A Very Happy Christmas To You All...

Seasonal magical festive greetings to you all, herbies! Whether you're in a freezing European winter or by the fire in the Americas, or in warmer climates, Christmas ain't Christmas without some spicey drinks! Cinnamon, ginger, tangerines all featured heavily as part of our Christmas reportoire of redolent spices. However the mints and lemon balm also made their way in for their calming and digestive properties. A few alcholic beverages, from spritzers to mulled wine, also tempted our taste buds - and we had kvass as well, Christmassy via virtue of it's lovely red colour! It was great to see so many entries and we nod to them all below before announcing the winners! Regardless, we wish you all a very merry Christmas and we will see you for a challenge in late January - we'll be taking a break for the silly season, but rest assured we'll still be giving out upvotes for #plantmedicine related content, so keep them coming!

@blackberryskunk shared her recipe for beautiful, dark red beetroot kvass

@mamrita made a simple Christmas drink with cinnamon, star anise and ginger. She also shared some really interesting details about the benefits of star anise, particularly as she's studying it and recieving the benefits from it:

In TCM star anise is a plant that belong to the category 'Herbs that warm the Interior and/or expel Cold'. Herbs in this category are used for Internal Cold with Qi Deficiency and/or Yang Deficiency. Star anise is thought to target the spleen, the stomach, the kidney, and the liver. In TCM the spleen assists with digestion. I found this particularly interesting since my TCM practitioner says that my main issue is my spleen, it's unbalanced and doesn't have enough energy to support my digestion.

@annafenix shared a lemon balm infusion - perfect for digestion too, and also for anxiety or frayed nerves from too much socialising, in my humble opinion! @annafenix is a keen kitchen herbalist and it was great to see her make her first post in the community.

@gomezmarve shared a ginger and cinnamon tea recipe. These two spices certainly make their way into a lot of Christmassy drinks! Did you know ginger is not only good for the digestion, but can relieve pain? @septymahija also shared their version of a ginger tea, which they use for hangovers. Wise choice! @chacald.dcymt 's drink of choice was oregano, eucalyptus and tangerines. Tangerines really remind her of this time of the year - what about you?

@cirangela's drink got even more Christmassy with the additon of rum - a bit more of a complex recipe but looks well worth it for that very Christmassy taste!

The fruit and spice punch I'm sharing today is inspired by an infusion of mandarins, raisins and hibiscus flower with spices like cloves, cinnamon, star anise, which give it that mystical and Christmas touch without forgetting the rum.

@antoniohuiz shared a recipe for 'jamiaca water', made with hibiscus flowers. I bet you can't guess why these might suit the seasonal theme, can you, ahahah? Gorgeous!

@traisto made a Christmas tree out of the herbs she used for her herbal infusion - how creative! New to HIVE blogging, we're thrilled to see her post in this community. Welcome, herb lover!

@yolo chose a herbal infusion of oregano and holy leaf. I loved her Christmas outfit! Great to see people getting all seasonal with their selfies, bringing the good cheer!

@ironshield broke out the eggnog for this challenge - a very traditional drink! Don't you love this very happy selfie! Cheers, @ironshield! You know, I never thought of eggnog as medicinal, but reading this post, I definitely think it could be!

@sirenahippie went to great effort to make a Christmas spritzer! Hot drinks are not the best in hot countries for Christmas, so a fizzy rum drink with a homemade currant syrup and lemon balm is a lovely idea!

@paraurit shares his chocolate Christmas drink, with cinnamon, ginger and soy milk! Yum! @tere.alv also chose chocolate as her Christmassy drink.

Thriving from energy and magic, @clareartista made a lovely mulled wine:

The medicinal properties of the plants used are multifold - though I confess that I tend not to attribute a transactional property of specific symptom vs specific medicine - I tend rather to see the alchemical, holistic and even quantum medicinal-healing-transformative value of a plant/ material/ etc - ALL Natural Food is medicine, and has health-enhancing properties, and the more Natural Food we consume - especially organically grown and from immediately around us - the better we will feel, function and thrive. Working intuitively and aligned with the mystical-that-flows-through-all-things, I allow myself to be guided into What Magic Is Needed Most at this time - for self, for collective, for the Universe!

@kyleana made a lovely Christmas extract from vodka with Blackberries, tangerine shells, nutmeg, guayabitas, cloves
ginger, cinnamon. I can almost taste it, reading those ingredients!

The Winners...

With fifteen posts, we had 25 HIVE to distribute! The more that enter, the higher the HIVE winnings...thanks to all of you that joined in the Christmas spirit!

10 HIVE Prize: @sirenahippie. We loved the effort to which you went to to make a currant syrup and a add lemon balm and rum for a lovely warm weather Christmas drink. Your photos were lovely and you went to great effort to present a fantastic post.

10 HIVE: @traisto went to great effort to present her Christmas herbal drink as an arrangement of dried herbs as a Christmas tree. One of the newest members of our herbal HIVE community, we're pleased to support her and encourage her to contribute more of her herbal wisdoms here!

5 HIVE: @antoniohuiz - her recipe for 'jamaica water' was beautifully decorated with lovely hibiscus flowers, who by very virtue of their shape was Christmassy!

Congrulations to all - regardless of whether you won a prize, we hope you got something out of joining in. It was a pleasure to support you!

Have a very happy Christmas! We all give thanks to the earth and her plant medicines, and those that choose the herbal path.

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