CRAFTING MODULE REFLECTION
Crafting module was possibly my favourite! Going through all these steps gave me a lot of joy! The moment I was in my kitchen making vinegarS, ‘non honeys’, tinctures, cold and warm oils, creams and salves, infusing may bowl wine, oxymels, elixirs, among other special crafting projects make me feel that I was connecting the plant and human world, by giving and receiving plant energy and healing, nourishing powers almost like magic 😊
I had some previous knowledge regarding the making of creams and salves, water and oil infusions. Regardless, I had worked mostly with carrier oils, essential oils and dried herbs that were purchased from reliable sources. Due to the knowledge acquired in this course, I have included herbal constituents that I have foraged myself in my creams and salves. I think this would have been way more difficult to happen if I had researched the process on my own. This module also widen my horizons on new ways to extract herbal constituents, on what can be crafted with herbs, new methods and approaches and how to understand the herbal cycle of life before starting to work with the plant. For example, I never thought about infusing herbs with ‘non honey’, vinegar and alcohol before.
I’ve mentioned before in this forum what I have been doing during this module so, there is no need to repeat myself. In the meantime, I made an oxymel that was used as salad dressing and ended up in a blink of an eye: I have combined the magnolia ‘non honey’ with the wild garlic, geranium, white deadnettle and stinging nettle vinegar that were previously infused, so delicious!
My motherwort and horehound tinctures are almost ready and I am looking forward to see the first hawthorn berries so that I can combine blooms and berries in ‘non honey’ and tinctures.
I think that lozenges and electuaries is one of the projects that will help me a lot during the winter months, as I tend to need some extra help with my respiratory system all the time.
I foraged lots of hawthorn and elder flowers that I have tried to use as tea through the winter. I also have dried sweet cicely, but found out that I am not very fond of the anis taste.
The making of the Herb Robert flower essence was a great experience to me, like I’ve also mentioned before on this forum. I have used it in a water blessing gathering and add it sometimes to my smoothies. I am very in love with this plant and I am thinking about growing it.
I feel that my crafting knowledge has grown significantly, that lots of new possibilities have been presented to me and that I have new tools that will be very beneficial now and in the future.