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Every year at this time the hedgerows and bog lands of Kilbeacanty are ladened down with treasures of the earth. Hawthorn berries, elder berries, blackberries. hazelnuts, rose hips, sloes. Meadowsweet,etc., etc.. The list of marketable medicinal food supplements goes on and on. Germany has a multimillion pound herb industry, a vast market that would welcome our green image source of healthy herbs.
At Neals Yard Herbal shops in London the common nettle, dandelion,burdock root, dock, etc., will sell for over 50 pence an ounce, or �896 per cwt. How many hundredweight of herbs are going to waste on your land this year?
Kilbeacanty needs a herbal industry, drying and processing facility to cash in on the wealth. Interested? Why not explore this venture as the century comes to a close. Competition from other world sources threaten our traditional farming survival. As beef and lamb prices move up and down herbal medicine gains more and more popularity. Now is the time for Ireland to cash in on this popularity, offering wild Irish herbs to Europe.
In Gort a small package of elderflower tea bags sells for �1.25 or so. We are importing them from Germany! Meanwhile our better elderflowers are allowed to go to waste on the bush.
Hawthorn use:
Flowers: Pick in the spring and make a tea - 1 teaspoonful to a cup of boiling water - leave to stand for 10 minutes then drink. Good for high blood pressure and cleaning out the cholesterol from those clogged blood vessels.
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