Plant Power – Spring and Autumn Foraging
Here in the lush green hills of our local landscape we are so very lucky to be surrounded by a rich plant life. Nature’s medicine chest is vast and incredibly abundant.
As the wheel of the year turns and our health needs vary, nature is right there, offerings up its jewels for us to utilise for our well-being.
As spring emerges and the sap rises, a plethora of cleansing and warming wild herbs emerge. At the height of pollen distribution and hay-fever season, there are the natural anti-histamines growing in the hedgerows.
Summer comes with all the frenetic busyness and we are then surrounded by calming wild medicines. Autumn brings the bounty of virus busting berries and nourishing roots to see us healthy through the winter…..
It can seem overwhelming at first, being surrounded by so many different plants and wanting to learn about them all instantly!
My advice is to just start by learning a few plants each year, or one plant per season. Really get to know those plants well by learning how to cook with them as well as make medicines.
Taste them in teas and understand their properties through all your senses. Each plant will become a trusted alley and overtime your knowledge, as well as your medicine cabinet will grow.
In the morning of my wild medicine workshops, we spend time foraging for common and abundant wild medicines of that season. We will take time to really look at the each plant and fill our baskets together. After lunch we will learn how to utilise all the plants gathered into food and medicines which you can re-create at home again.
This very practical, hands on approach to me really helps solidify your learning and I hope you will leave our days with new plant friends with which you can greet time and time again.
I will also introduce some basic botany to kick start your foraging journey and signal you towards some good resources for further learning.
Learn about Plant Power and Foraging! Spring & Autumn Workshops:
27th April 2020 – Spring Foraging & Wild Medicine
Learn about the wild food and medicine available in abundance at this time.
Wild spring greens have been part of the diet of our ancestors for thousands of years and we will learn some of their traditional and modern uses as well as how we can gain benefit from incorporating them into our lives.
On this day we will walk the land and gather some of the spring plants we find for making tea, food and medicine around the fire in the afternoon. You might take home a herbal vinegar or syrup, feast on wild pesto and salad and pick up some fire by friction tips.
Date: 27th April 2020.
Facilitator: Alice Rose Betony
Location: WoWo Campsite, Wapsbourne Manor Farm, Sheffield Park, Uckfield, TN22 3QT.
Cost: £65, children over the age of 10 welcome for £30.
Time: 10.00 – 15.00.
Booking: Please book online here.
More information: Please see the website.
16th September 2020 – Autumn Foraging & Wild Medicine
Learn how to make some winter herbal remedies with the abundant hedgerow berries available at this time.
Autumn is the time for deep nourishing, building up our stores of nutrients and supporting our immune systems ready for the cold months ahead. Along with the last few wild greens we have such an abundant variety of healing foods and medicines at this time of year.
We will gather and fill our baskets together in the morning and make food and medicine around the fire in the afternoon. You might take home a hedgerow oxymel or enjoy some wild hedgerow syrup as well as picking up some fire by friction tips.
Date: 16th September 2020.
Facilitator: Alice Rose Betony
Location: WoWo Campsite, Wapsbourne Manor Farm, Sheffield Park, Uckfield, TN22 3QT.
Cost: £65, children over the age of 10 welcome for £30.
Time: 10.00 – 15.00.
Booking: Please book online here.
More information: Please see the website.
Transforming education, health and family through nature.
Circle of Life Rediscovery provides exciting and highly beneficial nature-centred learning and therapeutic experiences for young people, adults, and families in Sussex woodlands, along with innovative continuing professional development for the health, well being and teaching professionals who are supporting them.
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.circleofliferediscovery.com
Tel: 01273 814226