Calendula cream 1

I'm pleased that a few friends are going to try the Halloween spider biscuits. Could you tell that the spider body is a raisin? I'm searching for Christmas edible ideas now for our Playcentre Christmas baking stall. Let me know if you all see any quick sure selling ideas, I'm thinking good old shortbread, truffles, gingerbread men and the like.

Somewhere in blogland late one night I saw the suggestion to do entirely handmade Christmas gifts. I wouldn't be at all popular with my kids if I included them but for friends and family it would be do -able. Basil in the garden will be ready for pesto. Herbal ointment for others.On a dry day pick a loosely packed jar full of herb flowers, petals or leaves. Calendula is a great one to start with as it is a good all round skin healer and is very gentle. Comfrey leaves could also be chopped, but because they are quite moist can often promote mould. Lavender flowers are good, strip them off the stalk. Others I use are yarrow, chamomile, elderflower, rosemary, st john's wort, native manuka and kawa kawa. I'm not a qualified herbalist so will not recommend certain herbs for certain ailments but there are many books you can get from the library and make creams for eczema, dry skin, cuts, scrapes, bites, hemorrhoids,massage etc.

Here I'll show the method, it's called cold maceration. Once you've packed the dry petals cover them in oil of your choice (not nasty old salad and cooking oil made in china) I have used olive, almond and grape seed all of which have their own healing qualities and little odour. Avocado would probably be lovely too. Use a skewer to get all the air bubbles out by going down the side of the jar and squeezing the petals back a bit, you might see if you look closely in the picture. Do this until you can't see any more bubbles rising, it's really important as the air promotes mould. Fill the jar right to the top and put a lid on. Set aside in a dark place for four to six weeks. The oils or constituents in the plant that are soluble in oil will be absorbed into your carrier oil. Start with a wee jar first so if you do get some mould growth you don't have to chuck away heaps. My teacher would check hers weekly and just scrape off any mould growing, you could do that if any occurs but the perfectionist in me couldn't cope with that. Another thing to remember when gathering herbs for medicine is to be in a serene or appropriate state of mind. Don't do it when you're stressed or angry as these energy's may be imparted onto your medicine. Sing, smile, pray, visualise, meditate or whatever is appropriate to you.

Next step in six weeks you'll need some natural beeswax, try the beekeeper at the local farmers market or the health food shop. Alternatively you could use the oil as is for massage etc or in aqueous cream but I'll go into that further later.

Walk in the garden

If you came for a walk round my garden this afternoon I'd be pretty excited to show you everything that's happening. Down the back path past the chooks the raspberries are about to open their flowers and sunflowers and nasturtiums line the back fence, I hope the frost doesn't get them I heard on the radio there might be one tonight. The old ironing board recycled to become a table holds lettuce and beans waiting to be planted. Further down the fence a boysenberry is tied to the fence. I love all the flowers in the garden at present, most of them are white and hold promise of beautiful fruit and berries to come.
Cherries, their sight a real delight. Hopefully these promise fruit just after Christmas, a wee bit of time for me to prepare to stop the birds stealing them all. This will be their third season in the ground and the first that I'll be allowing fruit. The first two years I pick flowers off all my fruit trees so they can put all their energy into putting down good strong roots.
Elderflower opening, a beautiful scent. Some of these will be for tea and herbal cream some left to grow into berries.
A splash of orange, Calendula in the flower garden. Many people are asking me to repeat a herbal cream making workshop I did last year. I thought I'd go through the steps here on my blog as well for future reference. So if you want to join in, initially you'll need to find a patch of Calendula, Comfrey, Lavender, Elderflower, Yarrow, Kawa Kawa, Manuka,Chammomile or any other herbs you have growing which are soothing for skin or have antiseptic qualities, there are heaps. Have on hand ready for a dry day some olive or almond oil a clean glass jar with lid and some wooden kebab sticks. I think a good time for collecting herbs for storage is when the moon is rising or full but since it's been so wet we'll just go for a good dry fine day. I'll keep you posted.

St John's wort oil

Driving around the Tasman district at the moment you'll see St John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum ) in flower. It is classed as a noxious weed as it can cause poisioning of livestock so you are not supposed to propagate it in your garden. I collect it from the riverside to make herbal oil to treat hemmoroids, skin irritations and wounds. It is also reputed to help with burns. A few years ago it was popular as an antidepressant but I think the tea tastes like turpentine. Carefully identify plants before use, ragwort is also in flower at the moment and looks very similar, a good herbal will have accurate pictures, develop an eye for detail. To make the oil you pick flowers and buds on a dry day after the dew has dried, soak in oil, olive or almond for 6 weeks to 6 months then strain out flowers to reveal the lovely red oil, gently heat with other healing oils eg: calendula or comfrey in a double boiler and add a few shavings of natural beeswax to make a gentle healing ointment. I would suggest a healing prayer or karakia while combining ingredients, bottle in small glass jars, use within a year.