Belle Benfield

When the blossoming of  St John’s wort and the solstice collide, my heart jumps for joy; summer is truly here. St John’s wort is a member of the hypericum family with small bright yellow flowers that grow in bunches. It’s Latin name Hypericum perforatum refers to one of its main identifiable features: If you hold…

One of the herbs that has been my biggest support through post-partem and beyond as a busy working mama is Theobroma cacao. The beans from this wonder-plant are processed to eventually become the main ingredient of chocolate. The cacao in commercial chocolate, grown as a commodity on a large scale, purely for industrial chocolate production…

Healing Bruises, Breaks and Sprains with a Comfrey Poultice Last week, I was carrying Bee and walked full speed into the end of a metal banister, smashing the back of my hand between the banister and Bee. The crunch felt big. That evening, as I was out and about, my hand started swelling up and…

From mid-summer onwards our native superfood, the stinging nettle offers us their plump green seeds. They hang like jewels in strings beneath the leaves and if you’re very careful, you can just about pick the seeds without stinging yourself on the stems or leaves that surround them, but I recommend gloves for gathering nettle seeds.…

Infusing herbs in vegetable glycerine to make a glycerite is a great way to make medicine that is both alcohol-free and, despite its sweet flavour, sugar-free. I make the majority of my glycerites in midsummer as I love the way the odorless, slightly sweet qualities of glycerine brings out the delicate sweet flavours and fragrances…