Preparing a lunch and making cough syrups together

Come and connect to the abundance of the Winter season!
Craig Gibsone and Eveline Rodenburg invite you to a hands-on workshop around the theme of Winter that will renew your connection to seasonal preparations, to the land and to traditional herbal practices.

Again we will start by walking around Craig’s permaculture garden, harvesting for the lunch we will prepare and enjoy together. After that we talk about coughing and make different cough syrups. You’ll get the recipes so you can easily prepare them yourself at home!

Craig is an intuitive natural gardener and eco builder applying it in a happy intuitive way while constantly observing the interconnected nature of all things
Eveline is a naturopath and herbalist passionate about keeping the traditional knowledge of herbal medicine alive
Venue: Craig’s inspiring barrelhouse, kitchen and garden
Date and time: January 26th, 11-4pm.
Cost: £ 25 per workshop, but don’t let the money hold you back; just come and attune.
For further information and to book your place: evelinerodenburg@gmail.com, call Eveline on 07553 695 620 or drop a note in the GO. Or simply talk to us!

Wilted dahlias still good as a dye

Isn't that amazing? First we can enjoy the flowers in the garden and when they wilt, they still make an excellent dye!

I simmered 400 grams of the flowers in water for about an hour. Then they cooled down overnight and I strained the liquid. That's important: last time I got slimy bits of the petals in my wool...

The next morning I put in 200 grams of soaked and washed white wool and added a heaped teaspoon of alum. That was slowly heated up to a gentle boil and simmered again for about an hour. After completely cooling down I rinsed the wool until the water was clear.

It's a lovely deep yellow now. I will add it to all my other yellows :p

Great workshop: dyeing with Indigo

Last Saturday I went to a workshop by one of the members of my spinning circle. She taught us how to dye with indigo and it was such a lovely afternoon with great results!

What I appreciated most was that all five women had a skill they were happy to share with others: dyeing, pinning, wine making, making samosas and, in my case, making herbal remedies. There was a beautiful wild garden with many herbs and dye plants and I got a cooking pan that can serve as a dye pot. I'm not sure if I can think of a better way to spend the afternoon :)

Found: Lung moss!

I have been looking for Lung Moss (Lobaria pulmonaria) for quite some time. I first heard about it in my spinning circle. One of the older women told me how she dyes with what she called Tree Lungwort and gave me a small quantity of this lichen. I tried it and loved the color! It is the brown one in the picture.

And then the name caught my attention; I know the Lungwort and was wondering whether the Lung Moss could also be a medicinal lichen. My favorite herbal, David Hoffmann's Holistic Herbal mentions it as an expectorant, used in irritable respiratory conditions, such as bronchitis and asthma. It is specifically indicated in children's coughs. Lung moss has healing and soothing properties for the mucous tissue. On the internet I also found that it has recently been found that the lungwort lichens contain antibiotic chemicals that are effective against the kind of bacteria that cause tuberculosis and many other chest infections. I'm making it into a tincture and will try it out on either myself or a guinea pig :)
Many medicinal plants reveal their properties by how they look. Lung moss is a great example; I find an amazing similarity to the lungs. If you enlarge the photo by clicking it you can see the bronchial tubes and even the alveoli!

I found this lichen while walking along the River Findhorn. I had been looking up at the trees trunks (almost tripping several times...), knowing that the air is very pure out here and the oak trees are fairly old: the ideal conditions for Lung Moss to grow. Just when I was giving up on finding it I recognised it. I have experienced this before when I'm looking for a herb without having seen it before. When I spot it my heart jumps and I just know that this is the one! Today I will go back to the river and hopefully find more.
I don't take it from the trees, as it takes several years to grow, but collect what has fallen.

The River Findhorn is such a beautiful and magical place!


This post was shared Wildcrafting Wednesday at The Woodwife's Journal

Dyeing with lichen

Now I know about dyeing with lichen, I see them everywhere in the garden. They simply drop off the trees! At first there seemed to be two kinds, but now I see more. I've been gathering them and put them nicely together in the dyepot. They are simmering at the moment, for at least one hour. The smell is getting stronger...

Later, when it has cooled down, I will take the lichen out and put the wool in. Then I will reheat until simmering (again for about one hour) and then leave it overnight. It doesn't need a mordant. Can hardly wait to see the result!

Dyeing wool with henna

Yesterday I've been dyeing fleece with henna. I bought a package of mahogany colored henna and made 30 grams of the powder into a paste with some boiling water. Then I added cold water and the soaked wool, 60 grams. This has been simmering for over an hour. I didn't use a mordant.

I'm quite happy with the result; so far I had mainly yellowish colors and this one is more orange. The picture shows a more yellow color then it actually is. By the way: this is what our shower often looks like!

Making a bag with my handspun

Just got into a creative space! (You should see my room now)

I've been learning how to spin at a spinning circle in Nairn and I'm enjoying it immensely. Now Patsy, our leading spinster, started off a competition. We all got some fleece (from the Welsh Lleyn sheep) and the idea is to make a bag. Now competitions scare the lot out of me AND I'm just a beginning spinster, so I decided I'll have to impress with something else then my spinning skills :) I have been experimenting dyeing with plants and am crocheting these bit together. I hope they will form a bag someday. The pattern I use is from attic24

The yellow is a second bath with onion skins and the brown is a lichen: Lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria).

By the way: I switch to English. A bilingual blog is just too much fuss and most Dutch people read English quite well. Maybe I'll change the name of the blog too... Any suggestions?