Biodiversity

I am so thankful for all the wonderful herbalists who share their knowledge with the world and many do it completely for free. Rosalee de la Floret writes practical posts packed with information and I highly recommend reading her blog. She is also the education director for Learning Herbs.com, which is another great herbal resource. Their Wildcraft board game for kids, and also the Herb Fairies series of books are excellent to read, listen to, and to share and learn with children about the many uses of herbs.

I originally learned about the properties of the self-heal plant (Prunella vulgaris) from Rosalee, and the research is there, just as she says.

We have a lot of self-heal growing wild all around our wild lawn (read more below) so all i have to do is let it grow!  I waited to pick it when it has some flowers opening and then warm infused it together with plantain into safflower oil over a 24 hour period, a very mindful process.  To complete the salve, I added calendula oil (sun infused), cocoa butter, local beeswax, and geranium essential oil (also known for its skin healing properties).  This is NOT a sunscreen but just think of it as immunity boosting for the skin, helping the body to correct any damage that’s been done.  Gotta love it.  Smells good too!

Self-Heal (Prunella vulgaris, Brunört) in the wild lawn.

We try not to mow our lawn.  We let it go to flower over and over; in fact, the lawn is mostly cute little flowers everywhere. Last year it became a haven for all types of wild birds, bees and other insects which we gladly welcomed because the biodiversity breeds a healthy balance in the garden.  This beautiful green woodpecker was happy to come and literally tear apart the hidden ant nests and we were happy to have it.

Young Green Woodpecker (Picus Viridis, Gröngöling) eating ants.