Painting the Dark Moon in Rosewater
Rosehip - thank you for all the learning, this month.
It is dark moon (or it was, when I wrote this). I’m playing with rosewater, that I brought back from the big island with me. A1 Bakery’s finest (from Lebanon, of course).
Final cyanotype moons, made of rosewater and rosehip detritus.
Rosehip, thank you for all the learning. It has been a fullsome month, and has contained many things that I will take forward with me, into the moons and years to come.
Rosehips are in abundance where we are for a few months to come, until after the first frosts, when the birds will finish them off all in a flurry, as winter comes on.
So I’m sliding this rosehip learning from the ‘one plant a month’ part of my heart into my scrappy and not-very-organised-but-hey seasonal diaries - of who to look out for, who to gather, what to make, and when.
Rose-related things to do:
Rosehip Heart Elixir
Strain off the big jar (carefully, slowly) and bottle up. Distribute to loved ones. Imbibe daily.
Rose petals in honey
I guess I should strain these off, at some point? Curious to just keep turning the jar for another moon, though. The petals are still deepest red, and have not given up their colour, yet.
Rosehip Nalewka
Strain off, add honey, bottle, cellar (ok put in my little cupboard) for 3 months minimum, before using for medicinal morning needs.
Rosehips - dried
Shickle-shake this big tray of rosehips daily, until they are all dry.
Keeping them whole because this seemed easiest (and best for not getting teeny spiky hairs in your tea) - a technique confirmed by the lovely Caroline Parker, when I snatched a cuppa with her the other day. Whole rosehip tea for eva!
Bottle up. Use in winter teas. My favourite is with leatherwood honey.
Rose-related things that I didn’t get to…
Rosary beads
Rosaries were originally made from rolling rose petals into small beads, drying them, and piercing. Not suitable for wet weather, or to be worn outside one’s clothing. Worn close to the heart, they would first smell of roses, and then, over time, the wearer.
And the saying of the rosary, fiddling with each bead as you go, would further buff and cure the rose petal beads. Taking a garden with you, wherever you need to pray. If that’s your thing.
Rose water
This one is for next summer, when the roses are back in bloom. Until then, I’ve discovered Samaria Farm, who produce a local rosewater, and I am very happy (thanks to Hedge for the tipoff!).
Rosehip + Rose - resources:
Books:
The Land in our Bones - Plantcestral Herbalism and Healing Cultures from Syria to the Sinai - Earth-based pathways to ancestral stewardship and belonging in diaspora - Layla K. Feghali
Slavic Kitchen Alchemy - Zuza Zak
The Fermentation Kitchen - Sam Black
The Forager Handbook - Miles Irving
Eat More Wild Tasmanian - Rees Campbell
Foraging and Feasting - Dina Falconi
Common Herbs for Natural Health - Juliette de Bairacli
Online bits:
All the Rosehip + Rose petal things I made this month
Rosa damascena - Gernot Katzers Spice Pages
Rosehip Syrup - Herbal Academy
Treolar Roses - so. many. roses.
The last week of this rosehip month, as I mentioned last time, was spent on the mainland on Djaara country, doing Book Things.
I did a little ‘cyanotype a day’ roadtrip as part of this, just to play around - and of course it all ended up tangled with rosehips (rural roadways), rosewater (Coburg, Naarm, rosewater central), and of course, finding the moon each day.
Here’s the daily cyanotype adventures, if you’d like to see.
I’m typing this on the third evening of the new moon - so hopefully everyone that observes Ramadan sighted the crescent moon this evening, and are now well into the feast of Eid-al-Fitr.
Thanks again, rosehips…
I look forwards to journeying through space and time with you - as a familiar medicine, scent, plant-friend, food, and the silhouette of your lightning-crackled branches.
Love those ones on the top row of your main image, especially the far right top!