Stay healthy this winter with herbal tea, nature's own gentle medicine.

There is a herbal tea for every ailment

When it's cold out there and the wind is a-blowing, there is nothing like a good old cup of tea to warm the cockles of the heart. But by adding milk or sugar we lose much of the health quality of warm drinks, which makes herbal tea a great alternative to keep us hydrated during winter. Plus, the healing properties of herbs is a wisdom that dates far back into our history, and still holds true today.

Herbal teas can help address certain minor health issues, but of course in more severe cases other medications would probably be best. Below are some of the more widely available teas that can help aid our bodies.

Green Tea

Fairtrade Label South Africa celebrated their first ambassador this week, award-winning musician Loyiso Bala.

Loyiso visits a Fairtrade funded crèche (Photographer: Sydelle Willow Smith)

Joining the rest of the mingling media, we sipped delicious Fairtrade wine under the cool trees of Oude Libertas farm estate. Speeches commenced after the old slave bell was rung: the sound of irony.

'I plan to not just be a face, but to really get involved hands-on, so that hopefully this same time next year I can tell you about all the amazing Fairtrade projects I have been involved in,' commented Loyiso jovially during his speech last Tuesday.

The latest eat in magazine is now on the shelf and worth laying your hands on to drool over the winning foods that include Earthshine's range of Kale Chips (innovation award), Croft Chickens (best organic or free-range producer), Oude Bank Bakkery (best small producer: Bakery) and Boon Hill Salad Leaves (best small producer: Earth).

This edition is labelled the ultimate green shopping guide and lists farmers' markets, organic vegetables, sustainable seafood and free-range beef etc.

It also has a section on shopping ethically in SA, where urban sprout makes it to the list of websites to visit to stay in the green! (good to know we're still well regarded out there)

Get your copy at a stockist near you.

See our event calendar for details

Bolo'Bolo , the new vegan restaurant open on Palmer Road, is more than your average eatery...

Bolo Bolo interior contains an air of effortless style

Palmer Road’s vegan restaurant has just changed hands and its new name, Bolo’Bolo, makes reference to a anthropological joke - the fictional name given to societies that don’t follow normal cultural patterns. Proud new owner Aragorn has experience in this type of business before, having opened and ran South Africa’s first vegan restaurant ‘Earth2’ while he was still living in Johannesburg some years ago.

One Struggle – a conference on social justice, animal rights and radical environmentalism - took place in Muizenberg last Saturday (18 Feb) thanks to the South African Vegan Society.

The conference focused on the rights of animals, the environment and human beings.

Hearing about the One Struggle conference, I was immediately excited; the South African Vegan Society represent a genuine passion for true authentic societal change, and I knew this would be reflected in any event they organised.

When we arrived in the afternoon, was busy giving her talk on veganism and food security in Cape Town: explaining how being vegan is better not only for animals, but for people and the earth too. The young lady really sounded like she knew her stuff, and displayed all the facts to back up her statements.

‘We may be making attempts to save water in our home due to turning off taps and showering instead of bathing, but when 85% of our water waste is on our plate it is important that we re-evaluate our diet. And this is not mere theory – the U.N. have been urging people to eat local and plant-based for years,' she explained, adding: 'But it is not just our diet that must change, but the production system of our diet.’

Opening up discussion to the audience, there were

The Haven Night Shelter Welfare Organisation plans to further empower Cape Town’s homeless

Michael Valentine- project manager of new exciting gardening and worming project

Wynberg Haven Shelter's dusty yard seemed empty save for a handful of the loitering residents smoking cigarettes, playing with an old exercise bike or just staring blankly into space. The huge trees danced restlessly as we greeted a certain Michael Valentine.

What is the story behind our food?

Local artisans and food producers

Food With A Story, an online artisanal and ethical food producer’s directory, is the brainchild of couple Deni and Carlin Archer. Believing passionately that people's food choices have a powerful effect on the world, they hope to raise awareness around food consumption through the collection of positive and ethical stories on their website.

The idea behind it is that by knowing how your food is grown - as well as understanding the impacts this may have on the environment - consumers are them empowered to make better choices.

National Geographic: Orpington

Previously we gave you 10 great reasons to look into keeping your own urban chickens.

Now we take a look at some suitable home-range breeds, where to get them, and what you can expect to pay.

CocoáFair is the first organic bean-to-bar chocolate factory in Africa based on social entrepreneurship.

I do not realise on entering the factory of CocoáFair, tucked into the corner at the Biscuit Mill in Woodstock, that I'm about to learn more about social entrepreneurship than I am about chocolate.

For many of us just the promise of locally made, artisan, organic chocolate is enough of an invitation to have us reaching for a taste...and believe me, having sampled, it is a mouth-watering experience.

But Thor soon explains, as I query the name, that yes, CocoáFair is definitely about the fairness involved in the way the cocoa is traded, but the emphasis is also very much on the 'affair' with cocoa – not only the love of it, but the relationship of cocoa with the people who grow it, and the people who turn it into chocolate.