If you’re local to me in the Derby area and you have nothing better to do once a month on a Wednesday evening, why not pencil a visit to the Herbal Haven Herb Group into your diary? I’ve been talking about doing this for a while now, and now it’s time to put things into practice I left the Mercian Herb Group in late 2010 and I dearly missed the folk who I used to meet up with once a month, but travelling to Coventry to give talks and demos began to tell on me after a while, so the idea to start a herb group local to me germinated and now it’s time to plant it out and watch it grow. Sarah head who I founded the MHG with has set up Wolf’s Meadow Herb Group in the West Midlands, so if you’re in the West Midlands you can go to her Thursday night meetings more details to follow on her group.

The Herbal Haven Groups first few meetings will be held at my house in Sinfin, Derby using my garden and kitchen to explore the wonders of herbs, our first meeting with take place at 7pm on Wednesday 4th April, places are limited to 12 initially so if you’d like to attend please let me know to book your place.
There is no annual membership fee for the group, instead we make a charge per meeting which is £3.50 which goes towards the cost of providing refreshments, paying for guest speakers, printing handouts and for materials for our hands on sessions and later once we’ve acquired enough funds hire a meeting room with suitable facilities. The group will meet once a month, after the first meeting in April we’ll meet on the first Wednesday of the month throughout the year with the exception of August when we’ll meet on either the 25th or 26th for a group visit to a Derbyshire herb garden.

2012 Programme

Wed 4thApril – Back To Basics: Growing The Herbs That Are Best For You Talk & Demo
Wed 2nd May – Edible Herbal Flowers Talk & Demo
Wed 6th June – Making Herbal Bath Treats & Cosmetics Talk & Demo
Wed 4th July – Cleaning The Home Using Herbs Talk & Demo
Sat 25th or Sun 26th August – Group Visit To Hardwick Hall Herb Garden & Picnic
Wed 5th September – Using The Herbal Harvest To Make Simple Herbal Remedies
Wed 3rd October – Spice Up Your Life: Looking at using spices in the kitchen and in the many other ways.
Wed 7th November – Herbal Crafts For Christmas: Making Herbal Scented Gifts & Decorations.
Wed 5th December – Christmas Social: Herbal Pot Luck Supper, Quiz and Herbs of Christmas Past Talk

If you’re new to herb groups or herbs and you’re wondering what to expect from a night at the Herbal Haven Herb Group, I aim to give a warm, friendly and informal herbal experience. My talks are given with humour, lots of personal anecdotes and experiences get thrown in to the mix. We’ll vary between herbal talks and demonstrations, where I show you how to make something herbal and provide a handout for you to go home and give it a go yourself, we’ll watch herbal films, discuss the latest herb books on the market, each month we’ll take a brief look at a different herb and it’s uses. They’ll be taster nights, culinary herb demonstrations and lots of recipe swapping. During the spring and early summer its hoped that members will swap their excess herb seeds and plants with others. As a group we can also make savings by buying bulk herbs and essential oils via my wholesale contacts.

There will be occasional weekend workshops held on either a Saturday or Sunday depending which day is most convenient for group members for a small fee. During the workshop you will be able to try your hand at making anything from DIY herbal remedies, herbal cosmetics, herbal soaps, herbal oils and a variety of herbal craft items. We’ll take trips to herb gardens in the East Midlands area, sometimes further afield and generally enjoy learning about the delights of herbs and pooling our collective herbal knowledge. If members are keen and willing we’ll also organise some wild herb forages in the local area where you can learn to identify such herbs as Wild Garlic, Nettles, Garlic Mustard, Chickweed and Cleavers in the spring and a similar walk can be organised in the autumn to gather Elderberries, Blackberries, Hawthorn Berries and other wild herbs for use in making simple home remedies and gifts, a handout of recipes will be provided at the end of the walk. So as I said above, if you’re interested and want to be added to the Herbal Haven Herb Group mailing list or book your place then please get in touch via email debs@herbal-haven dot co dot uk just edit the spaces and dots to look like .co.uk

If you’re a Derby based herbalist who would be interested in joining the group and offering talks on different aspects of medicinal herbs I’d love to hear from you, or if anyone out there has a herbal talent for aromatherapy, gardening or any herb topic and would like to contribute to the group likewise I’d love to hear from you to.

PS. Can fellow herb bloggers spread the word about the new group, you may have some people in the Derby area that read your blog and may be interested in the group but haven’t found my blog yet!