Brigitte’s autumn hideaway

Posts Tagged ‘herbs’

At the weekend we made another trip to the end of the road (we went there to collect some mullein blossoms)

On the way was this lovely creeping mallow (Modiola caroliniana) I never saw it in Austria (guess we have only the pink ones over there)

On the path grew a plant that smelled like chamomile not sure what kind it is. Maybe you can help?

I also don’t know what this tiny plant is… maybe it it will bloom soon

On the path grew some ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) which is very poisonous for cattle and other animals…

… but not for this Cinnabar moth caterpillar who eats this plant to BE poisonous for predators so they don’t eat them.

This river is very high when it is raining and look how dry he is now…

… it is important to be thankful for the water and use it wise. I will post some ideas later.

In this riverbed we found interesting green stones as well as a stone with a koru pattern on it.

On the way back we came by by this thistles which are ready to put into a paper bag for collecting their seeds. As far as I know all thistles are edible (if you don’t mind the scratchy harvest) and high in minerals and vitamins. You can collect the flower heads and boil them in water. I also pickled the flower heads which tasted like mini artichokes

If you collect the seeds, shake the paper bag well when it is full of seed heads. Then cut away one edge of the bottom and collect the loosed seeds which are falling out.

If you live in an area like I do it is good to collect all the thistle seeds (or flower heads or even the whole plant) because they are invasive to our beautiful New Zealand. So you really help the environment by eating the weeds

This is a Cape goosberry (Physalis peruviana)

You can make jam with the ripe yellow-orange fruits which contain Vitamin A and C.
But be aware because the flowers are poisonous! Also the foliage and the unripe fruit are harmful if eaten!

Christoph discovered this gorgeous plant!

It is a teasel (Dipsacus)! In my home country the roots were used against warts, fistulas as well as Jaundice.
According to the book Encyclopedia of Herbal Medince teasel was used as diuretic, sweat inducing, stomach soothing and gallbladder problems.

It also says that the water that collected in the leaves was called ‘Venus’s bath’ and thought to be beneficial for the eyes.

The mullein was blooming and I …

… collected a jar full of blossoms to make an oil.

At home I filled it with olive oil to make a antibacterial oil for ear ache.

Ah, yeah, on the picture you can see the stone with the koru pattern

Please click here for a link of the whole process of making this special oil and other info.

When we moved into our new home many parts of the garden have been covered by a black plastic for years. After we removed them there was actually nothing in the ground (no worm or other soil worker)

So now we started to mulch and here is a pic of our compost which is loaded of nutrition and good soil cultures.

Patch by patch we bring the soil to live again with this great humus. When we have planted the veggies we cover with grass clippings to keep the soil moist.

If you do this too be aware to use clippings without seeds and keep a small circle around the plant base clean so it doesn’t rot.

By building up good soil we will have a great crop next year. Can you see the worms in the next pic?

In another corner of our property we found this larva. You can see the 6 feet in the front. Do you know what this will be when mature?

Yesterday we went to a garden center at High Street Masterton. They have great herbs and fruit trees as well as veggie plants and even plants for the coastal line. Actually I don’t know what they don’t have… ah yeah! Christoph asked for kiwi fruit and they just sold everything but will have them back in Autumn
So now we will wait for a call to get a pack which contains a female and a male kiwi

I bought some treasures (they have really cheap plants! cheaper then Mitre 10!)
Now I have Pizza thyme, lemon verbena, lemon grass and… Lady’s mantle!

It’s (Alchemilla mollis) and not the Alchemilla vulgaris which is generally used for medicine, but I just love to see the morning dew or water collected in their leaves.

To watch this plant is calming, fascinating and balancing.

Most spectacular is when a sunbeam brings the water drop to sparkle! (Even children can sit there for hours and just awe :- )

If you are stressed or sad go out sit by a Lady’s mantle and let her take care of you. She’s like a mother who wraps her arm around you.

Take a drop of dew from her which is natures own ‘Flower essence’ (Funny Mr Bach didn’t use Lady’s mantle in his 38 Bach flower remedies… but maybe he had the idea form this noble Lady ;- )

Ah! My husband started this weekend by finding this huge ‘Lucky clovers’ in our garden!

Just amazing how big they are!

You sure remember our trip over the pass last Saturday.

We went there to Mitre 10 Mega where the kids enjoyed the indoor playground, while Daddy brought back his broken fork

We brought home another fork…

…and of course some plants for me

While David enjoyed to walk around the garden… balancing on the stones…

…I ripped out a plant I thought was a giant yellow sorrel (Oxalis) but to my surprise it was a New Zealand Yam also called oka. How amazing!

This Saturday we went to Masterton to a farmer’s market on the Solway showground, where we met a German woman who sold delicious bread and ‘Zopf‘

What a treat!

On the way home we drove by, by this awesome old house. It looks like a painted picture.

At home the kids enjoyed their pizza in the garden…

… and later a cookie from Daddy

What a sweet pair

I found another new plant which I don’t know. It looks like a grass but is white and green.

“Careful honey! Don’t break the spade!”

Another tree stomp is removed from the garden and… no tool is broken

I found this pretty big Weta Lady when I removed some old sticks.

David wanted to take her indoor but we managed to coax him to give her a save place far back in the corner of our garden.

When we brought the lady to her save place Christoph found something interesting dangling down from the trees…

… it was a Banana passion fruit! How great! We have a yummy passion fruit in the garden!

Here is a link to an Album where you can find some other pictures of the passion fruit and Weta.

And hazelnut!

And another surprise plant in a corner we don’t know… look at this huge rhizomes! We are waiting for her to bloom to find out what this big plant is, but if you know, please let me know.

After a rainy weekend we enjoyed the sun on this lovely spring day.

The blue sky was amazing and so perfect as drop back for these lovely Japanese cherry blossoms.

This fig bush has already produced fruits before all the leaves are here.

When we walked the air was filled of the lovely scent of hawthorn.

I did harvest a basket full and dried it for tea. It is one of my favorite teas not only because it’s blood pressure regulating but also because it just smells and tastes amazing!

If you like to know a bit more about hawthorn just click on this link to my other blog

This lovely veronica (Veronica persica) always remembers me of my home country. As child I was sitting outside in the Spring sun watching this tiny flower with it’s amazing art of colours wiggling in the  breeze.

One of my favorite flowers since childhood is also forget-me-not (Myosotis)

It took me a while to find stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) in New Zealand… but thanks to Carolyn one is growing in Aileen’s bucket

Onion weed (Allium triquetum) is one of my favorite spring herbs. It goes in nearly all my dishes

Here is a picture of it’s beautiful flowers. The green lines in every white blossom makes them so gorgeous!

Our blue berry is also showing some lovely blossoms.

And this poppy was the most beautiful spring flower in my garden. It is as if the sun is wiggling on the fragile stem.

And look at this amazing stigma and anthers! Awesome how perfect nature can be.