Enjoying Wild Herbs: A Seasonal Guide

By Nat Mady and Catmouse

Enjoying Wild Herbs: A Seasonal Guide brings Hackney Herbal's Nat Mady and illustrator Catmouse together to introduce the wonderful world of herbs. Asking important questions about the nature of public and private space, of how we live alongside plants, how we use them, how we gather them, this is a treatise on how foraging and the knowledge that underpins it can be a radical act—an act that informs much of our attitude to the natural world, to the food we eat and to how we value the multitudinous life that surrounds us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rough Trade Books
• Release date: Jun 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9781914236044

Nat Mady

Nat Mady is a Hackney-based permaculturist with a passion for connecting people with nature. In 2015, she founded Hackney Herbal, a social enterprise promoting wellbeing using herbs as a way to share knowledge about plants and their many creative uses. As a self-taught gardener she is happiest with her hands in the soil, playing with plants, talking to birds or chatting to others about the wonders of the natural world.

Book preview

Introduction

I genuinely believe that if you let them, herbs will bring you joy. It might be their appearance, their taste, the way they make you feel or the interesting folklore associated with them. The aim of this pamphlet is to encourage you to seek out your local wild plants and embark on a long and fulfilling herbal journey.

Many people living in urban areas don’t have access to growing space and/or face many barriers to growing their own plants so the intention of this guide is to shine a light on the herbs that are growing themselves. These plants don’t need much in the way of human care, so long as we don’t pull them out or spray them with harsh chemicals, they will survive. They will sprout, grow, bloom, set seed and then retreat, repeating this life cycle year after year.

People should learn to know the wild medicinal plants—the herbs—which are free for the gathering.

—Juliette de Baïracli Levy

Foraging for herbs is as much of an enjoyable pastime as it is an act of radical self-reliance. Learning how to safely identify these plants and simple methods of using them opens up a world where plants can be enjoyed for the way they tickle all our senses as well as for the food and medicine they provide. The resilience that these plants display is something that we can learn from. Seeking out these plant allies is a starting point for healing the divide we can experience when we separate ourselves from the natural world. It’s not us—as humans—and nature—over there in the field, we are all part of the same ecosystem. Thinking this way reframes our attitudes towards the living world and the relationship between the other animals and plants that we share the land with. In doing so we can feel connected to our shared home and in turn feel more connected with our own selves. Picking flowers, playing with herbs, gathering and spreading seed also helps us to acknowledge how our actions can affect fellow beings and how this too will have an effect on us. Developing a relationship with our wild spaces helps us to understand that we as humans play a role in their stewardship so that from generation