My Green Pharmacy

I've been rearranging my pantry so I now have a medicinal shelf (includes 20% active Manuka honey, apple cider vinegar, coconut oil as well as herbs and spices for medicinal as well as culinary purposes). I've also been cleaning up old jars and sourcing paper bags to pop dried herb flowers and leaves into as I collect them over the coming months (or ones that I have bought if I'm not likely to find them myself).

The kids and I harvested some young dandelion leaves from our backyard last week - it was good to finally find some real ones after having only been finding the *imposters* in recent times.

The Real Dandelion
The leaves are smooth and soft and not shiny (pale green)
The leaves stand upright off the ground
The flowers are borne on a single pale green stem that is hollow with a milky sap

The Imposter
The leaves are hairy/spikey and glossy
The leaves are dark green and lie flat on the ground in a rosette
The flower stems are borne on tall, branching stalks with many flowers in a candalabra

It was also good to get in touch again with the little patches of wild weeds growing around my yard for when I need them.

As part of my course I've been doing a few little experiments (currently drinking fenugreek tea 3 times a day for 3 days - and ewwww, I'm getting the curry-fragranced perspiration the books talk of in the name of detoxing). It's quite pleasant to drink providing the seeds haven't been brewed for too long (5-10 mins is optimal).

I tidied up my aloe vera plants and repotted some of the little baby plants that have popped up (I now have 8 plants growing). I also found a large, wide leafed, spikey aloe vera in a pot in my garden that I got from my nana's house last year (didn't realise it was aloe vera at the time as it is a different variety to the others I have in the house). Nathan's been using it on his grazes and bug bites.