Books, books, books...

I'd love to say that I've been on a spending spree, but no, we just visited the library this afternoon.

~ I've been looking out for a 2nd hand version of this Ukulele book, but pleased to get to try-before-I-buy. I spent a bit of time yesterday studying up on music theory (a mix of internet and this book). I have never in my life learnt anything musical (although I'm sure I briefly learnt the recorder and ukulele when I was in primary school), so this is all new and quite interesting to me.

~ I grabbed the first book I found on SLR cameras - my mum is giving me her 8yr old camera, so I need to now learn how to use it!

~ I picked out a variety of drawing and painting books to carry on with once I'm done with my course.

~ I saw Dorothy Hall's herbal book on display, so added that to my pile even though I've had it out before.

~ I also saw on the returned shelf this cute book with some neat little crochet projects. The author uses a variety of materials including: jute twine, wool, and leather cord. I don't currently own a book on crochet (I have only self-taught myself off Youtube tutorials), but this one has made it onto my wants list. I've got my eye on these projects...

But first, I've had a job come in that will consume my weekend. I'd love to go on a book buying spree with the $$ from that, but I think getting a plumber in is a bit higher up the list of priorities!

More natural healing

This winter has really taken its toll on us. We're all good at the moment, but it seems that we have a week of nothing and then one or other of us comes down with something new. I can't blame it on stress or being unhappy - we're all in a really good space and enjoying life.
I think this is a combo of several things:
~ First, we are being exposed to more than any other winter with the kids now at school (we're not actually getting any more sick than any of the other school families though, and not getting sick with the same thing even). It just seems more than it is, we've each only been sick with about two things each, but spread that out amongst four of us and not at the same time, it has felt constant!

~ Lack of Vitamin D! I really think this is one of the biggest changes. When we homeschooled I was able to get us out for regular sunshine at the middle of day during winter on sunny days - not possible at school! At school, lunchtime only starts at 1pm, past the best time to make Vitamin D during winter.

~ No vitamins or supplements. For some reason I had fallen off the wagon with supplementing this year (and one less meal to include a wider range of veges and nutrients ie. school lunches mainly comprise of a simple sandwich along with fruit and popcorn, not the cooked up meal that I was used to making them). I've now started them on vitamins again (a kids multi as well as a fish oil with added Bs and iodine), so we'll see how we go as we head into Spring.

Both kids have had an ear infection this year. Ear infections are not something that they generally suffer from, and usually the ear pain doesn't last longer than a few hours when I get onto it right away (usually a combination of either colloidal silver, garlic oil, vitamin C, and homeopathics). Last time though, Danielle had had some strange viral thing that led to a ear infection that became a bit prolonged and required antibiotics (our doctor doesn't usually prescribe them as a standard treatment). Saturday night she said her other ear was aching (4 weeks since the last one), and I got onto it right away. I came across a timely post on Watching Kereru's blog and tried out her onion wrap when Danielle went to bed (I used a woollen sock of Simon's, one of my cotton knit headbands, and Simon's head wrap he uses when he rides to hold it all together). No lingering pain in the morning (I removed the wrap after about 30mins), although there was a small amount later on towards bedtime (so I repeated it).

I have also been suffering from a lingering cough, which started after my flu and then I got a second cough a few weeks later (my cough had progressed to many uses of my asthma inhaler, which usually only gets used a few times a year normally!). Over the weekend I chanced upon some reading on fenugreek that reminded me of the benefits, so started right away drinking 2-3 cups of tea a day (I had a jar of the seeds in my herbal cupboard). Some of  Fenugreek's benefits are that it relieves congestion, reduces inflammation and helps fight infection. It also has expectorant properties that are good for helping with sinus and lung congestion, and loosens and removes excess mucous. Sounds good to me! It's pretty tasty too. Just a warning though ... if like me your body needs a bit of a detox, then this will also produce sweat (and all over the skin in fact) that smells very fenugreeky/curryish - this only last 3-4 days though. Oh, and I haven't used my inhaler since!

A productive day in the garden...

Our eggs, my first lemon, kale, leeks, lettuce, radishes, spring onion, and parsley.

Yesterday the kids and I got out in the garden for the first time in a while. It's really ticked through winter quite nicely this year and producing some good colour and veges - this would be my first winter where I've had a good amount coming through. Out of my kitchen garden I pulled out what I thought was a weed (didn't recognise the leaves), but discovered a forgotten radish in there. I haven't grown radishes before, but had some in a bundle of seedlings I purchased from the supermarket a while back. After looking over the rest of the garden, I realised I had most of a meal out there waiting for me.

I made a self-crusting quiche - just added in some GF flour, cubes of potato, chicken, milk, and cheese to my leeks, kale and eggs.
Served with salad made with lettuce, radish, egg, spring onion, and lemon juice all from the garden.
Crutons baked in the oven with butter using semi-stale gluten-free bread.

Garden - mid winter

After all the wet, mild weather, I reckon the garden is in a pretty good place. It's looking lovely and green, with the some bright splashes of colour throughout. I think we've got some frosts arriving this weekend though...

Front herb garden with veges mixed in -
lettuce, spring onions, silverbeet and spinach

Lower garden - calendulas brightening things up

My little lemon tree - finally producing abundantly after 3yrs. Needs a good
weed, and those blue lupen are almost ready for digging in.

The chookies! Caramel (on the left) with her lovely bright red, plump comb. She's the layer.
The other two's combs are still pale, dry and shrivelled while they are off the lay.

My plum bursting into blossom.

Love the red of this geranium. I got a little cutting from my
great-aunt about 18mths ago, it's nicely established now.

I found this cute wee dress at an op-shop a few months back as a dress-up for Danielle.
I recall owning one of thee kilt/dresses back in the '70s. She decided she wanted to wear it to school tomorrow. 

The garden over the weekend...

I felt inspired to get out into my herb garden yesterday (before the rain came). It's looking really good, and fillling out nicely now, so minimal weeding is required. The borage, calendula and yarrow that seeded over late summer have really filled in a lot of the gaps. The bright colour from the calendulas, violets, feverfew, borage and rainbow chard continue to brighten things up.

I took these photos this morning - it's started off as a sparkling, shining one with a gorgeous blue sky!

I also gave the chicken coop a much needed clean out. We've had a LOT of rain, and things have gotten really soggy and gross in there. So, once all that poopy-straw  (with masses of lovely wormies in it) was shovelled out and added to the winter garden beds (with blue lupin in them), Simon went down and laid down some fresh straw.

 The far bed on the right of the path has the garlic, the middle is where my vege seedlings are going, and the front bed has some onions. The beds on the left have the blue lupin.

The wild strawberries I was given a few weeks ago and coming along well. In fact, all my strawberry plants are looking fantastic and filled with flowers and growing fruit.

My hanging basket in my front porch has some lovely bright colour draping over the sides now. Love the vibrant colours of the lobelia and the pansies together.

Wah! Who heals the healer?

Yeah, I know, mums get sick and we just need to carry on - and I guess over the past 8yrs I've been very fortunate on that front. But after the 4 days that have just gone past, I really was left thinking, "who looks after me?" Now, that sounds more pity-party and poor-me than actually what I mean. I thought, it's all very well that *I'm* learning about the natural healing properties of herbs, and know what I need to do for the rest of my family, but it doesn't really factor in looking after me.

I got to thinking that when the kids are sick I cuddle, snuggle, find herbal teas for them, offer soothing honeys, provide nourishing food and drink, and generally "nurse" them through an illness. But the person offering all of this often misses out on reciprocal treatment.

So after being down with the flu (not really fair after being laid low with Strep throat only 6wks ago), and not being able to help myself much, I think I need to write up a little healing manual for my family to refer to for times just like this...

Yesterday we were blessed with a lovely blue sky and warm, healing sunshine. So the kids and I spent a good amount of time out there around lunchtime soaking up the sunrays and producing a good dose of vitamin D, which we have probably all been starting to run thin on with the shorter days, and lower angled sun.

Hopefully we've had a headstart and will have a fairly bug-free winter now?

Herbs from the Earth's Children Series

Well, my mum and Simon have/are both making their way through the Clan of the Cave Bear series now that the 6th book has been released. My mum's just finished them all and was mentioning how she'd like to go through the books again and take out all the herbal medicine references and then do a bit of study to see whether they stack up to what the herbal experts actually say (and I'm pretty sure they will be well researched and spot on).

I remember reading Clan of the Cave Bear when I was about 13-14 (25yrs ago!) and being fascinated and intrigued with the use of herbs for natural healing back then (and even remember having a discussion with my mum about the herbs and their uses). Or maybe my memory's good because it was my first exposure to porn fiction... ;)

Since I haven't yet started to re-read the series, I thought I might be able to take note of all the herbal references as I go...of course I thought I'd check Google first as I was sure that somebody out there has probably already done that! And yes, there are many online references.

Still sounds an interesting wee project though.

A home blessing...a few wee violets...and a lovely bit of sunshine

Now that the virus that Nathan had seems to have left the house (fingers crossed the rest of us have avoided it), it felt right to give our home a bit of a clean and charge it up with a bit of healing energy.

The house has been feeling grimey, furry, cobwebby and generally dirty. I think the murky weird weather has contributed (it has been quite mild and warmish, but just so damp feeling), as well as our woodburner being in use most days. So I decided to get back into a bit of a modified Flylady routine (just the zones, I don't do the daily things she suggests). I have done her programme off and on over the last 7yrs and found it really good when I've been in the groove of it, but easily fall off the wagon.

At the first sign of sunshine (although very windy and pretty cold), I opened the door to air out any lingering dampness  (the windows have started to get condensation in the mornings). The washing was hung out and the dishes all done (still dishwasherless...still zen about it...). While out hanging up the washing, which is positioned in my herb/cottage garden, I gathered up a lovely little handful of sweet violet flowers that I noticed have just started to peek through to join the heartsease violets.

(A few days back I really got a headstart on the deep cleaning - I was doing a bit of phone catch up with my mum and a friend and spent over the 3hrs (!) on the phone, but managed to simultaneously wash the windows, tidy up the bedrooms and living areas, dusted, did the dishes, hung out washing (then got it in again as it started to rain), swept away cobwebs, and scrubbed the kitchen floor around the skirting!)

I then got down to mopping the floors since they were freshly vacuumed. I don't think I have ever bought floor disinfectant and usually just use hot water with a big splash of white vinegar in it (and to be honest, I'm a really hopeless floor mopper and it gets done *really* infrequently). But, it felt like as good a time as any, so I put a splash of Thieves Oil (and a little milk to emulsify the oil so it dispersed into the water rather than settling on top as a glob of oil) into my hot water. I discovered Thieves Oil a few years ago. No idea if it works, but it seems a nice little thing to do.

The story (one version of many) goes that back during one of the plagues throughout history, and there were dying and dead people lying in the streets or in their homes, that a group of thieves would go around and rob the bodies of their possessions. There was wonder how these thieves didn't also die from the disease. The story goes that they rubbed a certain group of herbs over their bodies to ward off illness. The blend used, which contain anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties, are Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Lemon, Clove, and Cinnamon.

So anyway, it is a lovely aromatic blend. I sometimes use it when I clean the bathroom (I add it to my baking soda bottle), or add a few drops to floor mopping water, and I even like to set a dish of water on my woodburner at night time and drop a few drops into the water to gently infuse the room with its fragrance  (and reputedly sanitise the air).

The recipe I use (and only make up a small amount at a time, so use a 1/2 tsp for my part measure):

3 parts clove oil

3 parts lemon oil

3 parts cinnamon oil

1 part eucalyptus oil

1 part rosemary oil

So, wishing my home and inhabitants good health and good cheer, I was done!

Winter herbal medicine chest

I've been thinking about making up some remedies to have on hand as winter moves closer, and lurgies start to move through the community.

The garden seems to be having a good little burst of energy at the moment; it must be the mild weather and plenty of rain. I've been trawling through my books and course work to see what I can prepare ahead of time. I suffer a mild asthma during seasonal changes (such as right now, autumn). I rarely need to use an inhaler and it passes eventually, but I want to experiment a little and see if I can find some herbal remedies to stop the cough I tend to get as the first sign, which then can make me a little tight in the chest and breathless.

I went to the organic shop on Friday and found some lovely big garlic bulbs. I saved the outer large cloves for planting in the garden this weekend (this will be the first planting), and the inner cloves I used for my garlic honey along with my leftover cloves from last year's harvest that are really too fiddley for cooking with.
On Saturday, the kids and I set to work making a few of these up and discussed where the herbs are found in our garden (they're getting pretty good at knowing the herbs and their uses too).

A basketful of chickweed, plantain, comfrey, and sweet violet leaves.

Sage honey...good for coughs, fevers, colds and flu.

Garlic honey for soothing sore throats and good for the immune system. Has the same uses as sage honey (coughs, fevers, colds and flu)... Good for asthma symptoms. A teaspoon mixed with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar into a glass or water or juice would be a good choice too.

Sage, thyme, lemon rind, lemon juice, honey drunk as a hot lemonade (the sage honey would be useful for adding straight in here). Great for colds, sore throats, and fevers. I love this one, and it's one of the first comforting, soothing things I do.

Violet leaf infusion soothes lungs: good for coughs and asthma (gathered fresh violet leaves for drying to make infusions).

Plantain/comfrey/chickweed salve: wound healer, skin conditions, eczema. My mum asked for something that could help with itchy patches of skin she gets, so I thought I'd have a go at making a salve. It came out perfectly! I started by making a maceration the herbs (infusing in olive oil by setting them to slow cook in the crockpot for a few hours). I then bottled up the remaining oil (strained out the herbs) to use in future salves (it will last 6-12mths). to the melted wax/maceration mixture I added some calendula tincture I made late last year and some lavender essential oil.

The jar of galic cloves are awaiting some runny honey.

Herbal teas: Yesterday I had a fevering, tired boy with no idea what was going on (aside from a one off vomit early in the morning and a headache). I started him off with a drink of hot ginger syrup with some vitamin C powder for the nausea. Then out came my Naturally Healthy Babies and Children by Aviva Romm book. I made him up a tea using fresh herbs and weeds from the garden to help with allowing the fever do its job, restoring health, relaxing and soothing the stomach. He chose one with lemon balm, and I added to it some violet and yarrow leaves.



Other standard first aid kit items I keep on hand are: 20% Active Manuka honey, Colloidal Silver, lemons, garlic, apple cider vinegar, and vitamin C powder.





Special outdoor spaces...my little herb haven

I spotted a few cheery, bright spots out in the herb garden a few days back. They sure are appreciated as the weather cools (and the days look dreary) and as some of the plants are starting to look spindly and tired.

Strangely, the heratsease violets aren't really visible unless the photo is expanded.

Calendulas, Heartsease, and red stalks of the Ruby Chard/Silverbeet.

Thought I'd do an update photo of the herb garden to see how it progresses through the seasons.

Left

Middle

Right

So, alongside all the herbs/weeds that I've bought seedlings for, or propagated cuttings (rose geranium, other geranium, rosemary, evening primrose) or entire bits of plants uprooted and replanted (red clover, forget-me-nots, feverfew), I'm also cultivating some wild weeds that have made their own way there. I have patches of plantain, chickweed, nettle, heartsease, sweet violet, kawakawa, and dandelion.

I'm now loving how the calendulas and borages have popped up all over the place too to fill the gaps. I only need to do minimal weeding these days. Any gaps get vegetables planted in them like silverbeet, spinach, lettuces, and peas (and tomatoes in summer). The garden is also perfectly situated to catch all the autumn leaves dropping off the trees that hang over the fence that add a nice mulch layer for winter.

Happenings from the past week and idle chat...

Hanging out time:
~ We've just completed 2 wks of school holidays. Our first! We had a lovely low-key holidays - mostly hanging out at home together, playing board games on rainy days in front of the fire, catching up with friends, stargazing on clear nights, a trip to the art and culture museum, a bit of crafting, and catching up with our unschooling friends (Danielle declared to them that she is a School Kid AND a Homeschooled Kid - she wants to claim both labels still lol).

Blokus - a game for adults as well as children, where once you know the
rules and figure out how to make strategic moves, age is not an advantage.

~ Apple Magic: Find the secret inside.

~ Nathan pondered whether Kapiti Island (just off our coastline) is taller than the Eiffel Tower - so we did a bit of googling and found out that Kapiti Island is 197m taller.

Garden:
~ Minimal garden happenings this week - my seedlings are coming along well (when I remember to water them and take them out/or air out the greenhouse so they don't overheat). Chicken coop got a clean out and poop added to one of the garden beds in preparation for my seedlings when they are a bit older.

~ Continuing to harvest enough silverbeet to bulk out and add to most meals. Feijoas appear to be coming to an end - but we've gorged ourselves every day and haven't had any excess (aside from sharing with friends we visit).

~ Chickens are off the lay for winter it seems.

~ Simon's built a bike shed. The kids bikes used to live up on our covered porch by the front door - but now that the table and chairs are there, the bikes have just been shunted around. Since this photo was taken he's added a wooden post up the side and top to protect us from the the sharp edges. He's left the bottom section open so it doesn't get too damp in there. It's a long shed and the open end will mean that it should be mostly sheltered from any rain driving in in that direction. And that's my poor very under-used bike in there too.



Around the home stuff:

~ Ick, tax pack has arrived to complete. And homeschooling paperwork to claim a bit of "payment" for the part term when we were still homeschooling. I won't go on too much about the parking fine when we met up with a friend elsewhere and forgot to check for limited-time parking signs! Oops.

Herbal Healing:

~ A friend had a nasty cat-bite on her hand. After being tended to by the doctor and medicated up, I also suggested the chickweed poultice for the swelling. After 2hrs of having the poultice on she said she noticed the swelling down and could move her fingers more than she could before. The wounds also oozed a little as Susun Weed said would likely happen.

~ I had my third chickweed success in as many weeks - Danielle got 3 huge mozzie bites on her ankle over the weekend that really swelled up the whole area and itched like crazy. After returning from being away for the night, I popped a handful of chickweed on and wrapped it up for a few hours. Voila! Upon removing it 2hrs later, we discovered the swelling had completely disappeared. 

~ And another chickweed story. I really seem to be attracting these! Nathan came home from school with a sprained ankle yesterday - painful and quite swollen. So at bedtime (for some reason it still seems to take a while for my brain to click in that I could be using something herbal instead of doing nothing), off I trotted to gather some chickweed and a bit of plantain, which also has anti-inflammatory properties. I crushed and broke it up and strapped it on as before. The swelling was downa  bit and will repeat it again. Love that stuff. I reckon I've well and truly learnt a good deal about chickweed now.



We've dubbed the white cloth (old nappy cut up into squares) and one of Simon's
stretchy sweat straps from inside his bike helmet as the chickweed wraps. 



Easter Weekend

Good Friday we had a bit of a slow start to the day. The kids were busy making plans on what we could do as a family and decided a nice walk and picnic lunch was just the thing. I was still a bit fuzzy headed, but thought the gentle walk, fresh air and sunshine would be just what I needed. It's was quite a lovely, mild day and the sun was out.

I had my eye out on wild weed/herb foraging spots to visit later in the year. I've seen a lot of what I'm fairly certain is mullein here, but want to come back later in the year to see it flowering to be sure it's not foxglove! I haven't got up close and personal with either of these plants yet to do a proper comparison.

Easter Satuday: The kids and I had a quiet day at home (and I decluttered their rooms). A friend and her daughter popped in late afternoon for a play (while the mums had a glass of wine!).

Easter Sunday: This kind of passed us by and I even forgot to get Easter eggs for the kids! (Although, they still had saved stashes each from a birthday party they went to a few weeks back and came home with a bit of a haul after having an egg hunt.) Simon took the kids out for a bike ride late morning and I made a yummy pupkin soup (using one of ours) for lunch. Dinner included more of the pumpkin roasted up and some of our own frozen runner beans - they were delish!

Today, Easter Monday as well as ANZAC day, Simon and the kids headed off for an ANZAC citizen's parade (I wasn't prepared as Danielle wasn't going to go, but changed her mind last minute). Nathan's Keas/Cubs group were joining in the procession to commemorate this important day in New Zealand history. We had a friend and her boys visit for relaxing lunch.

An all-round nice relaxing weekend.

Crafting and recuperating...

A few weeks ago the kids and I gathered a range of stones from the beach in preparation for this craft. It was a gorgeous day and the kids spent the afternoon after school playing in the stream and sand before heading home to make dinner.

I had the flu earlier this week (first week of school holidays, which was a bit of a let-down for the kids) and it really had me out of action for one of the days (I haven't had anything like it since my early 20s when I recall not being able to get out of bed/off the couch and could only doze). Fortunately the kids are pretty self-sufficient and could get themselves food and entertain themselves all day (and then did the necessary chores like feeding/putting the chickens away, lighting the fire, and putting baked potatoes on for dinner so Simon to finish cooking when he got home from work), and I already had my Tuesday's blog post on what I'd been up to all written up lol. On one of my recovery days we decided to get the stones out and give this a go (despite the fact that it was a gorgeous Autumn day outside when we'd much rather be exporing and playing ... but oh well ... at least we got to sit in the sun!).

Hot Rocks with melted wax...

Instructions found here at 5 Orange Potatoes. We only had one minor burn, but yay for the Aloe Vera plant that lives on our outdoor table that was able to be used immediately.

What I've been up to over the past week...

Lighting fires: I've rediscovered the upside-down fire. I first heard about these last winter and had great success with them. You basically build the fire the opposite of what we typically think. So, instead of building a teepee style fire with paper on the bottom, then kindling, then a few larger chunks directed up into a point, you layer your items the opposite. Start with large pieces of wood layered across the bottom of the fire (tightely nestled together all paralell). Then lay a few sheets of newspaper flat across that (or torn into strips). Then layer some kindling across. Then more paper. The instructions suggest using firestarters at this point. I don't use fire starters though, and have found if I put my kindling on top lightly layers with scrunched up paper it works just as well.

The idea is that the fire starts at the top and drops hot embers down in the lower layers that then proceed to light up (providing you can keep the top on fire long enough which is why I suppose they suggest firestarters). The real benefit kicks in when the bottom layer catches fire. It seems to burn nice and long and hot and actually takes much longer for it to burn through, so you are not having to keep an eye on your fire when you first light it. It will go for a few hours before you need to top it up.

Here's a pretty good link on how to do it (aside from all the manly man talk).

Garden: My lupin seeds have all sprouted (I hope they don't look too enticing to the chickens).

Laundry: We've had a few wet days and it's meant that the drying racks need to come out. I really try and avoid putting the racks up in the house during winter to avoid adding moisture to our home. But, sometimes it just can't be avoided (as it is I only do one load of washing evey 2 days).

Walking to school: We've managed to walk to school, on average, 4 days a week. It takes us about 15mins with me walking at a fast pace, and the kids on their scooters. It's great exercise for me since it's my only exercise aside from gardening. I really hope to keep that up when the weather takes a turn, but we'll see. As it is, I only use about a 1/3 a tank of petrol a fortnight (and that's in my itty bitty little car).

Technology: I have finally stepped (just a baby step) into the 2000s as far as technology goes. My mum got me a basic iPod for my birthday. I'm not really one to listen to music all the time, nor one to race out and get the newest and latest in technology. I much prefer the sounds of nature around me when I'm out gardening, and my own headspace when at home. I do like music, just don't seem to crave it as others do, but I have been really wanting to listen to quite a few podcasts over the years and finally, now I can! It never appealed to me to sit at the computer and listen to them since I'm not really into needlework crafts that require me to sit, so I never really had the opportunity before. I have several Susun Weed discussions on CD that I want to listen to, and have now found that she does podcasts too. So, I can now do that while doing housework, or even on my walk home from school on my own. Oh, and I have loaded all my music CDs onto it as well, for a bit of light relief between interviews. :)

DVD watching: The kids went to stay at my parents on Saturday night and Simon and I went out for a meal for my birthday. We grabbed some DVDs on the way home, to settle for a night in front of the fire, with the rain pattering down outside.

Oops, heartburn hit me. So, out came the fennel seeds for a cup of soothing tea.