I find that one of the best ways to avoid herbal overwhelm is to understand that there is a universal principle in all the herbal traditions and modalities, and that is the practice of HOLISTIC HERBALISM. One herb at a time, whole body, whole herb.

When you’ve got a basketful of Elder’s heady scented flower clusters, there’s a wonderful array of recipes and remedies at your fingertips. I’ll skip over the Champagne and the Cordial, there are loads of well developed and documented recipes out there. In the spirit of natural / herbal wellbeing and lifestyle I thought I’d share 3 slightly more off-centre ideas for things you can make to celebrate Elderflower!

I treat the Stinging Nettles in my garden as a cut-and-come-again salad, but always leave an area to run to seed later in the summer months to give me a supply of Nettle seeds which I use a bit like chia seeds, a sprinkle for salads and soups.

It’s been an absolute joy to focus on coastal herbs for healing - of all sorts, including trees, herbaceous perennials, macroalgae - in preparation for the workshops at the Scottish Seabird Centre. These workshops are being run as part of their Winter Wonders Exhibition, which encourages visitors to discover the secret lives of local wildlife, witness the subtle shift in seasons as waders depart and seabirds return, and appreciate the soft glow of the setting sun across the coastal landscapes.

I bring these three strands together: honey, herbs and healing, because I am all of these things, and this is my unique offer. When you come to The Honeybee Sanctuary, you get a bit of each of these. I am the grounding energy of the bees, I offer the medicine of the plants, and I unify it with the balancing system of Reiki.

What’s unusual about it all is it’s always the original Queen who leaves the hive during a swarm, but for us, she stayed put. This Queen, she wanted us to have bees.