Posts by Belle Benfield
Rosehip Syrup Recipe – Autumn Healing Elixir for an immune-boost over the winter
As summer fades to autumn, look out for the red flashes of rosehip decorating the hedgerow. You can make rosehip syrup which is both delicious and also offers a wealth of medicinal benefits. Rosehips are the vibrant red or orange fruits that adorn wild rose bushes throughout the UK countryside, typically ripening in late summer…
Read MoreMake your own St John’s Wort Oil and heal your skin. More than an anti-depressant, Hypericum perforatum oil is liquid sunshine
When the blossoming of St John’s wort and the solstice collide, my heart jumps for joy; summer is truly here. St John’s wort is a member of the hypericum family with small bright yellow flowers that grow in bunches. It’s Latin name Hypericum perforatum refers to one of its main identifiable features: If you hold…
Read MoreCacao Medicine & creating a Cacao Ceremony
One of the herbs that has been my biggest support through post-partem and beyond as a busy working mama is Theobroma cacao. The beans from this wonder-plant are processed to eventually become the main ingredient of chocolate. The cacao in commercial chocolate, grown as a commodity on a large scale, purely for industrial chocolate production…
Read MoreComfrey Poultice to Heal brusies, breaks & Sprains
Healing Bruises, Breaks and Sprains with a Comfrey Poultice Last week, I was carrying Bee and walked full speed into the end of a metal banister, smashing the back of my hand between the banister and Bee. The crunch felt big. That evening, as I was out and about, my hand started swelling up and…
Read MoreNettle Seeds for Vitality – Preventing adrenal burn out
From mid-summer onwards our native superfood, the stinging nettle offers us their plump green seeds. They hang like jewels in strings beneath the leaves and if you’re very careful, you can just about pick the seeds without stinging yourself on the stems or leaves that surround them, but I recommend gloves for gathering nettle seeds.…
Read MoreFlower Glycerites – Mid-summer medicine
Infusing herbs in vegetable glycerine to make a glycerite is a great way to make medicine that is both alcohol-free and, despite its sweet flavour, sugar-free. I make the majority of my glycerites in midsummer as I love the way the odorless, slightly sweet qualities of glycerine brings out the delicate sweet flavours and fragrances…
Read MoreHerb infused oils and balms
It’s time to let the warm summer sun infuse oils on my window sill. Lavender, St John’s Wort, calendula, plantain, feverfew and lemon balm to name a few. The oils in this picture have been made by putting the fresh plant directly in the oil and leaving the sun to warm it each day. If…
Read MoreStinging Nettle Fritters – Gluten Free Recipe
Stinging nettles really are a superfood – containing over 50 chemical constituents. Nettles are one of the highest sources of protein for a leafy green, nettle leaves also contain vitamins A, C, D, E, F, K, P, and b-complexes as well as thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and vitamin B-6! I could go on and on… get…
Read MoreSugar-free Elderflower Syrup
10-12 elderflower heads ( remove as much stem as you can ) A chopped chunk of fresh ginger 2 unwaxed, organic lemons 250ml water 450g local honey* Place the elderflowers in a bowl removing as much of the stem as you can. Add the chopped ginger. Add the zest of one lemon and…
Read MoreDog Rose Elixir to calm anxiety
Calm and Sensuous…some of the medicine of rose. Who doesn’t want more of these qualities in their life? Rosa canina, know as dog rose, wild rose or briar rose is the medicinal rose commonly used by herbalists. It grows all over our hedgerows alongside hawthorn, blackthorn, blackberry and elder. In the summer, we use the…
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