There are over 100 herbs growing here at Bealtaine Cottage.
Many, like this Valerian, are grown for their beautiful, Bee attracting flowers.
The Ebers Papyrus from Egypt was written around 1500BC.
Nature provides us all with everything we need to keep ourselves well and healthy.
Nettles are one of the great Spring tonics to be drunk as tea or cooked in the same way as Spinach.
Each year I take a stock of cuttings from the Bay tree, Laurus Nobilis.
This year I am relieved to have them growing so well as the big Bay tree in the orchard suffered badly with the frost.
Bay was revered by both the Ancient Greeks and the Romans.
This was sacred to the sun-god Apollo.
The Bay Laurel was used to make wreaths that crowned Emperors!
It was also regarded as a highly prized protection against evil.
My favourite use for them is in hot milk before bed…delicious and nourishing.
The 17th century herbalist, Culpeper noted it as good for female conditions…whatever that may be! …and also as good for relieving headaches.
I also use it for this, macerating the foliage into a pulp and applying it to my temples before lying down and resting.
You can see it makes a wonderful scented addition to flower arrangements here at the cottage.
Fennel tea is traditionally a remedy for baby’s colic.
I use fennel as a delicious addition to salads, both leaf and bulb.
This Meadowsweet grows wild in the Bealtaine Bog Garden and is heavenly scented!
Did you know that Sphagnum Moss is a natural antiseptic and blood coagulant and was used by French troops during W.W.1. as an application for wounds?…successfully!
Cows eat herbs and will seek out particular herbs for health.
And if Pliny the Elder considered them of such importance that he wrote a book about them, then that alone should make them fascinating plants to grow in your garden…
Bealtaine Cottage is free and has over 1100 blogs, as well as over 7,000 photographs.
Bealtaine Cottage Good Life (The Other Website) is a mere 12 euros per year and allows me a small income, to keep doing what I love doing most…writing about Mother Earth and photographing her.
To subscribe, a small donation of 12 euros per year, will add your name to the subscriber list.
Click on button below to join the website…