Imblog greetings....with the return of the light our intent is set!
Welcome to the sporadic post that is the Sandwell and Birmingham Permaculture blog!....first intent is that Annie and myself will be blogging more regularly through this coming year! We have been busy making plans for the coming seasons and observing what is popping in so far in the garden. We will be having our first stall of the year as part of the Big Green Lunch which will be held at the Botanical gardens on the 7th march where we will be bringing our ever expanding range of Nettle products including Nettle tea blend, Nettle superfood mix, Nettle seed condiment and Nettle multi- surface cleaner. We also have Nettle tincture and soap. We will also have copies of our Nettle files to sell on the day but you can also access this (plus many other Permaculture resourses) for free through our shared dropbox folder - if you would like to join please contact us with your email address and we will send you an invite.
by Nyrees
We also have plenty of Seed in our community Seedbank which is mostly organic and locally collected. We are strong believers in Seed sovereignty and would like to share as much of what we have as possible. To see a list of what we currently hold please check out the Seed section of our website. If you would like any Seed (for free)
please contact us and we will post them out or get them to you in person where ever we are able. We will also have the Seedbank with us when we attend the event at the Botanical gardens.
Annie and myself have also been looking at what we are going to grow on our patch at Salop drive this year and we have settled on a little veg, some flowers and mostly herbs for this year partly guided by the herbal apprenticeship, as part of us wanting create a community herbal collective to share information and skills. We have started this with Sarah Head at the Springfield Sanctuary, you can find her blog here http://kitchenherbwife.blogspot.co.uk/ which is a fantastic resource full of information and recipes.
This year i have chosen Calendula to be my herbal ally and i have been observing it in my garden- as luck would have it i have a particularly hardy one which has gone all through winter and is still going after the
snow...although it is looking like it has been through the mill somewhat! I also had plans to grow some in a pot in my conservatory but now have no need as some have randomly come up in a pot which i have a baby Aloe Vera in....it seems the Marigold hears my call! This last week i have also been taking Calendula tea daily, which i have never tried before but again in a twist of serendipity i had some dried petals from last year i have been able to use. It has a pleasant light and refreshing taste comparable to Chamomile being as it is quite floral and slightly sweet in flavour and i feel like it is having quite a cleansing effect. I have been enjoying it particularly before bed time while looking out upon the plant and pondering on what i can learn from it this year. Its attributes are of a hardy and resilient nature. It is a plant that never gives up and is most adaptable to change. It has bright, sunny and cheerful flowers for most months of the year reminding me to regain personally a positive, steadfast and upbeat disposition.
http://kitchenherbwife.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/elder-ancient-cornucopia.html
I also made some wooden beads from the remaining wood of the Elder and now have a rustic looking bracelet and a great sense of satisfaction to show for it!
http://www.dcrark.com/showaudio/2015-01/2015-01-23/Permaculture%20with%20Nyrees%20-%20and%20Guests%20-%2023rd%20Jan%202015.mp3
which also covers the topics of skin absorption (the good and the bad) herbs good for skin issues and bruises.
So so rather than my usual habit of spending January being pre-occupied with a yearning for Spring while having feelings of it being gloomy and never ending, January has pretty much flown by and i have tried many things that i havent done before and learned a great deal. Perhaps that upbeat disposition of Calendula is working its magic on me already!
Thank you for taking time to read the blog......more next month.....the intent is set!