Prepare to be transported from Summer through to Winter in this blog entry.
Here's a little project I worked on this year, to raise funds for my favourite charity The Fox Project.
Borage ......... lovely plant, big winner with the local Bee population .......... but grows like ruddy wildfire in my garden!
I spend half my life chopping it down and digging it up ............... but still it grows.
This humble herb sometimes known as Star Flower, has heaps of medicial properties.
Mild anti depressive properties, sprains, swellings and skin irritations, dry sensitive skins, anti-inflamatory, hormone balancer - good for PMS. The ancient Greek naturalist Pliny once wrote about Borage "maketh a man merry and joyful".
So I had an idea to put it to good use!
Time to get snipping ........
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| Hope I don't fall off my trug! |
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| Next job ....... tie in to manageable size bundles. |
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After all that hard work .......... I decided to take advantage
of the calming qualities and have quick 40 winks! |
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| Zzzzzzz ............ |
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Sleep over ....... decided to use
Jaspers old cage to hang the bundles.
Then I put them in the outside cupboard
that houses the boiler .........
it's nice and warm and airy in there! |
Trouble is ....... by the time it dried it stank something rotten ...... medicinal properties or not, it was going in the compost.
Time to put plan B in to operation ..........
Research and snip down nicer smelling medicinal herbs!
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Lemon balm ........ a member of the mint family and considered
a calming herb, it has been used as far back as the
Middle Ages to reduce stress and anxiety and promote sleep.
Right I'll snip some of that then! |
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I have a range of mints in my herb garden,
think I'll choose the Eau de Cologne one
because it smells lovely as well as being
calming. It also wards off flies but that's not
really important for what I'm making.
I also chose some Woodland Sage, in the front there,
great healing and antiseptic properties. |
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| Next ....... Rosemary, revives the spirits. |
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Next job .... bunch up all the herbs. I'm using lacky bands and
a birdie fat ball hanger for an easy job.
The fat ball hanger is rubbish anyway, the naughty crows
have it off the trees in no time! |
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And lastly ...... my main ingredient, big bunches of
stinging nettles. I got this tip of using stingers from
an old Paddington Bear diary that I found
dating back form the 70's! |
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Time to hang those herbs up to dry in a kitchen corner.
"Kitchen Ted .... I'm leaving you to guard them with your life!" |
That bird hanger works well.
As the herbs dried, I crumpled them up and put
them in a paper bag, then cut some more fresh to hang up.
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Right we are on to Christmas time now.
I've crumpled and mixed all my herbs and
now I'm packing them in to little
'do it yourself' tea bags. |
I've made some labels on the computer. As you can
see it's not a tea bag, it's a foot soak!
All you have to do is infuse a bag in a jug of
boiling water for 20 minutes to let all the goodness
ooze out of the herbs. Pour in to a bowl big enough
for feet, top up with warm water, sit back and relax.
You can try this with fresh stinging nettles and herbs
in the summer too. The boiling water deadens all the
stingers so you won't hurt your feet.
I'd also dried some rose petals from the garden and
used these with lavender bought from the national trust
gardens to decorate around the two bags in each pack.
Got in to a bit of trouble with the cellophane at one point,
managed to wrap myself up in it.
Lucky my mate Cuthbert was over and able to help.
Always be careful with cellophane with pets and children.
And here's the final product.
I displayed them all in a wicker basket.
Just had enough for 20 packs.
And here's me on the day of the Animal Aid Christmas Fayre.
Driver ... follow that Route Master to Kensington!
Here's our lovely Fox Project stall. My foot baths are
on the right there. They all sold at £1 each so that's
£20 to help my injured mates down at the intensive care unit!
And hopefully there will be some lovely
relaxed feet over this Christmas period.
If you enjoyed reading my blog please consider donating a few pennies to my favourite charity
'Chris Thismas' ...... I mean 'This Christmas' Thank You
THE FOX PROJECT Southern Wildlife Ambulance Network
(Registered Charity No.1044928).
Merry Christmas ...... Love Charlie Fox
