Saving some sun for the winter

               They are gorgeous! So gentile and soft on the skin. 

When to pick it?

Any time from May to August  is good for gathering lovely camomile  and drying it for next year.

Camomile loves the sun, so best time to pick it is when the sun is high in the sky. Then it has most curative properties, which we wont to preserve and smells the best.

How?

Pick only flowers of camomile, useing your hands. Don't pick those with lices. Look for them on the bootom of flowers, or on the stems. If you see some other bugs, that are running away as soon as you picke it, don't worry they will leave (unless there's too many of them).

Drying

You can dry it outside or inside, just keep it away from the sun.

Put your camomile on a clean paper or a cloth. Make sure that flowers have enough space between them, so that they can dry faster. If you don't have much room put them together but in a thin layer.

It is better to dry herbs faster to preserve more curative stuff.

Where to put dry camomile?

Use a paper bag or a glass jar to put camomile in.

 Leave it in a dark and dry place.

Nice cup of tea

         It is completely natural to eat more during winter, also to eat stronger food. I like to eat and drink something nice to keep me warm and happy when it is cold and depressive outside, like: hot toast with butter, chocolate (always good), hot potatoes, little bit of brandy or wine, nice warm tea and lots of other stuff.

         Nice tea, for me, is one that has good taste, smell and colour. The one you can drink even if you are not ill, like: hip tea, lime tea, camomile and mixture of camomile, yarrow and nettle.

Hip tea

Hip tea needs a little bit of honey (1 teaspoon) and lemon juice (1 slice) to enhances the taste.

To make hip tea pour 1 cup of boiled water on 1 teaspoon of dry hips, cover and strain after 10-15 minutes.

         It is better to add honey and lemon in warm, not hot tea, because they don't stand high temperatures.   

         If you want more aromatic version of hip tea, add clove and cinnamon to it. This is a very nice tea from which the whole house smells like cinnamon cookies.

         There are two ways of preparing this tea.

1.    Pour 1 cup of boiled water over 1 teaspoon of hips, 1-2 cloves and some cinnamon. Cover and strain after 10-15 minutes. Add honey and lemon juice in a warm tea.

2.    Put 1 teaspoon of hips, 1-2 cloves and some cinnamon in 1 cup of cold water. Put it on the fire, as soon as it boiles remove from fire and add half of sliced lemon. Cover and strain after 15 min or more. Sweeten it with honey.

Lime tea

         Lime tea smells like honey and reminds me on the time when lime tree is blooming and that wonderful smell is spreading everywhere.

         Lime tea also likes a little bit of honey (1 teaspoon). To prepare this tea boil 1 cup of water and pour it over 1 teaspoon of lime flowers, cover it. Strain the tea after 10 minutes.

Camomile cream

Camomile cream is good for curing hemorrhoids and wounds, applied externally. For curing hemorrhoids you can also drink camomile (Matricaria chamomilla) tea.

To make camomile cream take 250g of pigs fat. Heat it to the temperature of frying steaks, than add 2 handfuls of fresh camomile flowers. Fry it shortly, stir and remove from fire. Pigs fat foams so be careful. Cover the pan and leave it to cool over night. Next day warm it a bit and strain. When straining press the herbs with something or squeeze them. For straining you can use strainer or cloth or both.

Pigs fat is excellent for making herbal creams becouse skin absorbs it better than artificial creams.

Camomile oil

To make this oil you need fresh camomile flowers picked on a sunny day and extra virgin olive oil.

Put the flowers into a glass jar (don't press them). Pour the olive oil over so that it covers the flowers. Close the jar and leave it in the sun for 14 days or near the heat source. Then strain.

Camomile oil is used for neuralgia, paralysis and pain in the limbs.

Camomile steam inhalation

Inhaling camomile can be realy helpful for closed nose. I have used this few times when my nose was closed so I could breathe just through my mouth. Camomile steam melts mucus in the nose, so that you can blow it out, and the airways become clearer.

If you want to try this, first you need to make camomile tea. Put 1 teaspoon of camomile in a cup of boiling water, stir and cover. After 5 minutes strain the tea and put it in a bowl, pot or cup from which you want to inhale. Tea needs to be warm, but not to hot to burn skin or airways.

Put the cup on the table, lean over it and cover your head and cup with towel. Inhale camomile steam for a while (5-10 minutes), blow your nose if you need to. You can repeat this proces (if you want to), with the same tea, reheat it a bit, or make a new one.

Some people even drink this tea after they finish inhaling, this is optional. After inhaling stay inside where is warm, do not go outside if it is cold.

Camomile for relaxing

Camomile (Matricaria chamomilla) is very soothing for nervous system. If you are anxious, feeling bad or just want to relax drink cup or more camomile tea and soon you will feel better.

Because it calms nerves, camomile works wonderful if you have trouble with sleeping.

I like to drink a cup of camomile few hours before going to bed. Works fantastic, helps me to sleep better, to have nicer dreams and to wake up more rested.

To make tea put 1 teaspoon of camomile in 1 cup of boiled water, stir it, cover and leave for 2 minutes, then strain. Enjoj!

My favourite herbal tea

Herbal mixture made from camomile, nettle and yarrow is my favourite herbal tea by taste and strength. I drink it from time to time just as a prevention, or as a remedy to cure or to relieve a symptom.

It is good for allergies (respiratory, etc), cold, preventing urinary infections (bladder). It relieves PMS symptoms and menstrual cramps if you drink it few days (or a day depending on the problem) before a period.

Can also be used for lots of others symptoms and diseases, for witch this herbs are good for, and the list is long.  Camomile, nettle and yarrow are very strong herbs, used together they make a tea with good taste and you get a part of curative properties from each herb.

To make tea take a bit of each plant (dry), so that you get about one teaspoon of mixture. Put one teaspoon of mixture in a cup of boiled water, leave it covered for 2 minutes, than strain it.

For me this herbal mixture is a good evening tea, especially when it's cold out side.

Camomile (Matricaria chamomilla)

Nettle (Urtica dioica)

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)