Karen Silverwood Herbalist & Naturopath

🌼Loving the summer flowering herbs🌼
Everywhere I look there are herbs displaying beautiful colours and releasing their fragrance, attracting our precious bees. 🐝 Borage honey is one of my faves. 🍃Borage, marigold & nasturtium flowers make colourful & tasty additions to salads. 🌱In herbalism we use the flowers, leaves and seeds of borage. 🌿The latter are an excellent source of gamma linoleum acid (GLA) a very important supplement to help reduce inflammation, support the heart and balance hormones. 🤍Borage will lift the spirits to help anyone suffering with sadness, anxiety or low energy. It is an emotional cleanser and re-balancer. Rich in minerals and moistening for lung conditions too. ✨It’s best to seek professional advice before taking borage if you are taking anti coagulant medicine.
💚Fresh is best so get munching those nutty flavoured flowers while they last! 💚.

✨It’s a very short lived berry season here in the UK. 🌿They are bursting with antioxidants which help lower inflammation and protect against chronic diseases but they also stimulate new collagen production as well as protect your existing collagen which leads to younger looking skin. 🍃Again we see Mother Nature gives us a natural skin protector just when the sun is out more. (Unfortunately we can’t say that in the UK right now!)
🤍Raspberries, blackberries and cherries belong to the rose family making them also good for the heart (their shape and colour tell us that too). 🍃Blackcurrants are really high in vitamin C and are amazing for curing sore throats.
🌿Shame their fruiting season is soooooo short and the birds can eat them before we do. ✨Now’s the time to freeze them, make syrups and vinegars for winter use.
🤍And for those who can cope with a bit of sugar and even alcohol, you can make jams as well as liqueurs like cassis.

🤍HEMP, PEAR, CARDAMON & ROSE SMOOTHIE 🤍
One of my recipes that we’ll be making together at my next ‘Around the Kitchen Table’ workshop. ✨The theme is ‘Women’s Health’ and we’ll be talking about specific foods and herbs that look after women as we journey through our fertility cycles, menopause & beyond. 🌿Summer offers us exceptional herbs like Rose, Raspberry leaf, Lady’s Mantle, Motherwort and Red Clover; all are AMAZING at balancing female emotions and hormones. 💚There are still a few places left for this Saturday 6th July in Anstey, Leicestershire 1.30-4pm. ✨Message me to book your place. ✨

✨My wellbeing teas can now be found on sale at the new deli shop 💚If you’re local to Leicestershire it’s one of those tearooms that need to be visited. 🌿They are a well-being centre in the heart of the Charnwood Forest near Mount St Bernard’s Abbey. ✨Hopefully a future venue for my health workshops.

🍃It’s time to indulge in the benefits of fresh lemon balm. 🌿It’s one of those garden plants that disappears in winter and then by late spring becomes a huge mass of lush glossy green leaves that you wondered how it got there. Its character is quite persistent and will keep popping up in new places even if you try and w**d it out. 🤍So in gratitude for its patient teaching, like the dandelion, I’ll listen to it and go and make fresh tea with some added peppermint.
🍃Lemon Balm is a powerful herb for our modern world, where we have more depressed, anxious, stressed, and tense people than ever before.
Lemon Balm works on elements of the inner child. ✨Like a sunny day it uplifts the spirit, bringing hope and happiness into the heart. Many of us don’t allow ourselves to shine in our full capacity. Lemon Balm assists us in looking beyond our flaws and conditionings to seeing the pure soul inside, the one that wants to be free, the part of us that wants to have fun!
🤍The incredible purity and simplicity of this plant instills a sense of peace and contentment within, inviting us to enjoy life to the full. ✨

💚Spring is in full swing. 🍃If you haven’t managed to receive a surge of spring energy yet I’m sure you’ve noticed the increased activities filling up the diary! ✨When we stop to reflect on the abundant energy of nature we can begin to understand why we need such a long rest in winter. 🌿I enjoyed watching two blue t**s yesterday going in and out of the nest with grubs in their beaks. It’s non stop, as every human parent knows. 🤍If you want to read more about the health benefits available to us at this time of year, my new Spring Newsletter is online. 💚Contact me to be added to the mailing list.https://karensilverwood.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Spring-newsletter-24-.pdf

💚“Eat well and stay well”💚was the theme for my latest Herbal Workshop around the kitchen table. 🤍With 10 lovely people who were curious about learning ways to stay healthy naturally. ✨Together we made simple and delicious recipes for the season. 🍃A salad with 7 types of homegrown salad leaves, 🌱courgette noodles with wild garlic pesto and we drank freshly picked nettle & mint tea. 🌿We discussed the importance of taste and how what we taste affects our bodies.
✨“Today was informative and inspiring. Fun and fabulous food. Thank you.” - a participant 🤍

🤍Spring is the best time to help the body boost its natural detoxifying processes. ✨If you don’t feel you can manage a detox, try noticing how much fresh food you consume. 🍃In the UK we suffer from a poor variety of fresh produce and what is bought in a supermarket is usually far from fresh, it suffers from fatigue. That fatigue and lack of vitality is transferred to us. 🌱Most of us don’t have the time or resources to look at changing from supermarkets to veg boxes, greengrocers, community growing schemes, foraging or growing our own. But those of us who manage to make a tiny change in this direction have started our own gentle transformation towards reconnecting with the natural world. 🤍That’s a green revolution! 💚

🌷Well hello Spring! 🤍My magnolia waits all year and if I’m lucky it flowers for 2 weeks maximum. That’s why it’s important not to miss the moment. ✨Even when we’re not ready for Spring, she comes to us with a vibrancy that’s impossible to ignore. The air seems charged with vitality and presence. 🌿Try taking a mindfulness walk this Equiniox, not so we can loose ourselves in thought but to immerse ourselves in the present moment. 🍃Spring doesn’t look back with melancholy over what is past. It gets on with bursting into life.
🌱 ‘Souls of the Wild’ meets in Swithland Woods Leicestershire to do just that. 10am Sunday 17th March, gathering at south car park celebrating the Equinox.✨.

✨When you go for a walk in nature here in the UK, mud is the reality right now.
🌱Although our eyes are busy telling our boots where to tread, remember to open the senses. 🕊️Then our ears are filled with glorious bird song, have we forgotten our inner song?
🤍What makes our heart sing🎵?
🌿And can you smell the scent of blossom, nettles and wild garlic? Our sense of smell awakens what sleeps within us and grounds us in the present moment. ✨Yes, spring is on its way and soon the trees will put out their leaves and suck up some of this water.
🤍🍃🤍It’s time to be grateful 🤍🍃🤍

🕊️Happy International Women’s Day to all you wise women out there and to anyone who senses the power of the feminine in their hearts 🤍. I’m celebrating with a shatavari and rose latte 🥀 Shatavari literally means ‘she who has 100 husbands’. It is just the best female tonic, balancing hormones and the giver of energy. The delicate taste of rose goes straight to the heart and lifts the emotions. 🌿1 tsp shatavari, 2tsp rose petals infused in warm oat milk with 2tsp of rose water….. divine 💕

🔥I’ve just made some more Fire cider 🔥
It’s not too late to make your own cold and flu protection! ✨Just one spoon in some hot water and honey can literally blow the first flu symptoms away if taken as soon as you feel run down. 🌿It’s great for sore throats in any season so it’s good to keep some throughout the year. It’s very warming which is why it works so well. ✨However, those who have problems with acid reflux or other digestive complaints may need to proceed with caution. Seeing as it’s homemade it can be made omitting the ingredients that disagree with you. 🤍Making our own remedies helps us reconnect with nature and also helps us take responsibility for our wellbeing where we can. 🕊️Share it with family and friends too!

https://karensilverwood.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Fire-Cider.pdf.

🌦️Why do we talk about the weather so much? I’ve noticed it’s not just a UK thing! ✨Maybe because we ARE nature and we’re reacting to what we feel. When sharing with others we’re asking for confirmation of how they’re reacting to the elements too. 🤍Our bodies through our senses are always feeling and adapting to change, and this happens at the most basic level of hot/cold, moist/dry, still/changeable (that’s before adding emotions, behaviour, energy etc). 🌿That’s a lot of constant adjustment to our unpredictable environment involving some possible anxiety too. 🌤️So let’s keep talking about the weather and acknowledge being human and part of the earth.
🕊️Maybe after all that’s what all the animals and birds are talking about too?!

✨During my recent visit to Malta I noticed a beautiful display of orange and olive trees planted in the grounds outside Malta’s main hospital. I thought, Wow, a perfect combination to help the immune system. 🌿The vitamin C from the oranges together with the highly protective properties of olive leaf would help ward off illness especially the winter flu. 🤔 I doubt however they had been planted for any other reason except that they look stunning together. ✨That in itself is nature’s way of getting our attention. 🤍Let’s hope we can learn to listen to nature’s ancient wisdom, treasure it and pass it on.

✨‘If everything around you seems dark, look again, you may be the light’ -Rumi. 🌿My winter newsletter is online, full of tips to survive the end of winter. ✨Seasonally we’re turning a corner with longer days but we still need to conserve energy and not expect too much of ourselves. The constant drive from the outside world can carry on without us. 🤍Stay warm and dry my friends! https://karensilverwood.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Winter-newsletter-24.pdf.

🌼Spring flowers in January on Malta🌼 The number and quality of the seasons can look very different around the world. 🤍I recently went to Malta to warm my bones (literally). 🌱The flowers reminded me of the energy we feel in Spring. I don’t have that energy yet in January especially in the freezing temperatures of the UK. ✨For me there are no new beginnings on the 1st January, it’s just a date in the calendar, just as April is a new tax year and September is a new school year. 🌿My natural new year is in the spring; not a date but when I feel the energy coming from the warming of the ground and the sap rising in the trees. 🤍Let’s wait awhile and celebrate later!

✨Wishing you a Healthy Christmas!🎄 Gingerbread is a traditional recipe in many countries and this recipe is moist and warming with nutritious dates and lots of ginger to keep us happy and healthy in the deep winter ❄️. Enjoy lighting up the dark and warming up the chill and above all keeping alive our hopes for a peaceful world 🕯️ 🕊️

🍂Chestnuts🍂
Britain isn’t the most well known country for growing chestnuts large enough to eat but this impressive 2kg we’re lying in abundance by the roadside in Leicestershire.
🐿️It was great to know I didn’t need permission to grab them, except checking first with the squirrels. ✨Chestnuts are a good source of energy, fiber, vitamin C, copper, B vitamins, manganese, and antioxidants. 🤍I love them because they’re sweet in a gentle way so they help balance blood sugar levels. 🌿They’re great roasted but be careful not to over-indulge as they can cause bloating. 🤍My favourite cake recipes use chestnut flour, it can substitute regular wheat flour (especially brilliant in pancakes) and adds sweetness so you can cut out the sugar. ✨Check out my fruit cake and apple cake recipes using chestnut flour…https://karensilverwood.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Sweet-Treats.pdf

🤍Rosehips🤍
I’ve just made a winter berry powder with rosehips, elderberries and hawthorn. 🍂It adds the taste of autumn and some winter health protection to porridge or smoothies. 🌿I was brought up on rosehip syrup as a child and it’s still common knowledge that they’re loaded with vitamin C and antioxidants. ✨However, I’ve only just found out that it was the original plant where they first discovered vitamin C 🤔
🍃I just love the rosacea family; rose petals, my favourite scent and tea to lift my mood and apples and rosehips to keep you well in winter, what a gift! 🤍

🍂One Autumn Health Workshop done! 🍂What a lovely, dry and warm day we had for it. 🤍Thanks to all who came and all who helped, what a fabulous group of warm, curious and lovely people we had. ✨What a privilege to spend a day with you, learning and tasting foods and herbs that help us in the autumn and heal us in the winter 🤍. And thank you to our tree and plant friends who we interacted with in the beautiful woods of Ulverscroft 🌿 We will be back!

🍂Apple & Chestnut cake. 🍂Yay it’s that time again. 🍃The apples are starting to fall and so are the chestnuts in my local Bradgate Park. 🤍This scrummy cake has no sugar, just the natural sweetness from the apples, chestnut flour, sultanas and cinnamon. And guess what? ✨You’ll be able to taste some if you’re coming to next Sunday’s workshop!🍂
https://fienta.com/autumn-health-workshop
🤍If you’re not coming you can make it yourself with this recipe!🫖
https://karensilverwood.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Sweet-Treats.pdf.

🌿I’ve been busy making sauerkraut and kimchi for my up-coming workshop. 🍃This wild kimchi even has some foraged dandelion and plantain for more digestive benefits.
🤍Fermented foods are a natural source of friendly bacteria that help to support our digestive system. And seeing as 80% of our immune system is located in the gut, fermented foods go a long way in helping our immune system too. ✨Choose from kefir, kimchi, kombucha, miso, natural yoghurt, sauerkraut, soy sauce and tempeh. 🍂Learn how to ferment veg this autumn at next week’s workshop.🍂
https://fienta.com/autumn-health-workshop.

🌿Hawthorn berries🌿
Yes you can eat them straight out of the hedge. I wouldn’t call them delicious but it’s still one of the best ways to eat them. ✨There is an abundance of beautiful berries this year and Mother Nature is trying to draw our attention to them. 🤍She says, “Heal your hearts” because that’s what hawthorn does. ✨It helps with any heart related symptoms; blood pressure, cholesterol, circulation, palpitations, anxiety and even a broken heart. 🍂It’s such a wonderful berry for the winter that I’ve made it into a ‘winter berry porridge powder’ alongside elderberry and rosehips. ✨And there’ll be free samples given away at the workshop next week✨
https://fienta.com/autumn-health-workshop.

🍃This morning’s tea break🍃 I love a matcha oatmilk latte. 🤍This one is matcha green tea, olive leaf and nettle powder. ✨Really easy to make, tastes divine and is brimming with health benefits. ❤️Full of blood nourishing nutrients and antioxidants, it boosts energy and the immune system. 🍂It’s so good I’m going to serve it at morning break of my Autumn Health Workshop. 🍂Book here to have a taste! https://fienta.com/autumn-health-workshop

🌿One really cool thing I love about herbs is the concept of ‘the doctrine of signatures’. ✨Certain herbs and plants reveal to us their therapeutic values by their physical characteristics. 🤍Both elderflowers and elderberries are well know lung remedies, the flowers in the summer help with hay fever and asthma and the berries in the autumn help us recover from flu viruses and bronchitis. 🌿Look at the photo and you can see those red blood capillaries branching out to form the shape of a lung. (Well I can see it!) 🍂Lessons from nature🍂.

The elderberries seem scarce this year 😕but now is the time to gather them because they’re so supportive for the immune system and flu season. 🌿The compounds in elderberry directly kill and prevent replication of the multiple strains of the influenza virus. It's been shown to do this within 24 hours, and almost completely relieves the effect of influenza after 3 days with just Elderberry syrup. 🤍Another hedgerow remedy that we take for granted but is so reliable and effective.
🍃I’m experimenting this year with a syrup made without sugar but meanwhile I made this tea with fresh berries and spices. 🫖Yum!!
We’ll be learning more about useful herbs and spices for our immune system at my autumn health workshop, 🍂book here🍂
https://fienta.com/autumn-health-workshop

✨Mint and Rose Tea 🤍
If you still have fresh herbs growing in your garden this is a refreshing tea that helps you relax and enjoy the last of the summer.
🍃Pick 4-6 peppermint leaves from the garden (or bought fresh)
Put your herbs in a teapot and add a mugful of boiling water
🤍Infuse for 5 mins and leave covered so the essential oils don't evaporate
💕Then add 1 tsp of rosewater
Make sure you’re sitting down to drink it 😉and enjoy a relaxing moment.

✨This recipe is also in my newsletter. Send me an email if you’d like to receive it.
https://karensilverwood.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Summer-newsletter-23.pdf

For all of you who aren’t far from Leicestershire UK… ✨Come along to my Autumn Health Workshop! 🌿Following on from a successful workshop last spring it will take place in the beautiful woodland setting in Ulverscroft Markfield. 🤍Treat yourselves to some time out and learn ways to take care of yourself in the colder months. See you there!

I’m soaking up the last of the summer sun in Tuscany. ☀️This year it’s been extremely hot and dry. This beautiful landscape is crying out for water. 🌿Two of our most important European herbs, Rosemary and Olive thrive in this climate. ✨Both herbs are fabulous tonics, digestives, anti bacterial and blood pressure regulators. 🤍Nature continues to amaze me, out of the dry earth and intense heat emerge such potent healing properties.✨.

Maybe summer exists to awaken one of our 5 senses, that of smell. 🤍That alone would be a valuable reason, maybe the busyness and eagerness of the bees is more than pollination but about feeling truly alive. 🐝 When we awaken ourselves completely through all our senses we awaken our deeper nature which is to realise we are connected to the earth, to all life and to the Divine. ✨Let’s take our time to breathe deeply the scents of the summer. 🍃Is fragrance really just about attracting pollinators or to awaken our senses and bless us all deeply? 🤍Scent reconnects us to the present moment, as invisible, as intimate and as universal as love is. Breathe in the flowers and smile. 🌿The scent of lavender has a relaxing effect, it doesn’t have to be saved for helping us get to sleep, it can bless us every sunny moment of the day. 🕊️