According to a recent study published in New Scientist, spraying a pen full of pigs with lavender oil made the pigs less aggressive and appear calmer, suggesting that there is a biochemical reaction to something in the lavender oil. If you buy a lavender sachet to put into your pillow to help relax, you might feel calmer simply through association. The placebo effect (probably) doesn't work with pigs.
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Sadly the study didn't say how much lavender oil was needed per pig, nor exactly how less aggressive they became, which means that filling my pump-action water pistol with lavender-scented water and squirting it at the next feral boar that decides to chase me probably won't calm it down. It might even annoy the pig further.
Why do I have a pump-action water pistol? It's to deter snakes from around the house and goannas from the chook shed. I keep the water pistol in the fridge, and squirt any snake sleeping on the paving around the house, or egg-stealing goanna in the chook house. According to yet another study, cold water is painful for reptiles, though that doesn't stop red bellied black snakes swimming in our ice-cold creek on hot summer days.
I have no idea if the cold water really has any effect, or the snakes or goannas just don't like being squirted, but so far it's worked.
Back to herbs. The French lavender is flowering now next to the house, and the scent is glorious, even if French lavender flowers don't contain as much oil as the English lavender ones used to extract oil. The rosemary bush is blooming too, though rosemary leaves are more fragrant than the flowers.
The scent of rosemary is said to help memory, if you care to sprinkle a little on your sleeve before an exam or going grocery shopping. Rosemary's scent makes me think of liniment for sprained ankles, though a large branch placed in the oven with a leg of lamb, pizza, vegetable lasagne, a roasting chicken or potatoes in their skins definitely makes me happy. You don't need to place a rosemary branch in the baking pan - you may end up with tough spikes of rosemary in the gravy. Rosemary's odour is so strong that you just need to place the branch in the oven to perfume any food it's cooked with.
There are many herbs said to bring a feeling of calm, though most research has been done with lavender, as so much is in commercial cultivation. Some herbs, like ginger, mint and lemon verbena are also said to help digestion, so any calming may come from easing tummy grumbles. Mint also stimulates the cold receptors on the tongue, so any drink or fruit salad may seem cooler with added mint, unless you are making gingermint tea, a lovely cuppa to sip in mid winter.
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Chamomile is the main ingredient in teabags that claim to help you sleep, and there does seem some evidence behind the claim. Sadly any chamomile flowers old enough to look dusty or falling to bits taste like dried compost, which is why those tea bags often contain a more delicious herb as well. You also need to steep chamomile flowers for about 10 minutes to release the active ingredient, so pre-steeping and reheating as needed works best, especially if you use fresh flowers - both annual and perennial chamomile are easy to grow, as long as you are a dedicated weeder, and they are easily crowded out. Fresh chamomile tastes of summer and flowers and can be delicious served chilled with ice in mid summer - but chamomile does need to be fresh to taste good.
One herb that really works is the pollen from hop flowers. A friend and I became unexpectedly hilarious while picking baskets of the flowers, and breathing in the masses of pollen we could see floating around us. It was certainly relaxing, but I've never tried it again.
But tonight there'll be a bunch of lavender by the bed. I might even dream of happy pigs, smiling at the scent of herbs.
This week I am:
- Watching carpets of camelias spread under the bushes. Soon they will be carpets of brown squishy blobs, but now they are gorgeous.
- Making cumquat cordial, and giving some to a friend who makes 'cumquat gin'.
- Gazing at the short grass mown three weeks ago and smug because it won't need mowing again for weeks, or months.
- Wishing I hadn't planted so many bok choi, but they, onions and kale grow superbly in our cold winters.
- Watering indoor plants - both cold and artificial heating really dry out both pots and leaves.
- Keeping an eye on our chooks. Various strains of bird flu have been found in poultry farms in Victoria and NSW, and a far more deadly form for birds, which might mutate to spread more easily to humans, may appear in Australia when birds fly south again on their annual migrations. Make sure your birds have clean water, which isn't shared by wild birds; change their bedding often; and avoid used cartons if you're giving eggs away. If your chooks free range, using netting to fence off trees where wild birds perch, as that's where their droppings will be that can spread disease. I hate saying this - we live on a migration path for many bird species, as well as all the resident wild ones - but there's a real chance of a biosecurity crisis, with major losses of wild birds as well as hens. Most importantly, if your hens look ill, act strangely or die for no obvious reason, call the 24-hour Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline on 1800 675 888.
Jackie French
Jackie French is an Australian author, historian, ecologist and honourary wombat (part time), 2014-2015 Australian Children' Laureate and 2015 Senior Australian of the Year. She also writes a gardening column for The Canberra Times.
Jackie French is an Australian author, historian, ecologist and honourary wombat (part time), 2014-2015 Australian Children' Laureate and 2015 Senior Australian of the Year. She also writes a gardening column for The Canberra Times.
