Herbaholic’s Herbarium

The past few days everywhere we’ve been in Normandy there has been some kind of military thing going on, not from anything recent, but from veterans and re-enactors of World War II, and those people honouring and remembering the people who lost their lives that day. Today being the 6th June its the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings and the roads into the towns on the D-Day landings map are full to bursting. American, British (my Grandad amongst them) and Canadian troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast as part of the largest single day amphibious invasion in history to liberate the French, although judging by the number of stars & stripes flags there are in Normandy at the moment you’d think that the US did the deed single handedly!

As we couldn’t escape we decided to find a few beaches that weren’t full of guns and men dressed up as their favourite soldiers and have a quiet walk along the shoreline instead, but even on the deserted beaches we didn’t escape as 3 US Air Force C-130 Hercules flew over as we sat at the harbour at Barfleur, which was a spectacular site to see and left you with an eerie sense of what it must have been like on the 6th June 1944. I wondered what it must have been like for all those men and it made me sad to think that the blood of some of the ones who didn’t make it home was spilled on those same beaches we’ve been enjoying so much the past few days, a very humbling feeling. It was a strange choice of plane though to my mind as they weren’t actually in WWII, they didn’t come into use until 1954.

After Barfleur we headed back along the coastal road (not as busy for some reason) and stopped off at a town and for the life of my I can’t recall its name now! I wanted to do the tourist thing and look at the souvenir shops, whilst browsing amongst the lace and calvados, an American lady came in greeted the store owner in perfect french and then switched to her native tongue to ask if they had any poppies for sale. The chap in the store didn’t understand what she was saying but I knew the french for Poppy was Coquelicot (for the ones growing in the wild) and Pavot (for the cultivated ones) because I’d been learning my french herbs. I said the magic word and the store owner knew what the lady was talking about and pointed her in the direction of another shop were she could get what she wanted. And Simon said that I was wasting my time learning about french herbs, we’ll gloss over the fact that I couldn’t understand what the shop keeper said to me as I paid for my purchases lol!

Finally I’ve been to see a proper dedicated herb garden in France! Although it was only a small part of the gardens in the grounds it was a joy to visit and so peaceful and tranquil. Le Prieuré St. Michel (Priory of St Michel) sits on a hillside in the Auge region of France in a place called Crouttes Vimoutiers, and contains a tapestry of buildings and gardens. Founded in 994 by a local lord who was somehow annexed to the Abbey of Jumieges, you can trace the development of the place through its buildings and escape in the lush fragrant gardens. The 13th century Chapel (chapelle) can be seen in the picture above. Other buildings include a 13th century Tithe Barn, an 18th century Prior’s house. The old cider press (Le Pressoir) building, now the tea room, is a classic example of a wooden building from the 15th century. It was built after the 100 years war when wood was used a lot in Normandy to replace the stone buildings destroyed during the war years, it still contains the original cider press inside, there’s also a lovely floral fresco on the wall painted by the then President Mitterand’s niece.

Other gardens in the grounds include a 2.5 metre Lily Pond that holds an assortment of Water Lillies (Nymphaea spp.), Pickeral Weed (Pontederia cordata), Golden Club (Orontium aquaticum) edged with Yellow Flag Irises (Iris pseudacorus) which was once thought to bring relief to an aching tooth if a slice of the freshly cut root was held to the aching part, and Gunnera (Gunnera tinctoria). Incidentally I’d never viewed Gunnera as being more than a giant ornamental for using near water and bog gardens, but I discovered on my trip that a black dye is obtained from its roots, and that the roots have a 9% tannin concentration. The leaf stalks are edible, and are used fresh in salads and also made into a liquor, and the whole plant has medicinally astringent properties.
 
There were a few sharp words as we approached the Prior’s house I was taking photos of the roses and the perennial plants in the borders when Simon kept shouting me to come over and see the cat nap, without looking I kept shouting back it was catnip or catnep not catnap, muttering ‘you live with a herbaholic and you don’t know the correct name…’ imagine the stupid look on my face when I walked over to where he stood and saw what he was pointing to in the border! Okay hubby dearest, I’ll let you have this one but just remember the heather story, she who laughs last laughs and sniggers often when she remembers that one :oÞ

Following the path past the sleeping cat and around the front of the Prior’s house and round to walk between the tea shop and the holiday cottages there is a wide path that leads down to the bottom of the garden, to the left is the Jardin Des Simples (medicinal herb garden), which I’ll come back to later. To the right lies the Rose Garden filled with roses by David Austin and Delbard Roses one of the top rose producers in France. The French seem to be as fond of their roses as they are their Geranium’s and they love the richly scented varieties, in the parks and gardens we visited throughout our stay I think I came across only two unscented roses, trés bon, English gardens, parks and tourist attractions please take note! I love roses but for me a rose just isn’t a rose if it hasn’t got scent as well as a beautiful form, I go for roses like the above time and time again, and all my roses have lovely fragrances which make wandering in the garden during the summer months a heavenly experience, I’m in a garden not looking at a picture book I want to smell the rose!

The Iris Garden is next and contains a selection of Bearded Iris, the flower that is iconised on many French coats of arms and is a typical symbol of medieval times the fleur-de-lys. There is a Wild Garden complete with pond surrounded by Dwarf Willows, Hemerocallis (the Day Lily with her wonderfully edible flowers) and an assortment of Petasites (heliotropes). The borders wander to the end of the garden and are filled with Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla mollis) the perennial plant that grows in most English country gardens which is not to be confused with Ladie’s Mantle (Alchemilla xanthoclora) which is the form that has the medicinal properties, as does Alpine Ladie’s Mantle (Alchemilla alpina). Joining the clumps of Lady’s are the Siberian Irises (Iris Sibirica), which has insecticidal and expectorant properties and Yellow Loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris) which was once used medicinally for its astringent, demulcent and expectorant properties, the pretty yellow flowers can be used as a dye, so yet another perennial garden plant falls out of the ornamental catergory and into the realm of useful plants hurrah!

We then go back up the long path lined with hornbeam hedges and turn to the left into the Jardin Des Simples and what’s the first thing I see? A sign that says “Priere de ne pas toucher les plants. Cueillette interdite…” translated “Please don’t touch the plants. Gathering is forbidden!” rats, so no tweaking leaves and releasing the aromas, didn’t stop me from smelling things though, the sign said nothing about holding your nose a few cm’s away lol! All the French herb gardens that I’ve seen pictures of seem to be based on the monastic bed system and the medicinal garden at Le Prieuré St Michel is no exception, its laid out in a system of 4 lots of 4 rectangular beds, with grass paths inbetween and a border of scented herbs and roses around the outside and small square or rectangular ‘island’ beds to the back and right side of the garden.

I’ll be writing a larger article about the herb garden at Le Prieuré St. Michel for the Herb Society members only site that I’m currently working on, it will focus on some of the plants in the beds along with their French names and things the French used them for. The herb garden is based on the plan for the Abbey of St Gall drawn up circa 816-836 AD, although never built, the plans were thought to be the ideal layout for a Benedictine monastery and many abbey and monastery herb gardens were based on the design. A copy of the plan was found preserved in the library of the Abbey of St. Gallen in Switzerland. I must stress that the plan was for the whole enchillada buildings and gardens. The gardens included a kitchen garden, physic garden, cloister-garth (see the 2nd photo in the Disappointment At Mont St Michel post to see what a cloister-garth is if you don’t already know) and a cemetery orchard, in monastic times fruit trees were planted in cemeteries for symbolic purposes, one assumes it illustrates the life from death school of thinking, with a little research I’ll be able to find out the real reasoning, just need some time, if you already know, please do email me

The interesting thing is there was no information on the uses of the herbs historically to be had in French or English, most of the herbs were labelled and the labels contained the latin name, French name and the genus and information on whether the herb was a French native or not, it would have been nice for those not in the know to read what the French used the herbs for. The shop contained no herbs at all, planty of scented candles and calvados but nothing herbal which I found intriguing. It was a beautiful place to visit though and despite being a long trip from where we were staying it was well worth the journey, such a variety of herbs was a joy to see in a nature rich natural setting.

Le Prieuré was the first time I’d ever seen Roman Wormwood (Artemisia pontica) in the flesh, so to speak, prior to my visit I’d only read about it and seen pictures, it was nice to see herbs such as columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris) being used in a herb garden, not used medicinally anymore due to the toxic alkaloids it contains, although it is still used in homeopathic medicine for treating conditions of the nervous system. I’ve read that the flowers can be eaten and are rather sweet and were used to make tea, although if its safe to do so I don’t know. In the past the plant was used for its astringent, depurative, diaphoretic, diuretic and parasiticide properties, but was chiefly used for its antiscorbutic property. To read more about the herbs in the Le Prieuré St. Michel you’ll have to join the Herb Society if you’re not already a member :OÞ

Today we visited a little French town called Villedieu Les Poeles which literally translated means Dormatory Town of the Pans, the town is famous for its copper (cuivre), pewter (étain) and bell (cloche) making. During our visit we walked around the shops in the town, Simon was happy to find a few antique shops and a shop dedicated to clocks (horloge) although he resisted the urge to buy anything. I kept my eyes peeled for herbs, but kept getting distracted by the delectable aromas wafting from the Boulangeries and Charcuturies that abounded. If you want copper pots and pans, a fish kettle or any copper kitchen item then its a good place to look, but things are rather expensive even second hand. One of the things that stands out in my mind about this trip to Normandy is the Norman householders fascination with Geraniums, they cram them into every conceivable container and grace window ledges, doorsteps, walls and tables in the gardens, its really lovely to see, the above photo is a small example of what we saw on a daily basis.

We them went to visit Le Musee De La Poeslerie Et La Maison De La Dentelliere (The Museum of Pots & Pans and The House of Lace) which are located in a group of 17th century buildings the courtyard of which can been seen in the first photo. This was our first language test of the holiday, the lady issuing the tickets spoke no English, we spoke a tiny bit of French and the out come looked gloomy. As if by magic in true Mr Benn style a lovely young lady appeared from out of the back who spoke English very well and could make sense of what we were trying to say in French and filled the blanks in for us. Another lady took us to a video room where we watched a film in French about the copper makers, skills and techniques of the town.

Once again with our few phrases and hers we were able to comprehend the nature of the visit which doors we needed to go through, how long the film lasted. The film was fascinating, despite only understanding a little of the narration, the visual side of things helped us to understand what was going on. After the video the tour of the pots & pans museum began and I was delighted to discover a huge copper alembic and still sitting in the corner (below), it was used for distilling calvados but my herbal mind had visions of it being used to make rose oil and water. But my favourite piece was the huge copper owl (above) with its eyes that seemed to follow you around the room.

After the tour of the pots & pans museum, we went on to the lace making museum, there was some beautiful pieces of lace on display and in the middle of the room sat the first lady we encountered working on a piece of lace. She’d took the trouble to get the lady who could speak English to write down what she wanted to tell me in English underneath the French. I spent a captivating half an hour learning how the lace makers follow the patterns, my guide showed me how the pattern was worked first on the left and then the right and how the thread was played out and the pins were put in to hold the stitches. I have to admit its something I’d like to have a go at, but if I lived to be 150 I doubt I’ll ever get the hang of it, crochet still causes me problems!

After explaining I could only speak a little French the lady told me she spoke no English, but still using her notepad and my phrasebook she told me she had only just begun to master the art of lacemaking and I told her that I could knit (tricoter) but the lace making process looked too complicated for me. She on the other hand could not knit and found that very complicated, our conversation continued with a mix of phrase book and notepad references, I’d point to a French word or phrase in my little book and she used her notes, hand gestures were used an awful lot and we were both delighted to discover that we both liked to cross stitch (point de croix) and shared a love of herbs! At the end of the demonstration as corny as it sounds I felt like I’d made a friend and we gave each other a huge hug. When I got back to the gite later that day I got out my cross stitch of wildflowers that I’d taken with me and did a little and Simon bless him picked up one of the small kits I took with me and asked me to teach him to cross stitch, more on that and a photo of his handiwork soon!

Todays herbal discovery… The dried herb and spice company we known as Schwartz in the UK is called Ducros in France! I picked up a couple of jars for using in cooking whilst over here from the supermarket, Ail (garlic granules), Melange Special Volaille (seasoning for meat), Quatre Epices (four spices) the classic herb and spice combination next to Herbs De Provence used in France. For 1 euro I also picked up a large tub of Melange Cinq Baies (mixture of five berries) a mix of white, pink, black and green peppercorns and coriander seeds, all I have to do is mix in a tablespoon of allspice berries and I can make up more of the pepper mix we’re using almost everyday to season food, the extra spices just give everything (especially steak) a little je ne sais quoi!

Another fine day and we made our way to Mont St-Michel Abbey dedicated to Archangel Michel and built on a small island, it started out as a small church in the 1st century and wound up as you see it now, it was originally called Mont Tombe but someone changed the name and continued to build a bigger and better church. Once you get past all the tourist shops and over priced eateries there are a goodly number of stairs to negotiate before you get to the top.

Recipe for disgruntlement… Take one overweight woman (me), mix in a large number of stairs (escaliers), add a temperature of just over 30°c, and have the woman start to climb up all those stairs in the sweltering heat intent to get to the top of an ancient Abbey because its the touristy thing to do (oh yes I can be a sheep sometimes!). Throw in a throng of other people doing the same thing and blazing sunshine and you get a little overweight woman throwing a temper tantrum! Leave her to simmer for a while then have hubby remind said overweight woman that there is a herb garden to look at when you get to the top and the tantrum subsides but the face remained flushed.

The face reddens even further when said overweight woman gets to the top and discovers a garden that is not a herb garden, only by a very thin stretch of my herbal imagination could it be considered as such! I was expecting something wonderful, but I got rather disgruntled and felt rather miffed! Having a clump of mint, some tired sage and thyme, a tiny patch of wormwood, a smattering of lavender and lots of empty space interspersed with Red Valerian and London Pride (both with no medicinal uses that I know of) does not make a herb garden, I feel cheated and hubby stayed well clear for a little while fearing I’d throw him off the ledge for using the herb garden carrot to get the gullible donkey to the top! There were a few roses and some pinks but I’d have thought that an old Abbey would have had plenty of herbs growing for use in the infirmary, the fact that said infirmary collapsed in the early 19th century is no excuse to stop growing a wealth of medicinal herbs!

The photo below shows me looking at the ‘herb’ garden ::rolls eyes:: as it is now and arranging in my mind what would have been there in the 10th and 11th centuries and how much better it would look now planted as an historically accurate herb garden more befitting of a beautiful old French Abbey, and yes I’ve contacted the people at Mont St Michel to tell them just that lol! The saving grace for the place was the breathtaking views and the fact that when we first arrived there was a service going on in the church. The monks and nuns sang in French and the accustics in the church were superb, it was a joy to the ears to listen to, made even more special by the fact that the only instruments used were the tones of the human voice. It helped not being able to tell what they were singing as well between you and me, it was a beautiful sound and felt more ethereal than religious.

My herby discovery today… Calvados! Ohhh yes apples count as herbs and many medicinal remedies can be made from apples, and in Normandy it would be impolite not to indulge in the traditional drink when offered! There’s also Pommeau which is a delightful combination of cider and calvados drunk as an aperitif in France mostly inbetween courses of food, this will explain why they have 2 hour lunch breaks! We also picked up some Creme de Framboise and Creme de Cassis both to be used for their medicinal properties of course!

The weather has been wonderful since we arrived in Normandy, yesterday we went to the centre of Coutances and looked at the Cathedral from the outside and walked around part of the town, it was rather windy but still warm, after circling the cathedral we visited Le Jardin Botanique which was so different from most English town parks, it was lovely to sit near the various ponds they had with fountains in and look at the fish being ‘buzzed’ by the local dragonfly population.

Today we went to visit Les Jardin D’Argences just outside Saussey which is a delightful series of garden ‘rooms’ although there is no dedicated herb garden, herbs feature in the plantings, beds of roses are edged with lavender, catmint and curry plant and there are a variety of sages used around the garden. I was entranced by the aroma of some of the roses in the garden, sadly they weren’t labelled, and I doubt they’d be available in the UK, bit of a bugger as they look and smell wonderful and many of them are old french rose varieties by the looks of it.
One of them had such a delightful fruity aroma, the rose scent was definitely there, but it was whipped together with peach and pear, delicious, a beautiful deep pink colour bordering on red that would have made a delicious wine, but I think Madame Lecardonnel would have objected to my snipping off the flower heads to make a batch of wine, even if I offered to send her a bottle or two, although I did consider it lol!

This evening we went for a walk along the beach at Montmartin Sur Mer a beautiful sandy beach and like most beaches we’ve found so far they are devoid of human life aside from the occasional local digging in the sand for mussels, a local speciality that I haven’t tried yet, moules and frites seem to be sold at just about every restaurant and cafe this side of France. On the edge of the sand dunes we discovered a pretty little pink wildflower growing, only someone not to far away from this keyboard forgot to pack her wildlfower identification books so I’ll have to wait until I get back to find out what it was, luckily we took lots of photos.

At Les Jardin D’Argences, I picked up a lovely book in French which is a guide to aromatic herbs, all I have to do now is learn to read the language and I may discover some secrets and tips I didn’t know before. In the local Champion supermarket there was a book "Vieux Remèdes en Normandie" translated Old Remedies in Normandy which contains recipes for herbal remedies such as Tansy Liqueur, Chamomile Wine, a compress of flowers using rose, chamomile, marshmallow and cornflower and other recipes for tisanes, inhalations and syrups. Somehow I doubt I’d find something similar in my local Asda!

My herby discovery today is lavender ice cream! It’s so moreish and goes so well with a dish of fresh peaches and strawberries, ohhh and the apple cider vinegar over here beats the ones I’ve tried in the UK hands down and its loads cheaper! I’m experimenting with the ciders here, some are only 2% alcohol and there are so many, one feels that you simply must try them all HIC! I don’t think I’ll drink cider again in the UK, the Normandy ciders smell and taste of apple with no disgusting chemical after taste or sodium metobiosulphate smell to the nose. I picked up a variety of French Basil seeds called Grand Vert which Geraldine Holt in her books about cooking in France recommends, she believes it has more taste than the varieties we have back in the UK.

After a long drive from Calais, we arrived at the gite just outside Saussey and that’s where the first day ended, both of us were exhausted after the 8 hour drive and too tired to do anything including shopping. Big mistake as we discovered the following day that ever local shop is closed on Sunday’s and the Monday was the French equivalent of Whitsun, doh! Add to that BT lied and the coverage for internet access we paid for just isn’t existent, thankfully there are some wifi points in cafes and restaurants so connecting to the internet isn’t impossible, however they’re few and far between, so it may not be able to blog daily as I intended, the wifi points aren’t secure either which is another issue.

The first two days were not as happy as they could be, we’d brought very little food with us and there was nowhere to buy anything, no internet access and the inability to speak French beyond a few set phrases all mared the first few days. That first evening we did walk around the village of Saussey and both remarked that it was most eerie, almost like a ghost town, not a soul to be seen at 8pm, it took some adjusting as France are a futher hour in front of us in the Summer, so it was in actual fact 7pm our time.

Not to be detered we made the best we could of what we had, our first meal in France was Tuna Baked Potatoes, its amazing how much some freshly ground pepper blended with tomato ketchup and salad cream can transform tuna when you’re starving (all the above were what I took with us ‘just in case’! Supplemented with a salad of dandelion leaves, chives and chive flowers and sorrel that I found growing in the garden of the gite, it tasted delicious, made all the better due to the fact that I put together the salad using wild herbs. Next to the chives and sorrel I found some bay and a large elderflower tree which I will liberate of some of its flowers to make some tincture during our stay.

The photo above is the view that greets us from the window of the gite we’re staying in every day, each day my nose is treated to the delightful vanilla aroma from the coumarin in the grasses in the fields that surround us, blissful. The field is home to four donkey’s and a pony that are rather partial to carrots and come to greet us everytime we are on the front eating breakfast, they even bray at us if we’re not out at our usual time!

My herby discovery today is some new blends of herb tea bags that we can’t get in the UK easily, I’m sat now sipping a mug of lemon verbena tea which I picked up at Carrefour a large hypermarche very like Tesco in the UK, only with lots more choice (why didn’t we pick up more food when we were there on Saturday, isn’t hindsight wonderful?!!!).
I’m enjoying the lime flower, violet, rose and jasmin blend and the violet, lime flower and lemon verbena blend and the orange blossom blend is absolutely heavenly, I’ll be taking several boxes home and the lady who owns the gite has promised to send me more when my supplies run out

Here we are at the beginning of our holiday and on route to the Eurotunnel we stopped off at Bexleyheath to visit Red House, the home commissioned by William Morris in 1859, designed by Phillip Webb. We were disappointed when we went inside, we were expecting a similar experience to our visit to Wightwick Manor, a few fized furniture items remain and a wall free and glass panels by Edward Burne-Jones, but none of the hallmark Pre-Raphealite paintings and the arts and crafts items that Morris is famous for save some wallpaper. The outside of the house was a picture though, and we had a lovely time sat by the wishing well (above).

I’m a fan of Pre-Raphaelite art and of William Morris, which explains what this is all about. Morris intended Red House to be a commune for the arts and crafts movement, he’d convinced Edward Burne-Jones and his wife to move in with the Morris family, others were to follow, but due to the tragic loss of Burne-Jones baby son, they never moved in and the idea never got off the ground. Morris moved into the house in 1860 and had sold up and left by 1865, sad really, so much promise and such a beautiful house, all that time and effort to build and it wasn’t a home for long.

A Rather pertinent moment for me was discovering a stained glass window with “Si je puis” on, it was the personal motto of Morris translated it means “If I can”, those that know me well will agree that’s a motto I should take unto myself and I will, if I can lol! After touring the inside of the house (which didn’t take that long!) we began walking round the peaceful and tranquil garden, Si discovered a couple of second hand books to read, in a little out building and I discovered a little tea room with posies of herbs containing Applemint, Chive flowers, Parsley and Bay on each table, all picked from the garden. Si was amused and said I seem to have a built in ‘herb sensor’ lol! He better get used to it on this trip I have a fair number of French herb gardens picked out to visit.

I finally found the herb bed where the herb posies had come from, Marjoram, Sage and Lovage accompanied the posy herbs in the bed, and borage and comfrey were not that far away. My eye was drawn away from the herbs to a rose walkway with a rose bed in front, there were several bushes of this fragrant beauty below in the bed, under planted with an assortment of cottage garden plants including Columbine and Foxglove, the weather was beautiful, lovely and warm with clear blue skies, what a superb start to our holidays, tomorrow we travel to Saussey in Normandy.

I’ve just come in from the garden and now sit eating my lunch of chive & thyme flower cheese savoury on homemade bread accompanied by a mug of lemon balm and lemon verbena tea, the herbs and herbal flowers in my lunch were growing in the garden 10 minutes ago and when you have them all together they taste wonderful, there’s nothing more rewarding than feasting on herbal goodies that you’ve grown and harvested yourself.

After lunch I’ll be going out to pick some more lemon balm to make some Lemon Balm honey for going on my porridge and to drizzle over pancakes and I’ll also make a couple of Lemon Herb cakes, I thought I’d make a couple to freeze for when I don’t have time to bake. I’ve had an idea to make some lemon balm cordial as well, basing it on this recipe I found for Lavender Cordial on Billington’s website. When there’s sufficient lemon verbena in the garden I’ll be making a Lemon Balm & lemon Verbena Wine, Lemon Balm wine on its own just isn’t lemony enough for me so I thought I’d combine the two this year and see what we get.

Strictly speaking I haven’t got time today to be blogging and experimenting, but I’m being a rebel and taking time out to do things I want to do, rather than things I have to do! So instead of the work that needs doing, I’m dabbling and getting ideas for future projects and for the holiday that we’re off on soon. Ideally lists need making and packing needs to be done, but instead I’ve been looking at a recipe book ‘Recipes From A French Herb Garden’ by Geraldene Holt and ordering a few of her other books to take with me. Tonights tea will be Poulet A L’Estragon (Chicken with Tarragon) a tarragon flavoured chicken dish enriched with cream and white wine, served with some little steamed potatoes and tender brocolli spears.

I’ve spent the past few weeks learning French herb names ready for visiting the jardins des simples and the jardins d’herbes aromatiques I have marked out to visit, yes dear readers, when on holiday I will still continue to walk in my herbaholic shoes lol! This jolly website Le Petit Herboriste (The Small Herbalist) contains images of herbs and their French names and uses in French, it also contains English translations if like me you don’t understand some of the French. Simon pointed out at weekend  that I would have put my time to better use if I’d been learning to ask where the toilets are, or how to order a meal, bah! And what would I do when I get to the herb gardens and I can’t read the labels or the books on sale! Ssshhh hubby dearest, its all about priorities tehe!

I have a stack of books, some by French herbalists and cooks and some about Shakespeare’s herbs and his son-in-law John Hall to read, and I’ve packed a cross stitch project which when finished will end up in my study, the finished sampler will have cross stitched poppies, violets, calendula and other herbs and wild flowers on it and yes I dream about herbs as well lol! All the above are packed but clothes and other things I haven’t touched yet, I thought I’d get the must have essentials sorted first lol!

I was looking up some French herb stuff and came across this info earlier about a Melissa Carmelite Water that can be used as a digestive. This herbal remedy comes from the 17th Century and is called Eau de Melisse (Melissa Water). It has fourteen herbs and spices including melissa, sage, coriander, angelica, chamomile and yellow gentian all distilled in alcohol. Cardinal Richelieu took it for his migraines and the ladies of the court of Louis XIV carried it with them everywhere. According to its own publicity, Eau de Melisse is supposed to help with stomach aches, digestive troubles, shocks (un choc), nerves, and sudden cold (coup de froid). It’s sold at French pharmacies and online (www.eaudemelisse.com). On that note I’ll pop off and pick the lemon balm and get the cakes and honey made and maybe have another mug of Mélisse et Verveine Citron tisane

I’ve just been given a second award for my blog from Kristina over on Herbal Matters, its nice to know that I don’t type to myself and people are actually reading what I write and that some people learn something from it. Not that I class myself as a teacher, I’m just a self confessed Herbaholic who loves making things with herbs and learning about them.

I virtually met Kristina a couple of years ago when I begun a course called Discovering Herbal Medicine and our paths continued to cross when she joined the Herb Society and started posting on the forum there, then she entered the marvellous electronic world of the herbal blogs, joined the UK Herbarium Web Ring that I set up and we’ve been in contact ever since. I wish I had one half of her knowledge when it comes to components and constituient information as far as herbs go. I learn something new everytime I read Kristina’s blog, just goes to show how useful the herbal blog world is, and how much we all value the input we each have to give no matter how much or how little you know

I now have to nominate 5 blogs for the award, so without further ado, here are my picks…

Home On The Hill written by Carrie who is a member of the Mercian Herb Group. Carrie’s only been blogging for a few months, her blog isn’t strictly dedicated to herbs but worth keeping an eye on as she shares the developments of her herb garden and shares her garden tips.  

My Herb Corner written by Brigitte, a lovely lady who lives in New Zealand and seems to be a fellow herbaholic like me, I only recently discovered her blog after she left a comment on mine, but I’ve been enjoying reading it since and discovering things about herbs that I never knew.

Plant Journey’s written by ‘The Plant Whisperer’, this is an amazing blog, the words take you on a journey and you leave inspired to want to put in to practice what you’ve just discovered, so much information, having only just discovered it, it will take me a while to digest it all.

Discover Lavender written by Kathy in the USA a blog dedicated to my favourite herb LAVENDER, loads of recipes and information on a variety of lavender inspired subjects, delightful and I was so pleased to find it

Willington Weaver written by Alison Daykin who in blog world terms lives just down the road from me, Alison runs a weaving and dyeing course that I’m hoping to attend when things calm down in my current hectic life.

The Rules Of This Award: 

Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.

Pass the award to 5 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Is been a while since I’ve had time to post, so many things to be done lately that I just haven’t had chance to blog. I’ve been doing a lot of work developing the Herb Society website and there have been two Mercian Herb Group talks that I’ve given. The April talk was all about Spring Cleaning With Herbs, we has a lovely evening and our biggest turn out to date, we made Orange & Lavender Beeswax Polish, Citrus and Rosemary Vinegars, looked at using soapnuts, yucca root and soapwort as alternatives to soap powder and made a herbal vacumm cleaner bag.

Then there was May’s talk, which has to have been my favourite one to date, ‘Eating & Drinking The Herbal Flowers’. I took along a variety of edible floral herbs, in the photo above is the display of Jasmine, Pinks, Violas, Thyme, Lavender and Scented Geraniums. There was also a jug of herbal flowers picked from my garden which included Chives, Sweet Rocket, Catnip, Sweet Woodruff, Sweet Cicely and Rosemary. I handed round a sprig of rosemary full of flowers at the start of the talk and encouraged everyone to eat one. It was interesting to see peoples reactions, they were shocked and surprised at the strength of taste that could be had from one tiny flower. I enjoyed telling the tale of how floral herbs have been used since 140BC, and managed to weave some of my herbal hero’s and heroines into the talk.

These days if your mention edible flowers the ones that automatically spring to mind are lavender, rose and violets, they’re the most common herbal floral delights that make syrups, sweets, cordials, scented sugars and deserts. People were amazed that there are over 70 different herbal flowers that you can use in the kitchen either medicinally or culinary and I gave the complete list in handout I gave out at the end of the talk. Here’s a couple that may surprise you - daisy, fuchsia, hollyhock, lilac, tuberous begonia and valerian.

I also took along a homemade Rose Geranium Cake and a Lemon Herb Cake which contains Lemon Verbena, Lemon Geranium, Lemon Balm and some other lemony herbal delights. There was also a Marigold Cake made by one of the members. To drink we had Dandelion Syrup, Violet Syrup, Elderflower Cordial, Rose Syrup and my homemade Honeysuckle Wine.

I demonstrated how to make a Chive & Thyme Flower Savoury which went down really well, Honeysuckle Honey, May Blossom Brandy and Flowers of Delight Tea. We had a break whilst everyone ate and drank and chatted about herbs and shared their experiences and tips and then Sarah gave us a talk about flower waters, and oils, tinctures and honey’s that could be made using herbal flowers. The final thing to do was make a lavender tincture and get a little bit of podging in. All in all it was a lovely evening and one I was happy to have put so much effort into.