Hedgerow Herbs

I have to say, having the opportunity to take some time out to be quiet, slow down and live at my own natural pace (which is surprising slow) has been wonderful and insightful. I am sure you are all finding your own pace and comfortable ways of being through these times.
It has also given me lots of time to put my roots down and nestle into my new home and garden. There are many familiar herbs amongst our wild edges and some that don't seem to have arrived yet... that's anot...her story, but for now, I thought I would share with you a herb I have been working with over the past few days.
I needed to clear a big patch of Bramble that had entwined itself amongst some trees. As most of you will know, I'm also a big textile fan and have been playing with natural dying, so while contemplating on how best to clear the patch, I remembered reading an article by natural dyer Rebecca Desnos saying 'that bramble leaves make a great mordant of fabric due to the high tannin content' (mordants enable the final dye to fix better to the cloth) So, rather than waste the Bramble leaves and stems, I gathered them up and started brewing my mordant, and who could resist a cup of Bramble tea while I fire gazed.
Bramble leaves when brewed smell divine, I had forgotten how amazing the smell was, and Bramble tea is delicious. On my workshops and courses, I always touch on the medicinal qualities of Bramble being a great astringent herb because of the high tannin content, but I think it is about time I reacquainted myself with this tenacious, resilient, lover of dark spaces.
See More

These are interesting times and as I am sure you have, I have been wondering what my place within it all is: how best can I help and support myself and others? There is so much advice and information on Facebook and other media sources that I have wondered what I can really add that hasn’t been posted? at times the amount of information and advice has felt overwhelming. So, today I took time out and sat quietly and listened deeply.
As from today I am going to come away from ...Facebook for a little while, I need to be quieter, gather in my energies, walk the land, sit quietly, listen to nature, go deeper into my knowing and listen. This may take a week or a month I don’t know, I‘m just going to follow my intuition.
It is my full intention Hedgerow herbs will be back and workshops will resume. In the meantime, If you are looking for information and recipes to support your health and wellbeing with herbs, scroll back, there are many on my page and there is good advice posted by others.
If you would like to contact me you can still do so via email, I might just be a little slower to respond but I will.
Hedgerowdee@hotmail.com
Take care and listen deeply to yourself, you know what you need right now.
With love Dee x 💚🌿🍃💚
See More

A lot of peoples focus is on boosting their physical health right now. No need for the super market, here are some great swaps.
Garlic bulbs for wild garlic - is in abundance right now. - immune boosting & health boosting. Spring va va voom
Spinach for Nettle tops - is in abundance right now - full of iron, vitamins and minerals plus lots of other wonderful health boosting properties.
... Vitamin C tablets for dried rose hips - an autumn forage but available dried on line or from a well stocked friend - really high in vitamin C (apparently 10 x that of oranges)
The dried rosehips make a delicious tea (ground rosehips, 3-4 teaspoons in a teapot) combined with warming ginger (fresh or dried), a squeeze of lemon juice and honey if you like it sweet. Make a pot, let in infuse for 20mins and drink throughout the day.
As always make sure you are 100% confident in your plant identification and check for any contra-indications.
See More

Morning Folks,
Just to let you know that the venue at Witchampton has closed and won’t be opening for the foreseeable future. This means that all courses and workshops for the foreseeable future have had to be cancelled.
These are interesting times and although we may not be able to get together in person, we can still do the work. Sit on this beautiful earth, connect to the plants and trees everyday, absorb their wisdom and connect here, with each other online. and eat lots of wild garlic😀

We had a glimpse of sunshine yesterday, so I escaped from the unpacking and sorting. It was so nice to be out amongst the trees and plants after being so caught up in the needs of moving for weeks. Nature brought me back to my heart , reminding me who I am beyond boxes, paint and change of address.
The first forage of wild garlic, offering a spring awakening to my whole body. In western energetics garlic is referred to as hot and dry and that is exactly its nature: upon eating only a few fresh leaves as I foraged I needed to take my coat off and I had a glow to my cheeks 😀
I love wild garlic, we are so lucky to have this amazing plant; vibrant, green, alive and delicious.

So, over the winter I have been busy creating a new workshop. Working with herbs so deeply naturally brings about a deep care for the earth and I know we are all looking for ways to reduce single plastic use and use products that are kinder to the earth and ourselves. So as a follow on from sharing with you how to make natural bathroom products for our hair, faces and bodies, I will now run a ‘natural cleaning product workshop‘ that will show you how to make a whole variety of products from dishwasher tablets, kitchen cleaning sprays, beeswax wraps, washing laundry liquid and many more.
It looks like it will be August time this year, with the exact date to be announced soon.

Early next week I will be leaving this land and this house where I have lived for the past seven years. For me there is a little loss about the leaving of the land, hedgerows, lanes, and fields where I have sat, listened, walked, communed , and foraged season by season, year by year. I know it well, I know who grows where, when and why. It has brought heart felt delight, healing, solace, wisdom, knowledge, and pure joy. I will always hold deep gratitude for all it has offered... me and hope I have been conscious enough within what I hope has been a co-creative relationship. Not only do I feel I know this land well but I also feel it knows me, so it is with a little sadness that I leave the memory of my footsteps here, but...
with the arrival of spring there will be new land to explore, new tales beneath the surface, new herbs to discover, new sights and sounds to delight.
See More

Ohhh, these tiny new shoots hold the promise of endless medicinal deliciousness in the coming weeks.
Baby shoots of wild garlic.

If you’ve been following me for a while you’ll know that my other joy in life is textiles. So, while the winds howled and the rains battered I took myself off for a few days to play with Flax. We processed, spun, dyed and wove.
Here are some Flax facts.
Flax seed and oil is rich source of omega 3 fatty acids, proteins, dietary fibers, vitamins of the B group and minerals such as magnesium, phosphorus and zinc.
... Flax seeds can help with constipation, high cholesterol, improving blood sugars levels and are anti-inflammatory and high in anti- oxidants. Best consumed ground and always drink plenty of water.
Apprentl high-quality paper used in banknotes is also made from flax fibres.
The earliest evidence of humans using wild flax as a textile comes from the present day Republic of Georgia, where spun, dyed, and knotted wild flax fibers were found in Dzudzuana Cave and dated to the Upper Paleolithic, 30,000 years ago.
See More

Something happens at this time of year, It’s not something I remember until it arrives unexpectedly and is quite overwhelming. My senses suddenly long for the touch of leaf on my fingertips, the smell of fresh new green growth and the first taste of green. My fingers crave to pick and gather, to feel the different textures of leaf against my skin. This craving is delicious, it is to be savoured and now it has arrived it fills me, but for me it is too early and gathering in is many weeks away, a wait that holds a magical quality.
I have worked with these herbs for many years, but the first touch, the first smell, the first taste every year is like the first time, but more intense and my whole body is woken by the remembering at a deep cellular level.

We stirred, we poured, we whisked, and we mushed. We laughed, we moisturised, we cleansed, and we scrubbed all while creating a whole array of natural herbal bathroom products. We also saved using over 160 single use plastic bottles, tubes and tubes.
The Sustainability Centre is such a beautiful venue I look forward to returning in October.

Ooh, it’s an early start on this Imbolc morning. Imbolc is the festival celebrating the first signs of new life which is coinciding with the first workshops of the New Year. I’m off to the beautiful Sustainability Centre to teach a weekend of Natural herbal bathroom product making. Wishing you all gentle happy awakenings.

While there are small signs of new growth, the plants are still feeling happy to be wrapped up in the darkness of winter earth a little while longer. So, time to do a bit of catching up indoors today. One of my jobs was to make my antibacterial infused vinegar that I use to clean with, it’ll take about a month to infuse so that too can rest in the darkness of my cupboard for a little while 😀. It feels good to catch up with this and that. What have you been catching up with to...day?
Here’s the simple recipe
300ml of white wine vinegar 1 tablespoon of dried Lavender, Rosemary, Thyme & Sage.
Pop all the ingredients in a jar, pop on the lid, give a good shake and leave to infuse for about 4 weeks in a dark cool place.
Strain and use for germ busting cleaning needs.
See More

There’s still time to book on to ‘A YEAR AMONGST THE HEDGEROWS’ for seasonal herbal adventures with our wild green allies.There’s still time to book on to ‘A YEAR AMONGST THE HEDGEROWS’ for seasonal herbal adventures with our wild green allies.