🎂 Queen Bee is 50 years young! 🐝👸🏼 A celebration of life and nature 💚

Suddenly the day had come, and I turned 50 on 9.7! Think how incredibly lucky I am to have turned 50! ✨😄 I live to the fullest! And I actually live in the richest country in the world, without war and terror, and all my loved ones are safe, healthy and happy! 🤍🥰 What freedom and wealth that is!

By Renate LundeJul 22, 2024

I'm really looking forward to my fifties. There will be lots of life, full of fun, creativity, and energy! ⚡️🤩 There will be good people on all sides, young and old. So good! I'm so ready for a new decade with lots of fun and excitement, and I'm so looking forward to continuing to develop my green business, promote holistic health, communicate about nature's magical plants and interactions, increase my own knowledge, and create good things that are far bigger than me and myself! 🌿💚 What a freedom and richness it is! Being able to unfold and explore and create freely 🕊️

Check out the beautiful new beeswax earrings I got from Ylva 🎁❤️

The only thing I wanted for my 50th birthday is time and closeness with family and friends, and an immediate, permanent ceasefire and a FREE PALESTINE 🇵🇸 ! ❤️‍🩹 I have a wonderful and slightly wild family that I was able to bring together on the day, and every day I wait for our fellow human beings in Palestine to be able to do the same. Gather the family in safety. Let it happen!

On my day, we met for food and fun, and the only thing I struggled with was that I had forgotten both Konglepper and (which is on its way to becoming my new favorite) and all the other lippies! I had been running around and my lips had become dry, but luckily the sisters saved me with Konglepepper in their bag!! 💋🙏😅 Pjuh!!

By the way, today I'm also wearing Konglelepper and vetlasøstra Kine, who is with Vossabia and working today! 😚💋

🥳 Then it was time to enjoy the moment and the 50th birthday together! We had wonderful hours in the incredibly beautiful Porsvika 125, an incredibly beautiful place that is a combined restaurant/accommodation/garden/beach/bakery, and the food there is amazing! 😍 The crayfish soup for starters was intensely good! The three-course meal ended with stars in our eyes and a feast in our mouths with Fløyterand with yogurt from Ostegården in Bergen and sea buckthorn (and I love sea buckthorn!!)

After this great meal together, moving speeches and lovely time in the sunshine and beach life in Porsvika, I took the whole wild gang for a walk on the coastal path!

I surprised the family with a party and fun at our cabin Kvilepulsen 🎉 which is located on a rocky cliff surrounded by only heather and juniper, and we had a completely magical and perfect celebration! 💫

🎣 We fished until late at night, and that's when Panterbalsam really came in handy! 🦟 The knot woke up gradually and became very clingy and clingy. With Panterbalsam on our face, neck and décolleté, we didn't look as attractive, luckily! 😌

The jar of panther balm was shuttled between sisters, brothers-in-law, cousins and nephews, while we landed fish after fish on the pier! Perfect evening for me who loves to fish! 💆 It's pure meditation! And so nice to see that Jonatan has inherited the joy and peace of fishing for a long time! 🐡🐟

Purple heather and bell heather are blooming strongly in purple and pink amidst beautiful green juniper around the cabin and in the heaths everywhere. Soon the heather will also bloom, which is the most abundant. It is so pretty! 🤩 And there is so much interesting about heather! It is very important for the cultural landscape and grazing, and the bees depend on the heather's wealth of nectar 🐝 which provides heavy hives of heather honey in late summer. But, heather is also, of course, an exciting medicinal plant ❤️‍🩹

👉 The flowers are traditionally known for their antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects. They have a rich profile of bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, procyanidins, phenolic acids, catechins and triterpenes. Heather also contains arbutin and ursolic acid, both of which are valuable for skin care.

The flavonoids make heather have a strong antioxidant effect by blocking free radicals, which can cause loose skin, thinner skin and other skin problems that come from oxidative stress. However, antioxidants are the good helper that can strengthen the skin and remove free radicals 💪 and that's where heather can be your friend! There are also tannins in heather extract or tincture that can have an astringent and mildly exfoliating effect. Ursolic acid in heather is also a natural anti-inflammatory, and products with heather can therefore be useful in skin care for red, itchy skin 🙌

Well, isn't it fantastic!! 😃 And this is just the heather! Then we have seaweed and kelp, and then the beautiful, powerful juniper by the sea. Maybe I just have to develop a coastal series now!?! 🤔😁

🌸 By the way, heather has been known for its medicinal properties since time immemorial, and is even a priority for research. It can give you good health benefits as a tea, which is a great and low-threshold way to use nearby nature!

Health benefits of heather flower tea

· Can help with kidney and bladder problems, including disinfecting the urinary tract

· Can contribute to the prevention and treatment of gout, arthritis and rheumatism

· An effective home remedy for colds and coughs (this is the main reason I use heather flower tea!)

· May help relieve various gastrointestinal problems

Right now, many people are coughing and sneezing, and suffering from severe colds 🤧 So maybe I'll pick some heather now that it's in bloom, dry it, and make tea for everyone who comes by 😉

Wildflower tea ☕️🌸

· Boil 2 cups of water in a small saucepan.

· Fill two tea spoons with dried (or fresh) heather flowers – 1 tablespoon in each spoon

· Put the tea tongs in the pot, remove from heat, and let steep for about 10 minutes.

· Pour into two tea cups, and sweeten with honey when the tea has cooled slightly, and optionally add a little lemon.

👉 PS When drinking ragweed tea, be aware that there may be potential side effects associated with this tea, and you should not drink more than 1-2 cups at a time:

⚠️ Too much heather tea can cause liver damage

⚠️ Pregnant and breastfeeding women should not drink sea buckthorn tea.

⚠️ Wild marigold tea is so strong that it can affect the effects of some medications (especially those related to the urinary and digestive systems).

🏖️ Will you be taking a coastal walk this summer? Bring a small basket or paper bag, and join in making some sea buckthorn tea! And be sure to enjoy the changing and always beautiful light, and sunsets and everything you can soak up! ☀️🌅

Warm regards,
Queen bee 🐝 in Vossabia