If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom
like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society,
will benefit from our peace.Thich Nhat Hanh
Banner inspired by: Elise
Category Archives: Natural Blessings
Plant markers
Subhanallah, our garden season begins already: the ground is warm, the sun shines and we began to dig the earth. Fences are redone, the little fields are cleared out and first seeds are sown, inside and out.
This week we prepared with the school-children little places for flowers and herbs.
To name the different things planted everywhere, we made markers like flowers, with metal wire and coloured paper that hold now the place until the real blooms are visible, inchallah.
First Sign
The almond tree is always the first one telling about a new season to come.
It stands out there like a white bride,
offering its lavish beauty and its sweet honey-like smell to everyone passing by.
As if it would like to say:
“Look, hold still, spring is near!
I promise you new life and new hope!”
A blessed and beautiful week to you, friends.
The power of Herbs
We don’t have any snow left in this valley. The days are now sunny blue and cold in the shadow but really warm in the sun. The nights are still freezing and I guess we might have some more wintry winter days soon, inchaallah.
Anyway, the cold season is here and every one of us struggles from time to time with a sniffle or a cough. These are the moments when I really value the late summer treasures stocked in boxes and glasses on the shelves of our larder:
Achillea millefolium, Calendula, Taraxacum, Chamomilla, Malva, Galium, Weed, and my favourite Plantago major: piled up in a jar, with lots of sugar and left for weeks and months it makes the best home made cough syrup we ever had, subhanallah.
It is the first winter that we really mostly use only what we gathered ourselves and it makes such a difference: when brewing up a mug of hot tea, pouring the water over the chosen herbs, remembering the moment when we picked them together in the woods and fields, alhamdulillah, this act in itself is already healing and much more fulfilling than opening a bag of ready-made tea.
And I am sure, that the plants from the area where we live in carry the same energy and spirit and have much more healing power to our body than those coming from far away, inchallah.
Some of our stock already shrinks and I look forward to spring when these little helpers of nature grow and show up again, inchallah. I am looking forward to new glasses of home made dandelion honey and fresh herbs to pick.
But for now I am amazed by the power of nature and the blessings that God put just around us. Alhamdulillah.
Helpful books about herbal medicine can be found on my book-page.
peaceful moments – a snow day
Winter came quickly this year, with a heavy thunderstorm, temperatures below minus ten (we still have no fluent water at home) and a lot of snow (in Morocco a 20cm is a lot of snow already).
This is early and not usual for our area as we have only a few days like these mostly in january and february.
But alhamduillah, the wood for the chimney was piled in front of the door and the woolen and warm clothes ready for snow – so this welcoming winter weekend was a cold but joyful one, subhanallah, a constant shift from inside to out, from fire to ice, from activity to rest, and back, all day long. This is the rhythm of winter, I guess, a joyful dance between contrasts and a lot of gratitude for the little things that provide comfort. Alhamdulillah.
Happy December, friends !
in motion
pictures from and with our little friend Amine.
everything is in motion here, just our internet connection is so slow these days, mahsallah, that I cannot really write or answer any mails… my apologies to all of you who wait for a response.
and happy blessed days of dhul-hijja!
greetings from the heavens
having a lot to do, alhamdulillah, not much time to be on this space here,
but thinking of you out there and sending you greetings of peace and a lovely gift from the heavens…
xxx
ingredients for happiness
What do one need to be happy?
Not much, I believe, subhanallah.
Sometimes it is as simple as:
a short break and blue sky,
a sweet berry picked, some pebbles thrown,
a lovely word, a good book, a cup of tea,
children’s laughter, naked feet in the grass,
enjoying the first goods of harvesting …
and plum cake. Bliss!
Autumn, we love you, Alhamdulillah!
Joyful Spring
Wishing you and yours also a joyful spring to enjoy all the many beautiful blessings of nature, subhanallah!
Spring Cure
In between all the “R”-ing and as a part of it, I really enjoy the moments we spend in the garden: to touch the earth, to smell the ground, to organize the planting, to sow new herbs and flowers, vegetables and fruits and to collect nature’s little helpers for a green spring cure: Galium, Taraxacum, Malva, Salvia, Plantago,…
Subhanallah, what a gift Allah gave us right in front of the door: those little plants that appear everywhere just like this, that often are banished from gardens or not even recognized at roadsides or on the pathways in big cities, always growing out of nothing, sometimes even in the middle of tarred streets.
I am sure now that these little weeds find their way to those who need them. I am sure that they have the divine order to grow right beside the people who need their special energy. Alhamdulillah!
So we try to identify them now, we collect them, we learn now about their specific healing effects, we use them freshly as teas, lotions and washes and we dry them for the colder seasons, inchaallah.
Books that help us on that learning path:
Maria Treben: “Health from God’s Garden” – “Gesundheit aus der Apotheke Gottes”
Ursel Bühring: “Heilpflanzenjahr”
Susanne Fischer-Rizzi: “Medicine of the earth” – “Medizin der Erde”
Maria Thun: “The biodynamic year” – “Gärtnern mit dem Mond”
“Guide Delachaux des plantes”
“das Ulmer Garten Buch”
Books from Wolf-Dieter Storl
What are your tips for a natural cure?
