About Dafydd

Hello. I’m Dafydd, and I’m a herbalist. I’m a 20-something year old man, who has been interested in herbs, plants and the natural world since childhood. Originally trained as a pilot, I spent a few years working in IT to pay for the start of my herbal medicine training, then in 2011, I went to the University of Lincoln to study herbal medicine full-time. The summer of 2014 saw me return to North Wales, my homeland, where I established my practice as a clinician and also branched out into other areas such as teaching. I am one quarter of the Cae Non land project, and have started building a large herb garden there (it will be large in time). You can read more about that at http://www.caenon.co.uk/category/the-herb-garden/. I don’t write as much there as I should, but when I do write about my herbal doings at Cae Non, I cross post them to this site as well.

I am particularly interested in a ‘back to basics’ approach to herbal medicine, both in terms of products and practice. I like getting soil and mud on my hands and grow and process a lot of my own medicines. I wildcraft where appropriate and am passionate about ‘hedgerow medicine’. I aspire to empower people to take control of their own health and wellbeing, and to make their own medicines when they need them. In view of this, I run workshops and teach an 8-month course in family herbal medicine called ‘A Year of Herbs’ – it follows the Herbalist’s year, starting in the early spring and finishing in the autumn.

I am very much interested in alternative technologies, the old rural crafts, permaculture, and of course growing herbs. I keep bees, and have planted about 3000 trees in the past 6 years.

About the Herbary

So, why did I start this blog? Well, I have blogged about herbs in the past, and continue to do so on the Cae Non website, and my business website. But some posts I would like to write seem orphaned as they are not related to Cae Non, and aren’t orientated to my business or customers.

Also, I had the idea to blog about the process of setting up my practice and how things develop. It’s easy to see how an established herbalist practices and functions – just go and do a placement with one. And it’s also easy to learn about the subject – go and do a course. What it isn’t easy to find is what the process of transitioning from student to practitioner is like.I’ve documented some of this process: My Journey from Student to Herbalist.

In early 2017, I started a Video Blog (Vlog) called the MuddyBootsHerbalist – a chance for me to share in a hands on and engaging way some of my reflections of clinical practice, how to grow, process and make things, related subjects such as beekeeping and other uses of herbs, and as a place to interview others on this path and help share their stories with the internet. The shownotes for those vlogs are hosted here as part of the Herbary project.

I also love experimenting with ways of using herbs, and doing herbal medicine that other people might not have thought of, or might not be aware of.

In addition, I aim to share photos, titbits of information, and other odds and sods. I like telling stories and recounting anecdotes, and like to think I have a way of making things that occur in my life, or observations I have made, funny. I’ll post those as well.

This page is as under-construction as this herb bed. Always adding more, never finished!