\n\t \n\tIt was an important herb in magic and folklore but a very practical use was for dyeing fabrics, the fruit producing a dye that is grey and sage green, the leaves a creamy yellow colour and boiling a dark navy stain. And if this has still not whetted your appetite a common name for the plant was <\/span>Ale hoof because it was used for flavouring beer before hops became the standard. It is still used occasionally by micro-breweries and is described as giving the beer a taste of 'slightly nettle with a minty edge'.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tWhilst it is never advisable to attempt medical treatments using herbs without consulting an expert, it is interesting to note the current curiosity about some of the old remedies. An old German proverb states 'The garden is the poor man's apothecary'.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Welsh Orchard near Maes y Felin includes a selection of plants grown by the Physicians of Myddfai; 12th century (and onwards) herbalists who were known all over Europe. We know a lot of what they believed and prescribed because, unusually for the time, their teachings were well-documented. The plants they used, with a few exceptions, will be familiar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-S3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5731,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5731","url_meta":{"origin":3351,"position":0},"title":"We Are Surrounded By Poisons","author":"Alan Williams","date":"2nd April 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 You may not realise it, but we are surrounded by poisons in the shape mainly of plants and trees. Our rural ancestors knew what to eat and what to avoid but as we become increasingly divorced from an understanding of the countryside, we are losing that knowledge. The recent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Deadly-Nightshade-berry-1-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3443,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3443","url_meta":{"origin":3351,"position":1},"title":"May Orchard Walk","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd July 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 38 walkers turned up at the end of May on a fine day to do the Orchard Walk which we had arranged as part of the Vale of Glamorgan Walking Festival. The start coincided with the minute's silence held in memory of the Manchester terrorist victims so we were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Wildlife Group"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=48"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14341,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14341","url_meta":{"origin":3351,"position":2},"title":"Welsh Traditions 3 – Gathering","author":"Alan Williams","date":"4th June 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"WELSH TRADITIONS 3 - GATHERING This time we\u2019ll look at the tradition of GATHERING, collecting, harvesting and foraging various items and crops and from the countryside - and I\u2019ll group them all under the one heading - Casglu - Gathering. Our forefathers made use of practically everything which grew around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6250,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6250","url_meta":{"origin":3351,"position":3},"title":"Your Garden Tasks For August","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th July 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 July saw the passing of Dorothy Miller at her home in Grange Avenue. Dorothy was, at the time, the oldest resident born in Wenvoe. She worked at Anstee's Nurseries, now Pughs Garden Centre, where they propagated roses and sold the cut flowers. Dorothy was known there as the rose\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Village Gardener"","block_context":{"text":"The Village Gardener","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=77"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4771,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4771","url_meta":{"origin":3351,"position":4},"title":"Star of Bethlehem","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th June 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 You will see the logo of the Wildlife Group on noticeboards, leaflets, posters and social media. But what does it represent and why? The 6-petalled flower is Spiked Star of Bethlehem, also known as Bath Asparagus. It is related to garden asparagus and used to be eaten. More common\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17179,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=17179","url_meta":{"origin":3351,"position":5},"title":"The Queen of Foraging Plants","author":"Alan Williams","date":"29th June 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"THE QUEEN OF FORAGING PLANTS So, once upon a time, the Vale of Glamorgan was pink. These days the predominant colour in the fields is yellow with Oil Seed Rape. But before tractors arrived and up to the 1950s you could expect to see acres of a pink, reddish crop.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Nature-Notes-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3351"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3351"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3353,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3351\/revisions\/3353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/JUNE-NN-Ground-Ivy-S.jpg?resize=300%2C225\")
There is a very common little weed growing all round Wenvoe at the moment with blue flowers known as Ground Ivy and this was first recorded for medical use by the Myddfai practitioners. A fresh herb tea of the plant with honey is naturally rich in Vitamin C and it was found useful in dealing with coughs. The leaves could be turned into snuff which helped with asthma and also headaches and hangovers. The Celts treated moderate burns with an ointment using the stems and it was thought to relieve snake bites. The Celts also used it for many other conditions including <\/span>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/JUNE-NN-Ground-Ivy-flower-S.jpg?resize=225%2C300\")
indigestion, eye problems and ringing in the ears.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n