And just like that , wintertime has overtaken the homestead . It seems like the tree diagram just turned their beautiful gold hue , but now the leaves are in atomic reactor on the ground and limb are covered in blow and ice . The first snow has hit the Bluegrass , and now things can officially slow up down and turn in .
I have to intromit , sprightliness in the country has turned me into a dusty - weather lover . There ’s nothing cozy than hunkering down in cuddly PJs in the evening or more fulfilling than taking a brisk tramp through a shower bath of sparkly snowflakes . Plus , it pay me an apology to do more of what I love most : flirt around in the kitchen .
We ’ve been busy this summertime putting up the intellectual nourishment that we scrounge , grew or received from admirer , and now we have much in the way of winter treats . This yr , one of the focal points of our outdoor endeavors was the elderberry — weplanted some newfangled canesand harvest berries and flowers from the ones already grow along our brook — so it seems fitting that one of the first indoor project of the season was to make elderberrysyrup .
Elder is my go - to herb during cold and influenza season . At the first signaling of a sore throat or sniffle , I start up myself on an elderberry regimen , as elderberry has beenproven to fight flu and lessen symptom . My go - to way of consuming elderberry is through tincture , a gamey - trial impression alcohol infuse with the berry . A dropperful several multiplication a day unremarkably does the trick for me ; however , for the footling one , I ’m trying out syrup this yr .
produce elderberry sirup is simple : Make a substantial tisane ( aka herbal teatime ) with the berries , strain , and then lend beloved . Because I ca n’t permit anything bethateasy , I tried three dissimilar variation : a plain elderberry syrup , an elderberry - genus Echinacea syrup , and an elderberry - rosiness hip sirup with cinnamon and cloves . regrettably , they all came out tasting about the same — I probably could have added more warming spices in the third variety for lawful feeling variance — but I ’m frantic for my family to put them to expend . We make up one’s mind plain black elder would be our day-by-day quinine water , the elderberry - echinacea would be for when we finger the twinge of illness , and the spiced version would for when we want an extra treat and high Lucy in the sky with diamonds of vitamin C ( rose hip is large for that ) .
Because the little human does n’t jazz taking “ practice of medicine ” via spoon or syringe , I put a teaspoon in her water bottle daily . I also take some myself so she can get the goods when she nurse . I ’ve also think we could add the syrup to her fruit to make it an excess unfermented treat . Maybe I ’ll also try making elderberry gummies for her to consume … another project for another 24-hour interval .
Afterlast year ’s string of illness to hit our household , we ’re not messing around . We ’re arming ourselves with flu - season prevention , and dreaming about cultivating more berry in the coming year as we delight the view of this time of year ’s snow .
