Hey everyone, long time no speak as per usual! I’ve some things to tell you about today and need to include some trigger warnings as some of it is not pretty, but I figure it explains a lot and as I’m tired of hiding, I’m hoping being more forthright about some of my experiences might do me a lot of good, which in turn will let me start actually building a future for myself instead of staggering through each day. It has taken me months to deliberate on whether to write this post, so I hope you will bear with me here for a bit. The last few years have been…hard. Heck, there’s been the good old ..read more

Here’s another free excerpt from Wild Medicine Spring, published by Aeon Books. Ground Ivy Elixir Ingredients: One pint of loosely packed Ground Ivy tops Brandy Honey Instructions: Chop the clean herbs up into small pieces – again, remember that the larger the surface area, the more of the herb will extract into the brandy. Pack the herbs into a kilner jar and add at least one large tablespoon (15g) of local honey, then pour over the brandy until it covers the herbs and allows one extra inch of alcohol on top of the plant matter. Shake it up thoroughly, pack the herbs back down again and le ..read more

Here are two lovely recipes from my book Wild Medicine – Spring, published by Aeon Books. I hope you enjoy them – if you like these recipes, why not consider buying the book to add to your bookshelf? It’s a handy more or less pocket sized book filled with recipes and anecdotes, plus plant photographs. Birch Infused Oil Ingredients: A pint of freshly picked, dry birch leaves, loosely packed Organic seed oil Instructions: Check over the leaves for livestock and any damp bits – discard any insect marked or discoloured leaves. Use a clean, dry cloth to mop off any water, as I know gathering her ..read more

A Charm For Joy First, you will need to leave your home and journey to the sea shore. Walk it, slowly, as the tide slips in, draws back out, brings and leaves again, takes away all pain and brings it back again, transformed. Watch for starfish, tiny shells, and find two things with holes in – stone washed by sea through time’s steady passing. Gather them with tender fingers, and thank them sincerely. When you return home, obtain two ribbons – one of sun, one of moon. Thread silver ribbon through stone and speak your sorrow, all your sadness and grief and melancholy. Hang it from an apple tr ..read more

The Herbalist’s Lair After a horrendously long break (thanks, covid 19) I’m finally starting to reopen things. I’ve just placed some scarily large orders for jars, bottles and some of the tinctures that I can’t make for myself, and outside the window it is finally, FINALLY raining after a scarily dry April which has delayed many of the herbs in the garden and the hedgerow. The next week will see me busily starting lots of tinctures once the spring growth really starts to come through, and I am now finally starting to take bookings for herbal talks, workshops, herb walks and interior design j ..read more

Dad and his lovely partner, Jackie Celandines – always a welcome sight. So, 2020 was officially the year from hell, for many of us I suspect, and I think I spent most of it asleep, drinking too much gin, or under a hedge somewhere. Now, however, it is spring 2021, and I’m trying very hard to wake up, honest – the amount of coffee I drink these days should certainly be encouraging me in that direction rather enthusiastically. So, what has been going on in the last 18 months when I have been conspicuously absent? Well, first off I finished the Wild Medicine books, which are all now available t ..read more

The cover art for Wild Medicine – Summer   A piece of news that I have rather been keeping under my hat until about a week or two ago is the release date for the first of three herbals I have coming out over the next year and a bit!  In this case, the release date for Wild Medicine – Summer has now been set for May this year, and can be preordered from Aeon Books or from Amazon. It covers a fairly arbitrary list of herbs commonly found in the summer, from May through til August, with an assortment of recipes, photographs and anecdotes, and will be in a fairly small format so that yo ..read more

Previously I’ve found that January is a real trial of a month, seemingly never ending and redolent with rain, chilly weather, thick, clinging fogs, hard frosts and occasionally snow, and while the weather certainly hasn’t changed, I’m trying to slow down enough this year to see the beauty in the season and enjoy the slower pace.   There are  many things to love about January’s chilly beauty – the landscape pares back to bare bones of bark, ivy and turned earth, and the skies display muted tones of mourning dove’s breast and pigeon wing, turning to flame and gold in the eveni ..read more

Ivy against the skies Here in the valley winter has arrived, bringing with it frozen starts to the day, with those gorgeous ferny displays of frost creeping across the green house and the car.  Elfdance is often to be seen carpeting the fields, and the sun has gained that distinctive apricot hue as he struggles to appear over the horizon.  The days are drawing ever inwards, and we are less than two weeks away from the Solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year.  Here at our cottage, we mark the day with fires lit in both downstairs rooms, masses of candles, frag ..read more

Every summer I make full use of the delicious and fragrant Apothecaries Rose that blooms heartily for a few short weeks, providing dozens of incredibly scented flowers.  This year I dried a plethora of them but also made a rose liqueur with the petals, soaked in alcohol and local runny honey – and it turned out delicious, heady with the scent and flavour of rose, a great pick me up for a chilly winter day when you wonder if summer will ever return.  The below two recipes feature rose prominently for those of you who would like to have a go! Rose Liqueur With Dried Petals Ingredien ..read more