Get well · Cold-weather care

The Winter Throat & Hearth Crate

A wooden crate for someone hunkered down: a jar of dark honey, a bottle of elderberry syrup, a warm flaxseed pillow and thick wool socks. Make each piece or buy it ready, your call.

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Batch: Makes 1 crate
Preparation: About 2 hours by hand · 20 minutes ready-made

Wooden crate with oranges, corked jars and a bottle, wrapped in a floral cloth

Shop supplies

What you'll need

Apiary honeyRaw buckwheat or sourwood honey, 1 lb jarFind an apiary
DIY or ready-madeDried elderberries, 2/3 cupDIY supplies Ready-made
DIY supplyFresh ginger, cinnamon stick, whole clovesShop
DIY supply8 oz amber swing-top bottleShop
DIY or ready-madeLinen fabric and whole flaxseed (pillow)DIY supplies Ready-made
DIY supplyWool socksShop
DIY supplySmall wooden crate and wood woolShop

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Choose the honey · Photo coming

Part 1

Choose the honey

1Pick a dark, robust honey such as buckwheat or sourwood. It holds its own stirred into hot tea or taken off a spoon.
2Tie the lid with twine and tag it with the honey and where it came from.

Elderberry syrup · Photo coming

Part 2

Elderberry syrup

3Simmer 2/3 cup dried elderberries, 3½ cups water, a thumb of sliced ginger, one cinnamon stick and four cloves for 45 minutes, until reduced by about half.
4Mash, strain through a fine sieve and let cool until just warm. Stir in 1 cup raw honey.
5Bottle, label with the date and keep refrigerated for up to two months. Elderberries must always be cooked, never eaten raw.

Flaxseed thermal pillow · Photo coming

Part 3

Flaxseed thermal pillow

6Cut two 8 × 12 inch rectangles of linen. Sew three sides with right sides facing, then turn out.
7Fill two-thirds with whole flaxseed and a spoonful of dried lavender if you like. Fold the open edge in and topstitch closed.
8Tag it: 'Warm 60 seconds, check, then in 15-second bursts. Or chill in the freezer.'

Pack the crate · Photo coming

Part 4

Pack the crate

9Line the crate with wood wool. Nest the honey and syrup upright, the pillow folded beside them, the socks tucked in rolled.
10Add a handwritten card. Something short and kind beats something clever.

A comfort gift drawing on traditional remedies, not a treatment. Never give honey or honey syrups to children under one year old.