Radical Remedies

Despite a soggy start to Saturday, the Rad Rems crew assembled riverside at Daubeney fields to meet and explore the wild plants of Hackney Marshes.

We started by seeing what lies in plain site amongst the grass of the park; Yarrow, Plantain and to our immediate hedge line Nettle and Chamomile nestled under blackthorn thicket. Our walk was focused on sharing identification skills with each other, rather than seeking to harvest any large quantity of herbs. The mentality behind this was honouring precious and limited nature of green space in London not compromising the local ecology by taking anymore plant material than needed for educating ourselves.

Despite the rain our eager and curious team threaded our way through wasteland, finding St John’s Wort, Mallow and Mugwort. Of particular interested was how Mugwort can be dried and used as substitute for tobacco, as well as traditionally being associated with enhancing dreamtime. We discussed how July is prime time for harvested St John’s Wort flowers and buds. Topically, it used for muscle and joint inflammation, it may infused in oil and applied to affected areas. Internally, it is used to relieve anxiety and depression, although it should be noted this herb cannot be used in combination with the pill or anti-depression medications.

We wandered on, rain clearing to a steaming hot sunny interval at this point, and discovered Burdock, Comfrey and Hogweed down by the river. Nettle seeds were in high demand for our foray, renowned for their nutritional value and energising qualities, edible when green but best harvested ripening to brown.

Our walk back along the canal was focused on identifying trees, Gingko, Cherry, Elder, Poplar and we marvelled at the diversity amongst the walls of green. We closed our walk back at the park, laying out and sharing the samples of the foraging session for the slowly assembling audience of the Circus Boat show along with relevant literature.

Many thanks to the Circus Boat Collectif for having us join the weekend of performance and sharing some wild plant knowledge with folks.

As part of the London Circus Boat Show this weekend, Radical Remedies will be facilitating a wild plant ID and foraging skillshare. Join us for the afternoon on the marshes!

MEET: DAUBENEY FIELDS E9, 12pm

The last weekend in January Rad Rems workshop crew came together to make up our ‘rest and restore’ tea blend – the final component to our winter warmer packs. The tea is adapted from a blend that has been used for centuaries of Yarrow, Elderflower and Peppermint for the treatment of coughs, colds and flus. We added Mullein for extra support for the lungs as it’s an excellent expectorant, meaning it helps expel mucus. By also adding Oatstraw to the mix the tea blend become nutrient rich with this plant offering calcium, potassium, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, dietary fiber and antioxidants.

Once the tea was blended we bagged it up while labelling the bottled fider cider and cough syrup from our previous workshop, packaging the three together ready for distribution.

The winter warmer packs are available for collection at the Autonomous Winter Shelter and The Field free of cost for those in need of winter immunity strengthening and soothing support.

Radical Remedies would love to continue to expand networks for ditribution – if you know of a project / group / event that would like to collaborate in the future get in touch!

The crew at the Autonomous Winter Shelter have welcomed us to host a workshop and distribution session for the immune boosting remedies we have concocted so far this season. Supporting immunity, cold & flu recovery, soothing coughs and supporting respiratory recovery is especially important at this present time.

As we face this cost of living crisis, the hike in energy bills leave many at risk of compromised immune systems. As the NHS continues to be put under extreme financial strain by this Tory government, hospitals and GP surgeries are struggling to support the huge spike in seasonal illness, COVID and scarlet fever. As the country continues to fight for working rights through striking in almost all areas of social services, we stand in solidarity with the nurses who are striking for better pay. We can also support them by providing each other with knowledge of medicinal plants which (a long side plenty of rest and fluids!) can help to support immunity, relieve and prevent symptoms of colds & flu this season.

We will be doing a workshop on making and packaging a respiratory support tea blend. We will also be putting together the immune boosting packs for distribution. The packs include the cough syrup and fire cider we made at the last workshop and the tea blend. Packs will be distributed to whoever needs at the Autonomous Winter Shelter and to The Field in SE London.

Meet at 12 @ the Autonomous Winter shelter Sunday 29th Jan 2023.

Address of the Autonomous Winter Shelter:

88 Hardinge St, London E1 0EB.

Contact numbers:

Rachael- 07874353261

Lizzy- 07738169309

Hope to see you there!! RR xx

A MASSIVE THANK YOU FROM RR!

Thank you to everyone who has supported the crowdfunder, we have raised (more than!) enough to complete our winter workshop series. We really appreciate the support.

Next workshop coming up last weekend of January in LDN. We will be posting more info shortly.

Love, rage and plant power! RR xx

Please donate if you can to help us complete our Winter Warmer workshop sessions and medicine distribution to those that need it over these colder months. Share widely and contact us to get involved in this solidarity medicine project!

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/winter-workshops

November saw RadRems and friends meet at LARC in Whitechapel for a medicine making session of immunity boosting potions. Through the day we were chatting and chopping our roots and shoots prepping big batches of fire cider and cough syrup.

We had a great turn out of drop-ins through the day of plant enthusiasts from all over London town. An exciting side endeavour included processing Japanese knotweed roots ready for blitzing, drying and making in to capsules. Its high content of resveratrol give it impressive infection fighting, immunomodulating and cardiovascular supporting properties.  One of the gang also brought a monster horseradish (its scrubbing featured below!) for the fire cider!

FIRE CIDER

Take invigorating shots through the winer (mixed with a little water) for boosting immunity.

We used organic somerset apple cider vinegar infused with finely chopped turmeric root, chilli, ginger, orange, garlic, red onion, lemon, birch polypore and black peppercorns. Leave to steep for a month to 6 weeks and strain out plant material. 

COUGH SYRUP

A soothing throat pleasure for winter colds and coughs, high in vitamin C.

We brewed up rose hips, rosemary, thyme, lemon, cloves and star anise to make on a low heat (not too hot to avoid lowering vitamin C content) to create a hot infusion. We then painstakingly double strained the plant material through muslin (to remove those pesky rosehip hairs!). Then reduce the liquid down with unrefined sugar to create a syrup! Bottle up in sterilised containers!

We are planning the next winter warmer workshop session later on in January 2023 when we will put together a respiratory system supporting tea blend! The glorious 3 of syrup, cider and tea will be put together to form the ultimate winter warmer herbal pack to be distributed for free. Watch this space for updates!