Coughs
and colds, bruises and sprains, chilblains, insect bites and stings, joint
aches and pains, there was usually "a herb for that” and recipes were
frequently passed down for making oils, balms, tinctures, syrups, elixirs made
from plants such as elder, rose, yarrow, vervain, hawthorn and meadowsweet.
Fred
Gillam will take you on a journey to discover some of this old lore. You will
learn to identify the plants they used and learn how to make up some of these
simple kitchen recipes from common herbs for yourself. You will be using
freshly harvested plant material to create your own balms, oils, tinctures and
teas, many containing ingredients that are still used in similar over the
counter preparations today. Fred will also teach you when not to resort to home
remedies and when to go and seek professional help from a GP or medical
practitioner. All materials will either be foraged during the course or
provided.
Fred,
who also runs our 'Week of Foraging' course, teaches herbal medicine at The
Wild Side of Life as well as teaching for the National Institute of Medical
Herbalists postgraduate training board and for other professional associations,
including the Plant Medicine School, International Register of Consultant
Herbalists and The Irish Register of Herbalists.
Fred
apprenticed as a traditional herbalist with Sarah Head at the Springfield Herb
Sanctuary and has presented three papers on medical botany subjects to the Bath
Royal Literary and Scientific Institution. He is the author of Poisonous Plants
in Great Britain and his business, The Wild Side of Life, has won a number of
prestigious awards for teaching. Fred also runs a community dispensary with his
partner in the village where they live. He makes frequent appearances on radio
and television to talk about his loves; the plants and mushrooms of the English
Countryside.
Fred@thewildsideoflife.co.uk
