Austrian Adventures

I am writting this from Austria, where we have come on a family holiday visiting the in-laws n picking Alpine Delights!

We started off in the Salzberg region with my cousin and her wonderful family 5 kids and pregnant with her 6th, they live a healthy happy existance deep in a beautiful valley surrounded by 2-3000 meter peaks.

We walked n climbed a mountain called `Tasty´´ which was totally covered in the gorgeous purple hoods of Aconite, on the way up we passed much red clover, hypericum, bilberry, cranberry and a host of other herbal brilliance....

So far I am spending huge amounts of our holiday fund on vodka hehe to tincture as much as possible of these plants.

We are down on the planes in the East now on the boarders of Hungary and Slovakia where there is an incredible amount of Goldenrod growing - it is often said that what grows around an area is what the people need.

Traditionally it has been used as a kidney and bladder tonic esp. when stones are present, when I tasted the flowers and leaf it reminded me of Echinachea flavour but I am yet to cross ref the exact constituents. So have made this on for our Kidney Cleanse

I have just found out that it contains rubber, how wierd is that, and that the tyres on Henry Fords car where actually made of goldenrod.... wow.

Wormwood also grows plantifully here so I have made a tincture for our Liver Cleanse this herb is an intense bitter and also the ingrediant for the forbidden drink Absinthe.

Bitters stimulate the bitter taste buds on the tongue and thus increase salivation. This stimulates the gastric reflex to cause digestive juices to be secreted.

There is increased flow of digestive juices from the pancreas, duodenum, and liver that results in better assimilation of nutrients and less undigested food being passed through the digestive tract. This is of huge benefit to problems that have their basis in inefficient or allergy distorted digestion. They help stabalise blood sugars and alos reduce stress, we all need bitters and many cultures partake in eating bitter salad leaves before a heavy meal.

Yesterday we visited the site of an old Roman Town Carnuntum now called Petronell with many remains of Ampitheatres, villas and baths and it was full of Vervain, whilst picking it I wondered if the Roman folk had brough it with them there I googled it and found out that the Romans held it sacred and used it in many ceremonies sacred to the Goddess Venus it was also used to sanitise their homes and temples. We put it in our Maximum Chill Potion.

Today has been the datura harvest I found a whole colony of these brilliant white moon flowers on a building site mound, these are truely magical plants as I harvested I found myself feeling quite intoxicated and sang a song áll about `letting go of all control´. These special ladies are for this yrs Green Ointment hehehehehehehehe