Elderflowers and slow living

You've seen elderflowers growing everywhere this time of year. They are in white abundance, and if you are near enough you can inhale their honeyed air.

Have you ever gathered them?

Elderflowers have great health properties - especially for the skin and the immune system - and their sweetness makes any "medicine" go down easily. I always marvel at how much medicine God put in the average backyard (if we don't use weed killers!).

But. One must be ready for a deep slow down in order to gather them because these tiny flowers must be removed from their poisonous stems. This is delicate hand work, which requires time and leaves fingers with a light dusting of pollen.

Those tiny white blossoms take some time to separate, and you need a LOT of them to prepare any recipe!

The whole process is made more pleasant with a bit of homemade fizzy elderflower lemonade. It's beautiful too.

Our winter remedies include elderflower-infused honey for our "sick tea" and it is so glorious!

Those beautiful white blossoms are infusing the honey with all kinds of antioxidants and delicate flavor!

I also make an elderflower cordial when the blossoms are abundant (because removing the blossoms means fewer berries in a few weeks!). The cordial takes longer to infuse and should "age" for a few months to be at peak flavor, which brings us right to the holiday season - a lovely taste of summer in the autumn and winter!

There are recipes for these and more all over the place, and they are absurdly easy ways to begin your own wildscaping.

Just be mentally prepared to slow down and enjoy the process. It's good for the spirit.