Hi there! My name is Ali, and I am a qualified and practicing medical herbalist, artist, author, interior designer and hedgewitch living in Lincolnshire, UK. I spend most of my time grubbing in the hedgerows or the gardens, teaching and practicing herbalism, working on interior design that focuses on cottagecore and witchcore styles, making beautiful things for my shop, and creating surface designs. I post fairly regularly on a range of topics, from magical herbalism and wortcunning, to wild food and foraging, herbal medicine, hand made goods and tutorials, and even poetry and storytelling, so I hope you will pop back regularly to see what I have been up to!
Green Blessings from Lincolnshire.
2023
eldrum.co.uk 
Your blog looks wonderfully inspiring! I will be following. 🙂
Faeries bless,
Belle
Editor, Into the Willows
An Ezine of Fantasy Poetry
http://www.intothewillows.wordpress.com
Very interesting Ali. Nice website too.
Hello: I am writing an herbal and would like permission to use this quote;
“The name ‘vervain’ ‘comes from the celtic word ‘ferfaen’, ‘fer’ meaning to drive away and ‘faen’ meaning a stone. Some authors believe that this describes the plant’s ability to dissolve urinary calculi. The herb was beloved of the druids, being a main ingredient in their lustral water, as well as being used in the casting of spells and rituals, and for divinatory purposes. Vervain was used by the Romans as a ritual cleansing plant, and was made into brooms to sweep the altars. It was so beloved by the Romans that it had its own festival day of Verbenalia. It was used in love potions by Roman women. Interestingly, the plant could be used to both cast spells and ward a person against spells cast on them.
Traditionally, the plant was picked at the rising of the Dog Star Sirius, at the dark of the moon just before flowering. It should be cut with a sacred sickle and lifted in the left hand, and gifts of honey should be given to the earth in recompense for the loss of the plant.” 84
84 Eldrumherbs.co.uk, Vervain, http://www.eldrumherbs.co.uk/content/content_files/profiles_vervain_verbena-officinalis.php?state=1
And this too if possible, for an herbal I am writing; “According to Frazer’s ‘The Golden Bough’, the herb was first created from droplets of Adonis’ blood, when he was gored by a wild boar on Mount Lebanon, a highly significant event in the mythic cycles of the Phoenicians, and one which happens every year according to their calendar…The herb has a long association with the faerie folk, with rural people believing that the maturing flower was the perfect nesting place for fair folk. The flower petals close at sundown, so the plant has also gained the legend that woodland fairies shelter beneath the plant’s petals at night…” 120
120 Eldrumherbs.co.uk, Pasque Flower http://www.eldrumherbs.co.uk/content/content_files/profiles_pasque-flower_anemone-pulsatilla.php?state=1
Hi Ellen, you are most welcome to use both quotes as long as the book contains a reference back to me and to this website. Thanks, and good luck with the writing! 🙂
Thanks so much!
Ellen Evert Hopman
http://www.elleneverthopman.com
Hi Ali
I stopped by your stall at the last Wytches Market in Glastonbury, had a herbiferous (!) chat with you, and bought a lovely Herb Robert & Elderflower Balm.
I wondered if you had any comfrey balm and marigold balm you could sell me? Where/how I can buy your herbal products? Can’t seem to find them online – or am I being dense? Otherwise, I hope to see you at the next Wytches Fayre in Glasto, June 30th (Sat)?
Blessings
Lindsey
Hi Lindsey,
I will indeed be at the Wytches Market at the end of the month – my balms are generally ordered direct from me, though I may well add a few to the etsy shop in the near future as well. I have no calendula in stock at the moment (still waiting for my seedlings to get big enough to flower!) I’ll very probably have comfrey balm on the stall at the end of the month though, or if you need it earlier than that you are most welcome to email me at enquiries@eldrumherbs.co.uk and I can arrange to post some down to you asap!
Hope to see you at the next wytches market!
Green Blessings,
Ali
Hi Ali,
I really enjoyed your workshop at the Mercian this year and you’ve renewed my interest in foraging and getting on with my planned extension of my medicinal garden.
I look forward to learning more and hope that I can get to another workshop sometime.