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School of Natural Fertility
Sensory Herbalism
The Herbal Apiary Project

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School of Natural Fertility
Sensory Herbalism
The Herbal Apiary Project

Hayley Anderson – 07929639569 – hello@pellarandpollen.com

Fertility Empowerment & Menstrual Awareness Teacher | Sensory Herbalist | Regenerative Horticulturist

Wherever I am, I feel at home amongst wild herbs.

Wherever I am, I feel at home amongst wild herbs.

This is Broadleaf Plantain & Elderflower ~ these two clearing & grounding beauties are a wonderful blend for our whole system as we move towards the many stimulations of midsummer. The land offers us what we need just when we need it.

I’ve just found them growing alongside each other here in the meadow we are sleeping in so there will be many pots of fresh Plantain & Elderflower tea flowing for us over the coming days. Infusing fresh teas from the land around me makes me feel at home wherever I am.

This blend is really helpful for anyone suffering with symptoms of hayfever or summertime ‘cannot stop’ syndrome. Tinctures of Broadleaf Plantain & Elderflower form 2/3 of my clear ground hayfever drops (along with nettle which contains anti-histamine). I have a few bottles of this remedy left ~ get in touch or check out my shop.

Sunny weekend wishes to you all from a beautifully buzzing Cornish meadow 🐝

Rose ~ what needs holding? There is something ten

Rose ~ what needs holding?

There is something tender & beautiful about the soft unfurling of wild rose as everything on the land grows towards its fullest expression.

The approach of the height of summer can feel like a lot for those who rest well in the quiet introspection that darker seasons bring. Days become warmer & longer & fuller. Finally we are out! ~ & in more ways than summer’s past as we shake off the remnants of a long lockdown winter.

Wild rose unfurls now with a reminder for us to go gently. To roll in the expressive joys of summer whilst keeping a tender care of what we hold dear within. What secret longings & wisdom are we carrying out into summer? Rose reminds us, even in the height of the year, to keep softly tending to the depths within.

Yesterday we went on a full moon pilgrimage to vis

Yesterday we went on a full moon pilgrimage to visit each of the accessible-by-pram Hawthorn trees in our neighbourhood.

Picking the blossom was a bit of a challenge. The unpollinated blossom is what I am after medicinally & for drying ~ in other words, blossom that still has this beautiful pink pollen attached. Most of the trees here have already been pollinated & I’ve missed out on them with the recent wet weather. A trip upland to Dartmoor will be needed now where things are a little slower to emerge.

I work with Hawthorn blossom in a tea blend for the spiritual heart ~ where tenderness & care is called for ~ where a return to one’s own heart is needed ~ or where there is deep grief & pain to tend. She is a subtle yet direct heart remedy with wide reaching results.

Being with Hawthorn is wonderful for speaking or listening from the heart - if you have a painful or challenging thing to say or receive, I invite you to do it with Hawthorn after nibbling at her leaves & blossom. It is so much easier to share from the heart with Hawthorn near. If it is over the phone, ask the person you are speaking with to be with a Hawthorn also. I did this as a regular practice with friends through the first lockdown & it was incredibly supportive & healing for us all.

The first of the baby Calendula all loaded up read

The first of the baby Calendula all loaded up ready to leave the polytunnel for new soil homes ~ accompanied by another baby!

Human body = soil body ~ Yarrow is calling us back

Human body = soil body ~ Yarrow is calling us back.

Everything at the herbal apiary garden is looking lush after the much needed rain. Holly has been helping me harvest Yarrow leaves between the downpours. She only let me put one leaf in the basket at a time and got really upset if I tried to speed things up by putting handfuls in. I’m grateful (in hindsight!). She’s a natural at harvesting honourably. Toddler life is slowing harvests down to a mindfulness for each and every leaf ~ constantly bringing me back to the present moment.

Yarrow is established in patches across most of the herbal apiary beds, growing up between whatever else is growing. I‘ve been purposeful in initiating and tending to this pattern over a few years. Having this ancient protective ally in as many root communities as possible is great for the health of the whole soil body of the garden.

In the human body, Yarrow tones tiny blood vessels and it gives us a visual clue to its medicine with its many tiny bloodvessel-like leaves. Its Latin name is millefolium which means a thousand leaves.

Yarrow has a particular affinity with the blood vessels of the pelvic bowl which is one of the many reasons I include it in my womb nourish tea and most of my bespoke vaginal steam blends.

Mixed in any blend, Yarrow guides the medicine of other herbs through the blood vessels to where they are most needed. And she does the same thing for the herbal apiary garden by aiding the flow of nutrients through the soil body.

So often I observe herbs doing for the soil body what they do for the human body ~ and of course! This makes sense if you see through the lens of us as interconnected human animals. The earth is an animate, living, breathing body system that we are more closely connected than we might be ready to perceive or admit. And let’s forgive ourselves for forgetting - it’s not easy to stay connected to our greater soil body living in a post-colonial culture rewarding separation.

And Yarrow is guiding the medicine we need for reconnection to the places we most need it through ancient bloodways ... to the places in our body that remember. Yarrow is calling us back.

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