still using wordpress though…

                        It was a bright clear day thankfully but, to be honest, I’d have gone out in the rain. First stop was the Woodruff patch. Still there – nobody’s trampled it up, dug it over or dumped an old fridge on it. I picked a few sprigs to take home (just because I love that sweet grassy smell it gives off as it dries) and took the path along the southern edge of the woods, as it was chilly in the shade. I’ve been walking these woods for over eight years now but there’s always something different about them. I suppose that makes sense because it’s always a different combination of season, time of day, weather, mood… Plenty of squirrels about today and a few jittery pigeons (not surprising they were on edge – I could hear shotguns in the distance).

                        I finally reached the old railway track and headed for the Rosehips as I wanted to make some Rosehip syrup. I wasn’t sure if they’d still be good or if the wildlife and the frosts would have got them but there were plenty of healthy, bright red patches to choose from. The haws were super abundant too and all the more striking as many of the bushes had lost their leaves. These were also on my shopping list as I wanted to make some Hawthorn vinegar. The smaller redder ones were easier to pick than the fatter, more purpley ones which had bigger thorns. The deal was, I could pick until I got pricked then I had to move on. It only happened twice though and from the big dark ones – they’re not so friendly.

                        When I felt I had enough, I headed further along the track to check on the Mullein. The yellow spires of Summer were all brown and dry but a gust of wind revealed a rattle which told me that they were still full of seed. I shook a few into the bag to scatter on my “wildings” pot at home. I probably should be more organised about sowing seeds but we’ll see if they come up. The first year rosettes were also doing well, all snug and woolly, settling in for Winter. I’m really looking forward to seeing them come up next year; it’s been great to see them growing from the start.

                        One last harvest before heading home; raspberry leaves. I had been wondering, at the end of Summer, which were the right leaves to pick. After the berries, the plant puts up new canes and I didn’t know whether to pick the leaves from these or from the canes which had just fruited. None of the books were clear on this. Anyway, the old canes had died back now so I started picking the new leaves. Then the answer made itself quite clear. I realised that, by picking the leaves from next year’s fruiting canes, I was robbing the plant of the ability to make the energy required to produce the fruit. Better then, to harvest the leaves after they’ve done their job for the plant. Also, as a friend had pointed out, the tannins will be higher in the older leaf and that’s what gives it astringency.

                        The wind had dropped and the sun was warm on my face. I felt rested, grounded, connected. For me, it’s always been about the plants; that’s where my interest in Herbalism comes from. It’s funny; I don’t really know why I want to be a Herbalist. But I know that I do. It took me long enough to find my path; 15 years of doing a bit of this, a bit of that; and now that I’m here I just know that it’s right. It’s something I want to do every day. From the plant, to the medicine, to the patient, there’s a creativity, a connection, that stimulates and motivates me. Who knows where my path will take me. There are so many possibilities and ideas to explore. But one thing I absolutely know now – wherever it takes me, I’ll always be a Herbalist at heart.

                        Walking round the site next morning it seemed the birds had had the best of the Elderberries. Fair play really and I wasn’t harvesting anyway because I only had a camp kitchen so processing was out of the question. The hedges were heavy with Haws though as well as Rosehips which just shone out against the dark woodland backdrop as the sun lit them up. The clearings in the woodland were teeming with wild herbs but the one which interested me this time was Horsetail. I enthused about its virtues to much polite nodding but when I mentioned the silica content and its ability to polish pewter he got interested. I was informed that this is because silica is higher up the Mohs hardness scale than pewter. The conversation then veered off onto diamonds and iron and cleavage planes… We did, however, take some back to camp with us (Horsetail not diamonds). As predicted it didn’t make a dent in the stainless steel pots but it did a splendid job of scouring the food off them; a handy herbal camping tip. I also found some Meadowsweet under the Birches which I made a tea from in an attempt to shift a thumping headache on Monday morning. It had gone to seed but I threw some leaves into my morning tea which then tasted of Disprin – bleuch!! I drank it anyway but it didn’t really help. Several litres of water and a fried breakfast also failed mind you so the only real solution would probably have to been to NOT have drunk all that wine on Sunday night!   

                        Sadly I don’t have that many pictures for this post. So, instead I’ll just share my Equinox Sunset and the First Sunrise of Autumn…

                        Summer has been hectic since the exams finished with very few opportunities for herbal adventures and even less opportunity to write about them. My Herbal forays are always accompanied by my camera and tend to take the form of “I went for a walk and I saw…” but, this Summer, each walk has identified a need for a new item in my backpack of tricks.

Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)

        On my first trip out I decided to head down to the old railway track to the patch of Mullein I had found last year. I had been too late for flowers but had collected seed and made a mental note to go back earlier this time. I couldn’t quite remember where I had seen it but the dry seed heads from last year stood out against the green.   With my eye now tuned in, I quickly spotted the tall fuzzy spires all around and a closer inspection uncovered the first year rosettes nestled in the grass.

  So, I had my plant, I had my pictures, now to collect the flowers. Oh dear… What had I forgotten? I had nothing to put them in! A rummage through my pockets produced nothing useful and so, frustrated, I walked past spire after spire of delicate little yellow blossoms. 

  Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica)

                         My spirits lifted a little when I spotted this chirpy little chappy. I took several pictures to help me decide what it was when I got home to my flora. Unfortunately, being of the family he is, it wasn’t so easy to decide. I really needed the plant in front of me or, indeed, the flora with me when I saw the plant. I love my Francis Rose and find it very easy to use but, without the ability to look at the plant close up, working from pictures is guesswork. And so, my wee backpack of tricks expanded to include:

• Containers for collecting plant material
• My Francis Rose Flora
• A loup

And with a little help from the lovely herbal community at www.herbwifery.org and a repeat visit, I finally identified it as Hedge Woundwort.

 Eyebright (Euphrasia spp.)

                        On that previous walk, I had also been taken with this tiny beauty. I had taken pictures but, after the Woundwort episode, I had resolved to take my full kit out and ID it in the wild. And so, I settled down on the track with my flora and my loup and…

Fantastic! Result! Its Eyebright! And theres tonnes and tonnes of it. So, I’ve got a positive ID, I’ve got a collectable herb  and I’ve got containers for collecting. Let’s get to work. Oh dear…

I’m not entirely sure what I’m supposed to be harvesting. It’s a plant I’ve become more aware of recently as a friend had asked me about it so I had done a bit of background reading. However, I hadn’t really registered which parts were used. I would have instinctively said aerial parts but I was in no way sure. It would be criminal, I thought, to take a batch home only to discover it was the wrong part. What to do? After some “should I, shouldn’t I” contemplation, I hit on an idea. I fired off a text to some fellow students in the hope they had a herbal nearby or knew, for sure, which parts to collect. So I sat on a sunny bank of the old railway track for half an hour or so chatting with a few folk in Edinburgh via text and snipping a little harvest of Eyebright. I was in my element in amongst the weeds with a Flora and no Herbal but you live and learn and my wee backpack of tricks had recruited a new member.

 Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

                         From the car, I had been spotting a lot of Yarrow on verges and so, confident that I was fully tooled up, I set out on my bike to collect some from less well trodden tracks. After an initial disappointment when a previously identified patch had been trodden through by cattle (not so less-well-trodden after all!), I had one of those real guiding moments. You know when you see a hint of a path somewhere and you just want to follow it to see where it goes? Well, having come back down a path I’ve tramped many a time before, swithering where to go next, one such half-hinted-at path caught my eye. Curious, I followed it up the bank…

A carpet of red clover opened up before me. It was a real wow moment but, given the recent wet weather, these little ground huggers were still too damp to contemplate picking. But what was that over by the fence? Yarrow! And not that low leafy stuff of roadsides and lawns. No, these were tall, proud, fully flowering stands of the stuff. This was exactly what I had been looking for but, as I set about collecting, I realised I had a problem. The tubs I had in my bag for collecting were no way going to be big enough. I was reluctant to leave now I had found it as, what with one thing and another, by the time I had got back to the Mullein I had missed the flowers again. Luckily, I had thrown my handbag into the rucksack before I left and, by decanting the contents, I had an ideal cotton bag to take the Yarrow home in.

 A Hedgerow Hippy’s wee backpack of tricks

So is my backpack complete? At the moment I certainly think so but no doubt some future ramble with highlight another glaring omission. For now it consists of:

• bottle of water
• brolly, warm jumper and hat
• mobile phone
• camera
• Francis Rose Flora and loup
• David Hoffman Herbal and scissors
• collecting pots…

 …and I’m just away to sew some simple cotton bags for collecting which, inspired by some fab advice from Sarah Head on the Herb Society forum, I will also use at home, to hang the herbs up to dry in the dark.