Spring is Sprung and the Herbs are beginning to appear!

All right, the last month has been pretty dire, weather-wise - so I forgive all you slugga-beds for not turning out to the herbal introductory workshops! (I confess I struggled too) - and hurrah to those of you who did come along. But hasn't it been wonderful over the last week.

We now have a plan of action for the next few months on the herbal side for the Garden. I've produced a 'herb harvesting list' so we can keep an eye on the herbs as they come up and we're ready to harvest them - as this is completed it will also form a written record so we have information about harvesting times for next year. The herb team is helping to keep the herbal beds healthy and weeded and getting new herbs planted up. We will be producing some nice, clear new labels for all the herbs and I would like to thank one of the Team, Norah, who has kindly volunteered to draw up a 'map' of the herbal beds so we will know where everything is!

We've bought a Pyrograph for the labels and anyone with lovely handwritting who would like to volunteer to help us with these would be very welcome - please can in touch (children particularly welcome)(you can always email me on Debbie@forestfarmpeacegarden.org).

I'm also looking for a volunteer (or two) to be the 'official' photographer for the herbal activities and to keep a photographic diary of the herbs when we harvest so we can post these on the blog and keep a record of dates for future years - if you would like to do this (you'll need your own camera and/or video camera - there are plans to make the Garden's website 'interactive' in the future!). You'll need to be free to attend the public herbal sessions and to come along to take pictures (on Sundays generally) when we do any harvesting - so this is probably best suited to someone who is relatively local.

As well as general housekeeping, we will be actively encouraging visitors to take home herbs that are harvested to dry (or freeze) and bring them back to the Garden to build up our stock of dried herbs so they are available to everyone for teas and medicine-making sessions. We're hoping to have some dried ready to bag up and sell at the Garden's stall at the Redbridge Green Fair in May and we will be producing a leaflet to accompany these with information about traditional medicinal uses and preparations.

The next public herbal session is the Spring Herb Harvesting - hope you can come along (lets pray for a lovely sunny Spring day). The Galium aparine (goosegrass) and Stellaria media (Chickweed) is already coming up (a bane for gardeners but I LOVE them - and so should you!). The Herb Team had some fun harvesting them last Sunday and finding out how to make an easy (free!) herbal Spring detox. And I'm having fun experimenting with ways to make a herbal deoderant with the Galium and Sage (Salvia officinalis).

After that we have the May Day celebration on Sunday, 3rd May - the May (Hawthorn - 'Crataegus oxycantha' will hopefully be in full blossom so the Garden should look beautiful - bring the family and take some home for good luck (and health!) - Hawthorn is a magical herb and makes a lovely tea - I'll tell you all about it on the day.

Hope I'll see you at the Garden soon.

Debbie Syrett
Resident Herbalist

PS: I'm sure many of you have been watching the new BBC2 programme 'Grow Your Own Drugs' - wonderful idea and I'm delighted that it has got herbs out in the open for the public a little more but please ALWAYS CHECK WITH A QUALIFIED HERBALIST before using any herbal preparations if you have any existing health problems or are taking any pharmaceutical drugs as there are potential drug-herb interactions. However, if the programme has inspired you to start making your own home remedies I couldn't be happier (come along to the medicine-making sessions at the Garden!). You can always check with me to make sure what you've picked or are making is safe for you to use). If any of you would like to start making your own herbal remedies at home I can recommend an excellent, very reasonably-priced book, written by a wonderful, experienced herbalist that will give you all the information you need.