… we make herbal popsicles.
In true “woo, Summer break, time to celebrate!” as well as “Caswallon starts his new job tomorrow!” fashion, we have all come down with the flu, and not that fast moving 24 hour variety, but that drawn out, chest congested, sore throat, coughing, questionable bowels, vomitting, runny nose, itchy eyes variety of illness that leaves you wanting to do little more then curl up on the couch and veg in between naps.
I notice that any medicine, Mommy-made or otherwise, is a trick to talk my young ones into being anything but suspicious of. My herbal cough balls need to be spread carefully between two of their favorite crackers and turned into little sandwiches before they can be talked into them (they won’t touch store-bought cough drops.) And soup, well, if I put enough noodles in the broth… Anyhow, fortunately SpaceFox and StarBear are fans of tea (hot and iced) and popsicles, so I have taken to making a batch herbal tea in the morning and using it for both (those molds in the picture are Norpro Silicon Ice Pop molds, I love love love them.)
My herbal teas are mostly made from the herbs I currently have growing or have preserved from my garden. Mint, rosehips, echinacea and local wild flower honey is the base for almost all of them. Today we added fresh blackberries and some a honey lemon ginger cough syrup I keep made up in my fridge.
While I am looking forward to this illness to be over so we can get back to our summer fun (and properly sleep schedules) it is making reminding me appreciate the value of slowing down. We have had lots of quiet time to talk and rest, which really, has been much more needed (at least for myself) then I’ve been willing to admit. I’ve had plenty of time to catch up on my recipe binder, plan for future herbs to add to the garden (mullen, marsh mallow, more echinacea, more blackberries!) and, you know, kill vampires (or join them!) in The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard…
How have you been?
