Lalibeila's Garden

Lalibeila's Garden
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Sunday, 13 September 2015

Flowers to make you feel better

So, I've been struggling to get well for the past week after a seriously challenging chest infection following a normal cold virus. On Sunday night I was shivering with cold under my duvet although sweating with heat on the outside.

Everything smelt incredibly bad, I couldn't face food, was waking up every half hour to use the toilet.

The next day I felt so weak but I had to get up and go to the market to sell plants as usual, I had a zipcar van booked for 5.30am. I got up, showered, tried to make myself move, got dressed, put my shoes on then just stopped. What on earth was I doing? I need to start earning an income but come on! When your body tells you something is wrong you better bloody well listen to it.

I called Zipcar, who were incredibly kind, thank you, cancelled the van. Peeled off my clothes and climbed back under the duvet where I pretty much stayed until Wednesday.

Today I feel a lot like me again - since Wednesday I have cut the grass in the garden, picked myself the beautiful bouquet shown in the picture.
I've washed all the white bed linen, curtains, cushion covers and any clothes lying around in my bedroom since I became ill. I've cleaned and purified my bedroom and have aligned my precious stones on the windowsill for their own cleansing ritual.

On Sunday when I felt at my worst I stopped smoking because I could not bear the thought of hurting my lungs any longer and certainly not while I was feeling so ill. Every day since then I have vowed that I will never smoke again.

Things that I learned during this horrible (and fantastic) week - that drinking Yarrow tea will break a fever and help you to sweat it out, getting that poison and toxic substances out of your body through the sweat. That giving up smoking causes many after effects as your body tries to regain its equilibrium. Giving up is a true act of love for yourself.

I pray I continue to love myself enough to stay strong.

It feels very, very good to be alive and moving towards better health.

Tuesday, 1 September 2015

Caught a cold - running stall in the rain!

It was bound to happen - last Monday I set up the plant stall in the market as usual, as soon as I started the heavens opened and the rain pouring down became torrential. It pretty much lasted all day on and off, so business was so slow - I'm starting to think that the gardeners in and around Brixton have forsaken me - so I soldiered on. I started packing up around 4pm through the rain and by the time I got home I was drenched. Now I've got the worst cold and cough - feel bunged up and sorry for myself.

If anyone tells you it's easy running a stall don't believe them!
I am so proud of my daughter who owns and runs Flower Love London in Brixton Market, she has been doing this since November 2014 - through the cold, rain, sun, hailstones, wind - going to market at 5am in the morning, getting home at 7-7.30 at night. You've got to have a dream to keep that up.

Anyway, I am such a herbalist so when the cold came on it started with a sore throat - I picked some Thyme from the garden, boiled it up and drank the tea. Then I went out and picked some ripe elderberries and made a cough syrup with it - which tastes delicious and will stave off a bad cough. I am also drinking a lung tea mix, courtesy of Brixton Wholefoods recipe without the peppermint - so it contains hyssop, mallow, mullein, coltsfoot, yarrow - plus other herbs I can't remember now but it works to support the lungs and generally for respiratory problems.

Monday raining all day in Brixton Market

Drenched when I got home1

Making Elderberry cough syrup

Black Elder in the garden