by Judith Stafford | Jun 30, 2020 | Into the Woods
June in the Woods June is a green and luscious time in the woods. Plants are really starting to grow. This June has had very mixed weather. As lock down is slowly eased there have been some beautiful sunny days but also lots of rain – which is great for plants. My garden is now full of weeds and the slugs and snails are out in force! In the woods the elder tree is in flower. These beautiful frothy flowers can be eaten dipped in a light batter and fried or made into elderflower cordial, champagne or gin. This year I made gin and it was ready to drink in a week and tastes lovely and floral. Other medicinal plants in flower now are plantain, linden or lime tree flowers and common mallow. Plantain in flower[/caption] Plantain grows everywhere and can be eaten in salads. It is considered a healing herb and used on cuts and bruises as well as working as a laxative if you eat too much! Lime flowers are used as a sedative and often included in night time herbal drinks and have a very pleasant flavour. Marsh mallow is the mallow used mostly in herbal medicine; it bears no resemblance to the marshmallows found in your hot chocolate but at one time the sap was used in the production of these sweets. Common mallows have similar properties and are said to help reduce inflammation, cure toothache and treat wounds. The plant colours are mostly green with some pink including foxgloves, mallow and herb Robert. I love foxgloves and remember as a child imagining they were...
by Judith Stafford | Jun 1, 2020 | Becoming a Wise Woman
It will happen anyway, so you may as well embrace it. Just lately, I have been thinking about change. Some of the people close to me have been going through significant changes, and it has got me thinking about what makes me happy, how I can feel more content in life and looking at what I have to change to make this happen. I have been through some significant changes in the last few years. I have moved town twice, retrained, changed my job, and moved in with my partner. Things have changed a great deal, and mainly for the better. Yet still, some things could be better, and I would like to make this happen. We have an odd relationship with change; it can be scary. We are told that change is a good thing and that we should strive to change ourselves, our lives and our circumstances if we are not happy with them. But is this always a good idea? Is change good or bad? Is change always a good thing? If you are unhappy with something, should you change it? What about changes that are forced on you, such as losing a job or a partner? What would you call a ‘good’ change? Is it one you initiated yourself, or that turned out well? How about bad changes? Are they the ones that were forced on you or ones that did not improve your life? There are different types of change. We have no control over some traumatic changes, such as the death of a loved one or losing your job. More trivial changes, like...
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