[M]

I was never a fan of roses, as I struggle with parfumes and synthetic fragrances and this is one of the strongest out there. however, this summer I relocated to southern Italy, and in our garden is a rose that has been with our family for more than 50 years. my grandma brought it with her when she changed home and she passed this year, so this rose became a way of thinking about her/ being with her and seeing the fruits of all she has left for us blooming. I am thus building a much more loving relationships to roses now and doing some research for this module was super fun! I am now gathering roses when they bloom and drying them upside down before collecting petals (and going through another drying round with kitchen paper). I would then like to infuse some olive or almond oil with the petals for skin preparations and such. However, I found some amazing things online that make me very curious to try out more things, such as fresh rose petals prepared with sugar in a mortar, or a tincture made with 15 drop of vitriol oil to help stomach and haemorrhages. However, I will definitely take some research time before ingesting any vitriol form. I really appreciated all the posts above, as I had never thought of simply placing the petals in salt and sugar but it sounds lovely, thank you guys!

[M]

I would love to know more about this personally, as I have been growing a thick carpet of curly hair for quite a long time now. It takes a lot of care and I would enjoy bringing together my herbology practice with this time-consuming self care moments my hair demands.

Some of the things I have noticed my hair enjoying, which unfortunately are not so herb-related, are:

1) a good rub of coconut oil (kept overnight in a braid or head wrap) before being washed – this really seems to revive the hair texture and help the split ends.

2) being cut according to moon phases. now this mostly sounds ridiculous when I say it, but I do only cut my hair on days in which the moon is in either the sign of the leo (for strength) or of the virgo (for keeping the cut longer and faster growth) and this seems to be working in ways I cannot explain.

I did however hear of a group of women who are known for having incredibly long and beautiful hair. In the documentary I watched they said this was due to the usage of fermented rice water as a final rinse after hair washing. I have not yet tried this, but I’d love to in the future!

In the meanwhile, I stand very curious to learn more about herbs that benefit hair health.
Love, M

[M]

would love a practical guide to restoring gut health! I have been piecing information together from the modules, my own study of herbs and from the notes from the last walk I took part in, but it would be lovely to also hear more/ check if what I have is on point. I feel like due to stress, bad sleeping and absurd eating patterns, my gut health deteriorated impressively in past year. This has brought me to develop IBS and really bad acne. I am now committed to restoring gut healthy and have thus been taking care of my sleep, while also trying to move towards a better diet. However, as I engage in this long term process, it would be nice to know which other herbs/ remedies I can base my new routines around to support my gut in restoring itself. Thank you in advance!

[M]

Hello! I have been trying to create an ivy salve for treating cellulitis according to a recipe I found here on the blog somewhere. Not having grapeseed oil, I used coconut oil as the blog post had advised. However, it’s not going too well: the coconut oil has solidified and thus I believe it might not be doing its job within the salve? I thought maybe I should heat this up on a slow bain-marie and then maybe add some almond oil to help the salve remain liquid? Would love some advice on how to proceed! Thank you in advance.

[M]

This was such a good question! I must say I am ashamed to say I am unable to perform this task at the moment. I came to the practice of foraging to connect again with my body after many months of extremely heightened stress and it’s very confronting to realise I have no idea how many vegetables I eat in one day. Sometimes, none at all. This is something I am aware must change and being here is for me one of the very first steps towards getting back into a plant based, healthy diet. I will keep this question in mind, make sure to plan a vegetable intake plan and weigh my vegetables! Thank you for this reality check, was very much needed.

[M]

Hello there! My name is Marta and I am very happy to meet you all. Like Marisa, I also live in Amsterdam Nieuw-West, but on the side close to the volkstuin and the Nieuw Meer. I have not yet foraged near my home, but I am glad to hear so much advice, I will definitely begin with the places advised by Lynn and check out the space/activities mentioned. Below my very dirty student housing there are some pretty decent gardens that I am quite interested in. The area is quite busy, but some bushes shelter most of the ground from traffic. Nettle grows abundantly there and also something that looks like (but I am not sure is) elderflower. I planted some black kale in the fall and it did not do too well, but it is also still alive. Could I take this as a good sign that the soil is not too polluted? As far as the basic questions go, unfortunately foraging is not legal in Amsterdam, which I find absurd. But if done according to the ACLES principles then it is well tolerated. I think in general, foraging is much more popular than I thought. Searching the web for Module 1 I even found someone’s MA thesis on it (a wonderful read, highly advised, title is: urban foraging and commoning). I know a lot of my friends are very interested when I talk about it and told me they would like to join me on walks with Lynn next time I go. Overall, I think the general situation is that world events are putting pressure on our unsustainable lives and knowledge that is truly worth having (like knowledge of plants and what can be foraged) may once again regain its standing in the future.

[Author]

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