Author: Wild Fen

Plants

The benefits of Bay

Wild Fen

We are lucky to have a huge supply of Bay in the garden thanks to a rather old and beloved Bay tree. I love adding the leaves to our herb bundles for burning.

Did you know that Bay leaves contain Linalool a compound known for its calming properties, also present in plants such as Lavender. Studies have shown that Linalool reduces elevated stress levels to almost normal conditions.

These lovely leaves also contain Eugenol which is known for its antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and pain relieving qualities. As mentioned in our previous post, burning is an effective way to release the therapeutic benefits of a plant into your environment.

You can find Bay in our best selling herbal garden smoulder sticks.

Botanicals

Why burn plants?

Wild Fen

Before we had the technology to extract the essential oils from plants, burning leaves, flowers, roots and resins would have been the earliest and simplest forms of aromatherapy (the use of aromatic plant extracts for healing). The practice of burning dried plants also called ‘smoke cleansing’ has been carried out extensively across cultures, often but not always in connection with spiritual practices.

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Astrological

Leo Season

Wild Fen

Tomorrow – the 23rd of July, the Sun moves into the fifth zodiac sign of Leo. Leo season runs up until August 22nd, before the sun transitions into Virgo.

Leo seasons spans the height of summer, where times are rich with warmth, energy and fun and creativity peaks. Qualities associated with this sign include confidence, leadership, generosity, creativity and joy.

Leo is a fire sign and is ruled by the sun, the centre of our universe. This season may offer up the fire and energy to invoke change, celebrate life and return to our core, helping us to speak our truth.

Moon

Harvesting with the Moon

Wild Fen


The moon’s gravitational pull influences many things on our planet, but perhaps most notably the rise and fall of the ocean’s tides. It is less well known however, that the same gravitational pull affects groundwater levels. The concept of aligning gardening with the moon phase is as old as agriculture itself. It is believed that as the moon is waxing towards the full moon, groundwater rises up, providing good conditions for planting. No dig gardener Charles Dowding has conducted a number of small studies comparing the yield of crops planted under the waxing and waning moon. So far, he has shown that crop yield in a variety of veg has been higher when planting with the waxing moon.

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Plants

The magic of Goldenrod

Wild Fen

It is lovely to watch the flowers that you have planted grow, but it is extra special when they find their own way into your garden themselves, which is exactly what happened with some Goldenrod this year.

Goldenrod is known to be richer in antioxidants than green tea. Its Latin name, Solidago translates as ‘to make whole or heal’ and reflects its long use in herbal medicine. It has superb anti inflammatory action and pain relieving qualities thought to help arthritis, cold and flu symptoms and bladder & kidney problems.

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Foraging

Nutritious little Nettle Seeds

Wild Fen

One of the very many things I love about foraging, is how there are always new plants (or new parts of a plant) to discover and enjoy. One of my favourite discoveries of last year were Nettle seeds! Despite having collected Nettles leaves often for cooking up like spinach or drying out for teas, I hadn’t thought about collecting the seeds, that are abundant on the plant at this time of year.

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Botanicals

The benefits of Sunflower Seed Oil

Wild Fen

Sourcing high quality natural ingredients for our products is really important to us. Since setting up Wild Fen last year, lots of our time has been spent trialling and researching ingredients and thinking about our priorities when it comes to the ones we select.

From the very beginning we knew we wanted all of our skincare to be effective whilst remaining 100% natural and free from chemicals, preservatives and artificial fragrances. By creating water free, oil based products this was possible to achieve.

With the base ingredient for most of our skincare being oil, we set about considering which ones we wanted to include. We knew we wanted our oils to be sustainable and sourced as locally as possible to keep our carbon footprint low. This ruled our some lovely skincare oils such as Jojoba and Coconut oil for example.

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Wheel of the Year

A Guide to Litha – the Summer Solstice

Wild Fen

The Summer Solstice also known as Litha, falls between June 20th and 23rd each year and marks the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

As day light hours reach their peak, we can feel the impact on the land around us – flowers are blooming, herbs are at their most fragrant and animals are busy raising their broods. Life navigates around this peak – rising and blooming in tune with the Sun.

Solstice literally means ‘the Sun stands still’ and it can be a good point in the year to pause and reflect on how our own lives are feeling right now. In today’s post I shall be sharing my favourite question to work with at this time of year, along with some simple ways to connect with the season.

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Astrological

Cancer Season

Wild Fen

Tomorrow the sun will enter the Zodiac sign of Cancer. Cancer season runs between June 20th and July 22nd and is the fourth sign of the Zodiac. The start of this season also coincides with daylight reaching its peak at the Summer Solstice.

At this time of year of year crops are ripening, the Earth is abundant and it is easy to appreciate the nurturing qualities of nature. Similarly Cancer is described as the nurturer of the Zodiac. Qualities associated with the sign also include intuition, tender care for others and a deep sensitivity. Cancer is a water sign and is ruled by the Moon both of which bring an emphasis on depth of feelings. The sign is referred to as ‘the crab’ and can relate to those strong feelings being hidden deep within its shell.