Kickstarter campaign for Herbs of the Sun, Moon and Planets at Kew Gardens

Herbs of the Sun, Moon and Planets is a herbal with a difference!

Herbs of the Sun, Moon and Planets is a herbal with a difference because it looks at why ancient herbalists, like Nicholas Culpeper, decided to group various culinary and medicinal herbs under the astrological dominion of the Sun, Moon and the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Of course, the title otherwise would make you wonder what it is about because this is the only planet in this Solar System with vegetation growing on it, as far as we know.

Culpeper: Public Domain

The ancient herbalists assigned plants to planetary rulers according to their characteristics. For example, herbs ruled by Mars the god of war, had something aggressive about them, such as spines or sword-shaped leaves. Herbs ruled by Venus the goddess of love had some connection with sensuality and passion. 

Dragon Tree: Public Domain

The weird dragon tree from the Canary Islands is a herb of Mars. It has lance-shaped leaves and bleeds a red resinous sap called dragon’s blood. The rose is a symbol of romantic love, and not surprisingly is a herb of Venus. Herbs of the Sun could have golden-yellow flowers, like the sunflower, or perhaps they have petals that radiate out from a central disk. The sunflower has this characteristic too. Herbs of the Moon have something rounded about them, such as rounded leaves, or white or silvery colour. The white water lily is a good example of a herb of the Moon. water is also associated with the Moon because the Moon has an effect on the tides.

White Water Lilies : Public Domain

Mercury was the messenger of the gods, so herbs ruled by Mercury have something that really communicates about them. Fennel is an example of a herb of Mercury. It communicates visually with its graceful appearance and feathery leaves, and to our tastes and sense of smell with its flavour like aniseed and aroma like aniseed too.  Herbs of Jupiter have something expansive about them and this is why many trees, such as the lime tree and the oak, are considered as under the dominion of Jupiter. Herbs of Saturn could be poisonous ones, like the hemlock, the monkshood and the henbane. This is because Saturn is associated with death and the “Grim Reaper.”

Herbs of the Sun, Moon and Planets is being published by Moon Books at the end of May, 2016. It has seven sections for each of the seven heavenly bodies, and seven herbs are described in each section. The book follows on from Herbs of the Northern Shaman which was published by the same publisher. It is already listed on Amazon.

An online course about Herbs of the Sun, Moon and Planets

With the help of my partner Melissa Houghton I am putting together an online course of video presentations featuring the many herbs covered in my book.  The course will give additional information to what is in the book and will include footage of the actual plants which will be useful for identification. We want this educational project to be an artistic one and so it will contain Melissa’s poetry in places too. It will be a collaboration and a work of inspiration, as well as a work of education.

Birth of Venus :Public Domain

In addition to looking at why the ancient herbalists decided that specific herbs were governed by particular planets and their deities, and the associated folklore and superstitions about the plants, I will be looking at the practical uses for the herbs, in herbal medicine and in the kitchen, in the perfume industry, to make cosmetics, or to make clothes dyes even. Herbs are all around us and have so many uses. The painkiller we all know as Aspirin has its origins in the willow tree. Herbs are a part of the natural world and help us connect with it, the more we know about them.  This is why this project is educational in a bigger way than just learning about herbs and how they were once viewed by the herbalists of the past.

Kickstarter Campaign

Melissa and I have started a Kickstarter Campaign to help us raise the money for a trip to London where we can visit Kew Gardens and capture video footage for the course, as well as to consult the fantastic library in this world famous botanical gardens. Kew is a place where we can get up close to the plants I have written about, and where I can research about them in the library. The Herbarium at Kew Gardens has over seven million specimens in its vast collection. The Kew Library, which is part of the Herbarium, has one of the largest collections relating to botany in the world. Where better could a researcher go?

To find out more about our campaign please see Film featuring Herbology with the Bard of Ely at Kew Gardens. Please support the campaign by backing it and sharing it! With your help we can make this work! Backers will receive an artfully rendered film of Kew Gardens with me showing you the plants we found there, and Melissa waxing poetically.

Endorsements for Herbs of the Sun, Moon and Planets

Herbs of the Sun, Moon and Planets has received some excellent endorsements. Celebrated poet and author Peter Finch had this to say about it: “The spirit here might at first seem to be Sun Ra via Captain Beefheart or Dr William Price channelling Iolo Morganwg but read and you’ll find a work of accessible erudition, a herbalist ground breaker of considerable scope. Steve Andrews, poet, mystic, and author of distinction rides again.”

And Archdruid of Avebury and Keeper of the Stones, Terry Dobney, endorsed it with these words: “As the Keeper of the Stones here at Avebury, the knowledge of the herbs, plants and trees is a daily wonder, and this knowledge is there in this intriguing book, for all to unlock the secrets of their magic and uses. A beneficial "right" arm to those full of questions! Seek the knowledge and you will understand - highly recommended!”

Stinging Nettles are a very useful edible plant

The Stinging Nettle (a poem rescued from the defunct Bubblews)

Stinging Nettles (Photo: Public Domain)

Most people think that nettles are just nasty weeds,

But actually they are the plants that a butterfly caterpillar needs,

For the larvae of the red admiral and the small tortoiseshell too,

They eat the leaves of this plant; it is what they must do.

The peacock butterfly is another that depends upon this weed,

It is what its little ones have to have to feed.

And people can eat stinging nettles too cooked in water in a pan,

They lose all their stinging power, so you can enjoy them, yes, you can.

Or nettles can be employed to make a herbal tea,

Full of minerals and vitamins and good for you and me!

Steve Andrews

Nettles as a food source

Stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) lose their sting when cooked and are a good example of nutritious "spring greens" that can be easily foraged for. The young shoots and leaves can be cooked like spinach. The nettles should be picked between February and `June and gloves and scissors can be used to help you not get stung. After washing the nettles can be cooked and mashed into a puree, and chopped onion and slat and pepper can be added for extra flavour. Nettles can be used to make nettle soup. Nettles can also be dried and used to make a herbal tea and nettle teabags are on sale at health stores and from online suppliers of herbal supplements.  Nettle beer is another possibility.

Nettles contain vitamin C,  vitamin A and are a good source of iron, as well as being surprisingly high in protein. This means that eating nettles can help stop anaemia developing, because the condition is due to iron deficiency.

Stinging nettles are also widely used in herbalism because the plant has diuretic properties, as well as being a treatment for allergies, prostate disease, arthritis, asthma and many other conditions.

The stinging nettle comes very highly recommended by experts on edible plants, and is included in Richard Mabey's classic book Food For Free which is one of the best books out there when it comes to foraging.

Stinging nettles are very easy to find because they commonly grow on waste ground, on hedge-banks, along rivers and on the edges of fields and the margins of woods. 

Nettles for the Butterflies

Small tortoiseshell caterpillars

Many species of butterfly and moth caterpillar feed on the leaves of the stinging nettle. The red admiral (Vanessa atalanta), the small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) and the peacock (A. io) are three well-known British butterflies that use the plant as a food source for their larvae. The painted lady (V. cardui) and the comma (Polygonia c-album) are two other butterfly species with caterpillars that will eat nettles.

 Peacock Butterfly (Photo: Public Domain)

The garden tiger moth (Arctia caja) is a large and colourful moth with caterpillars known as woolly bears that will eat nettles, as well as many other food-plants.  This once common moth is sadly declining in numbers throughout the UK. 

Garden Tiger moths

So not destroying nettles is a conservation measure that helps many butterflies and moths to survive.  Growing a nettle patch in your back garden is a great way to attract butterflies and to aid them by supplying a plant they need. All good wildlife gardens should have a patch of nettles. The stinging nettle is a valuable plant that has been thought of a a useless weed but it actually has many uses as you can see.

Vote for Cuddly in the Cutest Pet Competition

Vote for Cuddly the Tuxedo cat!

Cuddly is the name of a black and white tuxedo cat belonging to me and my partner Melissa. Cuddly looks cuddly but he is actually badly named (my fault) because he doesn’t actually enjoy being cuddled or picked up. He is very friendly though, and comes when called and he makes charming little noises, which I cannot hope to duplicate in writing.

Cuddly is a very smart-looking tuxedo cat with a white bib, and he has a reddish tint to his black fur which you can see when the sun shines on him. When he closes his eyes it looks as if he has no eyes because they vanish in his dark fur. Cuddly reminds me of Batman too with his dark patches over his eyes and black ears like the pointed parts of the superhero’s hooded cowl.  Can you see the likeness too?

Cuddly came to us as a kitten when we were living at another house here in Portugal. Another tenant owned him then but she got a puppy and the two animals did not get on at all well. Cuddly was called Sico then and found himself not welcome in the home he had lived in until then because the puppy would attack him. It was play but it was too rough for Cuddly and he found our open windows and moved in. We told the owner and she was happy enough with this. Some months later she moved out and left Cuddly with us. He was now well and truly living with us. Cuddly is now around a year and a half in age and he has grown fast.

Cuddly loves his food and any type of food will do - dry cat food or wet cat food or human food, Cuddly will eat it! He was getting too fat and we think he was scrounging more food at neighbours’ houses in the street where we used to live. The vet put him on a weight-reduction diet and this worked. We have had to watch how much he eats since then and make sure he doesn’t get too much to eat.

Cuddly used to defend his territory where we lived before and would chase away other cats, though he was too scared of dogs and would shy away from them. When we moved he had to get used to the new surroundings and to living in a house with two other cats. It took him about a month to do so but he is now happy here and goes out and about exploring the garden of the place we live in. He also enjoys playing with Appalachia, who is a Persian kitten we share with the friends we share the house with.   

Sometimes Cuddly rears up just like a prairie dog and he looks really cute when he does this, I think you will agree?

Cuddly is currently entered in the PetVote Cutest Pet Competition, and the purpose of this blog entry is not just to tell you all about Cuddly but, hopefully, to get some more votes for him. It is really easy to vote and you do not need to do anything more than clicking on the button marked “Vote for Cuddly.” You can vote daily and every vote helps. Sharing our entry on social media sites like Facebook and twitter is also a great help. It is also possible to Like the entry for Cuddly and to comment, and whilst we appreciate comments and likes, it is the votes for Cuddly that we really need.

Please VOTE FOR CUDDLY HERE!

And if you have a pet and would like to enter your animal companion in the contest too then 1,000 points get awarded to Cuddly’s campaign that we can use to buy more votes for him, as long as you enter after accessing the Cutest Pet Competition site via our link. To enter is free and takes just minutes.

Please get voting and sharing and help Cuddly win!  

In memory of Pixi Morgan a fellow Bard

Pixi Morgan was a Bard, a Travelling Minstrel and an Eco-warrior

Pixi Morgan's real name was Neill Morgan but Pixi suited him better in so many ways.  There was something magical and mystical about his songs and performance. He originally hailed from Cardiff in Wales but he spent a lot of his life in Glastonbury. He was a modern travelling minstrel, a bard and an eco-warrior, who took part in many road protest camps.  Sadly Pixi passed away on 6 February. He had been suffering from liver failure and had been in hospital in Southhampton where many of his friends and family had visited him before he lost his final battle in this life. He was taken from us too early because he would have only been 50 if he had reached his next birthday this coming April.  But Pixi had travelled far and wide in his time on Earth and touched the hearts of so many people he met along the way. 

Pixi Morgan with Bill the Nirvana fan and King Arthur Pendragon at Tinkinswood Burial Chamber

Usually my blog is about nature and conservation, not about singers and musicians, but I felt that Pixi easily merits being included here, not just because he was a good friend that I have sadly lost but because he was someone who made the effort to do what he could to stop the destruction of our once "green and pleasant land." Pixi had been a part of many of the biggest road protest camps, including Twyford Down and Newbury Bypass. It was at Twyford Down that he met Druid and eco-warrior King Arthur Pendragon, whom he is pictured with above on the occasion of his knighting into the Loyal Arthurian Warband, as a Quest Knight and Bard. At Twyford Down, Pixi had acted as Arthur's Herald and was featured on a BBC Radio 4 documentary about Arthur and his campaigns. 

Pixi had learned what it was like living on the land, in tune with nature and the seasons. He could build a bender, make a small wood fire, and play his guitar and sing when others (myself included) would have found it simply too cold. I remember him doing so on the occasion of his knighting, because I was there too and was also knighted by King Arthur. We were filmed by Sky TV for a documentary about reincarnation but stayed on partying after the television crew had gone. The full story is told here. 

Songs of Pixi Morgan

Pixi Morgan outside the Red Lion in Avebury

Pixi began cultivating his bardic skills as a teenager when he learned songs by Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Leonard Cohen and Bob Marley, amongst other musical mentors. He practised on the guitar and after a time when he freely admitted to using basic chords and the three-chord trick, he soon evolved an individual style of finger-picking and strumming and began to pen his own material with songs like Within Us All and Travelling Minstrel.  These songs and others were included on a homemade cassette album he released entitled Heart With Wings.

Heart With Wings

He became an accomplished busker and covered songs by many folk singers and folk-rock bands. Pixi made the songs so much his own that they sounded as if he had written them. Richard Thompson's Beeswing is in this category.  As a busker he knew well what it was like to get hassled by police and security officers and told you are not allowed to play, so Pixi often performed the song Go, Move, Shift by Christy Moore.  Pixi really knew what such songs were about because he had lived the experiences described or knew people like the characters depicted in the lyrics.

Reflecting his interest in the cycle of nature and conservation of the land, he used to play Jack in the Green by Jethro Tull. Another song he took to his heart was Spancil Hill, and you can hear him singing this when he was a protester at the Hill of Tara road protests in Ireland. 

Accursed Road, Rath Lugh 2007, Gabhra Valley

It was while busking in Devizes with Laura Howe that Pixi caught the eye and ear of Dave Davies, who is famous for being part of The Kinks rock group. Davies wrote the song Strangers and had a hit in his solo career with Death of a Clown. He knew talent when he heard it and was so impressed that he invited Pixi and Laura to open for him at a concert at The Barbican in London. 

Pixi and laura meet Dave Davies

Pixi lives on in the memories of his friends and family and in the recordings of the songs he played. To keep his memory alive and to raise funds for his funeral and wake a special CD compilation has been put together entitled ONE FOR THE ROAD. 

Clay plant pots versus plastic pots

Clay pots or plastic pots? 

Plant in plastic pot (Photo: Public Domain)

We all know well that there is too much waste plastic polluting the environment, filling the oceans, and killing wildlife, so anything which can help cut down our use of the material has got to be good news.  I have been thinking about how many plastic pots and containers for growing plants in get sold every day and how many of these containers are in use. It must be a a mind-boggling number when you consider how many of these pots are on sale in supermarkets, hardware stores and gardening centres.  Nearly all of that plastic is eventually going to end up in landfill sites or in the environment somewhere!

Clay pots (Photo: Public Domain)

I remember the days when there were only clay or terracotta pots. I prefer them too. The clay pots breathe and don't allow water-logging to occur, which can easily happen with plastic containers. Admittedly the clay pots can crack and break but broken pieces of pot make great drainage material to be put in the bottom of another pot you are getting ready to plant something in. It used to be standard practice to use up broken pots this way.

Clay pots showing mineral deposits (Photo: Public Domain)

The only other minor disadvantage of clay pots is that because they are porous they can absorb minerals that leach out of the compost and the water used for plants growing in them. This can create whitish powdery deposits on the outside of the clay pot.  It can be washed off, however.

Clay pots for tropical fish

I remember using clay pots when breeding tropical fish species. A clay pot makes a great spawning site for many types of fish, including cichlids such as the Kribensis cichlid (Pelvicachromis pulcher), which is a very popular and easily bred species.

Kribensis (Photo: Aquakeeper 14)

Many types of fish will accept a clay pot as an artificial cave and hiding place. many will make these containers their homes and will defend them from other fish. 

Buying clay pots

Unfortunately it has become a lot more difficult to find places that sell clay pots. I am lucky where I live in Portugal because the clay pots are on sale alongside the plastic ones, even at major supermarkets. I know the type of pot I choose to buy.

If enough people refused to buy the plastic containers and asked for old-fashioned clay ones then the manufacturers would be forced to supply us with clay pots not plastic pots.

Watering cans  (Photo: Public Domain)

Plastic is not just used for our plant pots because even watering cans are now made of the material.  Seems crazy how a can can be made of plastic not metal, don't you think?

Garden Tiger Moth and its Woolly Bear caterpillar in serious decline

The very large and colourful garden tiger moth (Arctia caja), and its hairy caterpillar, which is known as a "woolly bear," were once very common in the UK but are now declining in numbers fast.

Arctia caja (Photo: Kurt Kulac)

The garden tiger has brightly coloured forewings that are patterned in creamy-white and chocolate-brown and the hind-wings are orange with blackish-blue spots. It has a stout, mainly orange body and a dark brown furry thorax.  The colours and patterns are very much given to variation too, although the moth is easy to identify.

This moth is found, as its name suggests, in gardens, but also on farms, in meadows, on railway and river banks and on sand dunes.  It has a liking for damp areas, though the caterpillars can often be seen crawling rapidly across paths and open ground on hot days.

The garden tiger moth emerges from late June to August. It used to be a very common and widely distributed moth in the UK but over the last 30 years its numbers have dropped by as much as 89%.  This is difficult to understand because its caterpillar will eat a very wide range of food-plants, including many weeds, such as docks and dandelions. It will also eat nettles and cultivated plants, such as rhubarb and cabbage. The caterpillar will feed on various shrubs, including the raspberry, blackberry and broom as well.

Garden Tiger Moth caterpillar (Photo: Acelan)

The garden tiger moth caterpillar is known as a woolly bear because it is covered in long black and ginger hairs. These hair are a good protection for the larva and can cause irritation.  The young caterpillars hibernate and feed up in the spring. It is thought that Climate Change and mild winters have caused the decline in this species, which has failed to adapt to the changes in the climate.

The adult garden tiger is so brightly coloured to warn predators that it tastes very bad and is toxic. The colouration and patterns are a very good example of "warning colours."

The garden tiger moth is one of many British moths and butterflies that have been declining in numbers and are no longer as common s they used to be, which is a worrying trend.

Habitat destruction is a very serious threat to the survival of many species

What local habitats have you seen destroyed? 

If, like me, you are very concerned about the vanishing wildlife around the world and the increasing threats to so many species of flora and fauna, you will know that habitat destruction is one of the main threats that plants and animals face.  I expect there are places you can remember that have been destroyed by housing developments, urban expansion, new roads, and other forms of 'progress'. What local wildlife habitats can you recall that are no longer there? 

Common Lizard (Photo: S Rae)

One location in Fairwater, Cardiff, I spent a lot of time in as boy I used to call the “Coal Yard.” It was actually an abandoned railway siding on the other side of the railway line that ran parallel to the lane that backed onto the house where I lived with my family.  High steel railings blocked access to it from a field that was on one side and a road with another fence of metal railings was at its bottom. The only easy way in was going over the railway bank and railway line. This left the Coal Yard like a mini nature reserve where few people ever went.

Female Wall Brown (Photo: Jorg Hempel)

I used to cross the railway to get there and would discover all sorts of flowers and creatures living in the Coal Yard, including common lizards (Zootoca vivipara), small heath (Coenonympha pamphilus), common blue (Polyommatus icarus) and wall brown (Lasiommata megera) butterflies, and rest harrow (Ononis spinosa) and bird’s foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) wild flowers. All were common enough species then, though the wall brown is one of the British butterflies that has suffered an alarming decline.

Rest Harrow (Photo: Public Domain)

For many people, the Coal Yard was just some waste ground at the side of a railway line but for me it was a wildlife habitat that has been destroyed. To the creatures and plants that were there it was home. To a property developer it was somewhere houses could be built and money to be made. Nowadays it is the site of blocks of flats and neatly tended lawns.

Ponds at Llandaff Weir

A pair of Common Toads (Photo: Public Domain)

There were two ponds on the banks of Llandaff Weir that were once home to many forms of aquatic wildlife, including common frogs (Rana temporia), common toads (Bufo bufo) and the common newt (Lissotriton vulgaris) and palmate newt (Lissotriton helveticus). The frogs and toads bred in the larger of the ponds, which was also home to various dragonfly and damselflies, water snails, water beetles, and the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus).

Sticklebacks (Photo Public Domain)

I use the past tense because these ponds were destroyed when the bank of the river was bulldozed flat. I cannot be sure of the reason given in the local press for this but I seem to remember it was supposedly to improve the bank with a view to a new pathway or road that was planned. All I knew for sure was that these two pools were where I used to find all the creatures mentioned. It was there home. It had been destroyed and it saddened me. I remember wondering where all the amphibians would go when they returned in spring to their breeding places to find they had gone. There was no freshwater suitable left, only the river which was too fast and polluted for the frogs, toads and newts. I have often wondered where do amphibians go when they find a place they have known is no longer there? What goes through their little minds?

Now, it can be said, that all the species I have mentioned were common species, but that is not the point. The problem is, and it is a big problem, is that the more habitats like these, that get destroyed, the less places the wildlife can live.

Both these locations, the Coal Yard and Llandaff Weir, were within a short distance of each other, probably about a mile. I point this out to show how wildlife habitat destruction is cumulative. That is just two examples of what has gone from where I lived as a boy. Multiply this sort of destruction all over the country and you have a main reason that many types of wildlife are endangered.

This is why it is so important that nature reserves are set up and maintained and that, if we have gardens, that we leave plenty of room for wildlife. A garden pond can be just what a toad, frog or newt needs for its survival.

Here is a good example of a threatened wildlife habitat so please sign the petition!