Rosehips and the second world war
We are all in it
Many times I feel the need to rub my eyes, pinch my skin and check if I am asleep, just having a nightmare or awake. While driving to work this morning and listening to an interesting Youtube documentary about the second world war and incredible acts of bravery it suddenly occured to me that actually nowadays, most of us are one way or another in multiple wars.
In the second world war people had … hope. Hope that the war will end, that they will make it, that the sun will start shining again in peaceful times that they will be able to reclaim their lives and start again. The enemy was clear, the rules of engagement likewise. Their fear was of physical death, entrapment, brutality, hunger, people were able to join the underground movement and fight with a clear enemy in front of them.
Nowadays the majority is under threat and yet they don’t even know. The entrapment is of the mind, of free thinking, free will, freedom of expression is captured and locked somewhere, far far away until a time when nobody will even remember how it feels, how it looks like. A movie comes to my mind - “The Stepford Wives”
If you haven’t seen it, it will open your eyes. Cohercion techniques in full sight, pressure to join the hypnotised crowd, pleasing others and forgetting about ones needs and wants. Surely you will all notice similarities with our times. The pressure is there, the pills are there, the bug is in our hands … the phone, the smart one. What an irony … the smart phone makes us all .. placid even dumb! Interesting times!
So many words and nothing about rosehips! Well, you know that saying … when you start seeing, noticing something new, it will come to you from all corners and you will ask yourself .. how come that I was not aware of this and that? How come that I was so .. blind, lacked basic curiosity? I don’t know!
But a few good weeks ago I became aware of the importance of rosehips, hawthorn, lots of other berries one can find in this part of the world in abundance.
A delightful neighbour, one of those people you would like to clone and populate the world with, told me stories about the second world war and how her family was picking big bags of rosehips - one of the richest sources of vitamin C in the world - and making rosehip syrup during the war. Actually it was something entire communities were doing, encouraged by the government. They were not only preparing the syrup for themselves but for the troops as well. Why? Because the syrup, was compensating for the scarcity of vitamin C due to the delays in the supply chains and lack of imports. Who would have thought that rosehips would provide the levels needed to maintain a healthy immune system. I am convinced this was the case not only in England but worldwide in the territories ravished by the “hungry” war.
Time went by and very few people nowadays know that they can stop spending money on Vitamin C pills and go on a rosehip foraging session instead. This can be a solitary activity, an opportunity to be with your own thoughts, listen to the birds, feel the wind or rain drops on the skin …. reconnect with nature and shake the layers of conditioning piling on top of our souls. It can be a bonding session with your best friend or your family. You can make an adventure out of this all - prepare a packed lunch, a flask of coffee or tea and … off you go.
Will it take long to put it all together? Not at all. Of course you need patience but listen, you can do bits of the process while watching your favourite tv series or better still out on the terassa - if you are lucky - or why not in the kitchen while listening to some music and sipping a drink!
Here are the steps!
Trim off the stem and blossom end from the hip.
Wash them
You have two options at this point - put them in a plastic bag in the freezer and use them later or use them right away
I was planning to prepare rosehip syrup today but I am way too tired so I will leave it for another day. This is the beauty of using such fruits. You can use them right away or later. Simply remember to put the in the freezer, go and grab yourself a drink, a book and just rest. Tomorrow is another day!