make my own herbal remedies

All these different herbs arrived today in the post. Gareth joked it was my drug stash as I opened the package and all these dried herbs fell out wrapped tightly in see-through plastic parcels.

I’ve been making nourishing herbal infusions with them, and even though they don’t taste so great (some taste really bad!) I quite like doing it because it’s the beginning of a new rhythm; soaking the herbs over night in my yellow tea pot (rather than in a jar as recommended as I don’t have a good jar to use yet) and drinking the three cups that produces the next day half an hour or so before I eat anything.
I like using the herbs, making potions and tinkering around in the kitchen. If I can find an alternative to bees wax maybe I’ll start making lip balms and body butters and things like that to give away as gifts. It reminds me a lot of my list and when I was a kid and mixed all the shampoos together in a small bottle and added flower petals and things to it, imagining I was making something fantastic like George’s Marvelous Medicine, my favourite Roald Dahl book.

Nettle tastes really “nutrienty” – and full of iron to me – and really strong. I feel a bit funny if I drink it for more than two days in a row, while red clover is milder but tastes like the lawn! I have oat straw, plantain and burdock root to try out next (hopefully oat straw will help me sleep).

I feel like I’ve found some new friends :)

Artwork by Hiroko Reaney

I brewed a herbal rince yesterday to pour through my hair in the shower. It’s really making me think about my “feeling beautiful” goal and waking me up to that. I haven’t been thinking about it exactly, but I can see it…

I brought some herbs today after discovering and listening to a podcast on the subject (there’s a website with audios and articles, too http://www.herbaled.org/ ), got inspired and ordered a few tinctures to try out.

I’m quite optimistic about it and hope it will make me feel better too :)

There was a book about herbal teas for three pounds so I added it to my basket to give me something to read (adventurus). First: dropping tinctures in my water, and reading and listening and drinking tea… and eventually growing my own herbs and doing complicated things in the kitchen with herbal brews.