The autumn harvest is abundant with hedgerow herbs, fruits and nuts that will help you stay healthy through the winter. On Apple Island we have been picking the elderberries, dark, lucious, ripe and glistening on the trees.  Elderberries, with some added rosehips, are astonishingly good anti-virals, full of vitamins that boost the immune system and help both to prevent and cure nasty colds and flu.

Covid19 can be a nasty business: some will require and receive medical treatment, or even hospitalisation. Others may have mild or unpleasant symptoms might well have to learn to rely on home treatments, with general medical advice available online.  Some herbal remedies can be very effective in soothing and alleviating the miseries of feeling ill. Let’s look to the garden and store cupboard.  There are many herbs with very useful properties.