Join us for the second in the series of Jekka’s Herb Days! We’re delighted to invite you to Jekka’s Bee & Pollinator Herb Days, taking place on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th June. Tickets available online here.
This special event focuses on pollinators that help make healthy, tasty and strong herbs. We have a fantastic line-up of experts, including renowned herb grower Jekka McVicar, Beekeeping expert Richard Rickitt, Pollinator expert Jean Vernon and award winning Garden Designer Paul Hervey Brookes.
We will also be joined by a number of artisan stalls: Bee Wax Alchemy, Seilch and Amy West. Read more about them in the blog below.
Bees Wax Alchemy
Devins introduction to bees and beekeeping happened naturally from observing her mother, an avid hobby beekeeper, from a very young age. During her teens, she had the opportunity to sell honey and make some beeswax products for a local outlet. Rolling beeswax candles and becoming more involved with harvesting honey and beeswax gave her a greater understanding of beekeeping and an interest in expanding her skills.
Devin studied the traditional art of hand dipping beeswax candles and has developed making beeswax luminaries globes, in which you add a tea light and watch them glow in the dusk.
She only uses beeswax in her products, it is the most natural and purest form of wax and is passionate about spreading awareness of the impact of other waxes on our environment. Beeswax is a by-product of the beehive. By using beeswax it is cruelty free, produced without chemicals, totally natural, and furthermore local beeswax adds value to the circular economy.
Bees need 5-8kilos of honey in food to produce 1 kilo of beeswax. The wax that Devin uses either comes from honey production, or old comb in the hives. The comb is melted using a solar melter and the wax is cleaned using only hot water and sedimentary filtration. The result is a beautiful yellow beeswax, that smells wonderful and burns beautifully with an amazing bright flame - a flame that is the same light spectrum as the sun.
Devin’s favourite herb, and one that she grows in abundance, is Borage. “For me, I never tire of seeing the bees visiting the borage, and what makes it extra special is the speed at which the borage replenishes it's nectar for the pollinators - a true nectar factory.”
Seilich
Seilich makes natural skincare products and herbal teas from wildflowers that they grow in their wildflower meadow. As a result of their commitment to nature conservation they are the first and only company to have gained Wildlife Friendly Certification in the UK.
Dr Sally Gouldstone, the founder of Seilich, started the company after working at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh (RBGE) for many years as a botanist. Based on her passion for nature conservation, she creates spaces for nature (largely wildflower meadows) from which she harvest herbs and flowers to make their product range. Their products are special because of the unique ingredients they use to make them and have a focus on freshness and purity containing at least 50% ingredients that come straight from their meadow.
“I’m really keen to share my knowledge of wildflower meadows with people (both their creation and management!), as well as how growing herbs in a wild setting can really increase the scent, taste and power of the natural ingredients we make from them.”
The dry spring this year has meant that their entire wildflower meadow is much further ahead than it usually is at this time of year. Everything is ready for harvest, and they’ve been madly picking nettles, plantain, lemon balm, peppermint and oxeye daisies! At the same time, their polytunnel is fuller than it usually would be as young chamomile, wild carrot and calendula are all still held back in the nursery waiting for some rain!
Sally’s favorite herb changes from year to year “but at the moment I’m having a love affair with nettles (Urtica dioica!). The smell of freshly picked nettle tops is just the embodiment of spring. This is one of the plants that we distil in our essential oil stills to make hydrosol (a water based equivalent of essential oils) which we use in our skincare range.”
Amy West
Amy is a Basket maker based in Wiltshire, working mainly with locally grown rush and willow. She enjoys using willow in its natural, unprocessed state as the colours of the bark are beautiful and have a rustic, homely feel.
Drawing on traditional techniques and a desire to connect with our heritage and natural environment, Amy’s baskets are designed with strength, practicality and beauty in mind.
From harvesting her first willow a few years ago, she knew that this was a really special craft. “The feel and scent of the willow rods and the rhythm of weaving were instantly captivating. There are endless techniques to learn using willow (and even more using rush, hazel and foraged plants) which stretches both my brain and my hands, and it's fascinating to continually be discovering how far the properties of the materials can go.”
Willow and rush have very different weaving properties, and certain varieties of willow are more flexible than others so there's been quite a lot of trial and error along the way, “but that's in itself is satisfying – you learn so much by getting a feel for what the material wants to do.”
There are lots of varieties of willow that are suitable for basketmaking, many of which are not grown commercially. As a result, Amy now grows her own, enabling her to work with so many different colours and textures. Growing her own materials organically has made her feel even more connected to the process.
Amy’s favourite herb is Angelica for its umbels and spectacular structure it adds to a herb garden. “If I can have a cheeky second favourite, last year Italian flat leaf parsley grew well on my allotment and it was a joy to be able to pick it in such abundance for pesto and tabbouleh. It over-wintered and provided some very welcome greenery in the hungry gap.”
Want to know more?
Book a place onto Jekka's June Bee & Pollinator Herb Days - Tickets available online!
Alternatively, come and visit the herb farm in South Gloucestershire at one of our Herb Days, Open Days or Herb Experiences.
You can find more about herbs in Jekka’s blog, our past newsletters and videos as well as Jekka's new book '100 Herbs to Grow' and Jekka's existing books, namely 'A Pocketful of Herbs' or Jekka's Complete Herb Book, and also by browsing Jekkapedia and exploring our herb based recipes.
For advice on growing and maintaining herbs, check out ‘Jekka’s Seasonal Tips’ blog series, which includes what to do in your herb garden in early spring, late spring, summer and autumn & winter. Together they form the basis of Jekka’s guide on how to grow herbs.
Please also see Jekka's herbs of the month blogs: Bay (January), Rosemary (February), Salad Burnet (March), French Tarragon (April), Angelica (May), Alliums (June), Lavender (July), Basil (August), Mint (September), Szechuan Pepper (October), Thyme (November) and Curry Tree (December)
Herb plants are available and you can organise a collection from our herb farm in South Gloucestershire or at one of our Open Days. Please see our 'Looking Good List' for availability and use our webform or email your list directly to us (sales@jekkas.com). We no longer offer a general mail order service for our plants.