It’s been a long time coming but after many requests I’ve finally finished writing Make Natural Skin Care for the Whole Family and it’s now availabe as an eBook on Amazon for only AUD$4.99. You can purchase it or download a free sample here.

If you don’t have [...]]]>

It’s been a long time coming but after many requests I’ve finally finished writing Make Natural Skin Care for the Whole Family and it’s now availabe as an eBook on Amazon for only AUD$4.99. You can purchase it or download a free sample here.

If you don’t have a kindle eReader you can download a free Kindle app for your computer, smartphone or tablet here.

Making natural skin care for you or your family is a delightful process and the results are very rewarding. In this eBook you will learn how to make proudcts that can be applied as a part of your skin care regime or to heal skin problems including eczema, acne, nappy rash, and sunburn. By making your own skin care products you will not only be avoiding hidden chemicals but will also know what ingredients they contain and that they are truly natural and very beneficial for you and your family.

Wildcrafting herbs is one of my favourite things to do although I do find it hard to get the time. We have an abundance of stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) growing wild on our property but lately it has been encroaching too close to our home so [...]]]>

Wildcrafting herbs is one of my favourite things to do although I do find it hard to get the time. We have an abundance of stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) growing wild on our property but lately it has been encroaching too close to our home so not wanting our darling 2 year old grandson to get stung I harvested the wild plants. It pained me to see them lying in a heap so dropping everything else that had to be done I gathered them up, washed the roots and laid them on a table in the shade near the kitchen. It was glorious weather with low humidity so the water dried off the roots quickly. When the they were completely dry I took the plants inside to start the drying process.

Here they are hanging on a rack in my dispensary – I could have used the dehydrator but prerfer the old way. One of my most useful tools is a broom handle – it’s portable and can be used anywhere. I not only use it as a drying rack to dry herbs when I get the chance but I also use it (after giving it a good clean) to dry pasta and to hang clothes that must be dried in the shade. They are cheap to buy and are readily available at hardware shops. 

I use riggers gloves to harvest and handle nettle plants – they are great for avoiding the sting as the tiny hairs can go through the material in ordinary gardening gloves which has been an unpleasant experience for me in the past. Fortunately whenever I or a family member get stung I have liquid extract of burdock that I immediately apply to the area and the relief from the sting is almost instant – burdock is the antidote for nettle stings and usually grows near it in the wild; isn’t nature marvellous?

When drying herbs keep the bunches small and well separated to allow for air-flow around them otherwise they will get mouldy and will have to be discarded. 

I’m a great believer in events happening for a reason and this is true of very old books I have been fortunate to collect. My favourite is The Peoples’ Home Library which I found by ‘accident’ in a bookstore in Cairns in 1989 or 90. My eldest daughter returned [...]]]>

 I’m a great believer in events happening for a reason and this is true of very old books I have been fortunate to collect. My favourite is The Peoples’ Home Library which I found by ‘accident’ in a bookstore in Cairns in 1989 or 90. My eldest daughter returned from Darwin unexpectedly and I drove to Cairns to pick her up from the coach but while I was waiting for her I wandered in to a second hand bookstore to browse and immediately came upon this old book. It was copyrighted in 1910 and published in 1924. It’s a library of three practical books: The People’s Home Medical Book; The People’s Home Recipe Book; and The People’s Stock Book. All three have the most wonderful and interesting information, for instance, treatment for an enlarged or inflamed prostate gland is: “rest in bed, regulate the bowels, and apply leeches to the perineum or apply fomentations of hops. Give mild drinks to render the urine mild.” Homeopathic treatment is recommended as well: “Give the third trituration of Conium 4 times a day. There are instructions for canning and preserving vegetables and fruits and many delightful old recipes for main meals, cakes and biscuits. Of course my favourite section in this old book is the Herb Department which is a large chapter in The People’s Medical Book. Describing asparagus the author states that “the plant has the actions of diuretic and heart sedative.” 

Last Sunday my husband and I decided to go for a drive and found ourselves in a small town about an hour’s drive from our place. The local markets were on so we called in to take a look at the five stalls. I walked up to a stall with second-hand items for sale and right in front of me was The Reader’s Digest Complete Library of the Garden, a three volume set of the most delightful books. I couldn’t believe the set was still for sale as we were late and the stalls were starting to pack up. Naturally, I bought the set and when I returned home and looked through them I was thrilled to see a section on growing herbs.

My most remarkable encounter for books turning up unexpectedly began in 1983 when a friend, who was a local business owner in the small town my family and I lived in, told me he had been diagnosed with cancer and was given six months to live. At that time I had a lovely book, Medical Mother, written by Lady Cilento and given to me by my mum. I treasured this book but decided to lend it to the man’s wife thinking she might find some information that  would help her husband with his illness. Subsequently our friend passed away exactly six months after he was diagnosed. It was a very sad time for his wife and she never returned the book to me and I didn’t ask her for it. In 1991 my mum and I went to my youngest daughter’s school fete; I walked up to the second-hand book stall and sitting on top of all of the books for sale was Medical Mother. I couldn’t believe my eyes and purchased it for the large sum of twenty cents. Although it’s not the book my mum gave to me it’s still very precious because she did originally give me the book of the same title and it has special memories of the time when our friend passed from cancer. Over the years this book has been a very helpful reference for me and has survived cylones, fires and floods as the first book in this story has.

There is no doubt in my mind that we are often led to things that are important to us and I don’t believe that this happens by coincidence or chance but is somehow purposely done and meant to be.

I try to recycle most things to help the environment and because I can’t bear wasting anything. The small basil plants in ice-cream containers above are prime examples. A couple of months ago I wanted a sweet basil plant for my herb garden but for some reason [...]]]>

I try to recycle most things to help the environment and because I can’t bear wasting anything. The small basil plants in ice-cream containers above are prime examples. A couple of months ago I wanted a sweet basil plant for my herb garden but for some reason single plants weren’t available anywhere in my area so I purchased a punnet which had 20 small seedlings. Not wanting to let the leftover plants die I found a use for the ice-cream containers I had been saving for quite a long time, and, after giving some potted basil away and planting a few in my garden I potted the rest in to all eleven containers. Since then they have grown prolifically.

During the summer heat wave the plants were suffering so I moved them in to the shade-cloth covered vegie garden and they are thriving. They have flowers growing but I haven’t pinched them off because they can be used the same as the leaves in cooking. Having so much basil has been great as I can make pesto on demand and take one of the potted plants in to the kitchen to use then return it to the garden to grow more leaves. I love sweet basil because it’s so versatile with it’s culinary and medicinal uses.

This isn’t an attractive image but that’s because we used old spare bales of Lucerne hay to make a ‘container’ to grow potatoes. It’s very easy to do and results in an excellent yield. The first thing to do is save potatoes that have sprouted or [...]]]>

This isn’t an attractive image but that’s because we used old spare bales of Lucerne hay to make a ‘container’ to grow potatoes. It’s very easy to do and results in an excellent yield. The first thing to do is save potatoes that have sprouted or purchase ‘seed’ potatoes from a rural supplier or any gardening outlet. To prepare the site scrape off any grass and weeds so you have bare earth then lay out the bales of hay as in the image. Any type of hay will do but I prefer Lucerne because it’s so full of goodness. Put a layer of potting mix, compost or garden soil on the earth to a depth of about 15cm/6″ and place the potatoes on top. Break up some hay and put a good layer over the top of the potatoes and water in well. When you see stems and leaves as in the image put another layer of loose hay over that leaving the top leaves exposed. Keep doing this until the aerial parts are above the bales. When the leaves and stems die off it’s time to harvest your potatoes which is so easy to do. Just pull the bales away and remove the potatoes from the layers of straw. 

You can see how dry and hot it’s been from the image and how well the potatoes were growing in these conditions, however, after such an unusually hot period with no rain the heavens opened in late January. Consequently the flooding rain was too much for the potatoes and they have gone rotten. With normal rainfall we have always had a bumper crop but it’s easy to re-do. I’ll just pull the bales away and move them to a new area of the garden and start again.

The best tip I can give for growing potatoes this way is not to over-water them and try and plant them at the new moon which is a good time for root crops and will help to give a good yield.

Until next time – happy gardening!

Here we are at the start of the new year and, for some, the beginning of new year resolutions. After so much disappointment in the garden we feel like making a resolution to just go down town and buy our fruit and veg. The only problem here is that it’s [...]]]>

Here we are at the start of the new year and, for some, the beginning of new year resolutions. After so much disappointment in the garden we feel like making a resolution to just go down town and buy our fruit and veg. The only problem here is that it’s almost impossible to buy organic produce. After 4 1/2 years we finally got an apple on our remaining apple tree. The other tree, not made of such strong stuff, died of fright after being planted in a seemingly arid and barren area. Now our beautiful apple that we have so carefully nurtured has been stolen. We doubt it was a neighbour as who would be desperate enough to raid an apple tree that has one apple? Still, I guess we are – were.

Gardening here is becoming very hard – who ever came up with the saying, ‘fruits of our labour’ is twisted because apart from three cherry tomatoes that we estimate have probably cost us $350.00 each we have had pretty much nothing after doing a lot of back-breaking work and spending a small fortune on garden beds, shadecloth, framing, fencing, and water.

We know who is stealing our produce so I’m gong to ‘name and shame’ them. They are King Parrots, Bush Turkeys, Rabbits, Bandicoots, Wallabies, Crows, Bush Rats and Possums. Despite our best efforts the king parrots still manage to eat tomatoes through bird netting, the bandicoots squeeze through the newly erected vege garden fence and dig out roots, the wallabies eat fruit off the orchard trees as do the bush turkeys who also fly over the fence to dig the garden when it’s mulched. The crows sit on top of the bird netting, separate it and eat the nectarines. Not that it matters too much now as the gum tree next to the orchard dropped a branch right on top of the nectarine tree and smashed it in half – and yes it missed the crows but managed to crush all of about 80 nectarines. Rabbits get through the fence and eat the lettuce – I was wondering why they weren’t growing! – and the bush rats devour the pumpkins which are too unruly to fence. As for the possums, well they move on at this time of year so they are out of the picture for the moment. Oh, I almost forgot the mulberries or lack thereof thanks to the currawongs and many other types of birds that raid the trees. 

It’s not that we’re novices, we’ve been growing fruit and veg for most of our lives but it does seem harder here and it’s even harder this season with no rain and higher than normal temperatures and now we have a heat wave heading for us. On the upside the herbs are doing well so obviously they aren’t too popular with the common thieves I’ve named above. And strangely enough nothing seems to be bothering the raspberries and blackberries apart from sunburn but more shadecloth has solved that problem.

Do we make that new year resolution and start buying produce or do we soldier on? I’ll let you know after the coming heatwave. 

This Christmas we decided to purchase a real tree and surprisingly it was a similar price to an artificial one of the same size. The tree we chose was a Radiata pine and a very healthy one too. We re-potted it in to a much larger pot which will be [...]]]>

This Christmas we decided to purchase a real tree and surprisingly it was a similar price to an artificial one of the same size. The tree we chose was a Radiata pine and a very healthy one too. We re-potted it in to a much larger pot which will be big enough for it until after next Christmas. When it gets too tall for inside the house we’ll plant it out. For now though, it’ looks beautiful and it feels good to have a natural tree.

When I was a little girl the most common Christmas tree was made from a branch of a gum tree, or she oak and the decorations were all home-made. Whenever I smell dried gum or she oak leaves I always think of those Christmases in the fifties and sixties when life was more simple.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.

This is musk thistle (Carduus nutans) also known as nodding thistle. It is a common weed in my area and a curse to farmers who find it hard to eradicate. We have quite a few plants growing on our property which I don’t really mind as the honey and native [...]]]>

This is musk thistle (Carduus nutans) also known as nodding thistle. It is a common weed in my area and a curse to farmers who find it hard to eradicate. We have quite a few plants growing on our property which I don’t really mind as the honey and native bees love it. The leaves and seeds are used as  a bitter tonic to stimulate liver function and it’s also used as a wild food by peeling the rind from the stalks while they are still fleshy and succulent.

With so much happening at Whipbird Cottage this is the first chance I’ve had to write a new post for a few weeks. So far it’s been another great year with a large number of new students enrolling and existing students graduating from the full course and [...]]]>

Tansy, Aloe vera, and Yarrow

With so much happening at Whipbird Cottage this is the first chance I’ve had to write a new post for a few weeks. So far it’s been another great year with a large number of  new students enrolling and existing students graduating from the full course and short courses. Congratulations to all of those who are now fully fledged Home Herbalists and thank you for giving me the opportunity to do what I am passionate about – teaching home herbalism to help keep the tradition going.

I’ve had many comments in student emails saying how they are finding practicing herbalism at home is not only benefiting the health of their families in the most wonderful way but also saving them so much money compared to purchasing allopathic medicine. I can vouch for this as, apart from clinical practice, I have been looking after my own family’s (including my pets) health using herbal medicine for more years than I care to admit (don’t want to give away my age!).

Aside from the savings to be made and the health benefits of using nature to heal ourselves and our families it is so warm, earthy and satisfying to grow or harvest wild herbs and make remedies from them. Whenever I get a chance I like to wander around our acreage to search for wild plants or tend to the herbs in my garden.

I don’t have a great deal growing at the moment because we are in the process of establishing new gardens. At the moment though, the herbs I do have growing include comfrey, Aloe vera, soapwort, rosemary, lavender, thyme, sage, parsley, chives, tansy, yarrow, and a few different mints. I live in quite a harsh climate – cold winters with frost and hot, dry summers so it’s quite impossible to have the gardens I dream of, especially that it’s so dry at the moment. We will probably need to cart some water in soon as we rely solely on rainwater.

We also have a few useful wild plants and herbs growing here including stinging nettle, Sida retusa, warrigal greens, sow thistle, and purslane. Spear or bull thistle grows here too but it takes some work to use it so one would need to be in dire straits to utilize it for food and medicine.

Next time I will write more about what’s been happening here and upload images of Mrs Possum and her baby, our recently adopted and dear little dog, Oscar, and Spear Thistle.

Until then,

Belle

Lavender is a favourite of mine, in fact it was one of the reasons why I became involved in herbalism when I was very young. Every year I try to prune my plants in autumn but this year the bees were still visiting the flowers so I left them and [...]]]>

Lavender is a favourite of mine, in fact it was one of the reasons why I became involved in herbalism when I was very young. Every year I try to prune my plants in autumn but this year the bees were still visiting the flowers so I left them and now it’s spring all my plants have new bursts of growth that are pure delight. I will try again next autumn as this is when they really need a good haircut by pruning about one third of the plant.

Infusions of the dried flowers can be taken to help colic, headaches, depression, restlessness, irritability, and insomnia – for adults the dose is 1 to 2 grams in 250ml (1 cup) of boiling water three times a day. Externally the essential oil can be used to treat muscle pain, rheumatism, insect bits and stings, and minor burns.