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Collect herbs and dry them ready to make more herbal tissanes fresh whenever you need them

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Collect herbs and dry them ready to make more herbal tissanes fresh whenever you need them

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Beautiful twig hearts using grasses in season

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Beautiful twig hearts using grasses in season

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Sarah Vantassel/Demand Media

Substitute another essential oil, such as cinnamon or vanilla, for the orange oil.

Make this a family activity by having children help collect nature items for the potpourri.

Place baskets or bowls filled with your homemade potpourri in different rooms to add fragrance to your home.

Orange peel has a fresh, clean scent that adds a pleasant aroma to your home. This citrus peel is often used to add to the appearance and fragrance of store-bought potpourri. While you can purchase ready-made orange peel potpourri, it's simple to mix up your own batch of homemade potpourri to use at home or give as a gift. Making your own potpourri allows you to tailor the fragrant decor to your own needs and preferences.

Remove the peel from four oranges using a vegetable peeler. If possible, peel the skin off in 1/2-inch wide strips.

Place a couple paper towels over a microwave-safe plate. Lay the orange peels on the paper towel in a single layer. Cover the peelings with a few more paper towels.

Put the towel-covered plate in the microwave then run the microwave for five minutes on 50 percent power. Remove the plate from the microwave and place the orange peels on a wire cooling rack. Let the peels finish drying for two to three days.

Place 3 cups each dried flowers, seedpods and small pine cones in a large plastic container. Pour in the dried orange peels, 1½ tsp. ground nutmeg, 1 tbsp. ground cloves, 1 cup crushed cinnamon sticks and 5 drops of orange essential oil.

Stir all the ingredients together with a spoon. Mix them for several minutes so the spices and essential oil are distributed throughout the potpourri. Keep your potpourri mixture sealed in the container for two weeks, shaking the container once each day to move the spices and oil around.

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Sarah Vantassel/Demand Media Substitute another essential oil, such as cinnamon or vanilla, for the orange oil. Make this a family activity by having children help collect nature items for the potpourri. Place baskets or bowls filled with your homemade potpourri in different rooms to add fragrance to your home.

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Beautiful willow and wild flower/grasses herart

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Nature's basket - fabulous collages straight from your garden

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Nature's basket - fabulous collages straight from your garden

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Design and create your own art with resources forraged from nature

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Design and create your own art with resources forraged from nature

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Today we created some beautiful sensory herb containers, with a mixture of soothing camomile, fresh mint, fennel, lemon thyme and oregano. These herbs will smell beautiful whilst they are drying in the container, and even afterwards will retain their essences - all are used in homeopathy to support wellbeing.

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Making your own soothing, calming tissane is so easy - simply pick the top four bracts of leaves from the plant, wash and pour on boiling water carefully, making sure you don't splash your skin with the water. Stir and leave for five minutes. You will have a refreshing drink and you can add honey to to sweeten it if needed. Lots of purifying properties in the nettles and calming benefits of cammomile. These drinks can be really refreshing too when served over ice with a slice of lemon in the summer months.

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Collecting and cutting herbs to mix for our lovely personal wellbeing containers

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Selecting the mix of herbs is the best part - rub your fingers together and experience the full scent of these lovely aromatic herbs - also great for cooking!

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Selecting the mix of herbs is the best part - rub your fingers together and experience the full scent of these lovely aromatic herbs - also great for cooking!

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Using the floristry scissors to safely cut up the leaves

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Seaside themed sensory pots bathed in sunshine!

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Seaside themed sensory pots bathed in sunshine!

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Pretty pots finished with a lovely dedication heart and net ribbon

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Pretty pots finished with a lovely dedication heart and net ribbon

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Post are filled with childrens play sand so that the top can then be decorated.

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Post are filled with childrens play sand so that the top can then be decorated.

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This week try to create a 'Tisane'/ herbal tea infusion. This article explains what a tisane is and how to make one your selves. Try experimenting with herbs, wild flowers, or nettles from you own back garden, local walk, or hedgerow. Take photos and upload to Padlet.
When foraging for plants please ensure that the plants you are using are safe for human consumption.

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Herbal teas-also called tisanes-are a major part of the tea world, but did you know they're not technically teas? What is commonly referred to as an "herbal tea" is actually an infusion or decoction made from a plant other than Camellia sinensis-the plant from which true teas (green tea, black tea, oolong, etc.) are made. For this reason, there is a trend toward the use of terms like "tisane" (pronounced tea-zahn), "botanical," or "infusion."

Tisanes are caffeine-free and can be served hot or cold. Herbal teas have a long history, dating back to ancient China and Egypt, where tisanes were drunk for both enjoyment and medicinal purposes.

Types of Tisanes

Tisanes are usually categorized by what part of the plant they come from. Here are some examples of each of the major categories of tisanes:

Leaf tisanes: lemon balm, mint, lemongrass, and French verbena

Flower tisanes: rose, chamomile, hibiscus, and lavender

Bark tisanes: cinnamon, slippery elm, and black cherry bark

Root tisanes: ginger, echinacea, and chicory

Fruit/berry tisane: raspberry, blueberry, peach, and apple

Seed/spice tisanes: cardamom, caraway, and fennel

Sometimes, tisanes are made from a blend of plant types or from multiple parts of the same plant. Occasionally, tisanes are made from moss, stems, or other plant matter. Kombucha is often classified as a tisane, but it is technically a symbiotic colony of yeast and bacteria (or "SCOBY").

How to Make Tisanes

Most tisanes should be prepared as an infusion or a decoction. Infusions are how we make tea-pouring boiling water over plant matter, also called steeping. Decoction is the method of placing the plant material in boiling water, which releases more essential oils and flavor. Decoctions are often used for plant matter with tough surfaces or smaller surface areas. For this reason, leaf, flower, and seed tisanes are generally steeped (infusions), whereas bark, root, and berry tisanes are generally prepared as decoctions.

Brewing times and proportions for tisanes vary widely. They may be as short as two minutes or as long as 15 minutes, and may require as little as a pinch of plant material per cup of water or as much as several tablespoons per cup. Luckily, most vendors will supply you with instructions for each type they offer.

If your tisane comes with brewing instructions, use them and then adjust the quantities/time to your tastes. If not, ask your supplier or search online for instructions for that particular tisane.

*Note

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Herbal teas-also called tisanes-are a major part of the tea world, but did you know they're not technically teas? What is commonly referred to as an "herbal tea" is actually an infusion or decoction made from a plant other than Camellia sinensis-the plant from which true teas (green tea, black tea, oolong, etc.)

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Traditional Sensory Crafts that started with the Victorians!

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Traditional Sensory Crafts that started with the Victorians!

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Please take a look at these lovely ideas which I hope will inspire you and support your wellbeing.

https://ie.pinterest.com/mariemocara/wellbeing-quotes/

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Let your imagination and creativity flow - design, colour and decorate your own teracotta seaside pot using some fabulous shells collected from beaches across Wales and Europe

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Colour your thoughts with this wonderful pallette of seaside colours

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Line art - seaside images to add to your collaged shell terracotta pot

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Line art - seaside images to add to your collaged shell terracotta pot