5 top healing plants to forage from the hedgerow in Autumn

The hedgerows are arguably at their prettiest right now. Beaded with ruby hips and haws, brambles drooping under the weight of shiny blackberries, leaves starting to turn fiery hues as the days lose heat and the nights and dawns gain chill; they are abundant. Often abundant enough for you to stock up your natural medicine cabinet whilst still leaving plenty for birds and other wildlife*. And for fellow admirers of these Autumn treasures and their healing potential.

Image thanks to Rita and Mit via Pixabay

By Cicely Mary Barker

Elderberries

Most Septembers, I take a walk around the lanes and fields near where I live, and follow Glennie Kindred’s delicious recipe for elderberry syrup. Not only is it packed with vitamin-rich, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory goodness, but this cough-and-cold remedy has a sweet, fruity taste that my sensory-sensitive kids will tolerate. The addition of warming spices supports that Ayurvedic belief that, in early Autumn, we enter the vata-dominant season where we may encounter problems from cold, dryness and wind. Warming spices and sweet flavours balance vata, so help to optimise health at this time of year.

Elderberry has a centuries-long reputation as a versatile healer – it’s often found in parks and other urban environments as well as the more rural. Although it can seem like a bit of a messy faff separating those little jewel-like berries from their stalks, you might find a meditative peace through the process; the atmosphere that the medicine is created in forming another nurturing ingredient for the storage jar. Elderberries can also be made into jam, cordial, gin, teas, popsicles, sweets and baked into muffins and pies – but shouldn’t be eaten raw.

Image thanks to Hans Benn via Pixabay

Rosehips

Rosehips are another antioxidant-laden gift that the early Autumn offers just before the season where viruses become more prevalent. (They may be sweeter when picked after the first frosts, although this seems too late for harvesting them most years my mild part of the UK). Reputed to also benefit osteoarthritic symptoms and hold anti-aging properties, you can take rosehips as a tea or syrup much like elderberries. They have a heap of culinary uses too, although eating them raw isn’t advised due to the tiny irritant hairs (apparently an early source of itching powder: not what you want in your throat!)

Image by Manfred Richter via Pixabay

Haws (hawthorn berries)

Similarly high in Vitamin-C to protect you from winter coughs and colds, haws also have a history of use in folk medicine for heart and circulatory disorders. For this reason, you are recommended to seek medical advice before taking hawthorn therapeutically if you take medication to treat blood pressure, blood thinning, blood clotting or coronary disorders. I made some haw ketchup a couple of years ago, and enjoyed the deeper, smokier flavour than I’m used to from its better-known tomato counterpart. However, what seemed like a lot of haws and a lot of prep removing stalks gave me a pretty tiny amount of ketchup – perhaps not one for the time-poor forager!

Image thanks to Andrea via Pixabay

Dandelion root

I confess that whilst I’ve often included the leaves my late-spring salads (and the stems and flowers in my kids’ art and science activities), I’ve never actually consumed dandelion root. However, these earthy, nutrient-dense treasures are said to be potent detoxifiers, with anti-inflammatory and skin-healing properties too. Said to be best harvested in autumn for medicinal purposes – and spring for culinary use – dandelion roots can be made into tinctures, teas, vinegars, poultices and decoctions. This post talks you through harvesting, drying and preparing them, as well as medical contraindications.

Image thanks to Rebekka D via Pixabay

Apples

The apple’s medicinal, and nutritional, reputation needs no introduction; this article and this one suggest the healthiest varieties. In our household, apple crumble is the ultimate cold-day comfort food; a potent nurturer on gloomy afternoons. Windfalls are perfect for baking with (and so plentiful right now) that your future tired, poorly or busy self will thank you for popping an extra crumble in your freezer for a winter day when your heart (and tummy) need warming.

Do you have any hedgerow remedies or Autumn healing tips to share in the comments below? Make sure you’re subscribed for future seasonal living ideas and inspiration )O(

Spin Your Circle Bright this week:

Mind ~ I’ve mentioned Glennie Kindred’s works of beauty and wisdom before on this blog, and I’ve learned so much from her about pagan traditions, natural healing and plant lore that I’ll share the link to her website again. Glennie is also one of the founding members of the lovely Earth Pathways Diary. I’d also recommend The Hedgerow Handbook, by Adele Nozedar.

Body ~ Pears and plums might also be found available for foraging right now, along with vitamin-packed hedgerow classic: blackberries.

Heart ~ This beautiful, peace-inspiring creation.

Spirit ~ An area of development in my own spiritual practice is around exploring animism, and growing relationships between myself and the non-human world. This involves seeking permission when harvesting, from acting from a place of respect and dignity consciousness. Read more here and here.

Sharing ~ * a suggested foraging rule is to take no more than 30% of the crop that is there – and to follow this foraging code in the UK.

Vata

Cold and dry like the wind, Vata dosha is dominant during Autumn and early winter. In our bodies, the falling temperatures and blustery winds can aggravate Vata, particularly for those of us who are Vata types. The elements space and air comprise Vata and movement is a strong theme; falling leaves, the seasonal shift and other changes such as the academic year all add to this feeling and the potential for being out of balance.

Aggravated Vata may present in various ways – IBS, dry cracked skin or lips, restlessness, anxiety and insomnia among them. Suggestions for balancing Vata include use of warming spices (ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin etc) to balance against the cold – as well as wrapping up warm of course! I find chai to be a delicious and beneficial drink at this time of the year (like I don’t drink it during the other seasons, haha!) You can buy a lovely ready-made mix (as well as other Vata-balancing products) from Ayurveda Pura or make your own (AyurvedicYogi has a recipe).

Warm, nourishing food and drink are recommended at this time of the year and raw foods advised against as they are can be harder to digest (particularly for us IBS-prone Vata tyoes!). Massage – ideally daily – with warm sesame oil (or, if unavailable, almond) and gentle yoga both relax and ground aggravated Vata, as well as having numerous physical benefits. A good night’s sleep each night will help with this too, as well as aid the immune system in staying strong enough to tackle any bugs that come your way! As a Vata-dominant type, I find that a good sense of rhythm throughout my day and in my life helps ground me too, as does going easy on stimulants like caffeine. Sweet tastes balance vata (although it’s best to try to avoid refined sugar for providing this: honey is a better substitute. Sweet tasting foods like carrot, potato,parsnip, cinnamon and sweet fruits are good options too). Dairy is also said to be vata-balancing but is something I personally try to minimise in my diet, mainly due to ethical and environmental reasons. it’s also worth noting that many people find dairy hard to digest and/or quite mucous-forming in the body – not ideal when colds are abundant!

Vata can be utilised positively: artistic and musical creativity, dance and the ability to dream up fresh ideas and start new projects are said to be Vata qualities and so this energy could be harnessed now. To me, this seems kind of fitting with November marking the start of the new year although, like a typical Vata-type, I can struggle to sustain projects. Luckily, kapha dosha becomes dominant in late winter and early spring, bringing with it more vibes of loyalty and stamina!

November blessings ♥Mo

September

September is another slightly awkward month for me. Its climate is often a little deceptive and the month and I don’t have a great track record; quite a few difficult memories of mine are placed in Septembers past. Some good ones too, but it’s a time that feels quite transitional, and I often find change difficult . Although it seems strange for the start of the new school year to affect an adult not in school , I think that the awareness of local kids returning to their classrooms, and of new uni students arriving in town, does imprint itself on my mind. From an Ayurvedic perspective, the change brought by the constant motion of the autumnal winds and falling leaves makes Vata the dominant dosha at this time of the year. As a vata-dominant person, it makes sense that I’m susceptible the tendencies of anxiety, restlessness and digestive issues that excess vata is said to be responsible for – and particularly susceptible to them at this time.

I hear Autumn’s first whisperings at Lammas, in August, but feel the season to really take hold in September when the leaves are noticeably turning and falling. Even though it’s not unusual for September days in the UK to be so sunny-warm that you could easily call them for summer ones, they take a while to warm up in the mornings now.  It’s dark when I (usually!) wake and the long balmy evenings have gone. The first half of September usually sees the last day of the year that sees me in sandals.

As nature’s energy, its green and its water all retreat I feel the goddess of the land prepare for her rest. As she starts to settle down, (not quite ready to sleep but, as I tell it to my son, brushing her teeth and getting her pyjamas on!), an older goddess is watching through a door. Her cloak is dark, her eyes wise. Her lips are thin but her smile welcoming. The land is still bright with fruits and flowers and crops but it’s time to gather them up and follow the queen of the darkness into the months of longer nights. For me this is into the home I’ll spend more time in, into the different day-to-day schedule, into the shift in focus of the activities and food I’m drawn to, into different thoughts, rituals and meditations.

At Lammas, I generally find myself focussing on the harvest of what I’ve outwardly done that year; our garden harvest, new skills and progress that tend to be of an outward nature, that kind of thing. I also consider what I need to let go of in terms of my physical activities and/or material stuff. As the Autumn equinox approaches I tend to consider what I need to let go of in these terms too, and to celebrate my inner harvest; my self development, my emotional and psycho-spiritual harvest.

 

Shop window in Cabot Circus, Bristol, 2014