Originally established in the 1980s, Herbal Apothecary has been providing high quality herbal products to practitioners, the trade and the public for over 30 years. It is the herbal medicines brand from Nature’s Laboratory Ltd, a Yorkshire based organisation with herbal medicine at its core.

Herbal Apothecary produce one of the largest ranges of practitioner herbal products in the UK. Many of the products developed with practitioners are now available to trade customers and the wider public. Their ethos is driven by 3 guiding principles of Evidence, Sustainability and Access

Herbal Apothecary is also a Friend of the Institute.

The Peach (@the.peach.grows, www.the-peach.org) is a collective of practitioners getting to the heart of health. We offer the community, skills and space to practice being well. Join us for a range of insightful, skill-based workshops applicable to all aspects of life, whether in or out of the clinic.

The Betonica medical herbalist training programme is a four year course combining traditional knowledge and modern science.

The main aim of the course is to create an alternative learning experience in herbal medicine, combining community, sustainability and organic principles.

We're delighted to welcome the team from Betonica to the festival, where they will be leading herb walks and interactive sessions to connect herbalists new and old with plants.

Aeon Books is an independent publisher of interesting books with a focus on botanical medicine. It was established by two practising Medical Herbalists with backgrounds in publishing and journalism, with the aim to publish and promote the best writing in contemporary complementary medicine.

Established in 2018, Aeon supports herbalists and herbal medicine by recording the expertise of practitioners and distributing their work across the globe. Their books cover the spectrum of practice, from foraging and medicine making to foundational texts and technical guides on subjects such as reproductive and digestive health. They are committed to raising the profile of herbal medicine, and herbalists, through the sharing of knowledge.

For more information visit: www.aeonbooks.co.uk

Alice Nugent is a qualified medical herbalist with a passion for working with people to improve their health and wellbeing.  She truly believes that food and plants are our medicine as she spent her early years foraging and working on the land at her home in Furancungo, Mozambique. Alice moved to the UK in 1997 and lives in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.

Alice gained her BSc (Hons) from the University of Westminster in 2009. She also holds a certificate in Traditional Medical Practice from the University of Zimbabwe and a certificate in Neurodiversity Specialist Coaching from University of Leicester.

In 2013, and as an extension of her herbal medicine practice, Alice established a company, Hippopot Herbs. Hippopot herbal teas are sold in a range of health shops and online.

In 2014, Alice started a charity called Malawi Smiles which focuses on empowering girls to stay in education.

Session:

Traditional Medicine in Southern Africa.

Cultural practices and Traditional Religion.

Becoming a practitioner; Learning the trade.

Consultation procedures: appointment, the process, diagnosis, prescription.

Reliability and effectiveness. Examples of plants adopted by the west.

Registration of practitioners today.

Leif Bersweden is a writer, botanist and nature communicator with a face-down, bottom-up approach
to watching wildlife.

He grew up in rural Wiltshire where he taught himself how to identify the local
flora and has championed our wild plants and the joy they bring ever since.

He is the author of The Orchid Hunter (2017) and Where the Wildflowers Grow (2022).

Session:

Our resident flora is packed full of remarkable creatures. There are plants that poison predators, fight
battles and play mind games with pollinators. We have carnivores and climbers, puppeteers and
parasites. Some are giants thousands of years old, while others are tiny pinpricks a millimetre across.

In 2021, Leif Bersweden went on a big botanical adventure around Britain and Ireland with his bike,
travelling from Hampshire’s Bluebell woods to the shores of Shetland, to track down our most
intriguing and well-known plants, with the people who love them most dearly.

Leif’s latest book, Where the Wildflowers Grow, follows him on that journey as he botanises his way
through an entire calendar year, meeting our plants, telling their stories and exploring people’s
connection to their local flora. Plants are capable of extraordinary things that we rarely hear about or
give them credit for, and Leif is here to share their ways with new audiences. This talk, like the book,
is all about the joy of engaging with nature, the importance of plants for our climate, and celebrating
our unbelievable botanical diversity.

Jo is a medical herbalist, nutritionist (MSc nutritional medicine) and fermented foods specialist. She spreads her enthusiasm and accurate information about these topics by working as a clinician and by running a broad range of hands-on and entertaining knowledge-sharing events.

Good health is a potent, but relative state to which we all deserve to access and it is intimately linked with the health of our natural world. Working at the intersection of microbes, nutrition and medicinal herbs melds Jo’s lifelong love and respect for nature with her thirst for knowledge about health and how bodies work. Jo is also FREC 4 first aid trained and teaches for Betonica School of Herbal Medicine. She is a mother to 4 amazing children. She loves being in the woods, learning, asking questions and laughing. Find out more about what she does at The Umbel and The Peach.

Sessions:

1) Embracing complexity: herbal medicine through wild yeast fermentation, vinegars and oxymels.

Now is the time to embrace complexity; complexity in humans, in plants and in nature as a whole. What better way to immerse yourself in complexity than by joining Jo Webster (medical herbalist, nutritionist and ferment specialist) for a mind-bending session on vinegars and oxymels, on making herbal medicine and on doing so having harnessed wild yeasts from fruits, blossoms and nectar to drive the process? We will dive into the subtle complexity of plants, vinegars, honey, medicinal herbs, microbes and their metabolites and how they create products that are both food and medicine. The process involves intimate reconnection with nature, whilst also drawing us into the alluring mystery of microbial action and the complexity and diversity it produces. We will head out together to gather what you need to make your own wild yeast starter, which you will make to use in your own vinegar and oxymel-making journey.

2) Postbiotics: do the microbes we consume need to be alive to benefit health?

Join Jo Webster to have your idea of probiotics turned on its head. Jo is a ferment specialist (as well as a nutritionist and medical herbalist) and has spent the last 5 years researching the idea that  dead microbes may also benefit health. Her PhD is continuing this research and if you are at all intrigued, come along to find out just how revolutionary this idea might be. As always, there are likely to be things to taste, too!

Bendle has been practising as a herbalist since 1989, both in private practice and also for many years, he was a herbalist within an NHS medical centre.

Currently, Bendle is a teacher and 'Director of digital content' for the Heartwood Professional herbalist training programme. He likes to grow medicinal plants and to make some of his own medicines. He also spends lots of time exploring the countryside looking at medicinal plants in their wild habitats.

Bendle will be leading walks showing people what he can find growing on the Hawkwood estate.

Session:

For his session at this year’s festival, Bendle will be leading walks showing people what he has found growing on the Hawkwood estate.

Anne McIntyre is a Fellow of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, a Member of the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy and a Member of the Ayurvedic Professionals Association. She has trained as a medical herbalist, remedial masseuse, aromatherapist, homeopath, spiritual counsellor and Ayurvedic practitioner and has been in clinical practice for over 40 years, offering an integrated approach to the care of patients and prescription of herbs. 

Anne has always been passionate about spreading the word about herbal medicine and is the author of many books on herbal medicine and Ayurveda including The Complete Herbal Tutor, Healing with Flowers, The Complete Woman’s Herbal, Healing Drinks, Herbal Medicine for Children: Western and Ayurvedic Perspectives, The Ayurveda Bible and Dispensing with Tradition: A Guide to using Indian and Western Herbs the Ayurvedic Way. 

Anne lives in the rural Cotswolds where she has a beautiful spiral herb garden, which has been featured widely in the media and on BBC’s Gardeners' World. She runs a busy practice there as well as courses and apprenticeships, and does regular herb walks in the garden and the surrounding countryside. She has lectured widely on herbal medicine and Ayurveda in the UK, Europe and America and has online courses in Ayurveda and herbal medicine for lay people and other professionals.

Session:

Anne will be discussing herbal medicine for children at this year's festival.

Helen has a BSc (Hons) in Herbal Medicine, a background in permaculture, first aid and teaching gardening and growing.

Helen trained for five years in herbal medicine in London gaining experience in the dermatology department of Whipps Cross Hospital, Middlesex University Archway Clinic, Westminster University Herbal Medicine Clinic and the University of East London Clinic. She continues to keep up to date with the latest findings on herbal medicine, attending seminars and lectures as well as keeping a connection with the plants she uses as medicine by making many of her own tinctures, creams and ointments, and offering herb walks and teaching workshops.

Helen has gained a lot of experience in acute medicine (both herbal and orthodox) through her work as a festival first aider and community first responder. Helen has also worked in the Calais ‘jungle’ as part of a team of medics.

Helen is a Betonica Director, Head of Betonica, a Clinical Supervisor, Head of Year 4, and an excellent teacher. She introduces the world of growing and harvesting medicinal plants and trees, as well as telling a tale or two!

Helen will be running some amazing herb walks at this year's festival!

Session:

Helen will be co-ordinating various childrens' activities on site over the festival weekend including herb walks, making a tent guardian and campfire cooking.

Sally qualified as a Registered Nurse in 1992 and worked in Cardiac Surgery for several years after qualifying. For most of her career, Sally has worked with older people with complex biopsychosocial needs, long term conditions and frailty, is an advanced practitioner and a non-medical prescriber. 

Currently Sally is undertaking a programme in Lifestyle Medicine. Based in the South Cotswolds, Sally leads a frailty service and is a clinical lead for frailty with the Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board. Sally has a career-long belief in the tenet of personalised care and person centred approaches to treatment, care and support and advocates passionately for these approaches.

Session:

Unlocking Potential: Discover the Art of Motivational Communication

Join Sally Bauer to explore building productive relationships through meaningful discussions with clients.  In this interactive and dynamic session we will consider motivational communication for professional and personal  growth and confidence and client satisfaction.  We will embark on an interactive journey exploring approaches to consultations, the roles and positions we take in them and the skills and tools we might employ.   

Enhance your communication toolbox:  Join us for a dynamic and informative session to equip yourself with powerful tools to enhance client experience.

Marcos has been a practising herbalist since 2004. He worked as a medical herbalist in King’s Cross for several years (2004-2007 and 2012-2013) specialising in complementary care for people living with HIV, and practiced from Neal’s Yard Remedies’ Therapy Rooms in Covent Garden and, later, Notting Hill, for nine years (2007-2016). 

Marcos worked as a dispenser in Middlesex University’s Archway training clinic for their Western Herbal Medicine BSc in 2009-2010, and later as a clinical supervisor for the Western Herbal medicine BSc and MSc courses at Middlesex University’s Integrative Medicine training clinic from 2013-2018, and at Westminster University in 2021-2022. He currently practices in Harley Street and works as an online clinical trainer for Heartwood Education. 

Marcos is also a student of renaissance and classical astrological techniques, and a dedicated chocoholic! His first book, The Secret Life of Chocolate (thesecretlifeofchocolate.com), a fourteen-year project on the ancient history, usage, pharmacology, and cultural meaning of Cacao/chocolate, was released in 2020. 

Sessions:

Cacao in Medicine and Ceremony

A two-hour open talk, followed by a closed but informal Cacao ceremony with a difference!  In the talk (open to all), Marcos will cover details of the preparation and use of Theobroma cacao seeds as medicine, from Why to How, including both pharmacological and practical considerations.  Combinations with other medicinal plants, dosage forms, varieties of Cacao and chocolate, indications and contra-indications are all discussed, in addition to the more esoteric aspects of Cacao's identity: the myth and magic of Cacao in traditional folklore, early modern medicine, and contemporary alternative or non-mainstream ceremonial usage.  This will be followed by a closed Cacao ceremony (limited to 30 spaces) based on Cacao's traditional use as a ritual substance.

Hannah is a herbalist, storyteller and song-sharer based in Stroud. She aims to weave her love of the natural world and community building into all aspects of her work. She believes that through honest communication, compassion and imagination we are able to find a way back to ourselves and live happier lives. 

Find out more about who she is and what she does at Rekindling Abundance and The Peach.

"Every plant has a story, as does every person, I’m interested in where these two stories intertwine and the healing potential in that…" ~ Hannah Robson

Session:

Storytelling - A way to connect with nature.

Have you ever wondered what the plants would say if they could talk? What would they dress like? And how would they speak?

Join Hannah as you go on a journey to find the voice and character of the plants together…there will be tea tasting, story creation and storytelling. 

You will leave with a new relationship to the plants we work with and a rekindled imagination.

Olly Rathbone has been in publishing for over twenty years and currently owns and runs a Friend of the Institute, Aeon Books Ltd.

Olly is also a medical herbalist and a Member of the Institute. He lives near the little village of Rodmell on the South Down in East Sussex with his wife and two Miniature Bull Terriers.

Session: Olly will be offering guidance and answering questions on writing herbal books.

Shay hails from Canada and is both a yoga teacher and a medical herbalist. She became a qualified yoga teacher in 2014, and has been trained in a variety of styles. Her aim is to tailor every class to the students that arrive, and often blends a fluid and creative vinyasa with elements of calming yin.

Shay has been a medical herbalist since 2021, and is delighted to bring yoga to the herbal folk at the Power of Plants Festival.

Session: Shay will be holding a relaxing yoga session on Friday morning.

Jonas is a medical herbalist, and in this role he sees clients, teaches aspects of herbal medicine at The School of Herbal Medicine and works for Organic Herb Trading, where he produces tinctures and infused oils. 

Before becoming a medical herbalist, Jonas completed a BSc in forest science and forest ecology. Inspired by his own love for nature and natural crafts he worked in outdoor education for many years, bringing nature closer to children of all ages. Through personal engagement and work experience, he has had many opportunities to engage with the land in different ways, growing vegetables, herbs, keeping bees, tending woodlands and building camps in woods. 

Jonas also cares deeply about people, and has been able to explore this as a herbalist, treating clients, doing festival first aid and in the past also doing care work. Recently he has completed a counselling level 3 qualification and is currently looking to continue this journey, to combine it with herbal medicine.

Session:

Sustainability and Community: Looking Deeply at Sustainability within the Herbal Community

Jonas invites you to a discussion around sustainability in herbal medicine, where we will look deeply at the reality of where our herbs come from, the wide world of herbal trade and the everyday challenges of making sustainable choices. Inspired by insights Jonas has gained through his work at Organic Herb Trading and his own search for sustainable solutions in all aspects of life, we will sit together and learn from each other about the reality of our place as herbalists in this modern, globalised and interconnected world.

Sophia is a herbalist, forager and biologist based in the south west. She synthesises time-honoured practices with scientific knowledge, encouraging those she works with to develop close acquaintance and connection with the natural world through food, medicine and plant spotting.

She has worked as a professional forager in both harvesting and educational capacities and is a current member of the Association of Foragers. 

Session:

Seaweed: From Coast to Clinic

Whether you already gather seaweed from our gorgeous rocky shores, are keen to begin, want to incorporate good quality purchased seaweed products in your clinical practice or life, or are simply curious, come dive in. This will be a practical exploration of safe and connected gathering practices, species identification, preparation ideas for food and medicine, and applications in patient and practitioner lives.

Lisa Schneidau is a storyteller and environmentalist based in Devon. She seeks out, and shares, traditional stories about the land and our complex relationship with it, and works with creative storytelling as a way of enabling connection with nature and landscape.

Lisa tells stories for all ages at events, nature reserves, arts centres and schools, including performance storytelling and training for adults, storytelling and development within education, as well as helping to run South Devon Storytellers and Dartmoor Storytellers. She is the author of three books: River Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland, Woodland Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland and Botanical Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland (all History Press).

Lisa trained as an ecologist and has worked in British nature conservation for twenty five years, in roles as diverse as farm advisor, lobbyist and conservation director, and most recently with Devon Wildlife Trust as Nature Improvement Area Manager for North Devon.

There’s more information about Lisa's storytelling performances, projects and writing at www.lisaschneidau.co.uk

Sessions:

1) A performance of 'Tangle of the Commons,’ Lisa's show about the history of the British landscape through folk tale.   

2) A workshop on ‘Greening your Story’ - an introduction to storytelling skills and how they relate to herbal and environmental practice. 

Discover how stories of plants have grown like weeds through history - and learn how to develop your own storytelling skills to communicate the wonder of plants.

3) ‘Leaf, Root and Branch’ - a storytelling for children and families. Here are some of the old tales of the land, retold for modern ears of all ages! Meet wild plants, giants, monsters and the fairy folk as we adventure through time and imagination. All welcome, no age limit, but children must be accompanied by a responsible adult.

Plus, potential book signing and a short talk about the Folk Tales books.

Darshan is a Biodynamic gardener and educator that works for the Ruskin Mill Trust,  a charity that provides therapeutic education and practical skills to children, young people and adults.

He has an interest in the informative, transformative, and inspirational act of tending the land and garden; in gardening as a spiritual practice; and in the history of humanity and our relationship with plants.

Session:

Biodynamic gardening - A spiritual approach that seeks to improve the connection between the plants and the living forces around us.

A discussion and Q&A on the way Biodynamic gardening practices could improve the health and quality of your herbs. 

Darshan will talk about the Biodynamic preparations which are considered concentrated living forces that enhance and guide the plants processes and relationships within the living cosmos. He will also discuss what he calls cosmic ecology; how we can work with the influence of the moon, planets and stars to grow quality herbs.

Amaia is a herbalist, teacher, artist, author, wild rites of passage woman, grief-tender and mama. She has been working with plant medicines for over two decades and seeing patients and students for nearly as long. She set up Wild Apothecary, her herbal medicine apothecary, clinic and teaching space in 2006 near Stroud, Gloucestershire. 

Amaia offers one to one consultations in herbal medicine and wild nutrition, teaching various courses both online and in person, including individual tuition and mentorship. She also has an apothecary shop and space for running circles, retreats and threshold crossings as well as rites of passage work.

She has always held a deep love for the natural world around us and a pull towards healing in its many forms. She began working with plants and learning how to be in relationship with herself, others and plant kin in a way that held reverence, respect and reciprocity as a child and continues to learn more each day.

Session:

Botanical illustration workshops.

Let's get out of our heads and into our senses. We're going on a journey with the beautiful plants of Hawkwood - both within and without. Pencil, paper and paintbrushes might be your friends!

The Bristol Fungarium planted its mycelial roots from humble beginnings with many small hands at work. As an organic farmer and former forest school leader, founder, Tom Baxter, spent two years initiating "The Growing Up Project" which welcomed children from 9 months to 19 years into an organic farm just outside Bristol, encouraging them to reconnect with nature and learn what it means to work the land.

With a penchant for fungi and growing demand for organic mushroom products; in 2020, The Growing Up Project was reborn as The Bristol Fungarium, focusing on the finest quality, organic certified UK-bred native and exotic mushrooms; handling the whole process from spores to sterile lab work, liquid mycelium cultivation and finally the fruiting blocks. Today the Bristol Fungarium crops over a ton of 18 strains of fungi each month including maitake, shiitake, king oyster and 7 other strains of oyster mushroom, wine caps, lions mane, reishi, turkey tail, and cordyceps. Many of which are now featured in the first UK grown organic certified range of medicinal mushroom products to hit the market.

Sessions: Join The Bristol Fungarium Team for a fantastic mushroom tinctures workshop and also an inoculation workshop.

Cherrelle recently graduated from Lincoln and facilitates herbalism and holistic health workshops in community spaces across South London. She is also on the journey of reconnecting to and reclaiming ancestral healing traditions and knowledge of plant medicine which is an act of resistance within the systems in which we live.

Cherrelle is resident herbalist at Coco Collective, a Afro-diaspora led community garden and food-growing space in Lewisham where space is made for a mix of voices and experiences, and is initiating Heart Space, a community Herbalism for Black Liberation series, that will be looking at the areas of health where we have the most disparities, the systems of oppression that create them, and how we can practice preventative care to empower ourselves, our families and our communities.

Session:

Community Herbalism Pop-Up

What has health justice got to do with being a herbalist? If we want to look at the roots of ill health, then we need to look at everything that could be contributing to sickness which is often wider than the individual. It is increasingly more evident that systemic inequalities like race, class, economic status, disability have a big influence on life outcomes. 

A lot of those things we think we can’t control, but for us community herbal medicine is about taking steps to address those systemic inequalities. We want to keep on highlighting the importance and centering health justice in herbal medicine,

In this session, the team will be showcasing innovative community herbal projects around the UK and Ireland with speakers who are doing just that. We want to spark a conversation about what we mean by community herbal medicine and what a good project could look like. 

They'll look more closely at what makes a good community herbal project and how we can learn from and support each other to step out of our comfort zones and be part of the positive changes we want to see.

Elisabeth qualified as a medical herbalist in 1980 with the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, winning the Pharmacology prize. She subsequently ran a training clinic for herbal students on behalf of the Institute at Highgate Natural Health Centre and was a tutor at the School of Herbal Medicine in Tunbridge Wells.

Elisabeth had a private herbal practice in London and taught the first adult education evening class in herbal medicine in London in 1981. In 1989, she worked with the Catholic Institute of International Relations, first in Nicaragua and then in The Dominican Republic, researching traditional medicine. She remained in the Dominican Republic until 1999 working with traditional medicine in Villa Mella and La Romana. She has an online practice in herbal medicine and medical astrology and has taught workshops all over the world.

Session:

Magical Herbalism

​Working intuitively with herbs allows us to connect deeply with the character or virtue of the plant, which is often overlooked in book-learning materia medica.

Herbs are more than the sum of their parts, they can be our guides as well as our teachers, if we take the trouble to get to know them as individuals.

Sitting silently and tuning into individual herbs we discover their virtues and their actions on our physical, emotional, and mental bodies as well as their use in ritual and ceremony.

What that gives us is a profound knowledge of the character of the herb, which we have experienced personally, so we can choose the correct remedy for treatment or exploration.

Experiencing a herb in this way is a never to be forgotten experience, you will always remember how they made you feel.

As teachers, herbs can show us our path, help us with our shortcomings and guide us on our healing journey.

No experience needed, just an open mind and willing heart.

Claudia calls herself a radical herbalist as she wants to focus her attention to promote community grassroots medicine, self care, education and also address the lack of access many people have to land, their ancestral practices and to medical herbalists. She qualified as a medical herbalist with first class honours in 2001.

She has campaigned against deaths in custody and for changes in the treatment of people in mental crisis.

Claudia has lectured in biosciences at University, taught adult education herbal courses, run community ‘cook and eat’ sessions for a decade and now focuses on cancer care. She runs radical herb walks and radical herb classes. She has been a guest speaker at conferences for integrative approaches to oncology.

Mostly, Claudia wants us all to heal and protect each other from systems designed for disparity.

Session:

Community Monograph

Collectively, Claudia will help you to decide the sections to be included in the monograph and build your own plant profile of one herb whilst including the historical purpose of monographs.

She will look at the history of the plant, its kinship relationships, its global names, and so much more.

Mary first joined the National Institute of Medical Herbalists in 1998 as a student of The College of Phytotherapy. She qualified as a medical herbalist in 2000 and has been a member of the Institute ever since.

Her background working for the NHS in clinical biochemistry has underpinned her teaching role within the herbal community, which has included Herbal Pharmacology on the BSc course in herbal medicine at Middlesex University (2005) and teaching anatomy and physiology at the Northern College of Acupuncture.

Mary gained an MSc in Western Herbal Medicine with the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine, and currently works as a tutor for Heartwood (an education initiative launched by the Institute in 2016). Mary is a Director of the Institute's Council.

Session:

Lucy Jones is a qualified medical herbalist and founder of Myrobalan Clinic, a busy high street practice in Somerset. She has been in practice since 2006. Prior to qualifying in Western herbalism, she earned two Degrees from the University of Oxford and studied Tibetan Medicine with the great master Khenpo Troru Tsenam. She grows and processes most of the herbs that she prescribes to patients and is the author of ‘Self Sufficient Herbalism’ and ‘A Working Herbal Dispensary: Respecting Herbs as Individuals’, both published by Aeon Books.

Session:

Respecting Herbs as Individuals

Lucy originally chose the phrase: ‘Respecting Herbs as Individuals’ as part of the title of her book ‘A Working Herbal Dispensary’, because she noticed a growing tendency to view herbs in a way that centres around ‘what condition they can be used for’ or ‘what chemical constituents they contain’. She knows that these pieces of information can seem quite helpful at first, but she rails against seeing and describing herbs primarily in this way. She believes that our relationship with herbs is reciprocal and that herbs are individuals with their own special qualities and virtues. When we turn to herbs for help, we’re not just ‘taking a medicine’, we’re actually entering into a relationship with them.

Once we start to learn about herbs as individuals, it changes everything. For a start, as students, when we’re first learning about herbs, it becomes much easier for us to learn and remember their many actions and qualities. Beyond this, it helps us, as practicing herbalists, to develop a less exploitative relationship with our herbs. We become ‘match makers’ and ‘facilitators’ rather than ‘users’, and this in turn helps us to be conscious of reducing wasteful prescribing and unsustainable sourcing.

In her talk, she’ll be sharing something of her journey becoming a medical herbalist and how she has come to aim to ‘work with’ rather than to ‘use’ herbs. She’ll be introducing you to some of the herbs in her dispensary and she’ll be sharing some fascinating examples where, knowing the special virtues, quirks and qualities of those herbs, has helped her to prescribe them in ways that support her patients far beyond ordinary physiological parameters.

Anita Ralph MSc (herbal medicine) MNIMH CPP has been a practitioner, and tutor of herbal medicine for over three decades. Anita trained to be a medical herbalist straight from school driven by a love of ecology and the natural world as well as having a wonder of what it is to be human. 

Anita works at her own multidisciplinary clinic and herbal dispensary, Medicine Tree, in Kent. She also collaborates with consultant gynaecologist Anne Henderson contributing a chapter on herbal medicine to Anne’s book ‘Natural Menopause’. In 2020 she published a prospective medical audit and analysis of women with menopausal symptoms treated with herbal medicine, in the Journal of Herbal Medicine in 2020. 

She co-created the one-year Foundation Course for Heartwood (an online learning environment), and co-wrote its accompanying textbook Native Healers published by Aeon Books.

She runs a busy clinic, Medicine Tree, in West Malling, Kent where she enjoys seeing her patients, whilst encouraging the next generation of medical herbalists.

“I am passionate about supporting those who study herbal medicine become the practitioners of the future; fully confident in the herbal perspective of physiology, pathology and everything there is to know about medicinal plants, and ultimately restoring our relationship with the planet.”

Session:

Harnessing the Power of Menopause with Herbal Medicine

Join medical herbalists Anita Ralph and Melinda McDougall for an informal conversation about herbal medicine and menopause. They’ll be covering a wide range of topics including: their favourite herbs for menopause; why it’s not all about sex hormones; how to support patients recovering from breast cancer; phyto-oestrogens; helping women transition off HRT; and why menopause can be a truly transformational time for women. And they’d love to hear your experiences too. Suitable for practitioners, all are welcome.

Melinda McDougall MSc, MNIMH is a registered medical herbalist who is passionate about improving health outcomes for women and safeguarding the use of herbal medicine. She has analysed hundreds of research papers on herbal medicine and menopause to find out what really works and uses that knowledge in her busy online clinic to help women find natural solutions to their health problems. 

Her previous career was in broadcast television where she produced and directed numerous factual programmes for Channel 4 and the BBC. She lives and works in London and is Vice President of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists.

Session:

Harnessing the Power of Menopause with Herbal Medicine

Join medical herbalists Anita Ralph and Melinda McDougall for an informal conversation about herbal medicine and menopause. They’ll be covering a wide range of topics including: their favourite herbs for menopause; why it’s not all about sex hormones; how to support patients recovering from breast cancer; phyto-oestrogens; helping women transition off HRT; and why menopause can be a truly transformational time for women. And they’d love to hear your experiences too. Suitable for practitioners, all are welcome.

Despite training as a lawyer, James has spent the last 40 years involved with researching and manufacturing natural medicines from both plants and from the beehive.

For the last 30 years, he has focused on trying to understand the remarkable properties of propolis a natural antibiotic produced by bees. 

In 2011 he created ARC (Apiceutical Research Centre) to promote both medicines from the beehive and sustainable beekeeping. In 2016 he created IPRG (International Propolis Research Group) which brings academics together in international conferences. He co-founded the Global Bee Medicine Group.

He is currently developing BeeArc - The Nature of the Future a combined Discovery and Research Centre which will explore ways in which the honeybee can inspire social, economic and cultural renewal. He has pioneered a unique community health project, The Dispensary.

James founded ThreesCompany which explores and promotes three-dimensional health for businesses and organisations.

Nature's Laboratory Ltd is a Friend of the Institute.

Session: 

APICEUTICALS: A new generation of medicines from the honeybee

Modern pharmaceutical medicine is in crisis. The magic bullet is proving ever more elusive and inappropriate. The economically driven pharmaceutical juggernaut trundles on but the definition and meaning of medicine is being redefined – from targeted, synthetic, and single molecule to natural, synergistic ,holistic, sustainable, ecological.

Over 40 years ago the Kazan Veterinary Institute published research which showed that combining propolis with antibiotics increased the effectiveness of the antibiotics by up to 100 times. We had to wait till the 1990’s before the West began to publish scientific papers.

Research into propolis has grown exponentially over the last ten years with Brazil, China, Turkey and India now major contributors.

Research in UK has grown over the last 15 years particularly at the University of Strathclyde - Scotland. They have developed our understanding of how the chemical compounds collected by the honey bee from plants and trees within their local environment are transformed by the honey bee into a product able to provide immune defence for the whole superorganism.

The relationship between climate and the antibacterial properties of propolis is now more clearly understood. The discovery of anti-trypanosome chemicals in propolis in areas where there is sleeping sickness has opened up new research into Ecological or  Geographic Medicine.

Since 2011 ARC has been linking research activity round the world through a series of international conferences and more recently through the formation of IPRG (International Propolis Research Group)

ARC’s Global BeePharma project further explores the concept of Geographic Medicine i.e. the chemical and biological activity of local bee products to local disease patterns in humans.

ARC has plans to build The BeeArc, a physical research centre and exhibition centre based in North Yorkshire UK and focussed on Apiceuticals – medicines from the beehive and Sustainable Beekeeping.

Nathaniel trained as a medical herbalist and over the past twenty years, he has been developing a style of practice entirely rooted in our relationships with and learnings from plants. He is Director of the School of Intuitive Herbalism, has published two books about his work and is proud to have co-founded a new (yet ancient!) style of practice: ‘Insight Herbalism’ with an emerging community of skilled and professional graduates working in this way.

Session:

Rose has been a guided presence in the school Nathaniel runs for two decades; the doorways it can open within us are immense and lead us directly to the wisdom of the heart. In this session we will curate a space to drop into your experience of Rose, exploring how no experience of a plant is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ but all can be received as a reflection and teaching that can take us deeper into both the plant and ourselves. This is the path of developing intuition - discerning our projections and ideas from the deeper being of the plant we are journeying with.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4FJ1SkULCz6cH0JL3Xk5QD?si=Jiwobk58RRijos3z24WFnA

Shankar has a doctorate in natural products and phytochemistry. He has more than 10 years experience of working in industry and academia with many research publications to his credit.

He is working as a Director (Research and Quality) at Nature’s Laboratory Ltd. His main research interests are natural products and the development of quality standards for herbs and propolis.

Session:

Study of Relationship between Chemical Composition and Biological Activity of Propolis

Propolis contains resinous material collected by honeybees from plants, and has a plethora of biological activities. The geographical location of propolis collection influences its chemical composition, resulting in variations in biological activity. The present study was designed to analyse the relationship of propolis to geographic location, chemical composition and biological activity. We have applied multiple regression analysis using SPSS to examine selected flavonoids and phenolics for their individual concentration as well as total content and biological activities i.e. anti-microbial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and anti-oxidant activity by DPPH assay. 

Three climatic zones have been classified- temperate, subtropical and tropical. This meta-data analysis revealed some interesting facts about the distribution of specific chemicals (CAPE, pinocembrin, pinobanksin, galangin, naringenin, chrysin, quercetin, apigenin, cinnamic acid, coumaric acid, caffeic acid and ferulic acid), as well as, total phenolic and flavanoid content and biological activity. We observed that,t he phenolics have stronger anti-microbial activity as compared to flavonoids and vica-verse for anti-oxidant activity. We also noticed that, total phenolic content is often around 1.5 times higher than flavonoid content in almost all climatic zones. Higher levels of cinnamates were observed in propolis from tropical regions which had better anti-microbial potential, whereas, temperate propolis with higher levels of flavonoids exhibited better anti-oxidant potential.

Elsie Harp is a mental health practitioner, self taught herbalist and flower farmer based in Bristol, UK.

Elsie is a daughter of Apartheid, born to a Black South African mother and White British father. Her work seeks to liberate herself from the traumas of her lineage, and her interest lies in psychocho neuroendocrinology, with a reverence for the power of vibrational medicine to shift intergenerational trauma.

Session:

Community Herbalism Pop-Up

What has health justice got to do with being a herbalist? If we want to look at the roots of ill health, then we need to look at everything that could be contributing to sickness which is often wider than the individual. It is increasingly more evident that systemic inequalities like race, class, economic status, disability have a big influence on life outcomes. 

A lot of those things we think we can’t control, but for us community herbal medicine is about taking steps to address those systemic inequalities. We want to keep on highlighting the importance and centering health justice in herbal medicine,

In this session, the team will be showcasing innovative community herbal projects around the UK and Ireland with speakers who are doing just that. We want to spark a conversation about what we mean by community herbal medicine and what a good project could look like. 

They'll look more closely at what makes a good community herbal project and how we can learn from and support each other to step out of our comfort zones and be part of the positive changes we want to see.

Budd’s Herbal Apothecary was opened in 2012 by Wendy Budd Medical Herbalist BSC (hons). 

Wendy qualified with a Degree in herbal medicine in 2006 from the University of Central Lancashire. She has been in full time clinical practice ever since.

During the last 11 years, Wendy has seen thousands of patients and has seen a vast increase in the demographic of individuals seeking herbal medicine. It appears that the enhancement of health and the prevention of disease has become a greater focus for all, especially the younger generation.

Wendy has completed the professional training in ketogenic nutrition with the Nutrition Network of South Africa under Professor Timothy Noakes. She has also completed diplomas in diabetes reversal, health coaching, sports nutrition and sugar and food addiction.

Wendy combines her knowledge of herbal medicine and low carbohydrate diets to further enhance the health of her patients. She believes that the combination of dietary change and holistic herbal medicine can affect major long-lasting changes for many conditions including diabetes and other auto-immune ailments.

Session:

The low carbohydrate diet and diabetes reversal

Type 2 diabetes is fast becoming one of the world’s most problematic endemic diseases. The modern diet and current dietary guidelines have been shown to be a major causative agent in the development of this preventable disease. You may assume that the dietary guidelines are based in robust science. However, this is far from true.

Wendy will investigate the current dietary recommendations and where the evidence for these guidelines come from. She will examine insulin resistance and the development of type 2 diabetes, signs and symptoms you as medical herbalists should be aware of. She’ll also look at the current treatment protocol for type 2 diabetes in conventional medicine paradigm as well as the conventional view that type 2 diabetes is a chronic irreversible disease requiring continuing medication for life.

Wendy will explore diagnostic tests Hba1c, blood glucose meters and blood sugars, how a low carbohydrate ketogenic diet can reverse type 2 diabetes and how to implement a low carbohydrate ketogenic diet with your patients.

She’ll also look at the use of herbal medicines to aid the transition of patients from a standard Western diet to a low carbohydrate ketogenic diet and a few case studies of her patients with diabetes type 2 and the transition to a low carb diet.

Vaginal health herbalist, Kathie Bishop MNIMH is the founder of Into the Wylde, an award winning natural intimate lubricant brand that is registered with the Vegan Society and The Soil Association.

She is the creator of the Power Portal Plan and Power Source group programmes at The Wylde Herbalist, where she helps women transform their vaginal health. She is the author of It’s Your Power Portal: Take Control of Your Vaginal Health with Herbal and Holistic Care, published by Aeon in April 2022, and is the recipient of the Innovation in Practice Award from The National Institute of Medical Herbalists in 2021.

She truly believes that the world needs more feminine power, creativity, leadership, and it is her hope that through healing our, and society’s, relationship with the vagina, whose name is so often dared not spoken, we can have a greater impact for good in the work we create, do and embody.

Session:

Ode to a Sitz Bath

Kathie will help you to journey into the therapeutic world of the sitz bath. Topical water extractions and applications of herbs are a very traditional (think the hand and foot baths of Maurice Mességué) but often overlooked dosage form in today’s modern practice. However, they offer a very ritualistic and softening approach that patients can action themselves in an environment designed to relax and heal.

And they are incredibly relevant for the patient presenting with vaginal health issues. As a vaginal health herbalist, this is one practice I use with almost all my patients. It can have some challenges, but also incredible benefits and together we are going to explore: what a sitz bath is; why use them, their therapeutic applications and benefits; what herbs to use and what dosages; where to source one; how to make one, and what to do if people simply can’t use one.

Come join us for this hour’s interactive session and be prepared to get your hands wet as we make up a couple of alternatives for your patient.

Lorna is a herbalist, foot care worker, medicine maker, and teacher dedicated to community empowerment through herbalism. She is the founder of the Herbalista Free Clinic which cultivates community through free clinical services and herbal education.

Herbalista loves mobile medicine as an incredibly effective way to expand outreach and serve our most vulnerable and has cultivated a variety of mobile clinical projects such as the Herb Bus and the Herb Cart, as well as pop-up Health Fairs, First Aid Stations, and HerbCare Stations.

Practising on both sides of the Atlantic, Lorna is also a founding member of the Dublin Herb Bike Collective and member of the Irish Register of Herbalists.

Session:

Community Herbalism Pop-Up

What has health justice got to do with being a herbalist? If we want to look at the roots of ill health, then we need to look at everything that could be contributing to sickness which is often wider than the individual. It is increasingly more evident that systemic inequalities like race, class, economic status, disability have a big influence on life outcomes. 

A lot of those things we think we can’t control, but for us community herbal medicine is about taking steps to address those systemic inequalities. We want to keep on highlighting the importance and centering health justice in herbal medicine,

In this session, the team will be showcasing innovative community herbal projects around the UK and Ireland with speakers who are doing just that. We want to spark a conversation about what we mean by community herbal medicine and what a good project could look like. 

They'll look more closely at what makes a good community herbal project and how we can learn from and support each other to step out of our comfort zones and be part of the positive changes we want to see.

Kandake has worked in her community for  over thirty years and has been in clinical practice for the past 15 years. She runs regular herbal health workshops and herbal walks in her community.  She speaks at community events, on radio and TV and  focuses on issues which are prevalent in her community including women's health issues, anaemia, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, high blood pressure. Kandake recently spoke at World Sickle Cell Day (a disease mainly found in the African Caribbean community) and is currently working within the sickle cell community administering and teaching on holistic and herbal healing approaches.   

Kandake has also been teaching for the past 7 years traditional African concepts of healing and herbal medicine and speaks on this subject matter both nationally and internationally.

Session:

Community Herbalism Pop-Up

What has health justice got to do with being a herbalist? If we want to look at the roots of ill health, then we need to look at everything that could be contributing to sickness which is often wider than the individual. It is increasingly more evident that systemic inequalities like race, class, economic status, disability have a big influence on life outcomes. 

A lot of those things we think we can’t control, but for us community herbal medicine is about taking steps to address those systemic inequalities. We want to keep on highlighting the importance and centering health justice in herbal medicine,

In this session, the team will be showcasing innovative community herbal projects around the UK and Ireland with speakers who are doing just that. We want to spark a conversation about what we mean by community herbal medicine and what a good project could look like. 

They'll look more closely at what makes a good community herbal project and how we can learn from and support each other to step out of our comfort zones and be part of the positive changes we want to see.

Rasheeqa (Hedge Herbs) is a herbalist in her community in Walthamstow in north London. She has been practicing since 2012, offering treatment with herbal medicine and teaching about its many aspects, alongside a wider mix of work whose aim is connecting us as communities with the potential of this knowledge and craft as a way to develop healthier living systems and relationships. She is inspired by her early involvement with the Radical Herbalism Gathering in exploring how to make plant medicine accessible and restore balance to its practice in the contexts of systemic inequalities and oppressions that are part of our shared histories. 

Rasheeqa is part of the Community Apothecary in her locality, a CIC that brings community members together around a patchwork of medicinal herb gardens where they can learn about growing, wildcrafting and making medicines together, exchanging knowledge and peer support and seeding the model in other neighbourhoods so that we create landscapes of healing everywhere! She has also been involved with the Mobile Apothecary in Bethnal Green, a street medicine distribution project bringing solidarity herbal healthcare to people from rough sleeper and less well resourced communities there.

Session:

Community Herbalism Pop-Up

What has health justice got to do with being a herbalist? If we want to look at the roots of ill health, then we need to look at everything that could be contributing to sickness which is often wider than the individual. It is increasingly more evident that systemic inequalities like race, class, economic status, disability have a big influence on life outcomes. 

A lot of those things we think we can’t control, but for us community herbal medicine is about taking steps to address those systemic inequalities. We want to keep on highlighting the importance and centering health justice in herbal medicine,

In this session, the team will be showcasing innovative community herbal projects around the UK and Ireland with speakers who are doing just that. We want to spark a conversation about what we mean by community herbal medicine and what a good project could look like. 

They'll look more closely at what makes a good community herbal project and how we can learn from and support each other to step out of our comfort zones and be part of the positive changes we want to see.

Facilitated by Rasheeqa Ahmad of Hedge Herbs and The Community Apothecary in London, and Annwen Jones and Becs Griffiths from Rhizome Community Herbal Clinic and Herbalists without Borders Bristol. They have all been involved in community herbal medicine since they qualified over a decade ago. They were part of the collective that founded the Radical Herbal Gatherings. At the moment they are in the process of writing a book on Community Herbal Medicine for Aeon Press and this workshop is a summary of some of this.

Session:

Community Herbalism Pop-Up

What has health justice got to do with being a herbalist? If we want to look at the roots of ill health, then we need to look at everything that could be contributing to sickness which is often wider than the individual. It is increasingly more evident that systemic inequalities like race, class, economic status, disability have a big influence on life outcomes. 

A lot of those things we think we can’t control, but for us community herbal medicine is about taking steps to address those systemic inequalities. We want to keep on highlighting the importance and centering health justice in herbal medicine,

In this session, the team will be showcasing innovative community herbal projects around the UK and Ireland with speakers who are doing just that. We want to spark a conversation about what we mean by community herbal medicine and what a good project could look like. 

They'll look more closely at what makes a good community herbal project and how we can learn from and support each other to step out of our comfort zones and be part of the positive changes we want to see.

Bee McGovern is a medical herbalist who is passionate about reconnecting people and plants at all levels.  Her herbal practice has been hugely influenced by her herbal mentors, Carol and Stephen Church, Christopher Hedley and her original degree in Botany and Zoology. 

She has been growing and making her own medicines for almost 20 years.  Working on the balance of being in full time practice, the family’s main income earner, and operating sustainability is an ongoing refinement process.

Session:

Sustainable practice and medicine security in times of change

As custodians of the earth it is our duty to walk as lightly as we can and work in harmony with nature.  It is also our duty to ensure our patients have the highest quality medicines and a continued supply of them wherever possible.  Growing, making and sustainably foraging can play a large role in reducing our practice footprint and ensuring the supply of the best quality herbal medicines.  Growing within our communities is an important aspect of this too.

Join Bee for a discussion on sustainable practice and how we can make improvements to our practice to grow more rooted, grow stronger and grow our communities. Bee would love your input.  Together we are stronger and there is great for potential for us all to make further inroads in this important area.

Cotswolds Pop Ups celebrates all things seasonal - working with incredible producers to cook to the seasons and create fresh and delicious food for everyone to enjoy.

They design each menu around what is good quality, local and delicious. They stay clear of meat and dairy alternatives as traceability is poor. For non-meat or dairy eaters, they make vegetables so tasty that they don't think you need artificial alternatives. They are transparent with their sourcing and only use organic meat sourced locally.

Mike and Helen first discovered the classic 4x4 Lada Niva whilst cycling from the Cotswolds to Nepal. The car is used extensively across Georgia and Azerbaijan where they often found themselves weaving around the vehicle and fell in love with its quirky charm.

The no frills workhorse originally designed to power through the frosty mud of Siberian wheat fields was about to take on a new transformation. They returned home, bought the first Lada Niva they could find, converted the back into a coffee truck and the Coffee Lada was born.

They source sustainable coffee roasted locally from the wonderful NONI's coffee roasters.

They use organic unhomogenised milk from their local dairy for flavour and quality. The Coffee Lada prepare each espresso with barista skills to create balanced, rewarding brews.

A self-taught baker who started experimenting with cake recipes as a child, Beth decided it was time to start her own cake business in 2016 after having her first daughter.

Baking from her own kitchen in Stroud, she starting supplying local cafes and trading at Stroud Farmers Market. Demand grew for her vegan, gluten and refined sugar free cakes and so she developed her own set of recipes to make all of her products plant based without compromising on taste.

In 2022 she created the Baked by Beth bakery in Nailsworth, to bring plant based cakes together with locally roasted coffee and prove that plant based can provide the ultimate treat.

She loves the challenge of keeping her cakes super delicious whilst also making them healthier and incorporating lots of wholefood ingredients.

Beth’s favourite part of baking is decorating each cake uniquely with seasonal edible flowers, nuts & berries that reflect the natural ingredients within.

Fudeboy Kitchen came from the collaborative passion for cooking between Greg and Tash.

From the start of their relationship they have always been excited about inventive ways to use plants to make exciting meals.

After a few years of hosting friends for dinner, cooking up storms for friend's birthdays and delivering 'special deliveries' to those in need when they made too much food (which happened a lot!) they decided they needed to make this their lifestyle.

Their cuisine is fully plant based, gluten free, low carb and major allergens are avoided wherever possible!

Earth Ale is all about bringing people together and closer to nature, with beers that are inspired by natural and foraged ingredients.

With roots in Michelin kitchens around the world, they’re passionate about making beers that are worthy of pairing with good food and moments worth sharing.

They use ancient and modern fermentation techniques and focus on seasonal, limited batches, so they can give every brew the hand-crafted care and attention it deserves.