Events
TALKS
WALKS
WORKSHOPS
Events for 2024
Build your confidence ~ Improve your skills ~ Increase your knowledge ~ Be inspired
Bee is passionate about sharing her knowledge and encouraging reconnection with nature at all levels. Bee is a medical herbalist and botanist with over 17 years clinical experience. Bee has been incorporating wild foods into her diet and making medicines for over 20 years and believes that education, connection and empowerment are key to greater health autonomy and vitality.
The event schedule for 2024 focuses on nutrition, including wild and cultivated plants; wellbeing from the inside-out, along with nature connection; and natural medicines. The workshops outlined below will be held on Bee’s 2 acre small holding, which consists of wild areas, permanent pasture and a number of garden rooms. Over 130 medicinal plants are grown onsite, most of which are labelled so, enabling you to become more familiar with a number of incredible Plant Allies when you visit. Bee’s clinic and gardens are located on the outskirts of Whitchurch, Shropshire. Tickets for the events below may be booked directly with Bee via email (bergitte@herbsbybee.co.uk) and payment may be made via BACS or by requesting a payment link.
Nourishing Nettles! - Sat, 13th April 2023, 10am – 5pm - FULLY BOOKED
If I could only choose one plant to have in my life this is one I come back to time and time again… Nettles are just absolutely amazing! I ran this workshop last year, having secretly wanted to run it for years and being too worried that there were enough nettle lovers out there. Thankfully I was wrong! Tickets sold rapidly and the day was a great success. So much so that I have decided to re-run it this year and spread the superfood love!
This is a very hands-on workshop where we will forage for nettles, along with some other wonderful everyday herbs and make an array of starters, mains and deserts, along with some drinks. Nettles will be the star of each dish! You will also get to learn about its medicinal virtues – the young greens and nourishing seeds.
You will get to sample and eat your full of what we make and go home bursting with vitality and ideas of how you may incorporate this oh-so common plant in your kitchen repertoire and medicine chest. You will also get to go home with recipes to use again and again! This is an outline of our menu for the day:
- Vitality juice
- Nettle soup
- Nettle filo pouches
- Nettle inspired pakoras
- Nettle pesto
- Nettle and bean Tuscan inspired stew
- Nettle cupcakes
- Nettle inspired herbal tea
Nettles will really be the star of the show!
£95 for the full day workshop, including handouts with recipes for future use, food and drinks for the day.
Nettles Ferments – Sun, 14th April, 10am – 4.30pm
Emma is an expert fermenter and forager. The microbiome and food for optimum health became her area of focus around 13 years ago when family health issues arose. Since then, her passion has grown and developed, and her repertoire of ferments and level of expertise is phenomenal!
This is a hands-on day, that will involve foraging for nettles and making a Nettle sauerkraut and a kimchi for you to take home. Other nettle ferments will be explored and tasted – like Nettle beer and Kombucha. Ways of preserving nettles will also be discussed, including freezing, drying, vinegars and creating foods like Gomases.
Lunch will be provided and of course be nettle themed! There will be a variety of ferments to sample, accompanied by nettle crackers, along with a bowl of delicious nettle risotto or nettle and bean stew.
£95 for the full day workshop, including all materials required for your ferments, with you getting to go home with your two Kilner jars of ferments (Sauerkraut and Kimchi), along with a handout for future reference.
If you wish to come to both Nourishing Nettles and Nettle Ferments you will be eligible for a £10 discount off the combined ticket price. Please email Bee to book for both.
To check out other events that Emma runs please visit: https://wildpickle.co.uk/events/
Fresh Herbal Tea Mastery - Adults Only - 18th May, 1:30 - 5:00 pm
Saturday, 18th May, 1.30 – 5pm Aduls Only Workshop
An immersive, practical and hands on afternoon delving into the art of herbal tea mastery.
From identifying, to harvesting, to prepping, to sampling!
We will walk around the garden and forage in the field getting to know a number of herbs, which can be used in infusions. We will talk about growing herbs along with their optimal harvesting times.
We will get to smell and taste, along with harvesting a number of herbs and then create our fresh botanical brews. Our infusions will be enjoyed with home-made herb infused cakes and biscuits.
Workshop aims:
- To explore the use of approximately 20 different fresh plants
- Learn about growing different herbs and foraging for them
- Improve your plant identification skills
- Discover the differences between making fresh herbal infusions versus infusions from dried herbs
- Explore ways to dry herbs for future use
- Discover different flavour combinations
- Learn how to make the perfect herbal cuppa
- Enjoy tasting teas
- Relax in beautiful surroundings whilst enjoying afternoon tea and cake
- To go home with a Fresh Herbal Teas Mastery guidance handout and maybe a plant or two!
Adult workshop – £65 per person, which includes herbal tea tastings, along with afternoon tea and cake.
Fresh Herbal Tea Mastery - Children and Adults - 19th May, 1:30 - 5:00 pm
Sunday, 19th May, 1.30 – 5pm Parent / Guardian and Child Workshop
(7 or 8 to 13 is the ideal age range)
An immersive, practical and hands on afternoon delving into the art of herbal tea mastery.
From identifying, to harvesting, to prepping, to sampling!
We will walk around the garden and forage in the field getting to know a number of herbs, which can be used in infusions. We will talk about growing herbs along with their optimal harvesting times.
We will get to smell and taste, along with harvesting a number of herbs and then create our fresh botanical brews. Our infusions will be enjoyed with home-made herb infused cakes and biscuits.
Workshop aims:
- To explore the use of approximately 20 different fresh plants
- Learn about growing different herbs and foraging for them
- Improve your plant identification skills
- Discover the differences between making fresh herbal infusions versus infusions from dried herbs
- Explore ways to dry herbs for future use
- Discover different flavour combinations
- Learn how to make the perfect herbal cuppa
- Enjoy tasting teas
- Relax in beautiful surroundings whilst enjoying afternoon tea and cake
- To go home with a Fresh Herbal Teas Mastery guidance handout and maybe a plant or two!
Parent / guardian and child workshop – £75 per duo, which includes herbal tea tastings, along with afternoon tea and cake.
Natural Approaches To Stress And Anxiety - Sat, 1st June, 10.30am – 4.30pm
Saturday, 1st June, 10.30am – 4.30pm
Nature connection – strengthening our connection with our true essence and our connection to nature offers a fresh approach to easing stress and anxiety, enabling us to live from a more grounded, calm and naturally uplifted state.
The morning will be spent exploring how we each create our own reality via the interplay of thought, mind and consciousness. By deepening into this understanding, we can radically alter our experience of life, including our experience of stress and anxiety. Coming across and delving into the 3 principles has been a total game-changer for me, leaving me feeling younger, lighter, freer and more joyous. So much so that an introduction to this inside-out understanding is being incorporate in this workshop!
After lunch we will explore the gardens and meet a number of Plant Allies that may support us during challenging times. We will talk about herb blending and incorporating some of these wonderful plants in your garden so that you have them at hand, should the need arise. We will also discuss a few key herbs you may wish to keep in your medicine chest.
During our walk around the garden, we will harvest some herbs to make a fresh tincture from (alcohol based medicinal extract). Each participant will get to make their own personalised herbal tincture to take home. We will round off the day with a relaxing cup of herbal tea and homemade cake and a chance to weave together the strands from the day.
£95 per person, which includes your personalised tincture to take home, a handout on some key herbs, herbal refreshments throughout the day and afternoon cake. Please bring your own lunch.
Herbal Infused Oils And Balms Mastery - Sat, 22nd June - 10:30am - 5pm
Saturday, 22nd June, 10.30am – 5pm
Making herbal infused oils for external preparations is both an art and a science. From harvesting fresh herbs, to choosing different base oils, to optimally infusing them. Once you have an infused oil you can use it to make a variety of balms – for medicinal or cosmetic use.
In this full day workshop, we will work with a number of key herbs from the garden and some which have already been dried. We will infuse various oils, talk about their medicinal properties and what to consider when choosing both your herb and your oil. We will then use a few different infused oils to make balms – including a client favourite from Bee’s dispensary – Healing Balm! We will make lip balm and you will get to make your very own personalised balm, choosing the ingredients you would like to work with, this will be a great opportunity to consolidate your learning from the day.
Please note we will be using beeswax for our balms.
We will walk around Bee’s medicinal gardens learning about herbs like Calendula, Chickweed Comfrey, Lawn Daisy, Lavender, Lemon balm, Plantain and St John’s Wort. We will also cover off some essential oils so that you can safely incorporate a few of these too, when making your balms.
Handouts will be included for you to make notes in, along with recipes and top tips for future reference.
Cost: £115, which includes handouts, beautiful balms bag containing 3 balms, a couple of infused oils and some bee’s wax to get you balm making once you are back at home (worth £30)!
Drinks and afternoon cake are included in the workshop fee, please bring your own lunch.
Winter Herbal Farmacy - Fri, 6th Sept and Sun, 8th Sept
Friday, 6th September, 10.30am – 5pm
Sunday 8th September, 10.30am – 5pm
This full day’s workshop provides you with a great opportunity to learn how to effectively treat a range of winter ailments & make remedies
Autumn and Winter usually go hand in hand with an increase in colds, coughs, temperatures, viral infections and tummy upsets. Families often feel like they lurch from one thing to the next. Knowing how you can support yourself and your loved ones naturally can make such a difference.
In this workshop we will learn about a number of plant allies – from wild medicines to amazing garden herbs and kitchen cupboard spices! You will learn how to use them effectively when it comes to treating a variety of winter infections. You will also get a better understanding of which foods nutritionally support your recovery, and which foods hinder it!
We will make a number of preparations for you to take home so that you are ready to treat a range of conditions and symptoms that may arise.
Winter preparations that we will make, taste and learn about include:
- Herbal infusions (to use as teas, soaks and gargles)
- Decoctions (to use as teas, soaks and gargles)
- Syrups
- Vinegar & oxymel
You will be provided with a notebook which includes information on the plants covered, recipes and preparation tips, symptom pictures and treatments, along with space to make your own notes.
You will get to go home a Winter Herbal First Aid kit containing:
- Colds and Fever support tea
- Headcold / sinusitis spice blend
- Elderberry & spice vinegar
- Cough syrup
- Onion and garlic syrup
- Echinacea tincture
The Winter Herbal Farmacy workshop covers both hands-on and experiential learning. Filled with expert recommendations and learning focusing on the season ahead, you will leave with an enhanced understanding of the various common winter ailments, which in turn will enable to you to more effectively treat the various conditions that arise. We will also discuss the importance of knowing when to seek professional medical support.
This workshop starts at 10.30am (please arrive at 10.15am) and finishes at 5.30pm.
Winter Herbal Farmacy will be taking place outdoors in the Bee-Hive shelter. We will be heading out into the garden too, so please dress appropriately! Herbal tea will be available throughout the day and a mug of hot soup at lunch time! Please bring your own accompaniments to your mug of soup.
Afternoon tea and cake are also included in the workshop fee.
Cost: £125, which includes your Winter Herbal First Aid kit, your notebook, and herbal teas and food provided.
Feedback from previous events:
Talks
Learn how you can proactively make changes to your lifestyle to improve your health – whether it be via the food you eat or the medicine chest at your feet! Every positive change you make will have a ripple effect – like a pebble thrown into a still pond.
If you belong to a local group or club and are interested in an engaging, information rich and practical session about health, wellbeing and the environment please get in touch. Talks are tailored specifically to the interests of the group – from WIs through to gardening clubs and specific health groups.
Bee has delivered talks to a large variety of groups over the years, including school children, students, specific interest groups, businesses, WIs, Probus Clubs and U3A.
Walks
I am passionate about getting folk outside in nature. Reconnecting with our beautiful plant allies and the earth. I love leading walks – whether their primary focus is on foods or medicines, or even basic plant identification.
When we go outside and do a spot of foraging not only do we increase the diversity of our diet (just think your average western person’s diet consists of approximately just 30 foods!) but we get outside into daylight (a chance to produce some Vitamin D), the light spectrum helps our moods, and healthy outdoor air can even provide us with a dose of probiotics dispensed by the soil beneath our feet!
A lot of our common wild plants are also powerful medicines – you will never look at a ‘weed’ in the same way again! Learning about wild medicines can also encourage health autonomy as there are many herbs which can be used to enhance health and treat basic illnesses.
Immersing ourselves in nature encourages mindfulness and is a beautiful reminder that we are part of something bigger and that we are all interconnected. We engage our senses (smell, sounds, sight, touch and even taste) and become more alive and present.
Walks are scheduled through the year, please look at my events page for future dates.
If you are part of a club or group that is interested in a walk do get in touch. Walks usually last 1½ to 2 hours and a range of habitats can be covered – locations and areas of interest can be accommodated for. Call to discuss.
Workshops
Workshops are a great way of getting hands on and learning experientially. Often you get to go home with something you have helped create and make!
If you are interested in a workshop for a group, please get in touch. Workshops can focus on everything from cooking with foraged foods, ointment making, to vinegars, tinctures, syrups, aromatic bath salts and more!
Options include, but are not limited to:
- Balms and ointments – these usually have a seasonal focus, in order to maximise fresh available plant material
- Children’s workshops (aged 5+) – look, smell, explore; lotions and potions; nettles galore!
- Getting ahead of the coughs and colds season – ideal for the autumn
- Kitchen cupboard medicine – not just food…
- Syrups and cordials
Previous Events
I have worked with charities and businesses like the Wildlife Trust and Fordhall Organic Farm, along with fermenters, chefs and special interest groups like gardening groups, WIs and children. Delivering information in a fun informative way and encouraging reconnection through sensory exploration is the name of the game!
Click here for a selection of pictures from a variety of events that I have been proud to lead or take part in.