3.5 Barbara Wilkinson: The Timeless Wisdom of Plants
Hello and welcome to series three, episode five of Prompted by Nature. I noticed recently that I’ve had a few more listeners to the podcast so I thought I’d just say a quick hello and give thanks to the countries we now have tuning in each week. I’m Helen, nice to meet you! And hello to listeners in the following places (run through list). Even if you’ve only listened in once and never again, thank you for being a part of this community!
So, back to today’s conversation. This week I speak with Medical Herbalist, Barbara Wilkinson of the Herb Society.
Following a lifelong passion for health and nutrition, Barbara qualified as a Consultant Medical Herbalist in 2012. She is a member of the College of Medicine and Integrated Health, and runs The Springfield Clinic of Natural Healing in Cheshire. Barbara is an advocate of cultivating the use of plants in everyday life and keen to empower people with the confidence to embrace food as medicine.
As well as running her own practice, Barbara is a Trustee for The Herb Society and has appeared as a guest speaker at numerous events and conferences. She has an allotment, where she grows produce that is used for medicines within the practice, and has worked with The Herb Society on designing gardens for the RHS Flower Show Tatton Park.
In 2018, she appeared in the BBC’s coverage of the RHS Flower Show, as part of a special segment looking at fermented foods. She recently supported Horticulturist Alys Fowler in producing her new book A Modern Herbal.
In this conversation we discuss:
Barbara’s work and the part the her upbringing plays in her work
Her grandparents and parents work running a temperance bar and how this influence her work
Barbara’s personal connection to nature
Her work with the Herb Society
The importance of consultations in herbal medicine and working with a qualified herbal therapist
Her advice for working with and growing plants
How her work and creativity intersect
What she wants to pass onto you
And she speaks passionately about her hopes for the future
Barbara is a font of wisdom and it was so lovely to learn about her relationship with plants and how this influences every part of her life. If you’re like to connect with Barbara, you can find her over on the Herb Society Instagram, where she posts about her allotment and information about how to grow herbs and plants as well as an abundance of wisdom about their therapeutic and medicinal value. The instagram is @theherbsocietyuk and website is www.herbsociety.org.uk
As always you can find me on the website www.promptedbynature.co.uk where you can find all the information about my upcoming in-person events re-starting down here in East Sussex very soon plus my online classes. If you’d like to join the growing Patreon community, you can go to www.patreon.com/promptedbynature to find out more and sign up. Subscriptions are £3-£9 and you get a lot for your money! I’m on instagram @prompted.by.nature if you’d like to connect there.
Remember to stick around until after the conversation to hear about the writing prompt that follows this. episode. Happy listening and I’ll speak to you after!
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In this writing prompt, I talk you through a creative writing exercise I use in my creative writing sessions that I created inspired by Grayson Perry. In his Art Club programme a few weeks ago, he described his process for creating a piece centred around a red Fox as being 'making each mark a reaction to the previous one.'
How to do the activity:
You are given a line, in this case our line is, 'I grow and nurture my plants to see where they will lead.' Now write another line that is a reaction to this one, then the next is a reaction to this second one and so on until you have five lines, each of which is a 'reaction' to the previous one.
The example I give in this episode is:
1. 'I wonder what it is like, inside the earth.'
2. Rumbles from deep within shake foundations and roots, like some soft but terrible growl.'
3. She sits atop the highest peak and looks down on the valley, regal in her stature, focused on what lies below.'
4. 'Prowling at night, fur on end, hackles up, they creep...'
Once you have your four/five lines, choose one to be your opening line and one to be your closing line. Write for as long as you wish but set a timer so you have an end :-) See what happens when you try to direct your piece towards a final line.
If you'd like to join the April Writing Project over on Patreon, just pop over to www.patreon.com/promptedbynature and select a tier that works for you.
Enjoy! Helen x
