Lavender and St John’s wort harvesting
I was a walking and talking cliché today: floaty skirt, tick. Floppy hat, yep. Large wicker trug with secateurs, indeed. I tell you I was positively swanning about looking like a magazine lifestyle page today.
You could even say I have a photogenic accessory cat.
He is being winsome at the moment, so I am cherishing his affection. Even if posing on this rock while I was being snapped was killing my back.
And I am trying to swivel Artur’s head around towards the camera. You don’t see that in lifestyle mags.
But here is another bit of lifestyle harvesting I did this week. St John’s wort. Hypericum. Millepertuis.
Our terraces are teeming with the unassuming yellow plant.
I found that out while I was plodding down in search of verbascums that need cutting down before they flower. I think I’ve caught the lot. But I’m fooling myself if I think I can control this noxious weed on our farm. All it will take is a good stiff southerly wind when the seeds are ripe and the ones further down the mountain will blow up and settle and drive me mad.
My friend Elodie is forever asking when the millepertuis i
s ripe. It has restorative properties that has all sorts of people in a rapture. So I thought I might pick some for her and make a batch.
That meant that once I had done an internet search and picked all the grass seeds out of my socks. It was back down with a large glass kilner jar and I collected enough for a big batch for her. And one small one for me.
Right now they are sitting in the full blazing sunshine with olive oil coming up three quarters of the way up the jar.
Apparently I have to wait a few days until the while mixture turns red. And then another few weeks before it settles down to a pinkish soup. Strain and bottle and all my ills will be cured.
I wonder if it has restorative powers for sciatica?
If any of you use it, let me know. I’m curious to find out.
10th July 2016 @ 8:15 am
I’ve never used St John’s Wort, but I did find this-
“A yellow-flowered plant used medicinally since the time of ancient Greece, St. John’s Wort has been used throughout history to treat nerve pain. Having anti-inflammatory, astringent, antibacterial, and antioxidant properties, the herb is one of many known for helping to regenerate nerve tissue and relieve pain associated with sciatica.”
It’s got to be be worth a try, and better than sitting on a tennis ball to stretch your sciatic nerve, which is what my chiropractor got me doing after I had an acute episode of it!
And your mullein is useful too- mostly lung conditions, and earache, I seem to recall.
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/mulgre63.html
Lysimachia is trying to take over my garden and serves no useful purpose at all, as far as I can see.
15th July 2016 @ 3:47 pm
Thank you very much for the information Hazel, it does seem to be a miracle cure. The mullein, sadly, is something I’m allergic to, so it’s not coming anywhere near me! The best thing about lysimachia I find is how great it is in a mixed bunch in a vase. Mind you, with our heat, the plant flowers for about two weeks and then gives up.