Part of this month’s activities has been sowing crops for
the supply of herbs needed for our online shop that is due to be opened soon.
We have been making macerates for some time, using our own organically grown
herbs guaranteeing top quality and freshness. Comfrey grows well here as does
the St John’s Wort albeit sheltered in the polytunnel. We have also sewn plenty
of carrots for the Carrot macerate that horses will select when they are low in
vitamins, or generally run down and require a liver tonic.
Yesterday, we picked our first crop of marigolds for the
Calendula macerate – often selected for inflammatory conditions. The buds smelt
gorgeous, being full of oil and fingers sticky from picking!
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| Yarrow for wounds - emotional & physical |
As Whitethorn Farm operates on organic principals, it has
many of the plants absent in conventionally run farms. For example in our
fields we have Queen Anne’s lace (wild Carrot), wild violets, orchids,
meadowsweet, wild yarrow, plantain, eyebright and so much more. We try to
harvest and dry as many as possible for winter use – eyebright being useful for
eye infections and meadowsweet an anti-inflammatory.
Wild Yarrow (Achilles Mille folium) was named after the famous Greek warrior Achilles as it was used extensively on the battlefield during that period to stem bleeding - obviously not successful on heels though!
I also came upon a bundle of Rosehip (Rosa Canina) plants in
Lidl – 10 for €3. I love a bargain and was delighted to bring them back to the
farm to plant them for a crop of rosehips in years to come. Rose hips are full
of Vitamin C and Biotin, helping hooves and coats alike. Quite often during a
Zoocog session a horse will select them in between oils.
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| Fennel for digestive disturbances |
As noted on our Face book page, we were asked to help at an
unusual case at a neighbouring farm this month. A sheep had eaten some Rhododendron
and was frothing at the mouth. She had only lambed 2 days previously and her
lambs lay beside her. She had been to the vet but the prognosis was not good
and she was not expected to survive. I offered Rose Otto for calming and she
did indeed show an interest as the lambs promptly collapsed and fell asleep.
Going through the most likely oils she very quickly understood the process and
turned her head into the corner when she didn’t want an particular oil. I was
very surprised by her responsiveness and ability to engage. She took the most interest in Fennel – for colic, and lavender for
healing. She went through some very agonising spasms but also exhibited the
Flehmen response – the sheep farmer had never seen any of his sheep show this
type of response and was quite amazed. I explained that when an animal exhibits
this type of response he/she is exposing the Vomeronasal Organ – a secondary
olfactory organ that mammals use to activate chemo-receptors in the brain (via the Olfactory Bulb and
Hypothalamus)which in turn directs the body physical and emotional responses.
When she looked like she was over the worst, we left buckets
of water each with a few drops of the selected oils in her stall including one
bucket that was just pure water so she could have a choice. Immediately she
drank urgently from bucket of water with the lavender. The next morning she had recovered.
So why, if animals have an innate ability to select only
those that are good for them, do they eat poisonous plants? In this particular
case the likely cause is that the sheep has not evolved to develop the enzymes
capable of dealing with this foreign plant – rhododendron only being introduced
from Tibet to Europe in the 18th century. The other possible factor
is that the rhododendron does have medicinal properties – mainly
anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective. It is possible that the sheep was
attracted to these qualities and was unable to sequentially graze to neutralise
the effect of the toxins.Needless
to say the Rhododendron bush is on death row now on that particular farm!
Have a good month and look out for dates of workshops to be
released soon!
Happy healthy horsing!
Carly
