i Editorial Kyra Pollitt

Our cup runneth over

Kyra Pollitt

This warm swelling of the year from midsummer to autumn is my favourite time. Keats’ ‘mellow fruitfulness’ sings in my head as the blooms blow, the grasses wave, the berries ripen, the bees buzz, and the wasps build. But I can easily forget how much I’m doing. It’s only the sore swelling of the cleggie bites that reminds me to nurture myself. So, I’ll be trying out Ann King’s recipe for a soothing compress (Notes from the Brew Room), using our Herb of the Month, Goat’s Rue (Galega officinalis).

Dora Wagner not only shares a delightful photo of her childhood ‘goat nanny’ (Anthroposophical Views) but takes us from the mythical origins of the Milky Way through to Rudolph Steiner’s ideas of optimal nutrition. Meanwhile, Ella Leith’s Foraging through Folklore finds an alternative take on the goat, for those with a taste for the darker tale. And if it’s a tale you’re after, take an aphrodisiac stroll with Amanda Edmiston (Botanica Fabula), starting at the Devil’s Shoestring and ending with a Love Apple— you’ll never eat a tomato in the same way again! The fruits of aphrodisiac labour are the focus of Joseph Nolan’s column (Of Weeds & Weans), as he dispenses invaluable wisdom to parents on matters of breast, bottle, and herbs. I wish my own children could have benefited from his advice. And I’m in awe of new parent and Artist of the Month, Morag Donkin, as she conjures stunning images in oils whilst nurturing her wee one.

Sarah Frances, writing for us for the first time, reminds us how plants nurture us— in sometimes intangible ways —as she recounts what she learned from a biodynamic Arnica harvest. While Our Man in the Field learns some fascinating facts from author Sara Sheridan, as she researches for her new book set amongst the intrepid nineteenth-century botanists of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. In our Book Club, Marianne Hughes reviews a guide to better sleep, which elicited my first pang for the return of dark, starry skies. Jay Whittaker’s jaunty poem, ‘Risky Breasts’ (StAnza Presents…) had me giggling with an altogether different kind of nostalgia. And that’s the beauty of this month— the full, jiggling cup of the season, poised on the brink of spilling summer into winter, present into past.

For Ruth Crighton-Ward, this is a month of change, as she offers us her final Garden Gems. We can’t thank her enough for her wise, entertaining, and stalwart contributions to Herbology News. We wish her the very best. We are delighted to announce that her trowel will pass to Callum Halstead, who will be offering his horticultural wisdom from October onwards, when we return from our summer break.

There will be no Herbology News next month (September) as production team and columnists take a well-earned rest, and reflect on a year in which their contributions have nurtured Herbology News into a fine zine with a broad, international readership. We thank each and every contributor to our pages over the last twelve months. We are delighted with our harvest and already have some exciting seeds in store for next year’s crop. We hope you’ll join us again in October.

To keep you occupied in the meantime, we leave you with Patrick Dunne’s call to do just one small thing in support of the COP26 Coalition. The links are all in The Climate Column. Just add action.

Honorary Executive: Catherine Conway-Payne

Editorial team: Kyra Pollitt, Ella Leith

Artistic Director: Maddy Mould

Illustration: Maddy Mould

Finance and Distribution: Marianne Hughes

Frontispiece by Maddy Mould