Flower essences - where does the information about them come from?

Following up on the last post of a couple days ago ..

Talk about a rabbit hole!

No surprise, this - the descriptions of the attributes of the flower essences are extremely variable between sources.

There's Edward Bach's original work, (here's the official site) and those who adhere to it; that's fairly standardized (not that I believe 'standardized' is a necessarily always a good thing, but the man was a pioneer and his work is valuable ..). There's also a dizzyingly large array of essences 'discovered' since Bach, because let's face it, there are more than the 38 flowers that he had access to in the English countryside; people want to (and should) be able to use what grows near them ..

A new schtick for me - flower essences

I never thought I'd see the day I'd be diving into the airy-fairy, woo-filled world of flower essences, but if you were to rummage amongst all the jars of infused oils and deeply coloured tinctures on the top of my china cabinet today you'd find 4 jars and several small brown dropper bottles of what looks very much like plain water.

Flower essences are sorta-kinda like homeopathic remedies. It's one of those "they're the same only different" deals. Their similarity is that both are extremely diluted - I'll tell you just how diluted in a bit - but they also differ in a very important way.

A spoonful of sugar - discussing (medicinal) herbal syrups

It's been years since I've been able to dry the airy parts of some of my herbs successfully, especially those with large or thick leaves. The Ottawa River valley is notoriously humid to begin with; we've had a few really really humid summers in a row and this one, phew, it's been downright wet (but at least not hot!).

So, as with the past few summers, I have to find other ways to preserve my herbs for winter. One of those ways is by making syrups. I've been told that the pioneer women in my region nearly always preserved their herbs as syrups. I don't know how accurate that is, but I can see the reasoning. Syrups are instantly available, they can be easily turned into a cup of hot, sweet tea, and they're (let's face it) easier to get down the throat of a recalcitrant child (or husband) (or farm hand). In days of yore, tinctures weren't the 'thing' they are now, booze being at a premium or verboten. I wonder about the availability of sugar to a housewife way up in the bush, though ..

Write it down!

There's a post for all aspiring herbalists and garblers over at the other blog. Go see.

Where I'm at these days.

I'm still not in the mood for serious picture-taking, method-describing posts these days, but I am still writing.

Much of what I'm writing about is plant related, it's just less about the how-to and more about the why, so I think it more appropriate that they're posted over on my other, kinda free form blog. When I write about plants there, I (usually remember to) post a notification on the top right of the side bar on this blog, so you can click on over and read them. Today's post about flower essences is educational enough for this blog, I suppose, but maybe a little 'woo' ..?

Recommended books, sites and video channels

I'm about plum dried up when it comes to ideas for 'click-worthy' blog posts here, so instead here's some suggested reading & viewing for those of you with a genuine interest in wildcrafting and/or working with plants in any way.

What winter hath wrought

The glacier in the back yard started to retreat yesterday. There was much joy! Much puttering about was done! Supper was late! Perma-dirt under the fingernails was initiated!

There's a long way to go yet of course. Along the edges it still looks like this:

The rhubarb patch. Hahahahaha.