Herbs And Hands

09/08/2023

Late Summer Foraging Course

Our next foraging course at Woven Earth will take place on Sunday 10th September 2023 starting at 10am. The venue is High Leas Farm at Riber near Matlock in Derbyshire.

The farm has a great diversity of wild plants and trees, together with established hedgerows and grassland. It employs “Holistic Restoration to weave Regenerative Production, Wilding and Nature Connection together for the benefit of people and ecosystems.” For more details visit http://www.heartwoodsfc.com/

As a medical herbalist I’ll be showing you which plants can be used therapeutically and for what conditions. As a forager I’ll be encouraging you to discover the plants that taste good and suggesting recipes we can use them in.

Everything happens at a leisurely pace, we don’t cover a great deal of ground as there’s always so much to look at right under our feet. There’s also plenty of opportunities to ask questions, share some of your own knowledge or just to stop and stare.

We return to the barn after our walk and share a herbal tea and some pre prepared foraged snacks.

The treats in store this time will be:

💥Cheesy Nettle Scones with hedgerow ketchup

💥Crab apple cake with haw syrup

The session will last around 3 hours. The cost is £40 per person and there are some concessions available for those on low income or who are retired. If you’d like to book a place, would like more information or have any queries please don’t hesitate to email me on info@herbsandhands.co.uk or give me a call on 07432 195574

Hope you can make it! 🍃 🌸

07/08/2023

I’m back at Revolution House in Chesterfield this coming Sunday. Should be a great day and fingers crossed for a bit of sunshine 🌞 Come and see me if you can and I’ll make you a lovely herbal tea 😃

24/05/2023

SUMMER FORAGING COURSE

The hedgerows, woods and fields are positively bursting with verdant life at the moment and an abundance of fabulous edible and medicinal plants are there for the taking!

Our next foraging course at Woven Earth will take place on Saturday 1st July 2023 starting at 10am. The venue is High Leas Farm at Riber near Matlock in Derbyshire.

The farm has a great diversity of wild plants and trees, together with established hedgerows and grassland. It employs “Holistic Restoration to weave Regenerative Production, Wilding and Nature Connection together for the benefit of people and ecosystems.” For more details visit http://www.heartwoodsfc.com/

As a medical herbalist I’ll be showing you which plants can be used therapeutically and for what conditions. As a forager I’ll be encouraging you to discover the plants that taste good and suggesting recipes we can use them in.

Everything happens at a leisurely pace, we don’t cover a great deal of ground as there’s always so much to look at right under our feet. There’s also plenty of opportunities to ask questions, share some of your own knowledge or just to stop and stare.

We return to the barn after our walk and share a herbal tea and some pre prepared foraged snacks.

The treats in store this time will be:

Wild Majoram and Nettle Scones
Meadowsweet fudge

The session will last approximately 3 hours. The cost is £40 per person. There are concessions available for those on low income or who are retired. If you’d like to book a place, would like more information or have any queries please don’t hesitate to email me on info@herbsandhands.co.uk or give me a call on 07432 195574

Hope to see you there! 🍃 🌸

08/05/2023

Such a great foraging session on Saturday morning at Woven Earth in Riber near Matlock, Derbyshire. A good turn out considering and I reckon King Charles would have approved with his love of nature and sustainability credentials. I did extend an invite to him but he was otherwise engaged 😃. Anyway I digress. We wandered through the fields finding loads of edible and medicinal plants and trees and made our own herbal tea along the way. Afterwards we relaxed in the barn with a little revision on what we’d seen and a meditation on the tea we’d made. Lastly but not least there was the preprepared wild garlic pesto with rosemary crackers and the cupcakes with buttercream and lavender seed. With an added drizzle of dandelion flower syrup these proved to be so monstrously sweet that no one could manage more than one, which now means I have lots to get through 😬

17/04/2023

Had an amazing weekend delivering workshops to Love Her Wild women’s festival at Waddow Hall near Clitheroe. First off we had a foraging walk on Saturday morning in the beautiful grounds and sun shone down upon us too! Later on I led workshops on women’s wellbeing and herbal medicine where everyone had the opportunity to make up their own special therapeutic blend of herbal tea. In the evening I was one of the speakers, talking about my other passion - caving of course!

What an inspiring gathering of women it was. There was so much love, support and laughter throughout the time we spent together. A truly powerful and moving experience and I’ve already invited myself back next year whether they want me or not 😃

15/02/2023

Flowers and herbs are undeniably beautiful with their delicate shapes, glorious colours and heavenly scents. But why do we give them as a symbol of our love? The tradition of giving flowers with meaning, (floriology), has been around for thousands of years, but was popularised in Europe in the 18th century when Charles the II of Sweden introduced the Person language of flowers, a custom in which meanings were attached to each type of flower.

In Victorian times the “Tussy mussy” or “talking bouquet” became very popular. Little handheld bouquets of wild flowers and herbs were carefully put together to send a secret message to the intended. It was a way of expressing feelings without the embarrassment of telling the recipient directly and perhaps running the risk of rejection!

So, for your information, the following flowers and herbs have these associations:
Red rose – true love and respect
Thornless rose – love at first sight
Red tulip – declaration of love
Primrose – I can’t live without you
Lemon balm – brings love
Thyme – strength and courage
Sage – wisdom and longevity
Dandelion – wishes come true
Forget me nots – true love and memories

You have no excuses for not putting the perfect bouquet together for your beloved now! And I’ll have a dozen red roses and a few dandelions please!

08/02/2023

When was the last time you lay in a field and gazed up at the clouds? Have you ever walked through the dew laden grass barefoot in the early morning? When did you last sit high on a hill and watch the sun slowly disappear below the horizon? Or lay in the soft, scented pine needles deep in a forest and listen to the whispering of the trees?

I had wanted to write this book for years and the pandemic gave me the opportunity to finally get down to it.
Wherever you find yourself right now, this book offers you an invitation to reconnect with the many gifts that nature has to offer us.

Down To Earth: How Nature Improves Our Mental Wellbeing

When was the last time you slowed down and watched the wildflowers dance in the breeze, listened to the babbling brook in the shady woods or gazed up at the clouds? This book is an invitation to reconnect with nature and recognise its importance for our mental health. It brings together the autho...

08/02/2023

Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis)

Now that we are well into February snowdrops are popping up everywhere. It is so heart-lifting to see them and it’s not surprising that the flower is also known as the Flower of Hope. Snowdrops are not native to this country, rather it is an alpine plant that is accustomed to snow and cold climes. It even has a little protective little leaf at the top of its stem in order to push through the snow as it emerges.

An old legend tells of Eve, having been banished from the garden of Eden and encountering her first sight of snow was found weeping by an angel. He took pity on her and blew onto some snowflakes turning them into snowdrops, telling her it was a sign of spring to come.

Snowdrop was traditionally used in the treatment of polio in Bulgaria and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that it reduced the incidence of paralysis from this condition. As such it has generated interest for the treatment of neurological conditions such as neuralgia, MS, ME and Parkinsons. In addition snowdrop lectin is undergoing research as a possible agent for combating retroviruses such as HIV/AIDS.

In the Caucasus mountains a variety of snowdrop (Galanthus woroniwii) has long been reputed to strengthen the brain and promote youthfulness. The alkaloid Glanthamine, found in the bulbs, has been found to slow the development of Alzheimer's disease. A synthetic form of Glanthamine is marketed under the name Reminyl for the treatment of mild to moderate dementia. Decreased acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter, is associated with the condition and Glanthamine increases levels of acetylcholine which may lead to improved memory.

However snowdrop is not a herb to be taken internally at home, the bulbs in particular contain toxic compounds which may even be fatal if ingested in quantity. So enjoy the sight of them growing in your garden instead in the knowledge that Spring is just around the corner!