NordenBladet – Life in the countryside is wonderful! I am so fond of nature! In the morning I wake up to bird song and feel how the fresh country air that I breathe in, along with the pleasant scent mix from the plants in the garden, gives me energy. For me the replacement of sweating in an indoor gym is here working outside in the garden as well as gathering herbs. For example, today I had the bow and squat training program on the meadow, from where, under the careful scrutiny of ‘Pandu the Cat’ we gathered six boxes of primrose blossoms! Primrose is a Nordic herb full of power, and it helps alleviate very many ailments! Just now is the best time to gather them.
Primrose has been so popular among our forefathers and in folk medicine that it has piled over two hundred names! The best known names are chicken toe, rooster pants, golden key, worn pants, cuckoo flower, maiden flower, milk teardrop, swallow flower, landlord pants, sky eye, sky key, butter cake, etc. In various legends, primrose has been described as the golden keychain that will open the gates to heaven, it has been considered a magic plant that brings luck to the one who finds it. Blossoms, leaves, rhizome and roots alike are gathered and used. No other wildly growing Nordic plant contains as much vitamin C as primrose leaves. Besides, primrose is among the few plants that preserves its vitamin C through drying, salting and marination.
Primrose is delicious while fresh in a salad as well as when dried, inside herbal tea. It is very good on the occasion of several health conditions:
-antifungal and antibacterial effect
-calming, alleviates sleeplessness and anxiety, reduces chronic fatigue syndrome
-heals coughing, acts as an expectorant, alleviates bronchitis and asthma
-reduces dizziness, headaches and migraine
-helps against kidney stones and bladder stones
-stimulates secretion from digestive glands, soothes constipation
-lowers blood cholesterol via binding bile acids and cholesterol
-has a positive impact on the cardiac function by strengthening the heart muscle
-alleviates joint pain, gout, and reduces tremor in limbs
-anti-cancer, inhibits growth of tumor cells, for example in the colon (roots)
-perspiration enhancing and cleansing effect
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Afterwards I starting making wild garlic salad and we enjoyed a long nice healthy, invigorating breakfast.
Wild garlic, being full of minerals as well as C- and B-group vitamins, is an excellent organism cleansing, health enhancing and health improving plant. I came up with a new wild garlic salad recipe and I must admit the salad turned out sooo good, so you better take notes and try it out!
Mix the following ingredients in the salad:
Wild garlic leaves
Fresh cucumber
Fresh tomato
Organic mung bean sprouts
Peeled pumpkin seeds
Fresh thyme
Sour cream
To garnish and season the salad:
Pour over with grated cheese (Atleet or Atleet Cheddar)
Croutons
Primrose
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What else? More garden works! Lately I pretty much resemble a full time gardener – fingers in the ground ca 6-7 hours every day. Great! Doing this and that in the garden and you won’t even notice gathering 10 000+ steps during a day (mowing the lawn, cutting the branches, raking the leaves, planting, sowing, watering, other maintenance works). For example yesterday we re-painted the children’s climbing and swinging centre as well as the garden table and garden chairs. We used HolzBio brown shade deep imbue agent. This efficient deep imbue wood care agent helps against decay, mold, wood damage and wood pests. Above all, it gives the old surface a new and fresh look! The faded surface will look just as good as new. We used the same agent to imbue the flowerbed boxes. We reached full circle with mowing the garden lawn! I so much adore when after a long industrious day I peacefully walk in my garden, admiring what has been accomplished during the day. The eye takes a rest and I feel how I am overwhelmed with happiness and contentment. Creating beauty with my own hands makes me happy!
For supper I prepared grilled meat and oven dish and nothing could beat a cool can of A Le Coq beer overseeing the tidy garden and the setting sun!
Hugs! And now back to gardening! 🙂
Do read also my previous blog posts (all posts are available in four languages – Estonian, Finnish, Swedish and English!)
Photography: NordenBladet (Helena-Reet Ennet)