Academy Of Scottish Herbalism

Professional Herbalist Studies Course update!
Begins January 15, 2025 💚
There are two more places available for the full Professional Herballists Study Course and three more places open for the first Foundation Trimester only. Message or email your interest right away so we can start the enrollment process 💚https://celticherbs.wordpress.com/study/herbal-studies-course-curriculum/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGGcwJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHfEosmFUX01qnJx3kt70yOypr-HXFEhcbXlsB6l6CvcJ73H2RM1VYP35HA_aem_9apJ-zDQaX0rAumB2PtARQ

Professional Herbalist Studies Course Instructing in the art & science of traditional Scottish herbalism and ethno botany, the Professional Herbalist Studies Course is a hands-on learning opportunity, designed to teach you to recog…

More on the top three endangered plants of Scotland

Saving Endangered Plants in Scotland - Plantlife Did you know some of our plants are threatened by extinction? Here are 3 species that are endangered in Scotland and the work that’s being done to bring them back.

Three plants of Scotland; marsh saxifrage, Scottish primrose and the twinflower are endangered and top of the list in conservation efforts

Almost 600 plants have already gone extinct - Why should we care? - Sonnenseite - Ökologische Kommunikation mit Franz Alt New study from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Stockholm University looks at the plants that have been wiped from the planet in the last 250 years.

Red clover's distribution has increased over the past hundred years. This and plenty more fascinating facts about Trifolium pratense
https://botsocscot.wordpress.com/2023/10/29/plant-of-the-week-30th-october-2023-trifolium-pratense-red-clover/?fbclid=IwAR3U3XyXvKi0UDc1VzyTHbknDfVaT6gQrTTFADQ2aAOXZRq5diUtJwuJpM0

Plant of the Week, 30th October 2023 – Trifolium pratense (Red Clover) It isn’t just a pretty flower, it’s an important one

The making of a legend

Forgotten diaries show how illiterate baker became pioneering herbalist The family of Duncan Napier, who founded Scotland's first herbal apothecary in 1860, find his diaries.

Edwina Staniforth in Britain gets in tune with dandelion

Dandelions Rock!! And so I have another Herbal offering to help folk reconnect to our amazing herbal allies during the lockdown. This time it's an introduction to the lovely l...

As some may already know, for herbalists like myself, who practice in a specific tradition, we harvest herbs not only at a specific cycle of the plants life, but also to celestial portents. Early morning Tuesday, where I am, was all at the same time the exact half way point between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice, it was also a full moon, that reached being full while a total lunar eclipse was also happening here and Celtic Samhain holy day.

This was a perfect time to harvest herbs that require 'no sun or moon in the sky', herbs that are particularly good at working deep on the inner working between mind and soul, those that are a bit otherworldly and wild card in their nature. Vervain is one. Verbena officinalis also known as Enchanter's Herb and Holy Herb is one that was giving me an unexpected second growth and harvest this year. So I awoke during totality of the lunar eclipse, which lasted an hour and a half, to harvest it both at a full moon, the peak of plant constituents up in the plant tissues and also in the traditionally required total darkness.

It was growing along the ground rather than up like it usually would. The stems were as tough as a wire. Both flexible and refusing to break. After a discussion with it, it let go. Completely quiet out there as is common during eclipses, is rare in my gardens because all the cats, opposum, nutria, small frogs and raccoons as well as obnoxious neighbors that are usually up to something. The only noise was industry, miles off in the distance. Then one lone cat voice, only one of nine possible, who did not approach but instead came to the walkway to meet me. One of three ferals that allows me to touch it, looking for an opportunistic feeding and a pat.

This was an unexpected second harvest of vervain. Inspecting the leaves they were very rugged. The stem stout, growing off the nearly underground nub of a main stem I had cut down at soil level, I think in August. It feels as though this will be helpful for tough cases, people who are survivors who can't let the survival lifestyle go, because it saved them and may have to again. However much this lifestyle is keeping them from thriving and living a life they would prefer. They made it through insurmountable odds and now it's time to rest and revision a new life.

Verbena officinalis is specific for post traumatic stress injury (PTSI, formerly PTSD) both an antispasmodic and muscle relaxant and at the same time is a neurostimulant and anti depressant. It can help stop nightmares and night terrors. It's a specific for enhancing visions and divination.
- Heather Nic an Fhleisdeir, Clinical Herbalist & Apothecary, director and head of faculty Academy Of Scottish Herbalism Copyright ©️ 2022

Chickweed is on it's way up!

Hello Chickweed Love!
This Wild Superfood Returns with Autumn Coolness

This hardy annual, scientifically called Stellaria media of the Caryophyllaceae family, is a wild green superfood that is tasty, free, abundant and nutrient dense—high in vitamin C, beta carotene, and minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium, and manganese.

This wild and weedy friend has a mild green, rich earthy flavor that makes it appealing to many palates: wonderful in salads or tucked into sandwiches, or added to soup during the last few minutes of cooking. Miso seaweed soup with chickweed = Yum! Also makes a worthy Wild Green Pesto or Green Goddess Dressing.

TO HELP WTH ID, harvest & use, here is our Chickweed illustration from Foraging & Feasting: A Field Guide and Wild Food Cookbook by Dina Falconi (me), illustrated by Wendy Hollender. More about our book on our site www.foragingandfeasting.com

Considered cooling, chickweed is often used topically for heated skin conditions such as eczema.

LOOK FOR it in full sun to part shade in moist, humus rich, fertile soil of disturbed ground, cultivated land, gardens, meadows, and woodlands. Hardiness Zones (USDA): 3–9.

HAVE YOU been finding any chickweed lately, and if yes, how do you like to use it / consume it?

PS If you enjoy this content, I invite you to check out my online course 🌱Wild Food Health Boosters & Herbal Remedies🌿 here 👉http://www.WildFoodHealthBoosters.com

Plant sourced dyes.
Dyeing with plants is a chemistry challenge as the right mordant needs to be used for each plant. Each different fibre accepts the colours differently as well. Traditional knowledge that is passed down, or lengthy experimentations will reveal it.

How to Dye Fabric Using Plants From Your Garden How to turn plants like lavender, nettles, goldenrod, and elderberries into natural dyes for fabrics like cotton, linen plus wool and silk. Use this starter guide to begin creating botanical dyes from your garden.

Buckwheat - Fagopyrum esculentum, a native annual of Tibet and south central China. Introduced into suitable climates worldwide it's flowering right now in Scotland

Sea shore harvest time

Sea kale waking up and stretching its purple tentacles across the shingle in SW Scotland now. Remarkable plants at every stage of growth, I always marvel that such rich succulence can grow from salty rock.
We are lucky to have several well established colonies around Galloway - this one stretches for about 2 miles and comprises thousands of plants.
At this stage I take a shoot or two per plant, thinning abundance, the forager’s way.
Learn more about the remarkable ecology, & sustainable harvesting of these beauties on my website - link in bio, or here: https://gallowaywildfoods.com/sea-kale-identification-edibility-and-distribution/

Mind how you forage; only for personal use, to protect, preserve and allow the plants to propagate

‘It’s trendy’: wild garlic foragers leave bad taste in mouth of Cornish residents Patrols suggested as residents say foragers collecting large bags of wild garlic are ruining annual supply

99-Million-Year-Old Fossil Flower Found Encased in Burmese Amber A rare flower is finally getting its moment in the sun, almost 100 million years after it blossomed.

Birch - A Foraging Guide to Its Food, Medicine and Other Uses You'll learn the parts of Birch used as food and medicine, harvest time, nutrition and other ways humans use this amazing tree - Read more!

Seaweed time!

No reason to fear the mints

16 Reasons To Grow Mint - Without Fear Of It Taking Over Your Garden Mint is aromatic and pleasantly intoxicating, with cooling/soothing menthol flavors which have both culinary and medicinal properties. Plus, it is a perennial herb that is easy to grow. Yet, it is…