Health & Wellbeing

Health & Wellbeing Powerful parsley is your weapon against sludge

Taking responsibility for your own health, particularly in this present climate, is very empowering. Many enzymes in our body which, very simply, are proteins that do all the hard work by creating energy, breaking down food, sorting nutrients from toxins, making these safe and getting rid of them, are shaped to attract a particular ‘substrate’ or particle that, with the help of co-factors such as the B vitamins, which act like little helpers, bring the particle in to fit snuggly into the shape of the enzyme where it can be broken down and sent on it’s way. It is called a lock and key mechanism. So if the the lock (enzyme) has been damaged, or the key (particle) is the wrong shape the breaking down of substances is not so efficient. Plants have been on this planet long before us. By eating them, they have

FIFEHEAD

MAGDALEN Park near the church, which is at the upper, eastern end of the village near the Manor. Visit the church if it’s open, then walk south down the road for a quarter of a mile as far as a left hand bend. You carry on south along a footpath across meadows until you meet the parish boundary, the bendy river Stour. Here you join another footpath that takes you back up to the road about a furlong west of your car. That path can get a bit muddy at times so it might helped make us what we are now. Our bodies use every part of the plant in a synergistic way, so it makes complete sense to eat these plants as whole structures and to accept that they have the power to keep us or even make us well. It is since the Second World War with factory and intensive farming and processed foods, that what we put into our bodies has fundamentally changed. We are not made for many of the chemicals that have been put in our food and water. Our hard working enzymes will do what they can to process these foreign substances, but in some cases they don’t recognise them or are overwhelmed and so a sludge of toxic material builds up in our bodies that will make us ill. If we clear this and give our body what it needs: lots of organic fresh, green and be wise to wear wellies if there’s been rain recently. Turn left and head west along the road through the village down Fifehead Hill until the road turns left. Join a footpath that takes you west across a couple of fields then join a path that takes you south to re-join the road near Factory Farm. Turn left and head north east along the road for a mile or so until you’re back at the car. You’ll have walked about four miles If you have time, you might like to walk a furlong north up the road past the village hall and, on your left, enter and explore the 50-acre wood owned by the Woodland Trust. It is an

A walk around...

coloured vegetables, herbs and fruit, good protein and some complex carbohydrates we can be healthy. Combine this with exercise which is absolutely vital to keeping us well; it gets the blood moving which oxygenates all our cells and helps balance us mentally and you can take charge of yourself and your life. To start, simmer a bunch of fresh, organic parsley in two litres of filtered water for 10 gives you a good boost of iron and vitamins and freshens the breath, but in this instance it is used as a diuretic, helping to expel toxins from your body through the urinary system. It is also good for clearing the kidneys of gravel and stopping stones from forming. minutes. Strain and keep in the fridge. Drink a glass each morning. Parsley was a powerful herb, now rather overlooked. Fiona Chapman is studying naturopathy and herbal medicine at Just eating it the College of Naturopathic Medicine

with retired Dorset rights of way officer Chris Slade

revered and is a very

The Stour at Fifehead Magdalen

important site for nature conservation and has bats, birds and butterflies as well as broadleaved trees and flowers. It’s a very popular walking spot for the local villagers. Halfway through the wood, you could join a footpath that takes you south to join the road near Manor Farm which will take you up Fifehead Hill and back to your car If you’re into geocaching, a popular pastime, you’ll find an easy one, a ‘Church Micro’ not far from the church. 49

Health & Wellbeing Garden project to boost wellbeing

By Karen Bate Fontmell Magna Village Hall is to turn the garden behind the surgery in West Street into a cut flower garden as a green prescription for the benefit of the community. Six large raised beds will be built to plant flowers, including rudbeckia, cosmos, salvia and sweet peas along with perennials such as alchemilla and dahlias, to bloom between May until the first frosts. The seeds have been donated by Keyneston Mill, Cranborne Garden Centre and Orchard Park. Now the team are appealing to villagers to lend a hand and build the raised beds, plant seeds and seedlings so later, the flowers can be cut for their own enjoyment. Village hall trustee Sian Highnam said: “The village hall linked up very recently with the social prescribing team in the Blackmore Vale Partnership to discuss the viability of a community cut flower garden. “The flowers are there to be enjoyed by the community and we are encouraging villagers to plant seeds, plant seedlings out, and to cut flowers for their own enjoyment. I have chosen varieties which are easy to grow and easy to tend. We all recognise the benefits of being outdoors and the aim of the cut flower garden is to bring people together and bring a bit of joy and colour to our days.” “The social prescribing team within our wonderful partnership are always looking for opportunities to support the health and wellbeing of their patients in creative ways. Gardens provide opportunities for socialising, exercise and enjoyment, which will help loneliness and isolation. It is crucial in these times that we establish these important links to look after ourselves and each other.” A number of organisations are supporting the project, including The Men’s Shed in Sturminster Newton, In Jolly Company, Springhead and Dorset Mind. Sian added: “It would be lovely to have as many villagers from the local community to get involved to help build and maintain an area to benefit all.” Sian says the response from businesses has been “incredible”, with donations of an irrigation system, planters and perennial plants, benches, wheelbarrows and water butts. She said: “The garden club and some extra volunteers are already growing some seeds and will be growing seeds from the garden from March. If

Picture: Sian Highnam

anyone will be able to spare dahlias, that would be marvellous. We will need volunteers to dead head the garden from time to time. This might be half an hour every two weeks on a rota during the peak growing season from June-September. “Do you have any special cut flower arranging skills you might like to share with the group? Do you know any speakers with expertise on cut flowers in particular who might like to come and give some talks?” n Email Sian at sianhighnam@gmail.com

CALENDAR OF EVENTS January 30 or February 6: The assembling of raised beds February 13: Filling the beds with topsoil, manure and compost March: Volunteer to help plant the seeds. Willing seed growers required for a selection of cut flower seeds to grow on windowsills or greenhouses. April: Continuation of seed growing and planting the perennial cut flowers promised from Keyneston Mill April 20, 1.30pm-4.30pm: Flower arranging demonstration at Fontmell Magna Village 50

Hall. Students from Kingston Maurward College under the direction of Head of Floristry, Tracey Nadin, will complete several flower arrangements which will be raffled to boost garden funds for 2022 May 22: 10am-4pm: Mass Plant Out The aim is to plant out all the seeds grown from filling the raised beds to filling the containers made by The Men’s Shed with the plants from Cranborne Garden Centre The village hall will be open for refreshments with entertainment from The Pipers, who are musicians from Clayesmore School, The Horn Group and The May Madrigal Singers June: Enjoy the flowers and start cutting June 19 2pm- 4pm: Grand Opening of the Garden – Tea Party July, August and September: Enjoy the garden. Flower demonstration workshops are in the planning stages along with some wellness sessions, including yoga and Pilates in the garden. Collect seeds from this year’s plants and grow seeds for next year October: Make an Autumn wreath November: Clear up . Say goodbye to our annuals, put our dahlias and perennials to bed and grow seeds for next year December: Christmas wreath making

Health & Wellbeing Meditations in Nature: Close encounters lift spirits

What I love the most about being out in nature is its unpredictability. You might know the route you are walking, but you can never quite be sure what you might encounter. John Muir, the famous environmental philosopher proposed that, “in every walk with nature, one finds far more than he seeks”. Now mid afternoon, the mist that has shrouded the landscape for days has lifted to reveal a pale cloud cover interspersed with tiny glimpses of blue. It is still bitterly cold, but I am glad to be out in the clean, fresh air. Thoughts of the week ahead sit heavily on my shoulders as I trudge through the mud. But then, as I round the corner and look up, I am suddenly greeted by a barn owl in full flight heading towards me and dipping away over the hedgerow. Spellbound by this silent, graceful being, I follow in her wake in the hope that she will return. She does, as Barn owls hunt by methodically quartering the rough grassland. I crouch just a few metres away, watching as she flies back and forth over her territory, tilting her magnificent buff-colour wings and revealing a dazzling white underside. Her piercing black eyes ignore me in her intent to find small rodents that will nourish her through this cold spell and supplement her nightly hunt. After five minutes or so, she glides away over the fields and is gone. With their heart-shaped face that is designed to collect the sound of small mammals, barn owls are one of our most loved and distinctive birds of prey. Culturally they symbolise both wisdom and darkness; the latter represented in the nicknames they have been given over the years; names

An owl in flight. icture by Tim Balmer Photography

such as ‘ghost owl’, ‘screech owl’ and ‘demon owl’, inspired by their hissing and piercing shrieks so different from the gentle ‘hoo-hoo-oooo’ of a tawny owl. As I continue on my way, my thoughts are absorbed by this unexpected meeting and how, just for a moment, I had been eye to eye with a barn owl. Surprises like this lift our spirits, and even better if they occur in nature. Dopamine, the happy hormone, is released into our system intensifying positive emotions and suppressing any negative thoughts that might trouble us. My owl encounter had brightened my entire QUALIFIED COUNSELLOR based in Sherborne, offering phone and online consultations during lockdown. Specialising in working with young people, but also experienced in working with adults. For more details go to branchandroot.co.uk or email karenbranchandroot @gmail.com. day, and still as I write this, brings a smile to my face. Dr Susie Curtin Natural Pain Relief curtin.susanna@gmail.com therapist in Gillingham. Bio resonance scan and treatments.clinical

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Health & Wellbeing