My Herbal Medicine Story; a 20 year love affair!

I got married at age 25. It was 4th September 2004. Our friends created a strawbale isle in the garden of a local farmers pub and we stood under an arch they’d covered with flowers and ivy. Our cake was three tier chocolate with blackcurrant jam and covered in nasturtiums. My bouquet was dried lavender tied with a silk ribbon. All home-made. The only expenses were my dress and the horse and carriage, with a horse that kept trying to trot back to its local stable. It was a bring and share affair and I span fire poi as a finale close to midnight. That was almost 20 years ago!

Between then and now I’ve gained a degree in herbal medicine, birthed and raised three children, now in their teens, completed a diploma in health coaching, a certificate in community organising, ran a home-education drop-in space, taken numerous compassionate communication courses, enjoyed in-depth nature connection facilitation courses, had a 3 month rest in India with my family and friends, co-created a home-education learning co-operative, co-organised the annual Bristol Home-ed camp and started my own business.

I grew up in North Somerset, in a small town surrounded by green fields and little streams. Funny to think that my herbal studies began in London, the first time I’d ever lived in a city. I moved to Highgate to live in university halls two weeks after our wedding day, leaving my husband back home in Somerset. All planned. We’d been working together side by side for a year, and a year before that we’d travelled the world together. We needed some space, so we married, and I moved to London whilst he took on an apprenticeship as an estate worker/gardener/grower. He is still there today, proudly caring for a huge kitchen garden that he lovingly brought to back to life.

The course I’d enrolled on was called ‘complementary therapies’ which could progress on to a naturopathic doctor. It was an exciting department to be part of with lots of extra-curricular workshops in things like ‘how to get into the best state of mind for learning’. In the spirit of integrated medicine our first module got all the different course mixing together and learning about each other. I learned about homeopathy, bodywork, acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and nutritional therapy.

I couldn’t resist switching my degree to nutritional therapy. I loved delving in deep about the effects of food on the health of the body. However, it was soon after that I entered the herbal medicine dispensary. It was like time stopped. My senses were captivated. I was welcomed to explore all the containers of dried herbs, tinctures and creams. All the medicine making equipment. The colours and scents engaged me and lifted me. The dispensary manager noticed. She said, “oh! You are a herbalist!”. I felt like I’d come home.

When I look back, I wonder if those smells transported me unconsciously back to the scents of my childhood playing outdoors in the countryside. I did that a lot. Especially sitting with the beautiful dainty little blue speedwell flowers. Their heads fall off if you pick them, so it’s best to just sit with them. I used to make sandwiches out of rose petals with a blackberry and some daisy petals inside. Pine needle caterpillars, rope swings over the river, dams to heighten water, catching minnows and tadpoles, making rafts, balancing on logs, falling in the stream… lots of that! Catching the poplar and thistle down fairies that flew into our garden. So many scents I must have been unaware of that I were becoming part of me. To one day have the power to ground and centre me. Show me my path.

And a very powerful one it is too. My 3-year herbal medicine degree took me 11 years by the time I’d home birthed three children. This meant that my access to herbal mentors was vastly extended. I was able to raise my children within natural healthcare and they’ve grown strong understanding and appreciating the power of herbal medicine.

The dispensary manager who’d witnessed the capturing of my heart by herbs, went on to become my botany teacher. The assignment was to create a botanical portfolio of 15 pressed medicinal herbs plus a special dedicated study of one herb. I chose nasturtium as they were the flowers that covered my wedding cake. However, picking just 15 other specimens from the hundreds of that I’d pressed was not such an easy task.

My portfolio is a collection of plant pressings from both London and Somerset. The brief from our teacher had been the best I’d ever received; “I want you to fall in love with it”. It gave me such a sense of freedom. Three months intensive learning on how to identify medicinal plants out in the wild. Plus growing, monitoring, drawing, pressing at all stages, and researching the health benefits of my nasturtiums.

It is true that I absolutely did fall in love with all of it. The long walks, the exploration, searching the wildflower key for identification, pulling up specimens from both field and kerbside, learning my own special nak to pressing beautifully, (I was taught by an ethnobotanist at Kew Gardens, but whist his were practical, mine were beautiful!). This became quite an obsession for years. A delightful combination of learning and nature bathing. The first medicine of plants; simply being out with them in their natural habitat.

However, this herbal medicine degree comprised of 18 different modules and only one of those was botany. And being that we were to become ‘medical herbalists’, our course was a blend of both western herbal medicine and western clinical medicine. This was fine for me as I’d always been into the workings of the body. In fact, my plant obsession was entirely new. Before that I’d not long finished A ‘levels in Human Biology, Psychology and Sports Studies.

On the herbal side of things we learned botany, plant chemistry, extensive herb profiles, medicine making, nutrition and herbal therapeutics. On the medical side we learned anatomy, physiology, pathology, clinical diagnosis, pharmacology, microbiology, and biochemistry. I loved it all! And am eternally grateful for getting the botany in first so that it became my go-to joyful relaxation method.

I, (not surprisingly), became pretty good at wild medicine plant ID, and have since offered many walks, talks and workshops to share my passion with others. I’ve discovered that it’s not only a reconnection to the plants and land in which we are surrounded, but a reconnection to ourselves which can get lost in all the clutter of our western way of life. We get to return to nature, to return to our own nature, time and time again. It’s all here on our doorstep, we just need to step outside!

Now that it’s spring again, my 20th spring since I’ve got to know the medicinal herbs that grow wild all around me, I notice the excitement rising each time I step outside, or even think about it, ready to greet all the plant friends I’ve come to know over the years.

I am also eager to meet new people who want to get to know the plants we have evolved in close relationships to. The herb walk season awaits!

My next herb walk is in Peel Park, Long Ashton, North Somerset, nr Bristol, on Tuesday 9th April from 6.30-8.30pm.

Herb Walk

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