Events
TALKS
WALKS
WORKSHOPS
Events for 2024 to be released SOON!
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 a number of wild and cultivated plants, foods and medicines, most of which grow onsite in Bee’s 2 acres of working gardens. Bee’s gardens are divided into different sections and contain over 130 species of medicinal plants, most of which are labelled during the growing season. By attending an event you will also get to explore the beautiful gardens and meet a number of incredible Plant Allies. Bee’s clinic and gardens are located on the outskirts of Whitchurch, Shropshire.
The events listed below were run in 2023. The 2024 schedule has some overlap, but new events are being planned too! Do sign up to my mailing list on my home page if you would like to have first dibs on event tickets for 2024!
Nourishing Nettles! - 1st April 2023
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! This is a workshop I have been wanting to offer for a few years and I am delighted to be adding it to my workshop schedule.
In this very hands on workshop we will forage for nettles and make an array of starters, mains and deserts, along with some drinks, all of which will showcase this incredible plant alley! You will also get to learn about it’s medicinal virtues. We will focus on using the nourishing green tops and explore how you can harness the power of the seeds in late spring too.
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. These are some of the things we will prepare:
- Vitality juice
- Herbal Tea
- Nettle crisps
- Nettle inspired pakoras
- Nettle soup
- Nettle pasta
- Nettle pesto
- Nettle cupcakes
Nettles will really be the star of the show!
Spring Foraging and Feasting - 30th April 2023
An immersive, practical and hands on experience from identifying, to harvesting, to prepping to sampling! This workshop has hands-on aspects, along with demonstrations – a lovely mix between getting involved and sitting back and enjoying!
- You will gain from my in-depth knowledge and experience of both wild nutrition and herbal medicine
- Confidently learn to identify a number of wild plants – whether you are new to foraging or looking to grow your knowledge further
- We will start the day off with a herbal tea and biscuit or savoury scone, whilst we chat and settle in.
- This will be followed by getting hands-on and foraging around the field, giving you a chance to hone your identification skills with practical application
- Enjoy a cooking demonstration and take part in preparing part of the meal (if you wish), which will include two starters, two main courses, a foraged salad and a pre-prepared dessert along with a freshly foraged brew. To compliment your meal you may choose between foraged cordial or a herb infused G&T!
- Enjoy a meal together sampling all of the above and leave feeling inspired and empowered to incorporate foraged foods into your everyday diet.
- Go away with top tips on ingredient utilisation and palate awareness, along with 3 recipes from the day to try at home
Fresh Herbal Tea Mastery - 27th May
Saturday, 27th May, 2 – 5pm
An immersive, practical and hands on afternoon delving into the art of herbal tea mastery.
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.
From identifying, to harvesting, to prepping, to sampling!
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
Summer Herbal Farmacy - 24th and 25th June
Saturday and Sunday, 24th and 25th June, 10.30am – 5pm and 10am – 4.30pm
A great opportunity to get hands on, meet the plants, make remedies and learn what to use when, and how!
By the end of the workshop you will have grown your knowledge and confidence, co-created your own starter herbal first aid kit and be leaving with a wonderful workbook for easy reference.
Full workshop details are located here.
Winter Herbal Farmacy - 9th September
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 – both wild medicines and amazing plants you are likely to have in your kitchen cupboards! You will learn how to use them effectively according to the presentation of the winter infection that arises. 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 with you so that you are ready to treat a range of conditions and symptoms that may arise.
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.
The Winter Herbal Farmacy Workshop is perfectly complimented by the Summer Herbal Farmacy Workshop, which was a full two day workshop in June 2023.
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.