It is that time of the year to pick Elderflowers and make cordial.
I thought it was early!
I must admit, I noticed on my way back to West Sussex from North Devon (I made a quick pit stop to Glastonbury) at the beginning of May that Elderflowers were already flowering (I noticed in the car park!) I thought that was early, but the weather has been good for them.
Over the weekend I went out to pick a few towards my ingredients for the cordial along with water, sugar and citric acid.
At this time of the year, the hedgerows all around us are bursting with freshly blossoming elderflowers.
Legend
Arguably the most important, revered, spiritually charged and clinically important herbal medicine in British herbal history, the famed elder was known as “the medicine chest of the country people” since written records began. The Anglo Saxon name for the elder tree was “aeld” (from which “elder” derives itself), which means fire. This is because the stems of the elder are hollow and they were used to blow air through to help start cooking fires, much like bellows. The elder tree has immense legend and myth surrounding it. It was believed in Anglo Saxon England that if you burned elder wood you would see the Devil, but if you planted elder by your house it would keep the Devil away. It is also known as the ‘Judas tree’ as Judas Iscariot is said to have hanged himself from an elder tree after handing over Jesus to be executed. On that note, the Church stated that the cross used to crucify Jesus Christ was made from the elder tree and thus was “evil.”
Identify
The tree itself is easy to identify as the leaves often appear as the greenest leaves in the hedgerow. They have a brightness and illumination about them that is quite unique. They are lightly serrated, spear shaped and around 5- 10cms long and around 3-5cms wide. They grow in opposing pairs. The bark of the tree is a greyish brown and is often gnarly in appearance. The flowers begin to blossom as early as May and appear as clusters (that look like umbrellas in shape) of very small (less than 5mm in diameter) white blossoms that each have five petals. A tell-tale sign of the elder flower is its unique odour which can be strong and slightly overpowering if it is a hot sunny day.
It’s been over 20 years since I launched Ali’s Holistic Healing Hands and if you told me then all the things I would do and achieve in that time I would be shocked and say to you not a chance! lol
I have learned many things and taken different paths, but my love and passion has always been and always will be with holistic therapies.
It is almost like I have come full circle. I first came into this industry by being introduced to Aromatherapy and Essential Oils plus herbs. They supported me with my eczema after struggling for 14 years with the condition on my hands. I am happy to say I have been eczema free for over 25 years now, with no flare ups and I do hope it stays that way. I am thankful that holistic/complementary therapies came into my life.
In 2012 after many years of running my therapy business and many therapists asking me how I kept going and what I did for marketing etc, I ran a workshop on running a therapy business for therapists. It proved successful and gave me the stepping stone to set up and launch Ali’s Therapy Academy I still continue to run this business to this day helping and supporting therapists to run their therapy business.
I can done lots of training over the years in adding skills to my therapies and in business knowledge. I have made many contacts and friends in my business from clients and business contacts. I have great support around me including my family.
I semi-retired my therapies last year in 2021 and refocused Ali’s Holistics in to therapy training school. Through the Pandemic I finally followed up on my interest in herbs and herbal medicine and through the 2 years I learned about Foraging, Infused Oils, Growing Herbs and Herbal First Aid. From that, followed training in Herbal Medicine (which I still have to complete) and my 10 year dream was taking shape.
My hubby and I have a dream when retiring of moving to the countryside of Devon, Cornwall or Wales, having a bit of land so I can set up my cabin and run my Academy, Training and Apothecary from there. I have pictured in my head and on my vision board a whole wall covered in shelves with jars and bottles filled with herbs. So towards the end of last year I decided to bring part of my 10 years vision forward and started creating Ali’s Apothecary.
This new business is about being more of me – letting my inner witch out!
I am excited of what I am creating and I do hope that you will too. I envisage a lot more of aromatherapy clinical blends and products, herbal products, natural facials, facial products, videos, workshops, webinars, walks, foraging, remedies, subscription boxes and much more.
This will not all happen at once, it will take time. Therapies are just the start of things to come.
Welcome to Ali’s Apothecary and thank you for reading.
