Week thirty

So this week I went to a physic garden, which I have to admit when I first read about it, I started telling people I was going to a psychic garden.  Yes, this was partly due to the fact that clearly I can't read, but more so because I didn't actually know what a physic garden was.  For those of you that don't know, its somewhere where plants with medicinal properties grow.

I read about the Urban Physic Garden a while ago. Its a little retreat in Southwark in a neglected bit of land where a group of designers and green-fingered souls have come together with some volunteers to create this pharmaceutical summer oasis.  I was very taken by the sound of some of the workshops and talks they have been running all about the benefits of certain plants and herbs.  The class I signed up for was called Living Medicine Workshop - Herbal First Aid Kit.

I arrived on Sunday afternoon and in the glorious sunshine the space is rather enchanting.  It has been set up in the form of a hospital with various sections dedicated to "wards" such as oncology, cardiology or psychiatric and all the plants and herbs are planted in their relevant wards.  Then there were lots of hanging test-tubes, glass jars and even a poisonous cabinet.

4 of us sat down for the class surrounded by a multitude of pots, pans, jars and the sweet developing smell of mint and ginger that was being infused by Marla, a medical herbalist who led the class.  She welcomed us with the lovely hot drink while giving us a brief introduction into herbalism.  It didn't surprise me to know that its very often for people to come to herbalists as a last resort when nothing else has worked.  However, what this class was to teach us is that that shouldn't be the case as its very easy to  use herbalism first as we all have easy access to many of the essentials.

Lavender is something that I've noticed a lot of my friends have lying around.  I would never ever have it lying around as I hate the smell.  To me, lavender is the ultimate in old lady smell or a cheap pot pourri option.  However, little did I know that lavender oil is one of the most useful home remedies as it helps with burns.  It reduces pain and inflammation and speeds up healing.  How lavender would have helped me so when I poured boiling goose fat onto my hand and had to go to a late night pharmacy to find burn bandages.

Onions are apparently excellent at helping to to shift a chesty cough.  If you leave them sliced with some sugar or honey overnight the sugar draws out the onion juices to form an anti-mucus syrup. Mmmmmm.

I also wasn't really aware at how useful both ginger and mint are.  I know they are both quite soothing which is why lots of us like to drink them with hot water but actually they are both antispasmodic so help with stomach cramps and indigestion.  Le ginge also works for nausea, motion sickness and morning sickness.  So clearly ginger rules.

After chatting through a few more of the essentials Marla diligently started mixing, melting and stirring to create an ointment for cuts and scrapes, basically a homemade savlon.  Some of the ingredients I'd not heard of before such as calendula and comfrey and others were more familiar such as beeswax, tea tree oil, St John's wort and good old lavender. The golden syrupy liquid was poured into lip-balm style jars and within seconds of cooling had hardened into ointment.   4 very cute, little gifts for each one of us.

I enjoyed very much listening to Marla - she had a lovely warmth about her but a quiet sternness that reminded me of the Oracle in The Matrix.  I liked finding out about the uses of the real "have at home" essentials like ginger, aloe vera and chamomile.  The things like arnica, slippery elm and valerian didn't interest me so much as they would require a visit to a health food shop just as I would need to go to the pharmacy.  I almost wanted to know what I could use that I have in the house everyday.

There is a week left still of classes at the urban physic garden, check here to see what is still on offer.

Next week, for the first time I'm going to the Comedy Store. Ha.