Holistic Herbs

02/09/2025

Damsons / Prunus domestica ssp or Prunus insititia are my favourite wild plum variety and there are many types too. Apparently another plant we have the Romans to thank for. Though to originate in Syria, damson standing for 'the plum of Damascus'.
They contain: VitC, protein, potassium, fibre, phosphorus and 70% water.
Their rich indigo blue colour brings beneficial healing frequencies too 💙
I love adding them, chopped up, to my water kefir in it's 2nd ferment stage. Simply the most delicious fizzy healthy drink in my books

31/08/2025

Can't believe it's the last day in August, summer is coming to an end and Autumn is already making its presence felt as the hedgerows ripen with wild berries.
So I say goodbye to Summer with fond memories of time spent on the beach. I love this little beach on the West Wales coast in the Pembrokeshire national park as it is full of different colours of seaweeds.
The are more than 650 species of seaweeds in the UK. Seaweeds are marine macro algae, classified into 3 taxonomic categories : red, brown & green.
January to May are generally the ideal times to harvest the majority of edible and medicinal seaweeds.
High in iodine, seaweeds help to support the thyroid gland. Our thyroid glands are located in the neck. The thyroid creates hormones, such as thyroxine to regulate functions like metabolism.
If your thyroid is not functioning properly and is under active, you may feel ;tired, fatigued, weak muscles, depressed, gain weight and have high cholesterol.
Seaweeds are also good sources of Vit A&C, antioxidants and soluble fibre.
Chrondus crisps! / Irish moss and Fucus versicolosis / Bladder wrack are 2 seaweeds that I use in herbal medicine

19/08/2025

Wild Basil / Clinopodium vulgar is used much in the same way as Calamint.
It is in the Lamiaceae or Mint family
The leaves make a useful tea for coughs, fevers and digestion issues, being expectorant, diaphorectic and aromatic in actions.
I love spotting and learning about plants that are new to me and I had to research this little beauty to find out more about it.
It always amazes me how many medicinal plants line our countryside and even our wastelands and gardens if you look.

18/08/2025

11/08/2025

Just back from a mini break in Wales. Of course, I couldn't help but notice all the Wild medicinal flora and fauna.
From mushrooms at Gors fawr Stone circle in the Preseli's, possibly some kind of wax cap, witch's hat perhsps, to Purple Loosestrife, Valerian, Meadowsweet, Rosebay willowherb, and many others at Cors Caron Nature reserve, just north of Tregaron, with its peat bogs on the first day.
Next day, I headed over to Bedd Taliesin Bronze age Cairn, thought to be the burial site also of Talisen, Cheif Bard of the Island of Britain, with links to King Arthur, where Harebells covered the grassland. As it was the day after Lammas, there were some hazelnuts offered inside the entrance and even a Lyre, which I had a little play of and carefully put it back as found. After that, it was to The Bearded lake - Llyn Barfog, which has associations with King Arthur legends and the Fae. The lake wasnt possible to reach due to all the bracken but it was filled with Lilly pads and Heather adorned the hill sides. Legends says that if you find a Hawthorn with stones around it, then it is a faery tree and I think I must have found one 🧚
Then I headed up the mountains east of Machynlleth to Glaslyn Nature reserve which was like being in the middle of no where, on top of the world, just breath taking.
Last day was spent swimming in the sea at Mwnt, dolphin watching and then on the morning of coming home, after a storm had passed, a quick last glimpse of the sea at Trefin, with its different colours of seaweed

28/07/2025

Valeriana officinalis / Valerian is a beautiful medicinal plant with its heady, musky scented flowers, which you may like or not and it's striking leaves.
The root is used in medicine and the smell is very strong when making it into a decoction or tincture. I remember my first introduction to its smell in one of the clinics where I did my clinics practice, way back in 2001, and it reminded me of the elephant house smell at the zoo!
The herb, with its sedative action is wonderful for calming down the nervous system, treating hysteria and aiding a good night's sleep.
Culpeper has Valerian under the rule of Mercury, which rules the mind, respiration, sight, speech, arms, hands and the nervous system and it has a mutable nature, so acts warm with warm, cold with cold, wet with wet, dry with dry.
Valere in Latin means 'to be healthy' and officinalis means it was recorded as a medicinal plant.

23/07/2025

Today I deliberately had no bookings so that I could concentrate on a much needed harvest and sort day. So grateful that I could give myself the time and space to do this today, later this evening I am booked up on massage appointments.
I harvested some Yarrow and Nettle seeds, made space for drying the Yarrow in bundles, by first cutting up and storing other herbs that I had been drying for use in medicines, teas and products to make at a later date.
My hanging area was full, so I sneaked a few bundles of Yarrow to dry in my daughters wardrobe whilst she's away (shhh)
I made some smudge sticks with the Yarrow too.
After carefully rehoming all the little bugs 😅, I arranged the Nettle seeds to dry for storing later.
I am feeling very satisfied with myself now, although my back aches a little from it all, I must book myself in for a massage soon 😁

21/07/2025

Riverside Herbs
I recently took a walk along the river Wye and was delighted to see so many medicinal plants & wild flowers growing along its banks.
The river is polluted sadly but there is an action ongoing against this and hi lighting the effects of current chicken farming.
There were too many plants & trees to photograph and name but here are some of them :
Valerian, Yellow Loosestrife, Broadleaved Plantain, Wild Basil, Black Mustard, Mallow, Yarrow, Shepherds purse, Hops, Hogweed seeds, Wild Marjoram, Burdock, Hedge garlic and Mugwort

16/07/2025

Wood Betony / Stacy's betonica has been a delight in the garden this year.
I have harvested some for teas and left some for the insects
This is one of my favourite herbs: it has an affinity for the Liver, nervous system and a general tonic with special emphasis on circulation of the brain.
It's actions are bitter, stomachic and sedative.
It has many uses, including: headaches, temporal arteritis, dizzy Ness, sinus congestion, weak digestion, loss of memory, weak digestion, nerve debility, lack of energy, rheumatism, ME, low energy, sciatica, low back pain and more.
Betony is under the rule of Jupiter in the sign of aries, Jupiter herbs help the liver and expansion, while Aries represents the head. Culpeper must have loved this herb too as he writes quite a lot about this medicinal plant.

09/07/2025

I went back to the Silver Birch trees that I had tapped and bunged to remove the bungs.
The holes look good and clean, so I just used a bit of moss, that was growing on the tree, to fill up the holes.
Not sure if that would offer much but it felt instinctively right and Sphagnum moss is well known for it's antibacterial properties, although this isn't Sphagnum moss as that grows on boggy land.
I found a dead butterfly and left it at one of the trees as a thank you gift.
Haven't the butterfly's been abundant this year, so good to see, a butterfly year indeed 🦋😁🙏

06/07/2025

Off I go again to the wonderful setting of Hill Farm Yurts to offer a forage for The Birmingham Sound School's retreat.
Such a pleasure to guide this lovely group through meadows and woodland paths in search of edible and medicinal plants.
We started with a barefoot grounding ceremony, toasting our forage with some Birch sap and purifying our intentions with a garden sage smudge.
We picked and tried: wood Avens, Red clover, Sorrel, Violet leaves, blackberry leaves, Honeysuckle, Nettles leaf and seed, Plantain and Lemonbalm and spotted lots of fruits and nuts that will be ready for harvesting at the end of Summer, beginning of Autumn.
Now we are past midsummer, our energies begin to turn inward and we prepare for the next season change