Interesting facts about the herb borage aka star flower

Hmm, originally I was going to post a few pictures from my garden of a new herb I'm growing this year in my garden, called borage.  Even my nursery where I went to find it had never heard of it and it took 2 weeks for them to get a pot in for me.  It's beautiful flowers are edible and taste like cucumber believe it or not.  Though I did originally try the hairy leaves when the plant was younger. Gag me with a spoon, they were slightly fishy tasting for my taste despite a hint of cucumber, but I vowed not to waste my 5-year old aged cheddar cheese sarnie that the chopped up leaves were tucked into.  Lesson learnt there!  



I then started to do abit of research on it and was amazed at the history of this herb.  It goes back to Celtic days, with warriors consuming borage wine before going into battle (think of Mel Gibson in the movie Braveheart).  Maybe that's my reason for Celtic artwork (and also part of the tattoo I have on my back - which consists of a Celtic swirl)?

As some of you know from my vlog I did last month for a DOC project .  I've been battling depression for the better part of the year.  Nothing to do with diabetes, but just life in general.  I'm now on anti-depressant meds and going into my 3rd week of popping what I call effectionately "my happy pills".  My biggest fear of going onto anti-depressants was that like insulin, I would be on them for life.  Some people are, especially those dealing with chronic pain and other problems that require them to help make their brain fuses function better (this is my wording as to how I see these pills helping out my sponge brain).  For myself, the meds I'm on the therapist doesn't see me being on them beyond perhaps 6 months and she has told me that I should have no fear of becoming hooked on them forever.  Time will tell - but so far - I am seeing improvement despite the early days.

What I discovered about borage is that it's been traditionally associated with good spirts and well being aka anti-depressant for the feeling of elation it induces.  Even better, to find courage you should tuck a borage blossom in your pocket before any stressful situation, or drink a tea or glass of wine flavoured with borage leaves. According to what I also read, borage tea is "said" to increase psychic powers ( hmmm, see my previous blog post on bending metal ).

I will bore you no longer with little bits of folklore with this beautifully flowered but hairy leaf plant (that I should have put in my garden - not in the container that you see below as it's almost a tree!!).  I will leave it up to you to explore the further possibilities of the herb called borage (Borago officinalis) or star flower that originates from Syria.