OUR HERB WALK

south westerlies... This issue Scott has to come clean on his passions. It’s been a period of living history for your editor.

It’s now time for cautious optimism

AS my friends on my social health issues and domestic media feed know, all too violence, protests flared around well, I’m a pandemic racism (George Floyd’s killing), addict. As I embarked on my O and suddenly his celluloid critique levels (showing my age) I loved on society was all too real. science fiction and biology. I found viruses, bacteria and phages fascinating. Tales of space travelling bugs descending on Earth or being found in unexplored habitats were common in pulp SF anthologies. I loved Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy where Adams writes of a race in a distant galaxy called Vl’Hurg. After hearing Arthur Dent say “I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle” through a random wormhole, they travel thousands of years across the empty wastes of space in an interstellar war fleet to destroy Earth - where due to a ‘terrible miscalculation of scale’ the entire battle fleet is accidentally swallowed by a small dog. I remember an English Literature class we had where a tube TV on a stand was wheeled in to watch The Roses of Eyam (which had its world premiere at The Northcott Theatre in Exeter in 1970) a tale of a village in Derbyshire where villagers escaped the plague by an exodus into isolation, building shacks in the hills, or living in caves. I remember I spent that summer making isolation plague dens in trees, caves, holes dug in the ground, and even a stream. I was eager to find out more about plagues and pandemics and the Literature coursework in Samuel Pepy’s diary of daily life in 17th century London helped. Roses of Eyam’s theme became prescient. Social distancing and isolation in a global pandemic became THE factor in mankind’s latest battle with infectious global disease on a pandemic scale. Controlling movement in metropolitan populations around the world means country density is not significantly related to the infection rate. A first in every airborne pandemic going back across history. For the first time in our species’ history inaction and isolation resulted in saving millions of humans from infection. CV-19 has transformed our personal lives and spotlit pressing political, economic, and social questions. We can now transform the world, but it depends on whether Governments attempt to go back to normal or embrace this ‘reset moment’. Will the virus induced changes, in public health and education, in race-relations and climate change, stem the recent trend toward populism and nationalism and foster a resurgent international co-operation? It’s hard to tell. Certainly attitudes to China are hardening, but that could be because we’ve come to realise how we depended upon them to make so much for us for so long. We now know we need shorter supply chains, and domestic manufacturing but do we also need to continue to buy stuff we really don’t need? At the same time I had a growing interest in politics and punk in Thatcher’s early ‘80s Britain. One night I watched George Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead film. A satire on the exploitation of consumer culture. His mindless living dead horde’s attempts to get into the mall are never-ending, as their memories from their former living selves reminds them that this was once a place they needed to be at, they have a compulsion to be there, and once inside they shuffle around aimlessly. From then on I was hooked on zombie and pandemic movies. Have we learnt the lessons of Dawn Of The Dead? Can we consume less and reset to a green recovery? It will require major action by governments and other established institutions. The economic shutdowns have heightened awareness of climate change and of the human causes of carbon emissions. But, it’s not yet clear whether the world will adopt new, greener strategies wholesale. CV-19 has amplified social problems and accelerated political movements; people are readier to confront and talk bluntly It’s been rather familiar seeing this about race, climate change, whole global pandemic unfold. corporate responsibility, and other I’ve bored friends rigid with my issues of our age. We’ve come fascination for pandemics with to reevaluate the worth of simple constant updates on CV-19’s human connection. There’s some virology, epidemiology, contagion, signs of a positive shift, even if exposure, symptoms, effects, it’s just in the number of major treatments, and the politics. American companies that have Once we started coming out of embraced the anti-racism message. lockdown the hordes of people in Given the enormous number queues outside Primark made me of lives and jobs tragically lost feel like we were living in Romero’s it seems strange, that once we film. Even more so as government reach it, our post-pandemic future failings were highlighted, media offers reason, if not for unbridled spread misinformation, paranoia drove fears, lockdown highlighted optimism, at least for cautious hope. Scott

The Reconnect herb walk

TORBAY herbalist Dawn Ireland of Green Wyse explains a little about medicinal uses of common seeds or herbs, taking us on a virtual Reconnect herb walk.

WHATEVER this year has brought us, we have shown as a human species how adaptive we can be. The two herbs on our virtual herb walk together today can be seen wild in woodland or hedgerow settings, or in garden varieties. Imagine a warm sunny day, walking along the edge of a woodland, with a meadow on one side. The birds are singing and there is just enough breeze to make it comfortable. Wild Oregano On the bank of the meadow some pale lilac flowers are just opening, Turn daily until dry and crispy. Then in several clumps of dark green store in an airtight container. A stalk leafy foliage. Wild Oregano – or two per pot of tea can then be Origanum vulgare flourishes in enjoyed all the year round. the hardiest conditions amongst grasses and other wild flowers. Crushing the leaves releases a strong fragrance, maybe reminding you of Mediterranean cooking, or just a fresh almost antiseptic smell. Best gathered when the sun has been on the plants, as with all plants containing high levels of volatile oils, the plant will produce more oils in response to heat as a protective measure to prevent drying out. Both Oregano in the wild, or in the garden, including it’s relation Marjoram, contain constituents which are strongly antiseptic. This Sage is a common garden shrub with several varieties available from garden centres. Commonly used in cooking, and especially nice sprinkled on a lentil or bean soup it aids digestion, and combats the wind which may be triggered by consuming pulses. The purple variety has a tradition of use in sore throats, used as a tea or gargle. The common flowering variety can be used in just the same way, but is also used for hormonal imbalances, as it is high in phytoestrogens (plant molecules can be taken as a tea to help similar, though weaker than our symptoms of a common cold and own human oestrogen), it can be cough. The components also aid particularly helpful for menopausal the digestion, especially after rich hot flushes. or fatty foods. The volatile oils have A short step into the woodland area a strongly antifungal effect and can from our meadow pathway may find help as part of a regime to combat Wild Sage growing, also known athletes foot when used in a foot as Wood Sage, sometimes Wood bath regularly. Germander – Teucrium scorodonia, Use the leaves fresh or dried. To very similar in appearance to dry, lay the stalks on paper or hang garden sage, but less aromatic, and upside down tied loosely with string, with pale greenish flower spikes. in an airy room out of the sunshine. Wood sage is most commonly used as a bitter digestive used as a bitter digestive to help poor digestive to help poor digestive function or after rich food. function or after rich food. It has strong antiseptic It has strong antiseptic properties and can be properties and can be used as a tea or gargle for used as a tea or gargle for a sore throat in a similar a sore throat in a similar way to garden sages. way to garden sages. As always be mindful As always be mindful picking plants with the picking plants with the land owners permission, land owners permission, and leave plenty for regrowth. Be sure of your identification and don’t self diagnose, if your symptoms persist, see a professional. Dawn

Wood Sage (Teucrium) By H. Zell - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons. wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11189016 l Find out more about herbalism and Dawn at www.torbay-herbalist. co.uk