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This week was a sad one for many, many people. Bev Lane passed away in her sleep on the 26th of April. Bev was a long time friend of ours, we had many herbal chats at her place, her herb stall at the Mt. Pleasant Market and at at the Medieval Faire, where Bev was the resident story teller, sharing myth and legend from her lineage. Jelina had a stall there teaching felting to kids and selling her artwork. Bev often suggested I hold a little herb stall at the Faire but my confidence in my skills wasnt high. We weren’t besties or anything like that but we knew each other over quite a few years. Bev in 2017 I remember the 2017 Medieval Faire in particular. Bev took me for a slow ramble and introduced me to the magic and mythology of the Hawthorn tree. Sometimes, on my occasional visit, she would recommend I partake of the Chasteberry tree in her front garden. I initially heard of her passing quite by coincidence. Facebook suggested a memory, an old post of mine, on my feed. It was a pic I posted from the 2017 Medieval Faire of Bev in full story telling garb. I shared that memory and was then informed of her passing. Bev was a true legend, well known, knowledgable and just radiated kindness. Her smile will be missed. Im not sure what is happening with Star, her partner, I hope he’s OK. Rest in plants, Bev. A lovely image and message that’s getting around Facebook.

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Fire Cider

Fire Cider is a lot of people’s go to remedy for colds and flu. It is best used as a preventative to stop chills from entering the body or pathogens from gaining a foothold but can provide symptomatic relief too. It includes a range of herbs that have warming, diaphoretic properties and many antimicrobials too. It’s a real shotgun approach to remedy making but includes literally everything that…

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Always pretty - Bellis perennis

English Daisies (Bellis perennis) are a plant that I’ve long overlooked. Sure, I knew it was a wound healer but I much preferred it for its beauty in the garden. This season, though, I’ve decided to focus on it a little. There’ll be a page on this sunny herb soon. It’ll be easy to find if you want to experiment yourself, it’s in all the garden centres now. ‘Bellis‘ means ‘pretty’ or ‘beautiful’…

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Weight to volume tincture fully worked

Here's a fully worked example of calculating alcohol dilution for a tincture of fresh herb (in this case, Brahmi).

Some folks can find the maths in tincturing a little daunting but once you get used to it, it’s easy. I’ve prepared this fully worked example of making a ratio tincture (aka weight to volume tincture) of fresh Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri) from our garden. I harvested 200g of fresh Brahmi. We know that the best ratio for fresh herbs is 1 part herb : 2 parts alcohol, so we will need 400ml of alcohol.…

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Workshops at Ligaya Garden

I’ve not often promoted our workshops on this website before. To be honest, I’m not good at promoting stuff at all but we have to live and learn. So from now on, I’ll be letting everyone know about upcoming talks, tours, walks and workshops on our new Events page. We presented a great herbal workshop at Andrew’s Urban Farm not long ago. Anyways, here’s the first for this year – Intro to Home…

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Capsules

Capsules make for a very convenient way to take an herbal remedy but taking an herb this way bypasses one of the major therapeutic pathways of the body – our sense of taste. Taste and smell are both linked and send messages to our central nervous system that trigger the best digestive processes to digest the herb and extract its herbal constituents. However, some strong herbs that don’t rely on…

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What about Palestine and Yemen?

Someone said that I’d been quiet about Palestine and Yemen. Someone else said that our Instagram feed was full of political stuff and wasn’t the pleasant gardening account it used to be. Well, both are right. I’ve been choosing where to post and repost stuff about the horrors occuring in the Middle East. Instagram gets far more engagement than our little wabsite and has the bonus that what I…

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A little about St.John's Wort

Here's a little about ST. John's Wort to get you in tune with this Summer herb.

St. John’s Wort is flowering like crazy in the Adelaide Hills at the moment. The other day, I went harvesting in the heat and I thought I’d write a little about it for you. St. John’s Wort ( Hypericum perforatum ) I’ve used Hypericum perforatum for a few years now for things related to our nerves. The petals with their jagged edges, looking almost frayed and those stamen pointing all over the…

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A huge thank you!

Well, we did it! With a great amount of help from you generous readers, of course. We managed to pay for the website for another year! I want to thank the folks who donated, it all added up to a couple of bucks shy of the price but we filled in the gap. It was a worry though, we were flat broke and the time was rapidly approaching when we needed to find some more money to keep things going as…

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Ferment your own wine vinegars

It's easy to brew your own wine vinegars. Here's how!

It’s as easy as waiting… As I look for cheaper and more convenient ways to make herbal remedies, I am slowly shifting to vinegar extracts as opposed to tinctures. Oxymels are great too but the honey content prevents some good folks from partaking of them when they are sick. Glycerites too can be tricky for some folks, as access to good quality vegetable glycerine can be tricky too if you’re…

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Why the change in direction?

Long term readers and supporters may have noticed a shift on focus on this website. Ligaya Garden Online is as much a diary and record of our own learning as much as it is a repository of practical knowledge and experience. That’s why we haven’t written about some of the things that the grand gardening gurus write about, we haven’t done them ourselves because they aren’t applicable to our garden…

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Amanita muscaria tea

Amanita muscaria is a fungus with a bad rap in some circles. It has been with us for millennia and has had a lot to do with our civilisation as an object of mythological importance. I like to think that it has had as much influence on our development as Psilocybe fungi. There is much conflicting information out there about using this fungus and I often get asked about it so, here’s my personal…

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Prickly Lettuce decoction

At this time of year, Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola) takes over roadsides and some gardens. It loves the fullest of Sun but is happy with a little shade – but not too much or it doesn’t grow tall and flower on time. This is the best time to harvest it for remedies as the flower buds are forming but most of the plants haven’t flowered yet. I’ve found that this is when the plants are bitterest…

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Amanita muscaria, dried and tinctured

An amazing specimen with all of the distinguishing features present. Amanita muscaria or Fly Agaric is a true wonder fungus that has been given a bad reputation over the years. It has a long history with humans and has contributed heavily to our culture, if not our biological development. Be prepared though, if you decide to explore the medicinal effects of this, most sacred of mushrooms. People…

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An appeal to help keep this website going.

Hi everyone. I hope you’re getting settled into the run up to the silly season. We have a little thing to ask…? The WordPress premium theme that I love and I know that many of you like is up for renewal in January 2024. It happens every year but this year, what with everything going on in the world, we’re broke and may not be renewing it. The site will probably stay up but in a very reduced…

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What's this goo in my tincture?

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Mal's Magic Brew

For a couple of years now, some folks have been benefitting from a herbal combo that I make up in bulk every year. I don’t make remedies for sale but distribute most of it for free though some kind folks are willing to leave a little something on the table to keep the process rolling. Back Story Most of you know that I’m only a humble kitchen herbalist and this brew came out of the sadness that…