July 2004

17^th July - My first official workshop looking at herbs for the family and herbs for stress. Three members of the Solihull Natural Healing Group found their way to the farm and thoroughly enjoyed picking herbs to try in teas (red clover, lemon balm and cleavers) and making the acquaintance of the herbs in the different beds. All of them were keen to know more about looking after themselves by using herbs and were grateful for the handouts and recipes I provided as well as references for herb books where they could gain further information.

18^th July - The summer outing of the Solihull Writers Workshop ended with a tour of the Sanctuary Herb Garden. The yellows and oranges of the calendula, the purple of the goats rue and delicate pinks of the motherwort made striking contrast against the green of the nettles and grass.

24^th July - Lunch with Noreen Miller-Lopez, a practicing medical herbalist, to visit her house and garden. It was wonderful to see bunches of herbs hanging to dry in her treatment room and how she produces her tinctures and other medicines. We talked about the possibility of developing vocational herb courses and the course she was running with mental health service users in the Black Country. A subsequent phone call involved me in the NIMH medical herbalism week together with the Balsall Heath Jungle Women’s Group running a workshop on “Beating the Blues : preparing for the dark days of winter."

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