How I use herbs: Feverfew

Sometimes I write about the herbs I've been growing for a long time and use frequently, other time I use these posts as an opportunity to find out more about a new herb. Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) is the latter! I've had it in my garden for a couple of years after a friend gave me a seedling and it has self-seeded, but I haven't known how to use it., so its time to look up the herb books!

How to grow feverfew
Apparently it is a perennial, it must die back when its too cold or too hot and dry because it disappeared for a while. It grows from seed or root division or cuttings. If you let it flower and seed it will self-seed (that's my favourite type of plant!).

How to use feverfew

The flowers are pretty, however they repel insects including bees, so not one for the bee garden (although can be used as a companion plant around brasiccas to repel cabbage moth etc and the dried leaves can be used to keep moths out of your wardrobe)
Can sooth pain and swelling from insect bites (I MUST try that next summer)
Used to prevent headaches and migraines if taken regularly - by reducing inflammation (it contains parthenolide, which inhibits the release of prostaglandins and histamine which cause inflammation)
It seems to help with other pain conditions such as arthritis
Reduces fever (hence the name)
Induces menstruation (and can reduce cramps) and used after childbirth - therefore not to be taken while pregnant
As a bitter herb is stimulates digestion

Note that some people are allergic to the fresh leaf so test this on your skin before eating it. You can use either the fresh leaves or the dried leaves as a tincture

I'm so glad that I looked this up! I want to start using this herb for inflammation and for moth repellent. I will be picking and drying it and growing more.

Do you grow and/or use feverfew? Any tips?

How I use herbs - Mother of Herbs

How I use herbs - Nettles

How I use herbs - Winter Savory

How I use herbs - Chilli

The new Eight Acres website is live!

Very soon this blogspot address will automatically redirect to the new Eight Acres site, but in the meantime, you can check it out here . You will find all my soaps, ebooks and beeswax/honey products there, as well as the blog (needs a tidy up, but its all there!). I will be gradually updating all my social media links and updating and sharing blog posts over the next few months. I'm very excited to share this new website with you!

Chicken tractor guest post

Sign up for my weekly email updates here , you will find out more about chickens, soap and our farmlife, straight to your inbox, never miss a post! New soap website and shop opening soon.... Tanya from Lovely Greens invited me to write a guest post on chicken tractors for her blog. I can't believe how many page views I get for chicken tractors, they seem to be a real area of interest and I hope that the information on my blog has helped people. I find that when I use something everyday, I forget the details that other people may not be aware of, so in this post for Tanya, I tried to just write everything I could think of that I haven't covered in previous posts. I tried to explain everything we do and why, so that people in other locations and situations can figure out how best to use chicken tractors with their own chickens. The dogs like to hang out behind the chicken tractors and eat chicken poo. Dogs are gross! If you want to read more about...

How to make soap with beer (and tallow)

I may have mentioned this before.... soap making is addictive! Once you start, you just want to keep making more soap. And not the same soap, you want to try all sorts of different soaps. I made the mistake of joining a facebook group called Saponification Nation and now my facebook newsfeed is full of glorious soaps, in all colours and shapes, which makes it even harder to resist the urge to experiment. One soap that kept popping up a few weeks ago was soap made with beer. I generally prefer not to use ingredients just for the sake of it, I like to know that they are adding something to the properties of the finished soap. As you know, I don't like to use artificial ingredients either (colours or fragrances). When I read about beer in soap I found out that beer adds sugar to the mixture, which increases lather. I use tallow in my soap, which has limited lather, so anything that adds lather could improve the soap. ...

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