The weather is growing colder and the nights become darker earlier. With the fall of leaves, the landscape changes and the trees appear skeletal. Their nakedness reveals other things within the landscape, things that are usually hidden, such as tussocks and hillocks and animal dens as well as the rocks and stones that are the …. Read More
Category: Herbs
Danu’s Irish Herb Garden – Winter is Coming
Look at the snow on the mountains! Last week, before Samhain, there was a hint of what might be to come, in terms of winter weather, so I am busy preparing cold and cough remedies from the herbs I have harvested this year. Coltsfoot Coltsfoot leaf is one I always make sure to have enough …. Read More
Danu’s Irish Herb Garden – A Radical New Beginning!
For twelve years I have been working with and learning about medicinal plants in my study of herbal medicine. For the last seven years I have been learning from and journeying to plants and trees. I am now fully out of the closet – I am a herbalist. In today’s corporate world, a world of …. Read More
An Bhean Feasa – Herbs, Herbs and Herb Walk
Herbs such as this beautiful Chamomile are almost finished for the year. I noticed one or two flower heads still shining away in the herb garden but unfortunately, some of my Chamomile plants were burned badly by the salt wind after Storm Ali. This Calendula is more fortunate, being in the poly tunnel and may …. Read More
An Bhean Feasa – Exhibition, Equinox, Excitement…
Well, I am a very happy woman as I write this evening. I really didn’t expect to get such a positive response to my exhibition held during Clifden Art’s Festival. I had been prompted to do it by the plants and having done it, taken the photos and written the book, what happened next …. Read More
An Bhean Feasa’s Mission ….An Exhibition
Have you ever felt compelled to do something? Felt nudged and pushed? Have you ever had that feeling deep down in your gut that there is something you must do? I have for some time now and finally, that feeling has culminated in a photographic exhibition “Weeds on the Wall”. For the last number of …. Read More
An Bhean Feasa – Growing Medicine
The wonderful warm weather (ok, hot) weather, has really helped my garden to bloom and blossom this summer. Last month I created a new vegetable bed using the “lasagne” method, building up a bed with layers of organic material. This is the bed newly planted on 7 June. This is the bed below, on 10 …. Read More
An Bhean Feasa – The Power of the Elements
We have all heard of the four Elements – Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Generally we give little thought to them, tending to take them for granted, even though they are part of our bodies and part of life itself. Medieval herbalists were aware of the impact of the elements on herbs and prescribed accordingly. …. Read More
Springtime Simplicity
Today is La Feile Brigid – Brigid’s Day, a day that always feel special and exciting to me as it is also Imbolc, the first day of Spring. There is a sense of anticipation in the air which is exciting because it feels like a renewal, a fresh start, a change. I was at my horticulture …. Read More
Lughnasadh -When Paradise is a Garden
I explained on one of my earier blogs that I had grown up in the north east of England, in an industrial town, in a house like this one. The “garden” at the front was paved over and I grew up yearning for plants, for the countryside and to make a connection to Nature. Now, …. Read More