Finally, something happened tonight that I have been dreaming about for a couple of years. I taught a group of people who are training to be Medical Herbalists. I have never made a secret of my desire to teach other practitioners or teach my subject at a professional/degree level. So tonight I had my first chance to do just that – running the first part of a two part webinar […]
For the past few weeks, there has been a mini spring – a little regreening, and second blossoming at the start of Autumn. Every morning as I was getting dressed, I looked out of my window and saw little globes of colour in the early morning light. They are the return of Rose flowers to my herb garden. But I have not spent any serious time sitting – or working […]
It is night-time. Well, mid evening but as the days grow ever shorter and the night-time lengthens, I keenly feel the change in seasons. The darkness closes around me like a cloak. I am bathed in a puddle of soft, soothing light. Next to my feet a large mug of tea steams, its vapours drawing up the chimney in whispy whirls. A log burns in the grate, crackling and steaming […]
“Modern Healthcare’s approach to chronic conditions is like knocking down all four walls of a house in order to repair the roof; the roof may not be needed any more but at least it got fixed. At what expense?”
I don’t usually blog about deeply personal emotions and thoughts. I’m reluctant to do so now, but I want to put some thoughts and feelings into the collective (un)conscious of the internet – almost like carving them on digital stone, to be preserved as long as they are useful, and to serve as a reminder to myself to prevent backsliding in the future. I won’t share this on social media, […]
Three months ago, at the very birth of summer, I wondered what the season ahead would hold. I read the signs in nature and reckoned that we’d be in for a good summer. I wondered if the old proverb ‘Oak before Ash, we’re in for a Splash, Ash before Oak, we’re in for a Soak’ would hold true. It most certainly did. June and July seared North Wales, and, while […]
These is an old saying that goes something like: ‘Oak before Ash, you’re in for a splash; Ash before Oak, you’re in for a soak.’ Whether this is in any way useful in forecasting the weather to come this summer is a moot point. But it is understood to reflect the weather in the winter and early spring before the leaves do open. Now, this year, the Oaks have very […]
Hemp. It’s all about Hemp. I sold quite a lot of Hemp products today – it made the fair I attended profitable instead of covering the cost of the pitch and petrol and convincing myself I’d made a profit as often happens. Just talking to people, it became clear that it is successful because Hemp has a ‘Brand Awareness’. People are aware of Hemp from popular culture. They know what […]
A couple of days ago, I had a birthday. Okay, a rather large birthday. I turned 3o. For someone who has always been told that I am older than my age, and having had three separate careers in the last 15 years (Pilot, IT/Developer, Medical Herbalist…) being 30 should be in keeping with where I am in life – if not even older. But I feel like this birthday has […]
Once more, the weather disrupts my plans it seems. I was supposed to be teaching the first weekend of my course ‘A Year of Herbs’ today. But the season, and the weather has conspired to cast uncertainty on everyone’s arrangements and it is now a toss-up between running the course but at 11AM, or cancelling all together. It all depends on what the weather does. Yes, the full power of […]