How to Easily Make Comfrey Ointment

With the Comfrey plants almost reaching tree like proportions, it is well past time for me to be harvesting it. Usually before now I have been harvesting the first cut for making comfrey infusion for the greenhouse but I have been a little lax this year so now I have a huge first harvest instead.

Most of the leaves harvested will be used to make comfrey infusion, which basically involved steeping the leaves in a huge bucket of water to make a horrid smelly liquid which the tomatoes love. But comfrey ointment for this years stock will be made with some of the leaves first.

Comfrey has long been used traditionally as a healing plant, and scientific studies show that the plant contains a small molecule called 'allantion' which repairs cells and decreases inflammation making it excellent for skin wounds.

Making comfrey ointment is really easy and one of the quickest I find to make.

How to Make Comfrey Ointment

Ingredients:

Fresh picked comfrey leaves

Either.... Olive oil (or another preferred oil such as almond/sunflower etc) and Beeswax

OR …... Coconut oil

Labelled jars or pots to store

* Roughly chop comfrey leaves and place in a saucepan

* Cover with oil (if you are using coconut oil you may need to melt it first)

* Heat very very gently just so that you are getting the oil not quite hot, you do not want to Fry your comfrey (although I have been know to accidentally do this myself).

* Turn off the heat and allow to comfrey to infuse in the warm oil for around an hour in a warm place.

* Strain your oil through a sieve into a measuring jug squeezing the leaves with the back of a spoon to keep as much of the oil as you can, then allow to stand for another hour in a warm place.

* If you are using coconut you are now finished and can carefully pour your ointment into jars or pots leaving any sediment behind in the jug and store in a cool place.

* If you are using beeswax you need to measure how much oil you have before carefully pouring back into your wiped out comfrey pan leaving the sediment behind in the jug.

* Add beeswax to your pan using roughly 10grams (½ oz) of beeswax for every 100ml (3 ½ fl oz) of oil,  heat gently to melt and mix, then pour into pots or jars.

And that's it, easy done in a morning.

Comfrey Trees are blossoming

The fabulous weather we have been having on the island recently has sent the comfrey into a serious growth spurt. It self seeds itself and pops up like a weed, but I don't mind in the slightest as it is so useful both in the Stillroom and on the plot, and we use the ones that pop up in completely the wrong places by harvesting them.

For healing it is one of my favourite herbs for broken skin, and those that are slow to mend, e.g. John managed to come out in blisters on his forearms from strimming hogweed, nasty and burn-like and I've been told can scar, so comfrey ointment is being used liberally.

We have several huge clumps dotted about the property which I suspect were originally planted as a source of nitrogen and potassium compost for the garden as it makes a wonderful liquid plant food when made into comfrey tea excellent news for our tomatoes.

If nothing else it makes a fine meal for the bees, they love it and to fills a gap with a pretty plant.

Top Tips for Harvesting Dandelion Flowers

I've been harvesting dandelion flowers for various uses for several years now, and there are a few tricks I have learnt along the way, so whether you are collecting them for remedies, dying yarn, brewing wine or just to add to a salad, here are a few tips for you :)

Before You Pick Your Flower Petals

• Picking dandelions will stain your finger tips and nails and although this will be removed from your skin within a couple of washes, the nails can take a bit longer. One way of reducing this is to dig your nails into a bar of soap and wipe off the excess before going to harvest your dandelions.

• If you intend to use your dandelions for food, remedies, brewing etc avoid harvesting them from the roadside where they will have absorbed excess amounts of heavy metals from car fumes. Also avoid the main parts of your lawn unless you know they haven't been trampled on or peed on by pet dogs, and from the corners of garden walls where they may have been sprayed on by the local tom cat.

• If you are using your dandelions to dye yarn, fleece etc the above point is not important so use the possibly contaminated ones for this purpose.

• Choose a dry sunny day to harvest your flowers, the sun will encourage more flowers to open, and being dry before harvesting means less chance of spoiling your recipe, especially if infusing in oil for remedies. Also it is best to finish harvesting before mid afternoon as the flowers will begin to close up for the day making them harder to pick.

Harvesting Your Dandelion Flowers

It used to take me ages to harvest enough petals for a batch of wine, as I would pull a load of flower heads off before sitting down in the sun and one by one pick all the green backs off the petals to go in the compost, it took twice as long as the way I do it now, plus my hands would be a mess for days.

• First grab your dandelion flower head by the green part at the back tightly, pinch together all of the petals in the fingers in the other hand, then firmly pull out the yellow petals, if a few bits of green sneak in it wont matter. When you have done this a couple of times you can work really quickly filling your measuring jug.

• If there is any little bugs or flies on the flower head, just gently bend over the stalk and tap them out.

• When measuring your flower petals for a recipe, firmly press them down in your jug, but not so hard that the are tightly rammed in.

I hope you find these tips helpful :) 

So tell me what is your favorite use is for the humble dandelion?

Eulogy to a beloved Chook

This morning dawned and so ended an era, our old ex-battery chicken 'Scruff' had passed away in the night. We knew the day was coming soon, she had taken to spending most of her time sleeping in the sun and long lie-ins in the mornings, though she was still sprightly enough when treats were offered.

She originally came to us through a friend of John's at work who had several ex battery chickens, along with a few of her friends, this was many years ago when we were still living in Derbyshire. The other ladies passed on before we moved here so only Scruff (so called as she was the scraggiest, scrawniest bottom of the pecking order one) remained to make the long journey North.

Being on her own for a time before the move she made friends with one of the local Blackbirds and they would peck around in the back garden together. I will never forget the day I looked out of the patio doors and saw what I thought was a dead chook and blackbird lying on the lawn, but was instead the pair of the sunbathing together, yes she had taught a blackbird to sprawl out on the lawn, legs and wings everywhere to sunbathe.

Making the move north with John in the van, riding happily in the cat carrier on the passenger seat all the way, taking a break at Inverness services to stretch her legs and have a scratch in the woodland car park before further north and a ferry ride.

She soon settled into her new life with much more land to roam and it makes us happy to know she had a good life here with us.

She leaves behind her companion 'Scrit' who although seemed unhappy this morning, seems to have made a new friend in one of the new chooks that keeps escaping from the run.

RIP Scruff   2007 ?? ---- 2014

Easy Dandelion Flower Wine Recipe

The Dandelion season is in full swing right now and the first big flush of flowers ends up fermented.

This year I am experienting with a new Mead recipe I've made but until it has been tested I will keep that one in my notebook.

Our usual recipe, and the one we used for the wine at our own Handfasting, comes from one of my favourite wild food books for uses in the kitchen.

Wild Food: A Complete Guide for Foragers 

Easy Dandelion Flower Wine Recipe - Makes 1 Gallon

2 pints of Dandelion Petals
1kg (2.2lb) White Sugar
2 Oranges
3 Level Teaspoons of Dried Yeast
Demijohn (carboy) and airlock

Method
Harvest and measure 2 pints of dandelion petals discarding the green backs of the flower heads.
Place the petals in a large container or pan with a tight fitting lid, then pour over 2 litres (1/2 gallon) of boiling water. Cover and leave to stand for 3 days.

After the petals have had their steeping time, strain through a sieve and add the liquid to your demijohn along with the jest and juice of the 2 oranges, a large funnel helps with this.

Add the yeast to a cup half filled with warm previously boiled water and a teaspoon of the sugar and stir, in a few minutes it will begin to froth, stir again and add to the demijohn.

In a jug place half the sugar and dissolve with boiling water, allow this to cool down till it it just warm before adding to the demijohn, repeat with the remaining sugar.

Give it all a swirl and your done. Add the airlock half filled with water, then a small cotton wool ball to the top of the airlock to keep flies out. Put away somewhere to forget about for the next few months. In around a year it should be ready for bottling.

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