Blog
A Year of Herbs Course (Starting Spring 2017)
Date: January 17, 2017 Posted by: Dafydd Monks
Have
you always looked at the
hedgerows in awe, wondering about the power of the blossoms and berries
growing there? Perhaps where others see weeds, you see wonders...?
...Then join us on 'A year of Herbs' and fully explore the wonders of
medicinal plants and their health-giving, healing properties.
A Year of Herbs is a course for those with a serious interest in learning some of the many uses of herbs in family health, home-made cosmetics, and beauty products. The course is 8 months long, starting in March 2017. We will meet for a day every month, and discuss growing herbs in your garden, herbs in the wild, harvesting and processing, and turning them into lovely and authentic medicines and cosmetics for you and your family to enjoy. You will learn how to use: ~50 herbs that you can grow yourself, harvest wild, and some herbs and spices you will already have in your kitchen.
You will learn how to make: Teas, Tinctures, Ointments, Creams, Salves, Lip Balms, Bath Bombs and Herbal Soaps. The course will follow the natural world as herbs grow and are harvested and used throughout the "herbalists' year" and each month will be vastly different as the seasons progress..
At the start of the course, you will receive a course folder; which we will enrich together: Each month you will receive additional hand-outs and fact sheets to add to your folder as your knowledge grows.
All learning
materials and things you make are included in the price of the course.
Course price: £320 (£40 per day) and is paid per session. The price Includes a course folder with learning materials for you to keep, and all the medicines you make on the course are yours to take home!
*This is a non-practitioner course for the interested public and is not a professional training course. However, by the end of the course, you will have learned how to use the 50 herbs we cover safely, and effectively to treat minor ailments and keep you and your family healthy!
A Taste of What We'll Be Doing
On the first day of the course we will be covering:
- Introduction to herbal medicine: What is it, why should I care,
how can
I do it at home, and why should I want to?
- Kitchen medicine - you already have more herbs in your kitchen
than you
think - go beyond cooking and learn what these herbs can do for you and
your health.
- Garden medicine - From weeds to wonders; 'feral' herbs in your
garden
(often weeds) and growing medicinal plants.
- Herb Walk - we will take a walk alond a mile or so of hedgerow
and see
what plants are coming up; how to identify and use wildcrafted herbs;
sustainability and pollution.
- Preserving and Storing the fruits of your foraging; how to dry,
store,
and lable herbs. Making them into simple teas & decoctions.
- The importance of journalling... Writing down what you see, where it was and what it means... How to start really looking and noticing.
Learn basic family
herbal medicine, from seed and garden through to preparation and useage.
Course Locations & Dates
The course is run in two locations in North Wales. East and Mid Wales is served by a course at Erddig, Near Wrexham on the Saturday, and North West Wales is served by a course held at Cae Non, Near Nefyn on the Sunday.
Provisional Dates:
(First and second weekends confirmed, rest TBC)
Part 1: 18/19th March
Part 2: 22/23rd April
Part 3: 20/21st May
Part 4: 17/18th June
Part 5: 15/16th July
Part 6: 19/20th August
Part 7: 17/17th September
Part 8: 21/22nd October
Contact me to register your interest for the Year of Herbs course and receive more information/discuss the course with me.
Past students examining soap they
made as part of the course.