Hello there!

Lots has changed for us.

For starters we moved. We are now in the Great Lakes Region of the United States.

I've completely changed directions with our home education. I'm hesitant to post too much about that until we are into the school year somewhat.

My iPod has been raised from the dead once, traveled halfway across the world only to be again, dead and I'm fine with it. Personally I think it is a Good Thing.

Those aren't even the major points and since a full recap is too overwhelming to me right now, I'll just say hello and sut mae to you all. I'll be posting more herbal stuff the next few posts as I've joined a blog party and I'll be posting a recipe for my fertility chai and some info about a weed I've grown quite fond of.

Also, this morning I fought off the songbirds and mosquitoes (really? mosquitoes at 9 am, I mean, come on! That is absurd!) to pick a quart jar full of ripe elderberries with three out of four children. Just imagine me like Snow White, only shooing the birds away and slapping mosquitoes.

I'll tell you what I'm going to do with it later.

But for now, I'm recovering from an illness that reminds me way too much of mononucleosis/glandular fever but is definitely not strep throat (I had it checked) and I feel the need to rest a bit.

Thanks for hanging in there to this poor neglected space.

Elderflower Cordial

(My lovely neighbor gave me the recipe as well as a container of tartaric acid.)

Ingredients:
24 elderflower heads
4 oranges
1 lemon
2 ounces tartaric acid
3 pints cold water
3 lbs sugar

Place flowers in a bowl, slice fruit and add with all other ingredients. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Leave for 48 hours. Sieve and strain through a muslin. Store in bottles or in plastic tubs in the freezer. Dilute to taste.

See, it all started when my neighbor had American guests at her house over the holidays. One of the Americans was very excited to meet my spouse "the Lord of Sound" since he (my spouse) is basically a loudspeaker genius. So, on Christmas eve, we came over, ate various British treats and goodies including elderflower cordial. She said she'd tell me how to make it when the time came to make it and now is the time.

Breaking the silence for a moment....

Sorry, but I wanted to mention something cool about nettles. "Something cool about nettles?" you say. Why yes. Nettles are our friend.

Now I could wax poetic about their lovely mating dance (I've yet to see it but have heard tell of it). I could talk about how their sting is simply an energy transfer from a very powerful plant. I could tell about how I believe nettles prevented me from post partum hemoragging and a resulting trip to the hospital after Miss Mousie was born. But instead, I will talk about my latest nettles discovery ( as I drink from my second pot of nettles infusion today).

On April 1, I remember the day, it was a lovely lovely day with one of my kindred spirits here in Wales, I fell while wearing Miss Mousie at a castle. Boom! My body, twisted to protect the baby, onto an ancient stone floor. Ouch! Seems like I have done something Bad to my shoulder. It still hurts, only worse. I've tried a variety of things: chiropractic, massage, heat, ice, ibuprofen. Nothing touches it. But then I got the desperately brilliant idea to let dear nettles heal me. I took a piece of nettles and lightly touched the affected area. Wow! It was so much better, and still three days later, is much better. It does hurt today and I plan on giving myself another treatment as soon as I post here. But wow!