Enjoying the splendor of all things green and healthy

"For every illness on earth, there is a herb. Many people died, while the herbs that could have saved them, grew on their graves."

Father Sebastian Kneip (1821 - 1897)

It is spring in Australia and even though we are in a drought and are on the tightest restrictions ever experienced, we are using our 'grey water' (laundry water, where we only use natural washing powder) and bucket the grey water onto our precious plants, mainly fruit trees and herbs at present.

I hope you enjoy my wander through the garden on the feast of Sts Michael, Gabriael & Raphael.

We have just bought some new fruit trees and roses in absolutely beautiful pots at a garage sale for a SONG! And look what I got ~ something I have always wanted - a mulberry tree! See the little mulberries on the tree at present? I seriously look forward to the day to making my own batch of mulberry jam from this delightful berry.

It is in a enormous pot and so I can place it anywhere in the yard. Dh is making a chicken yard at present and I have read it is an ideal tree to have in a poultry run, with chickens cleaning up the mess they drop.

Here is my box of comfrey. A most special herb which we eat. I hope to transplant these out into the old vege garden, once dh has spruced it up again. It is very accessible at present on the front patio, I can go out and pick leaves for meals or just to nibble on when heading off in the car. Here is a great link on comfrey and its uses.

The links on this post have come from Isabell Shiphard's site, Herbs Are Special and she has written a book on herbs that is simply the best herb book around. I have SO many herb books, but none compare to this one. If you are looking for just ONE herb book in your home, this is it. Otherwise this page on her site gives you excerpts from her book on a certain range of herbs and it is worth browsing through.

A few years ago we bought many 5year matured fruit trees from an elderly man who could no longer keep up the care for them. They had come in 44litre drums cut in half and so we have planted most into the garden.

This Eureka lemon tree fruits prolificly and is my pride and joy. We are big lemon eaters (or should I say drinkers) and I am especially appreciating lemons in this pregnancy, drinking cool, refreshing lemon water throughout the day.

Here is a close up of the fruit and flowers on my favourite lemon trees. I just love walking out our front gate and breathing in the fragrance of those flowers that wafts over.

This lemon tree is a Variegated Pink Lemonade tree, it is not a enormous fruiter as yet but when it has lemons, they are stripped and the inside is a slight reddish/pink, thus earning it's name.

Now when we bought this one, the man said it was a red grapefruit tree but when we planted it out, there was an old tag near the roots saying it was an orange tree - I am HOPING it is an orange tree! It is yet to get any fruit that makes it to maturity (thanks to some chubby fingered children) for me to get to the bottom of this mystery.

SHHHH! Don't tell the children, it has one little gem at present, deep in the middle of the foliage, I am hoping it will go unnoticed....

Here is our smaller lemon tree, a Villa Franca and it has been knocked about more vigously by the drought and has only a few fruit and flowers at present.

This is one of the new trees bought recently, it is a grafted.....something....the lady said an orange or mandarine, I think it looks like an orange tree to me. This tree had been badly knocked about by the drought but in the last month's heavy rains it had re-shot and I have carefully cut away all the dead branches and twigs, it has fruit coming on already.

The smaller citrus in front is a lemon, we believe, and it is very thorny - I need to look up which lemon is the thorny variety.. I think Lisbon.

You can't take photo's in the garden without catching one of the children in the photo, fossicking around and enjoying the day outdoors as only children can.

I had to add one of my little angels that grace our house on the feast of the archangels! In better years, they have had little flowers tumbling over, creating a beautiful sight.

Here is my fairly new herb wheelbarrow. I bought this at a garage sale complete with herbs in it and have been adding my own favourite herbs to it since. It came with a rosemary, curry plant, mint (it is now growing out of the cracks in the wheelbarrow on the side too) sorrel & parsley. I've added gotu kola, herb robert, nastursiums & thyme to date.

Never did I realise just how practical and handy this wheelbarrow would prove. Firstly, I can move it more to the shade or sun at will. I can push it over to the part of the patio that is not covered by roof to catch any rain that comes.

When I make dh's lunch to take to work I always make a salad concoction and it starts with a bed of lettuce. Mixed in the lettuce I add chopped up, comfrey, sorrel, parsley, curry plant, rosemary, mint, herb robert and since gotu kola is my most recent edition, soon to add it as well in the mix. Comfrey, herb robert and gotu kola are excellent herbs for longevity and good health, their benefits are impressive if you get time to read the info on them all, via the links.

So I suppose I could say that the wheelbarrow is our home pharmacy, particularly for dh!

Here is a close up of the herb robert, the slightly reddish looking plant, not all the leaves are that colour, in fact most are green and they have delicate pink flowers and little seed pods I pick with hard and push back into the dirt to germinate a new plant.

Herb robert was named after the 11th century French saint Robert, Abbot of Molerne, famous for his medical abilities. In this day and age it is a immune enhancer and used successfully in treating cancers. It's special element is germanium, which has the ability to make oxygen available to the cells, the more oxygen available, the greater the ability for the body to successfully fight off disease and illness.

See the rich looking soil? Well, it's actually worm castings and it is so rich and fine looking, the plants just can't get enough of it!

Our herb wheelbarrow sits next to our patio seat, I hope to keep an eye out for an old wheelbarrow at a garage sale that I can paint and make into another herb container for the other side of the seat, there are more herbs to have on hand!

This bust of Our Lord is right next to the front door and is such a beautiful rendition of His noble face.

Here is one of the roses we bought yesterday, we paid $25 and these pots we have priced at $70 new, such a bargin!

Above hangs my trusty watering can, into this we put the grey water and keep these plants happy! We have our french doors open at present, allowing the sea breezes to keep us pleasant during the early spring, as it hots up, I'm afraid they are closed and the air conditioner is turned on and that will become a necessity as I carry my baby through the summer till my due date in mid-late January.

Meet Violetta...(I feel my Anne with an 'e' coming out in me, introducing you to my imaginary friends) she is on our patio in a shaded spot and usually, (when it is not drought stricken) she has a most delicate little creeping violet cascading from her head, an utterly precious sight like something out of Midsummer's Night Dream.

We have had our chickens for 2 years now and enjoy collecting organic, free-ranging eggs. We also add everyday to their organic feed, a cup of dried Stinging Nettle which adds valuable nutrients to their yolks and keeps these chickens laying on average, an egg a day. We buy the Stinging Nettle from the bulk bins of the organic supermarket we shop at and so the nettle is very inexpensive this way.

The coop is fairly new and dh is fencing in this side of the yard so they can free-range a little more freely, coming to roost here at night.

"When counting, try not to mix chickens with blessings."

- Unknown

What would you lay your bets on? 25weeks or due?

I was chatting with Ruth on 4Real and I mentioned that I was as big as she is now at 32 weeks. So here is a pregnancy photo of myself, right on the 25week mark!

This idealic photo now has (a sad story)....a beautiful ending!

This story is the sort of thing we dream about in nightmares, waking up in fright, saying "Phew! I'm awake and it is not true!"

We could hardly imagine how we would handle such a situation if faced with it, but my friend Molly in the USA is experiencing this at present, please read.

Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, pray for us!

Just adding an update to all of this, blessed news thanks to the intercession of Our Lady and the generosity of many people!

Strolling through Marian Valley

Here is my last posting of our visit to Marian Valley and this posting feels more like a stroll through this beautiful place dedicated to Our Lady. Just past the church is the start of the life size Stations of the Cross that wind there way down one side of the valley...

This is just the most fabulous place to take the family and follow the Stations during Lent, Good Friday or any time.

The Stations let you really 'walk' with Our Lord during His passion, death and resurrection.

When the Stations are done in a public group with Father, they have a large cross that pilgrims that in turns carrying all the way to the end of the valley.

And it ends beautifully with the resurrection!

Just wandering down through the valley....

There is always a shrine to stop at...

A view to savour....

A memory to create....

The Eucharist Procession starts from the church and winds it's way down to the Fatima shrine where they have an altar for benediction and seats for the pilgrims.

We respectfully watch and pray as Jesus and Father pass...and then join to the back of the procession.

At last we make it to the Fatima shrine.

It is a perfect finish to each feast day.

St Joseph's shrine is particularly peaceful and serene in the afternoon with the shade coming across.

Goodbye, dear St Joseph, thank you for prayers answered, until we come again - we love you!!

Wistful rememberances in the month of Spring...

Spring is turning my my mind to many a splendid thing and foliage and flowers are one of the first that 'springs' to mind.

Alas! We are in the worst drought ever not even allowed to bucket water onto the outside plants... But I still want to SEE, touch and smell the splendour and beauty that comes with this youthful and fertile season.

I was looking through old photos this morning and found pictures of our Mary garden and our St Joseph garden. They seem like ages ago. We lost our St Joseph garden to termites and will soon loose the boarders of our Mary garden to the same critter and will be dismantling it soon. Though we will one day build back with termite-free material, that is probably another year away from coming to fruition.

So I thought I'd post in memory of these precious gardens we once loved and lost and hope to have again when the drought breaks and the land is refreshed and renewed.

Marian Valley continued

Here we are, back at our beautiful Marian Valley, truly a hidden treasure nestled amongst the mountains around. Here are three of my blessings, lighting candles at the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes.

All year round there are beautiful, devotional days for all the special feasts. People come by their thousands, in cars and tour buses. They have a retreat centre with little units for people to say in while they are on retreat and a little Eucharistic Adoration Chapel near them.

The retreat centre is run by two beautiful ladies who have devoted their lives and services to this holy place and their presence, like that of the Fathers is a loving one. There is a homeschooling day every 2nd Sunday of the month. This was started by Chemai's husband (please remember her in prayer at present) and it has been a great blessing to our community.

Mass is about to begin and we are sitting just out of the undercover church area at the back as the two little boys are in high jinks today but we can still see the altar clearly and as we look around we are surrounded by the beautiful, lush countryside of the valley. It is so peaceful!

Behind the church is this beautiful shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes, the jasmine is just beginning to peep over the top now that Spring has finally arrived. In a few weeks time the valley will be filled with flowers and frangrances so typical to this place.

It is a true valley, see the rim of it above in this shot? Years ago they would have terrible trouble with flies decending down here at certain times of the year and you would have to wear one of their fly nets on your head. I use to think that the devil was having a field day in annoying the pilgrims. But it has stopped now, and I asked Father and he said that up on that ridge, there was a dairy farm that only closed recently and it was the cows that had attracted the swarms of flies.

If you look at the middle of this photo, you just see the path that winds it's way through the valley, along the way there are shrines that greet you, where you stop and pray and light a candle...

Here is St Therese's shrine, she is on a little hill not far from St Joseph...children like to run up and play/hide on this little hill and I am sure that is just how St Therese would want it.

This is one of the new shrines built this year, to St Gerard...YEAH! Mums really need him!

Another fairly new shrine to St Anthony of Padua and we need him too! We like to thank St Anthony for the many, many, many lost things found each year!!

This is the shrine to St Pio (Padre Pio) it was donated and built by the Italian community and it has it's own altar for when the Italian's come on pilgrimage for his feast which is later this month.

Our Lady of Valenkani, which is an Indian title and I believe it is a title of Our Lady for health and healing.

This shrine I have photographed in the distance is the last shrine in the valley (well there is a rainforest walk beyond it to an enormous tree where there is a statue of Our Lady of the Southern Cross is nestled) This shrine is dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

The shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe!

This is one of the oldest shrines in the valley, Our Lord has no hands and there is a sign at the bottom that says:

"I have no hands, but yours."

This is another new shrine erected by the Maltese community, I don't know alot about it but it has this lovely statue of the Lord, falling on His way to calvary...for our sins.

I have not photographed all the shrines in the valley, there are more but they are not crowded together, they are spaced nicely as you wind your way through the valley.

To end part 2 of our special visit to the valley, here is a picture of one of the Fathers waiting for his penitents to come to confession.