Gardening

It was so lovely to be out in the fresh air and working in the garden last week, such fine warm days feel like a special gift that musn't be wasted this time of the year, its almost like its your duty to drop everything and get out there!

Had a quandry, the boys had waved goodbye off to see Nanny for the morning .. no-one about, all quiet! What to do, hmmmm ... really ought to cook something lovely and warm and healthy for us all to have for lunch when they get back. But the pull towards the garden is so strong and cannot be denied.

So I stuck the remains of the roast dinner in a big saucepan - heated some oil and tossed the remains of the tray of roasted veggies in it (butternut squash, potatoes, carrot, parsnip). When that smelt all appealing I popped in the leftover gravy, the remains of the chicken and the leftover green veg (greens and leeks and peas). Topped up with water, brought it slowly up to the boil (while putting jacket on and sorting out my seeds) .. bit of salt and pepper .. reduce to v. gentle simmer .. and GARDEN!!!!

Popped in to check from time to time and an hour later, beautiful soup. Gave it a quick squash with the potato masher so's to thicken it up (and so's the little'un doesn't pick the carrots out) and there it was .. hearty fare for all and happy mummy morning in the garden! Hurray!

Dandelion Salad

I've been reading about the tradition of using bitters to stimulate digestive juices to help breakdown rich meals. As my poor old tum has been sadly in need of assistance lately, I am trying having a little dandelion salad starter before my main meal. Its just a handful of washed, chopped dandy leaves mixed in with a handful of conventional salad leaves and I chucked a tomato in for colour and dressed with olive oil and a splash of my homemade nasturtium vinegar (more on this another time!)

I have to say, I think it helped... I had a roast dinner afterwards and didn't have any problems till about 4 hours afterwards. Will definitely use again, especially as it was really rather tasty!!

Nettle Infusion

The last fortnight I've been taking 2 to 4 cups a day of nettle infusion, following Susun Weed's approach of nourishing the body with herbal infusions instead of/as well as treating the body with herbs in response to problems.

I was really interested to discover just how many nutrients are available from plants such as nettle .. I'm hoping I may be able to replace my daily multi-vitamin and mineral pill with herbal infusion. I was particularly drawn to nettle because it has high levels of calcium, magnesium and the relevant vitamins to aid their absorption plus it is healing for the digestive tract.

(I find that supplementing magnesium helps to keep down the number of migraine attacks I have and through trial and error have found that it only works if I take enough calcium and vitamins with it. Unfortunately, taking enough magnesium to have an effect on my migraine tends to upset my stomach, so I am ever on the lookout for ways of boosting magnesium gently ... at the moment I'm trying epsom salt baths as a means of absorbing the mineral directly through the skin.)

Its been quite interesting taking a herb in this new way .. rather than steeping a teaspoonful for 5 to 10 minutes, Susun's method involves brewing a cupful of herb in a litre of boiling water in a screwtop jar for 4-10 hours, or overnight before straining, then keeping in the fridge to slow spoiling (you need to use it within 24 hours or so). See her full instructions here.

The liquid is thick and rich, rather than watery, but still has the lovely green earthy taste of nettle tea - not strong or bitter as I might have expected from stewing so long. I'm using the leftovers to water my houseplants .. may try as a hair rinse too. And, I have to say, you have never seen such perky looking plants (I only wish I had taken a 'before' photo so I could show you their rapid improvement with some nettle love!!)