Beginning at the beginning with herbs

When herbalism has been a way of life from the very outset, it's easy to forget that some people are beginning right at the very beginning. The have never had the blessing of pottering out in the garden as a child, making daisy chains with dandelions, and harvesting flowers, herb and root at different times of the year. They haven't had the opportunity to tune in with nature, understand the seasons, and cycles of growth, maturation and death intrinsic to all life on earth. They have not come from a place where you need to know all these things, because taking seven children to the doctor for every bump and scrape simply isn't a viable option. I have never known a world without herbal medicine.

Ironically, this puts me in entirely the reverse place of most people today. I'm so often asked how it is that I trust a weed more than a doctor... and yet, I find it difficult to comprehend that someone would trust a doctor more than a weed. Don't misunderstand me, I fully agree that surgery has its place, and the diagnostics, scanning and testing available to us today to determine the nature of complex issues are beyond compare. What perplexes me is the modern propensity to run to the doctor for even the slightest issue, or to seek out a medication that has been extracted, isolated and synthesised from a herb, rather than take the herb itself.

Perhaps it's a generational thing too. Yes, I'm getting old to most people's standards. I grew up at a time where there was no internet, no mobile phones, and the majority of shops closed around noon on saturday, and didn't open again until monday. As for TV, that was just for evenings for a couple of hours between dinner and bedtime. We were a migrant family, and a large one at that. Mum spent the lion's share of her daylight hours cleaning the house and preparing food... and with our tight budget, most of that came from our own garden. She cooked, preserved, made the most wonderful meals from scratch, so the majority of time spent with her, meant helping out with these daily tasks. So from day one, I was learning how to do the same.

Obviously, I have learned an enormous amount in my life over and above what I learned as a child, but a firm foundation had been set, it was then for me to just add, alter, and improve on this. As such, I've really had to stop and become consciously aware of how and why I do things the way I do. Why I have selected certain tools, why I have upgraded to modern technology for some tasks and not for others, and are my choices simply personal preference, or is there a clear difference? A prime example being the image above, my Magical Butter Machine... are they necessary? Or just a cool time-saving gadget? As a staunch traditionalist, I am generally quite reluctant to move toward technological options, given the spirit and love that is intrinsically part of the medicine I make, so it's really important for me to make sure that any alteration does not detract from the end product.

With all this in mind, I have begun the task of creating some online resources that discuss these issues. Where to start. And not just with the herbs themselves, but with tools. What do you need to get started, are they the same things you will progress with in the long run? Are there ways to start simple and expand your collection of tools as you progress in your knowledge and practice of herbalism? In summary, I guess it's going to provide the means to get started, regardless of your budget... because let's face it, herbalism was always meant to be the poor people's medicine, so if you can't start with nothing at all (which you absolutely can!), then it's not for poor peope at all, is it.

So stay tuned... more information on my online courses, workshops and other resources coming very soon.

Bella 💕