The calendula field

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Thursday, my 4th day on the farm, it was calendula-picking-day (marigolds, or soucis in French). It ended up taking not just one day to pick the whole field (with 4 people) but several days because there were so many flowers! Look at this color, it was just stunning to be in the middle of the field picking these beautiful bright orange flowers, easy to pick off the stem. It was really a magical time to be 'working' in this place. As some people were walking by, hiking or walking their dogs, I saw them watching us, saying hello, and I thought: 'If I were them right now, I'd be wishing I were in that field picking these flowers and working on this farm' - and I was!

Of course I do recognize that there is a down-side to what looks like an ideal occupation, so I also want to share the other side of it: the heat and the strong sun, the backache after a while from bending down to pick and carrying the basket. The flowers and leaves are very sticky and make everything sticky as well (clothes, shoes, arms) and of course lots insects, which I am getting used to. A tricky part is also the bees: they sometimes hide under the flowers still 'sleepy' in the early morning then fly all around and are on most flowers when the sun is high: keeping a close watch is necessary to not get stung by accidentally pressing a bee while picking a flower!

With all of this, I still felt so happy to be working in this magical calendula field, it was very meditative, reflective and just taking in the beauty and abundance of nature.

Oh and what do we pick them for? Like cornflowers, calendula is also used in tea mixutres to beautify and bring color to the teas. Martin sells the dried flowers to someone who will use them both for teas as well as for medicinal use. And we also pick a couple more flowers to add color to our salads and water :-)

Wikipedia says: 'Calendula species have been used traditionally as culinary and medicinal herbs. The petals are edible and can be used fresh in salads or dried. The oil of C. officinalis is used as an anti-inflammatory and a remedy for healing wounds.'









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Location: 4634 Wisen, Switzerland

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