Well what an eventful month! The highlight was our fantastic Wellness Weekend at the beautiful Ardmay house last weekend! Cold dips, moving and grooving, ginger shots, qi gong, forest bathing, arts and crafts, storytelling, poetry, face yoga, meditations, clothes and book swaps, crystal bowls to ease us off to sleep each night, all fuelled by fabulous food and ferments! Our full range of t-shirts were on show, our and modelled by many of us. Perfect for the Autumn, a lovely forest green with Walk on the Wild Side, inspired by my love of foraging! 

I had an opportunity to try out all my home remedies, a tickly cough, blocked nose and fits of sneezing could have floored me for days, but within 24 hours I was good as new!

Regular shots of powerful Fire Cider followed by the more delicious elderberry fermented honey, ginger shots, sessions in the sauna, followed by cold dips in the tub, doing my Qi Gong healing sounds and using acupressure points to unblock my nose worked so well, I genuinely felt fantastic! I generally don’t succumb to the seasonal lurgy so had a stash of home remedies all ready to use, so don’t wait until illness hits before you think about making some. Prevention is better than cure so a wee spoonful of Fire Cider a day and a warming glass of elderberry syrup or elderberry shrub in the evening, and a ginger shot to start the day should keep you well! Do remember to check out our Holistic Health Section for many ideas to see you through the winter!

So moving on to November, it's dark and colder, so our theme is warming and nourishing soups! We are upping our soup game this month! Soups are easy, a great way to up our diversity points with so many variations to try. Download my Souper Soups e book, a great resource with many of my favourite soup recipes to get you started.

Reasons to love soups:

• you can add protein and fibre, think tofu, lentils, beans and pulses.

• Make your own stock from veggie odds and ends,

• garnish with sprouted lentils and beans, toasted seeds,  fresh herbs and spices.and health and diversity points

• It’s so easy to add extra ingredients to soups and is a great gateway to getting back into the kitchen, especially for those folks who say they can’t cook! If you have a sharp knife or a food processor, soups are the easiest healthy food to make. 

• Also great for fussy kids, a blended soup with added coconut or cream becomes a smooth and velvety treat with no bits or identifiable veggies!

• All soups can be frozen, so making a big pot then freezing some for later is planning ahead.

We will be looking at what to serve with our lovely soups, simple breads, sourdough and gluten free rolls! A hearty soup with some delicious homemade bread or rolls is a meal in itself or a perfect winter lunch.

On the ferments front, my first batch of Festive Ferments is ready, in time for my Festive Sauerkraut Workshops at Soul Food Kitchen. There are still a few places on Saturday 9th November if anyone wants to come and join the fun and make a lovely jar of festive kraut to grace your festive table! It’s always lovely to have Wellness Hubbers in attendance! My sourdough workshops have all been selling out but I have 1 place left on Sunday 1st December if anyone would like to come.

Let me leave you with some joyful photos of our wonderful weekend at Ardmay!

In good health,

Janice x