What a fabulous event – the Power of Plants festival organised by the National Institute of Medical Herbalists held in the beautiful buildings and grounds of Hawkwood in Stroud. I spent the day with my x-Pukka buddy Jo Webber who practices Ayurveda and runs foraging workshop. She was the perfect person to hang out with to discuss all things herbs.
I ran a workshop on how to create herbal teas which was an enthusiastic and packed house. Everyone shared their ideas for herbal tea recipes, and most people already made their own teas to help with their own wellbeing. Great!! I did therefore think how can I reach those who perhaps are less confident.
That’s me in my knitted gut-brain axis. Not that the audience were about to snooze off, but it does grab people’s attention, and was a great way of talking about the benefits of herbs from top to bottom. We talked about herbs for helping with waking in the morning and mid-morning brain fog – rosemary, sage, black or green tea, orange zest, scented geranium. Herbs for relaxation before bed included – passion flower, chamomile, balm, hops, valerian and ashwagandha.
We talked about digestive health and the importance of bitters – but also how we have to mask bitter flavours if we are going for a tasty tea as many herbs are quite unpleasant to the taste. We can fool our taste buds by adding sweet, sour or salt (if you wish) to bitter tasking herbs. My favourite black tea recipe is with a grate of orange zest and chopped scented geranium.
So a huge thank you to everyone who popped along – what a lovely group of people. There were a few from the Stroud area and I invited them to stay connected as we are about to set up a community herb group possibly to be called the Cotswolds Herbal Centre, located in Dursley. We hope to have more workshop sessions like this for herbies to get together.