Once we went to the forest to collect another batch of Ivan-tea. The weather was excellent all day - a bright sun was shining in the morning, but by noon clouds appeared, which captured the entire sky for an hour. But these were not rain clouds, although they always very well complement the composition of any photograph. There is a lot of Ivan tea in the forest and it grows in large colonies in glades and forest edges.
Every time I go to the forest for Ivan-tea or other herbs (medicinal), then the mood becomes wonderful. You feel so good in the forest, the clean air is like balm. It is pleasant to collect Ivan-tea, there is a lot of it in the forest in the glades and edges. But one day it was at this place that I met wolves. They came out of the forest, but they did not catch my scent, because the wind was blowing from them.
First, one wolf emerged from a small birch forest, followed by a second, third and fourth. And the wolves were only 60-80 meters away from me. It was interesting to watch them, but at the same time it became somehow scary from their number. Even though I had a weapon with me (both firearms and cold ones - I don’t go to the forest without it), but when there are so many wolves, it somehow becomes uncomfortable.
It's one thing when one animal, and here there are so many of them at once... I made a noise in the Ivan-tea bushes (and he is more than 2 meters high), and then fired into the air. At first, the wolves looked at me with interest. But after the shot, they instantly jumped into this shallow forest and disappeared into the forest. They ran in one direction, and I in the other to the car. It was already evening time and somehow I didn't want to stay in the forest.
As you can see in the photographs, now in July there are a lot of Oregano in the forest. Every year I also collect this wonderful herb so that I can drink my homemade tea from Ivan-tea with it. In mid-July in the forest, in general, there are many different herbs, ranging from the same Oregano and Ivan-tea to Thyme, sage and St. John's wort. To this set you can add a variety of berries from wild strawberries and raspberries to forest cherries.
We also collect a lot of mushrooms in our forests - from porcini mushrooms (boletus mushrooms), boletus and aspen mushrooms to mushrooms, butter, russula, camelina and honey agarics. But this is not a complete list of mushrooms, something I probably missed? Our forests, as you can see in the photo, are mixed. There are pines and spruces, birches, alders and oaks. But most of all, our forests in the middle of the steppe consist of birch - a kind of okrug.
Here is a great example of how oregano grows in the forest, where there is a lot of it. It is found in whole glades and at the time of flowering there are so many different insects that come to feast on the nectar of oregano flowers. Interestingly, during this period of summer time, a lot of different butterflies fly to oregano. Both large and small. And the color of the butterflies is also different...
Here you can see a lot of butterflies in the glades where oregano grows - from black and burgundy to white, yellow and all sorts of spotted. Well, for a photographer who loves the macro genre, this is a real paradise. And before us in the photo is a summer and beautiful landscape, where the sun shines so strongly and brightly that such unreal and fantastic shots are obtained. Beauty of nature.
All photographs are directly related to the topic of my reflections, because I went to the forest. And these are just beautiful photos about our amazing nature of the South Urals. Well, since beauty is the basis of any creativity, it means that here photos are perfect to admire, reading a post about our forest and the beauty of amazing nature.
The process of making fermented Ivan tea consists of several stages, which I will briefly describe here. This is collecting the leaves of Ivan tea (fireweed narrow-leaved), wilting the leaves, rolling the leaves (or rolling in a meat grinder, as in my photo, or another moment of preparing and fermenting the leaf is freezing), fermentation of leaves, drying, storing and brewing your homemade tea. But it is about all these stages that I will have a separate post, because a lot of material is obtained, both photographs and text. And I would not want to overload posts in this way. It is necessary to read the entire text for the community members and look at the photos easily and easily.
Summarize. What are the magical and healing properties of Ivan tea?
• Improves blood composition;
• Reduces intoxication of the body;
• Relieves food and alcohol poisoning;
• Increases immunity;
• Restores strength when exhausted;
• With stones in the liver, kidneys and spleen diseases;
• Strengthens the hair roots;
• Vitamin "C" in "Ivan-tea" is 6.5 times more than in lemon;
• Eliminates headache; Normalizes blood pressure;
• Has astringent and anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic properties;
• Natural sedative for stress, nervous stress;
• With hypertension, atherosclerosis and anemia;
• With gout and salt metabolism disorders;
• Heals ulcers of the gastrointestinal tract;
• With stones in the liver, kidneys and spleen diseases;
• With internal bleeding, painful menstruation;
• Reduces intoxication with cancer;
• Helps get rid of prostatitis and prostate adenoma;
• Strengthens potency;
• Effective in diseases of the genitourinary system (powerful prevention of prostititis);
• Scars stomach and duodenal ulcers;
• Increased immunity to respiratory viral infections;
• Prevention of caries.
Fireweed tea has been drunk in Russia since ancient times. In the heat, he quenched thirst, warmed in the cold, healed the sick, and invigorated the tired. Most of this tea was prepared in the village of Koporye near St. Petersburg. Therefore, they began to call the drink, and later Ivan-tea itself, Koporye tea. Hundreds of poods of Ivan tea from Koporye remained inside the state, and a large one was exported. Abroad, Koporye tea was as famous as Persian carpets, Chinese silk and Damascus steel. In a word, he personified Russia, was its trade mark. A curious fact - Great Britain sold Indian tea from its vast plantations, but she herself preferred to drink Koporsky tea, annually purchasing it from Russia in tens of thousands of poods. Why is that? Maybe because to sophisticated Englishmen, Russian tea seemed tastier and healthier than an exciting and tart Indian drink? But the popularity of the Koporye product gradually turned out to be so great that it began to undermine the financial power of the East Indian Tea Company.
The owners of the company could no longer tolerate such a strong competitor in the tea market. And, in the end, the Indian planters got their way: the trade in Koporye tea in England was suspended. Gradually, the Europeans became more and more accustomed to the Asian product. And the First World War that began soon, then the October Revolution, the civil massacre and the economic blockade of Russia completed their dirty work: the production of Russian tea in Koporye was practically destroyed. Gradually, even the mention of it began to disappear from the memory of the people. By and large, since then Russia has never produced or drank its wonderful, healing, unique tea. And now the great national wealth remains practically ownerless. But still, in the 90s of the last century, the revival of the former glory of Ivan-tea began. More and more enthusiastic producers of this primordially Russian drink are appearing. More and more people are mastering ancient recipes and preparing ivan tea on their own for themselves and their loved ones.
-original photo;
-first publication;
-camera Sony 16.2.
(Translated via Google translator from Russian)
They can be viewed in large size by clicking on the photo.
For insertion into a post on Ecency and Hive, the size is reduced to 1280 x 960 points..
Photo taken - Sony 16.2 - 3x Zoom, Vario-Tessar lens.