Well, I had only got as far as this when lumps of ice started falling out of the sky with some force upon my herbs and my head! I managed to collect enough ladies mantle to try a tincture this year. Its the first time I've had this herb in flower, and there's plenty of it, so I'm excited - I've wanted to use this for a good while now.
I strained my valerian flower tincture at 3 weeks, having watched and tasted it a little.. it has a pleasant appley kind of taste, for some reason I can't quite fathom! I have it bottled on standby and will be interested to see what effect it has. Meanwhile, the valerian has a wealth of fresh new heads, so I had thought to maybe make a second small bottle.
I'm also going to try making yarrow tincture .. in previous years I have made ointment for stopping bleeding. But I've never had much call to use it, and in case of emergency I think you can just use the fresh leaves straight from the plant as needed. And I read that the tincture is a good preventative for colds and flu in the winter and can be used in a spray bottle to repel insects in the summer. If you'd seen the mozzy/gnat bites I've had of late you would understand my eagerness on that score! There's enough in the garden now that I should still have plenty to dry for cold/flu tea (with peppermint and elderflowers).
There's so much happening out there right now, and with the sunshine and showers its a question of just darting out at opportune moments and snatching a few photos or snipping anything that's dry. Still, I'm not having to water, lol!
