Medicinal Forest Garden Trust UPDATE April 2024
My quarterly roundup on medicinal forest gardening including an update on the Sandford Herb and Forest Garden, courses, events, forest things to enjoy, and free tree planting advice!
Volunteer at Sandford Herb and Forest Garden
The Millennium Green at Sandford in Devon has been established for over 20 years, a community space with meadow, orchard, pond and more. A small group of volunteers meet monthly on a Tuesday morning to maintain and develop the Herb and Forest Garden area with useful culinary and medicinal plants. Over the last two years we have been renovating the overgrown parts and establishing some new features such as a herb bank, a bog area, a woodland walk and more. After a soggy winter we are working to tidy up edges of beds and remove invasive plants. More volunteers are welcome. Do get in touch with Anne Stobart at info@medicinalforestgardentrust.org if you are interested to help!
Sustainability and herbal medicine
A 'Herb Species and Sustainability Guide' is available at the Herbal Reality website. This website shares traditional, scientific and practical insights written by experienced herbalists and health experts from the world of herbal medicine and natural health. The guide provides categories of endangered and at-risk plants, with some suggestions of alternative substitutes that could be used. One woodland plant in North America that is critically endangered is goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), providing a bitter and antimicrobial tonic helpful in a variety of digestive problems. An alternative is barberry (Berberis vulgaris) which offers bark, root and fruits.
SEEDS AND PLANT SOURCES
Agroforestry Research Trust in Devon, UK
This is a well-established source of forest garden shrubs and trees and they have a downloadable listing of over 100 medicinal plants and seeds available. Although some plants are now out of stock, it is never too early to start planning autumn purchases, and seeds are available year-round.
United Plant Savers online store available in USA
United Plant Savers are actively supporting botanical sanctuaries around the world and promoting sustainable practices. For US orders see their online shop for sustainably harvested tinctures plus seeds of native plants such as white sage.
Jurassic Plants in north Wales
A range of trees and shrubs are available from this Welsh nursery including starter plants of chasteberry (Vitex agnus-castus), a plant of Southern Europe and Asia. The foliage is strongly aromatic, and this shrub will grow into a 2 m tall bush. Beautiful mauve late summer flowers are produced in a sheltered site, though fruiting is unlikely in the UK. Most people familiar with chasteberry will know of its help in moderating hormonal imbalance so that it is used in treating dysmenorrhoea, menopause and other related complaints. Herbal practitioners are most likely to use the tincture based on the berries, but the leaves can also be used.
SOME FORESTY THINGS TO ENJOY
Tree FM
Listen to a random forest! Tune into forests around the world with delightful one-minute snippets of sounds from around the world.
Forestry England podcasts
Stop and pause in a woodland. You can listen to podcasts with Forestry England including Episode 1 with a visit to Alice Holt Forest in Hampshire and hear about forest bathing, find it on Spotify
COURSES IN MEDICINAL FOREST GARDENING
Ivywood Apothecary, Ireland
There are a number of great-looking courses on offer at the Ivywood Apothecary in Co. Clare, Ireland. Anne is leading a day course: 'Medicinal forest gardening for your health and the planet' on Saturday 5th October 2024. This is a one-day practical course all about healing trees and shrubs, and you can obtain further details and register online.
Medicinal Forest Garden Trust online courses in medicinal forest gardening
The Medicinal Forest Garden Trust has three short courses available online. The courses have been developed by Anne, an experienced herbal grower and practitioner. Each course has a particular focus and consists of 10 lessons with videos, quizzes, downloads and other activities. Every enrolled student has a registration lasting up to 12 months with access to our online community.
MEDICINAL FOREST GARDEN DESIGN: on creating your own medicinal forest garden using permaculture design principles
MEDICINAL FOREST GARDEN HARVEST: how to harvest and make herbal preparations from the medicinal forest garden
MEDICINAL TREES AND THEIR HEALING PROPERTIES: learn about the constituents of medicinal trees and shrubs and their healing properties
More details are available online on the Thinkific site for the Medicinal Forest Garden Trust.
EVENTS
Medicinal trees and shrubs walk at Bicton Gardens
Bicton Botanical Gardens is just a couple of miles from Sidmouth in East Devon, UK. This is a wonderful visitor attraction with an extensive arboretum of trees and shrubs, as well as children's playgrounds, gardens, restaurant and more. There is something for everyone. An annual pass is available as there is something to see in every season. In summer 2023 Anne wrote about the gardens and the blog post is here.
If you are a passholder you can book to join a specially led tour of medicinal trees and shrubs with Anne Stobart on the morning of Friday 24 May 2024.
PODCASTS
Deep Roots Radio podcasts
Sylvia Burgos Softness lives on a ranch in Wisconsin, USA. She has a long-established radio series called Deep Roots Radio, interviewing all kinds of interesting people tackling key issues such as food choices and agricultural practices. And Sylvia has an exciting project under way, making the land previously used for cattle farming available for herbal safaris! You can hear the first of a series of chats with Sylvia and Anne Stobart. In this session Anne talks about how she began her interest in herbal medicine, and the potential of plants. The following session is about historical herbal research, and more sessions are planned. You can hear the first of the podcast series on Sylvia’s website ‘From the Bronx to the Barn’.
AND FINALLY
Advice on tree planting
'Your tree planting companion' is a 60-page guide available online on choosing and planting trees. It is from the Teagasc Forestry Development Advisers in Ireland, produced in a PDF format and downloadable for free. There is thoughtful advice on assessing a planting site and selecting native trees. The guide is very readable and well-illustrated. Much of the advice is applicable in a wider context, and I especially like the detailed advice on aftercare of young trees.
ABOUT THIS UPDATE
Anne writes the Medicinal Forest Garden Trust UPDATE which is released every 3 months with news of interest including books, events, gardens, projects, suppliers of medicinal trees and shrubs, and more.