The Last Seminar of 2017…

 We had some fun this weekend!

While Susan took Level 3 on Saturday for Clinical Skills where they practiced the art of examination techniques, I took Level 1 for Pharmacy and we made some stuff. On Sunday, I then took Level 3 for Herbal Therapeutics & Clinical Medicine, where we learn about the development of diseases and how we can treat them with herbs, and Susan took Level 1 for Materia Medica, getting to know the intricacies of specific herbs.

I only collected photos of the Pharmacy session, as quite honestly, all the other sessions were students sitting at desks which you don’t need to see, or students being examined, which they probably don’t want you to see…

As well as making decoctions of Inula and Shatavari root [we compared textures, taste and consistency] we compared two infusions of nettle, one made from fresh and the other made from dried leaf for strength, flavour and aroma.

We also made two infused oils so we can use them to make ointments next session. One was from Calendula flowers – which you can see in oil being heated over a saucepan of hot water, and the other from a mixture of nettle seed and rosemary leaf – which you can see one of the students tipping carefully into the oil on the other burner.

We have cooled, bottled and labelled the oils and they are waiting in dark amber bottles for when they are needed.

The students also took on some research to see what herbs we could plant in the school’s herb garden – this will be its second year of production – and the Calendula flowers we used for the infused oils were grown organically by us. So there is a point to all this growing.

We ate really well too. Try Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato Curry with wild rice and green coriander sauce…