Old Remedies for Modern Living

I’m so excited to share my new book with you. It grew out of five years of wandering through the Forest of Dean, getting to know the plants that grow here, photographing them, and digging into their stories. Over time, those walks turned into a full-colour A to Z materia medica of Western herbs—a way to bring old, often forgotten plant remedies back into everyday life.

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Each herb, from Agrimony to Yellow Dock, has its own chapter where I introduce the plant’s etymology, folklore, edibility, seasonality, medicinal properties, and active constituents in a way that’s easy to dip into and reference quickly. I also look at how each plant was used by historical herbalists like Hildegard of Bingen, John Gerard, and Nicholas Culpeper, and then compare their notes with what modern research tells us now.

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One of my favourite parts of creating this book was exploring old recipes and trying them out again. You’ll find plenty of them here—tisanes, cold infusions, poultices, decoctions, syrups, infused extracts, bath oils, compresses, and lots more. I’ve included dosages, topical uses, and precautions too, so you can use the plants safely and confidently.

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Writing this book left me genuinely amazed at how accurate many of the historical authors were, and how easily their knowledge fits into modern living when we give it a chance.

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 ​One of the ways you can do this is with tinctures, so have a look at my video below to see how to make specific tinctures using 100% (200 proof) alcohol.