Follow me!

Thanks to everyone who attended the Hulme Herb Walk last week and survived the heat! I think it was probably the hottest day of the year so far, good job I brought the sun cream with me.

Of course it almost had to be called off as the week before, the council in their wisdom had strimmed the whole area, decimating quite a few of the plants I wanted to show. Thankfully the were not very efficient and had missed quite a few. However it was not exactly the meadows filled with beautiful wildflowers that I was hoping for. Oh well I suppose I was wanting to show the survival of our native species against the adversity of inner city living! Anyway we managed to see about 20 plants out of the 28 I had planned in an hour and a half, ending back at the Garden Centre for a cup of fresh Lyme flower or hay-fever tea. All in all a very pleasant if a little heat exhausting event.

What this event also allowed me to do was to set up my new stall! This is something I have been working on over the past few months developing lots of new products. I am now selling lots of soaps, teas, creams, bath oils, flower water spritzers and a range of tinctures which can be used for sleep, hay-fever, stress, digestive problems…. Anyhow here are some pics from the walk and a video of me waffling about the Elder……again! Scroll down for more news about the stall!

My new stall

I have mainly been thinking about doing the stall at festivals and markets but setting it up at the Garden Centre, especially in their cute little hut, has given me the idea of making it a permanent fixture there. So over the next few months I am going to be running it once a month to trial how it goes with the hope that it could run once a month. This is great opportunity to come and trial some herbal medicine and have a chat with me about how it could help you or your family.

First stall is this Saturday 10th July 11.30 – 3.30pm with other stalls on Saturday 21st August and 11th September, same time.

Well here it is my second installment of my Marigold Healing Balm Project.

Here I demonstrate how to pot on the seedlings that have grown from the seeds planted in my first video.

I am really looking forward to these going onto the allotment and fingers crossed producing a load of beautiful sunny flowers.

Next Gathering and Making the Balm!

It seems ages ago now, although in fact it was only the weekend before last, but in my busy schedule I have only just got round to writing up my day at the Chorlton Big Green Festival. Never mind it was thankfully a memorable one.

Mind you the preparation for the day actually began weeks ago with planting out my Marigold seeds and building my new Ethnomedica stand. The last few days before Festival being given over to creating the mini herb garden with Karen from the Hulme Community Garden Centre and a mad panic rush getting my new practice leaflet printed. (Note to self: Don’t leave printing to the last minute; rows in print shops do not go along with my image of being a calm yummy herbalist!) Anyway eventually at about 10pm on the Friday eve I managed to collapse on the sofa with a can of cold beer having just dropped of umpteen boxes, bowls, posters, herb gardens and Marigolds at St Clements ready for the morning.

After all that, setting up was actually fairly straight forward. This gave me a little time before we opened to have a look around the site. I must say that the space we were in on the top floor of the Church was stunning with its beautiful window, arched ceiling and wooden floor, it added a calming spirit to the event. Outside in the grounds many other stall where busily being put up and delicious smells where wafting past from the various delicacies on offer from the food stalls. I was however quite glad that I was inside as although it was sunny it was cold!

Just before 11 Sue the Wellbeing space organiser (thanks for all the hard work Sue!) gathered all the stall holders together to introduce ourselves and after a bit of harmonious humming we opened to the public.

I must admit that the next five hours are a bit of a blur. I know I must have spoken to hundreds of people because my voice went very deep and croaky just before 4pm when I was due to start my herb walk. I don’t know if it was the Reiki from the next door stall holder, the emergency piece of cake I sent Brian out for or the sage leaves I chewed from my handy herb garden but by the time we gathered for the start of the walk I was back to normal, phew.

Judging from the cards in the Ethnomedica chest quite a lot of those hundreds where remembering their childhood herbal remedies and contributing to our project. Dock leaves for nettle stings as always where a favourite as was comfrey for bruises cuts and rheumatism. Nettle tea used as a hair conditioner was a new one on me but apparently it works. Others included Lavender for sleeping and warmed olive oil in the ear for earache. Big thanks for all who contributed; these will be sent on to Kew Gardens and added to the records.

Of course the major event of the afternoon was my demonstration of how to make a Marigold Healing Balm. I was a bit trepidatious about this to begin with as there where only about 2 people watching at the start but by the end there was quite a crowd. I feel really inspired by it actually and am thinking about developing Green Man Remedy Demo parties as a side line! Have included some pics of the demo, at some point I am going to do a video to add to my growing collection on YouTube.

So finally the day ended with my herb walk. This involved walking from the church down to Chorlton Green and back again; i.e. a very short distance. However we managed to see; Groundsel, Oregon Grape, Chickweed, Hawthorn, Daffodil, Herb Robert, Dandelion, Dock, Feverfew, Wood Avens, Nettles, Periwinkle and ending up under a beautiful Horse Chestnut tree who’s unctuous sticky buds where just opening up. Not bad for especially considering the late spring and the freezing wind!

Thankfully by the time I got back Brian had packed most of the stall away which just left me the heavy stuff to lug to the car (thanks B!). This gave me just enough time to hang out with some old and new friends before it was back home for tea.

All told this was a really successful and enjoyable day. It was a shame I didn’t have time to also enjoy the rest of the festival but hey I’m not complaining. Thanks again to the organisers of the festival and to those who visited the Wellbeing area and my stall for making it such a great day.

Is it me or does spring seem late this year? Perhaps its not; I guess that after the winter we have just had it just feels like it is. I must say though it is wonderful to wake up and it be light, after all we are only a few weeks away from the spring equinox. I also love the feel of the sun on my face and the smell of the earth as it warms up on days like today. It almost makes me glad of the winter so that I can look forward to these treats in the early spring. 

Out in the garden all sorts of plants are emerging. All around there are snowdrops under trees, crocuses on the park and even a few daffodils. Whilst I ate my lunch today I spotted a pair of blackbirds, a robin, a wren, bluetits and even a goldfinch feeding on our bird table. A marvellous display until Louis, my cat, appeared to eat his lunch and frightened them all away!

Given that it has been such a glorious day here I also decided to go for a walk and see if I could spot any medicinal plants. I was particularly on the lookout for some Coltsfoot flowers as these are often one of the first herbs to appear. Thankfully I wasn’t disappointed and managed to find a few clumps that have just emerged on some rough ground round the corner. They were really low to the ground with their lovely bright yellow faces directly in the mid-day sun. As you can see from the pictures they have tiny four petaled flowers that make up the central disc which is surrounded by a multitude of silky ray petals. This is characteristic of the Compositae family of plants that include Sunflowers and Dandelions. Their scientific name is Tussilago farfara which is easy to remember when you know its main medicinal use which is as a cough remover – “tuss” refers to cough and “farfara” to far far away!

The other herb that I spotted which was growing in great perfusion down the side of the dual carriage way was Chickweed – Stellaria media. I also spotted some in the park which is where these pictures came from; saved me from getting squished on the side of the road. Chickweed is an ephemeral which means that it can grow from seed to maturity and then dies in the space of weeks not months. It therefore can be found fresh at most times of the year but especially from early spring onwards. Its flowers are tiny with white petals that when open look like little stars, hence Stellaria. It can be used as a salad plant and I have even seen recipes for Chickweed Pesto! However, it is a skin herb that it is used medicinally, often eternally in an oil or ointment to help with the itch of eczema. Looking at these pictures you can almost see how this plant works as its leaves look cooling and moistening, ideal for hot dry itchy conditions.

Anyway as write this the sun has disappeared here in Hulme and grey clouds are rolling in. Hopefully not for too long and as the world warms up again no doubt more signs of spring will emerge. That reminds me I must get on with weeding the allotment!

Here is the first installment of my Marigold Project where over the coming months I am going to show you how to grow, harvest and use Marigolds. In this video I demonstrate how to plant up the seeds to grow in a propagator. Hope you find this helpful, let me know what you think!

Visit my Marigold page to find out more about this beautiful herb and project.

I have just bought a new camera! I am very excited by it as not only does it take great photos but it does video as well. I especially like the macro setting which takes really good close ups, fab for taking pics of plants.

So armed with my new toy I hope to keep a visual diary of the changing seasons and a log of the herbs that are growing all around us.

Here are a few shots I took on a very cold a frosty Valentine morning on a walk around Hulme where I live. 

The Ethnomedica Project is run by Kew Gardens. It is recording the remembered herbal remedies that have been passed down through families or ones that people remember someone telling them about. This is our oral tradition which is in danger of being lost.

I have just become a collector for this project so if you have any family or old remedies that you would be happy to be recorded please contact me.

Now is the time that the beautiful little coltsfoot flowers begin to appear. These are perhaps the earliest spring flowers, along with the snow drops and crocuses. They tend to grow on waste land so are good one for city dwellers to spot. Mind you if you are gathering them try to find a place free of dogs!

I have make a… cough syrup from these using a similar process to the one I use for my Thyme & Onion Syrup.

I also found this great blog called Eat Weeds that has an intersting page on Coltsfoot with a video by Chris Holland showing how to identify the plant and introducing the culinary and medicinal properties.

These are some pics of Coltsfoot I found on wikimedia common:

Just had a great afternoon at the Chorlton Happy Swap Party on the Chrolton Plant Swap stall. Met John Leech, Lib Dem MP for Withington and had a really good chat with him about Statutory Regulation for herbalists.

Also made some good contacts for possible future events including a grow your own herbal medicine cabinet workshop hopefully in May and for a herb walk/demo/stall at the Chorlton Big Green Festival in March.

Will keep you all informed when these confirmed.

Happy New Year! As the winter takes its toll and there seems to be lots of nasties floating about I have written up my recipe for Thyme & Onion Cough Syrup, one of my beat flu remedies.

This is really easy to make, using simple ingredients that you may have in the kitchen cupboard. I developed this recipe from one given to me by my friend Kath which was passed to her through her family. It is therefore a real traditional family remedy which is used because it works!

In fact onions are one of the main plants that people tend to remember being used as medicine. Kew Gardens is currently collecting many of these recipes as part of their Ethnomedica Project. I am in the process of becoming a volunteer for this project so that I can help to record our oral traditions and hopefully revive some of these old remedies.