Having grown up foraging hedgerows, growing veg and herbs, and then working with trees and timber all my adult life, I feel there is no better way to learn and remember than by practical immersion – learning and technique become embedded by the actions of doing, participating, learning by demonstration, trial and error, patience, repetition and care.

Herbology for me is the embodiment of these principles - It seemed natural to gravitate towards this hands-on, intensive, biodynamic practice of herb growing, particularly as part of organic and closed system cultivation.

One of the core aspects of my learning during the Herbology diploma at RBGE, was the creation of a Physic garden on site at The Botanic Gardens, to grow specific herbs to be used for green pharmacy preparations. The herbs are grown from seed, with the plots designed and prepared from the onset and cultivated throughout the seasons, culminating in a harvest. The herbs are specific to each individual plot and, on completion, ready (hopefully) for our very own herbal remedy making.

This holistic ‘Seed to syrup’ Ethos has since informed everything I do and has transformed the way I care for my family and especially my disabled daughter.

Herb Growing Experience: working at a herb nursery:

Poyntzfield biodynamic Herb nursery

After studying at RBGE, spending time with Duncan and Yuriko Ross at Poyntzfield biodynamic herb nursery gave an opportunity to gain more experience of, and interaction with, herbs. This experience is immersive and it felt key to spend concentrated time understanding how to care for the plants at every stage of their life cycle.

The intensive biodynamic approach could not be any better show-cased than at Poyntzfield herb nursery; Duncan has spent a life time honing this uniquely special nursery which is now upheld by many as the archetype of best practice medicinal herb cultivation. Immediately comprehensible is the minute and dedicated attention to detail. The constant tweaking and watch-keeping intrigued me and captivated my interest in the nurture and care of life (especially young life with masses of potential).

It occurred to me that the attention and holistic approach at the nursery is not that dissimilar to being aboard a small sailing boat, especially during long passage making, with the constant attention to detail, the awareness of weather, climate, and environmental conditions, all a necessary part of the journey as a whole. It’s also the ordered/rotational requirement of tasks for maintaining growth (keeping the sails filled) and for optimising performance. Similarly, it takes on the wholeness of your surroundings. Once ‘aboard’ at Poyntzfield, this is your total world, total immersion, immensely physical and increasingly emotional once the herbs begin to reveal themselves to you.

The conditions at Poyntzfield are very strictly monitored so that the herbs are grown to be at their optimum for medicinal use. The herbs are constantly attended and they are grown in conditions to avoid disease or contamination. Every aspect of the work is carried out by hand; therefore it’s a very labour intensive and organised environment.

The Arnica Harvest

I worked at the nursery during their annual arnica harvest in mid summer. Like many other well-known herbs that are familiar remedies, such as witch hazel and tea tree, Arnica is a household name but very few of us in the UK know what it looks like, where is comes from and how it is grown.

Arnica montana is a midsummer herb – full of light, warmth and intensity. Native to mountainous regions of Europe and Siberia, these plants thrive at Poyntzfield due to the cold winter periods followed by warm, light summers. Once in bloom, these fields become swathes of intensive rows of bright vivid yellow, humming with insects and exuding a unique poignant fragrance.

During harvest I never felt so energised and fatigued all at the same time. Again, the otherworldliness of an experience like this reminds me of completing a sailing voyage – feelings of disorientation, physical tiredness, elation, and filled with a deep sense of success.

The really special part of being involved in Arnica harvest is the experience of being able to singly devote oneself to a species in every way. The immersion is absorbing; Arnica is on your skin, in your nose, on your breath, filling your vision - the colour is intoxifying, but the shape and form are enchanting -perfectly imperfect – each flower an individual, a near but not quite exact copy of the previous flower. Every sense is overwhelmed by this one plant in its multitude, to the extent that, in the evening, when work is done and you are away from the field, seeing something yellow in your peripheral vision leads you to turn to it, even putting out your hand for a nanosecond before you come to your senses.

The harvesting process is fascinating; each flower is individually hand-picked at its optimum potency, when the central florets are open wide, and the arnica volatile oils are strongest. We harvested with precision, daily so that every flower is picked at its peak readiness.

This image below left, shows a flower that is ripe for picking. You can see the florets are open.

But this next flower, below right, has only one of its florets open, so needs one more day before it can be harvested for medicinal use.

Even though Duncan cultivates his Arnica plants to be taller stalked than the wild Arnica, the easiest way to harvest is often down on hands and knees, crawling through the acres of nodding yellow flowers. The sleepy bees gently murmur their heavenly delight, allowing your harvest to run alongside theirs, and time stands still.

Duncan and Yuriko were conscientious in ensuring we had plasters on any (even if tiny) cuts or grazes on our skin, this was to protect ourselves from the volatile oils which can be an extreme irritant to broken skin. We were also reminded to avoid touching our faces especially our eyes.

And just as they can aggravate, these volatile oils create euphoria, their flowers symbolise the Sun, our light giving star. We were literally gathering bucketful’s of sunshine all day long!

The power of arnica - its herbal potency - is unquestionable after intense periods of time in its presence. My eyes smarted from the volatile oils in the air and my hands felt disconnected from my arms – the skin felt so elastic and soft – a deep softness that penetrated tissue deeply to my veins and bones, like new-born skin, rejuvenated from the constant contact and handling of these silky soft flowers and roots (similar to marshmallow in texture – soft and mucilaginous). Even after weeks of cold water immersion all day wet and freezing, my hands were in beautiful condition.

Searching the textbooks for the medicinal values of Arnica and also for symbolic representation and folk tradition I found a lot of information. Undoubtedly a healing plant of ancient merit, today Arnica is a flagship brand product for Weleda, especially within treatments for sports injury, sprains and muscle fatigue. As we know, Arnica is also a familiar go to remedy for bruising and taken internally for bruising via homeopathic dose. Ie: it has very practical modern day applications.

Throughout my research this modern go-to practicality just didn’t quite capture the essence of the plant – something was still not being described to me – the elusive power over our psyche maybe? Or the deeply cosmic power of enacting a transition of mental and physical state?

Hildegard gave me one clue – aphrodisiac.

Yuriko described another – travel – reconnecting body and mind – entering a new sphere of time and place. The centring of the out of body experience. No wonder Arnica is so revered. The healing power cannot be underestimated, it is deep, multi layered, complex.

I loved being so immersed in the intensity of hand harvesting; such a tiny little plant managed to become overwhelming to the point that, down on my knees for long hot days, I actually felt like one of the bees, every sense intoxicated by the Arnica. You don’t forget that feeling, and it informs now, how I look at every herb as part of my practical applications – as more than just a liquid in a jar, but as part of the wider cycle as a whole.

I think this is when you begin to understand the folk history of plants, and the way that they are threaded so intimately into our cultural heritage.

Arnica – bringing in the harvest

After collecting the flower heads each day, we carefully laid them out on trays in the drying room. The drying room is constantly monitored for temperature and humidity. Once dried, the arnica is supplied direct to the biodynamic organisation Weleda UK. Weleda use the dried arnica flowers in many of their natural products.

My Herb Garden

Experiences like this gave me the confidence and practical skills to fulfil my desire to develop in earnest my own herb physic garden. Likewise, they have each enabled me to cultivate my own herbs, which I gather, dry, preserve and use in various preparations throughout my life, from natural soaps, to cooking, cleaning, infusing and various other culinary and medicinal home preparations. Most of these herbs have been grown from biodynamic seed and they’re like a family to me!

My herb garden, I suppose, is an exercise and example of how one can grow a multitude of herbs within a small area. I began by cultivating a circular bed, and then year by year have added, removed, divided and ultimately cultivated plants across the whole area. It is still, as all gardens are, a work in progress.

Many of the seeds are saved for use in remedies or for next years’ sowing. We take a mix of semi ripe and hardwood cuttings from rosemary, lavender, myrtle, sage and many more. We also make root-cuttings and divisions from elecampane, fennel, and marshmallow for example. When the herbs spread too much we divide St. John’s wort, Valerian, Thyme, Savoury, Ox-eye daisy, Lawn chamomile, Peppermint, Creeping jenny and Self heal. Sowing from seed has meant we can identify the seedlings that appear each year and make plans to move herb seedlings such as Yarrow, Foxglove, Calendula, California poppy, Opium poppy, Black horehound, Avens, Pansy, Plantain and Motherwort. This recognition of seedlings and seed-leaves also means we can ‘edit’ the garden as it grows, allowing space and light between plants and a balance of flowers through the summer. Its fun to re-orchestrate the garden each year, gently composing new themes as the herbs settle into maturity.

Arnica Harvest Article