Location: Omved Gardens, Townsend Yard Highgate, London N6 5J
Duration: 11am - 3.30pm =4.5 hours (4 hours + 30min lunch).
Join herbalists and best-selling authors Kim & Vicky on a full day of herbal learning. Starting with a herb walk, you will learn to identify and reconnect with the stories of the seasonal, wild plants that grow all around. We will be harvesting the season’s bounty along the way so bring any special scissors/clippers and small baskets with you (though we will also provide some).
We will then break for a vegan/gluten free lunch (provided) followed by a workshop turning our foraged bounty in bespoke herbal remedies.
These herbal apprenticeship courses aim to teach the participant the basic skills of holistic herbalism for use in the home with friends and family.
They run throughout the seasons, each one focuses on a number of body systems, herbs that correspond to those body systems and season and a different form of herbal preparation (eg tinctures, teas, creams, balms). They are hands-on, interactive and experiential. Each participant will take home a detailed handout, their handwritten notes and drawings and of course the medicines we have made that day to add to their own herbal apothecary. The herbal apprenticeships are designed to:
Bring people closer to nature and learn the forgotten language of healing with plants
Teach the basics of herbalism to use in the home
Teach you how to know and identify medicinal and edible wild plants
What will you learn?:
Botany and identification
The basics of how the body works and how to treat it holistically
Harvesting and processing herbs
Making herbal preparations
Materia medica – the healing properties of various herbs
Summer
Body systems covered: nervous system and endocrine Stress/adaptogens, female reproductive system
We will be focusing in on herbs used for their flowering parts which are abundant in summer. Looking at herbs as foods/food as medicine to strengthen the body. Summer is a rush of energy, longer days, holidays and for many, a bigger workload. Learn to support the adrenal and endocrine systems through diet and herbs. Herbs covered include; Lady’s Mantle, Comfrey, Skullcap, Ashwaganda and more.
Preparations: infused oils, balms, harvesting and drying, plasters and poultices, energy balls and powders
Details of the future workshops in series (Book separately)
Autumn
Body systems covered: Liver, digestives, musculo-skeletal
Autumn is the time for harvesting roots and fruits, learn how to support the liver and musculo-skeletal systems with herbs such as Dandelion root, Burdock, Horse Chesnut, Rosehips and more.
Preparations: tinctures, syrups, decoctions, vinegars
Winter
Body systems covered: respiratory system, immune system
We will take a look at the immune system as a whole, focusing in on medicinal mushrooms, Elderberry, Echinacea and other beneficial herbs for cold and flu season. We will also have a look at what role the immune system plays in allergies and how best to treat them holistically.
Preparations: syrups, oxymels, chest rubs, foot baths