spring or fall after the third year of growth), so I decided to harvest some flowers and leaves and make a syrup for the children, they LOVE herbal syrups, as they are sweet and tasty.

I will use this syrup as a supplement and give it by spoonfuls everyday for as long as this batch will last, a few weeks probably. Echinacea is great for immune support, colds and flu.

I also added some Bee Balm flowers for taste, and they are also great for common colds and such.

And just because I had some cherries laying around looking sad, I also added them to the concoction for sweetness and flavor, as echinacea can be strong flavored (especially the root).

I also added one comfrey leaf, just because:)

My basket of goodies 

So pretty isn't it, all chopped up

with the cherries added, just love how it looks, so colorful

after it is all chopped up, I added water to cover and brought it to a boil, and then left it to simmer until

the water reduced to about half

this is what it looked like when done, at which point I strained it, and squeezed out all the remaining liquid from the plants. Then added honey, about one cup of honey per quart of liquid.

and here it is strained, sweetened and ready.

This will keep in the fridge for several months, although it wont last that long in this house.

 ~happy healing~

And in case anyone is interested a great simple reference book on common healing herbs, how to grow them and use them, this is one I love  "Growing 101 Herbs that Heal"

Another great informational book is Rosemary Gladstar"s  "Herbal recipes for vibrant health"

There are so many wonderful titles, yet these are great basic herbal books.

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:)