Remembering To Trust Herbs

Recently I had the pleasure of being a guest on Lieve Galle's international podcast, where we talk about they way herbs are remembered in different cultures and about the efforts made to keep the connection alive.

Lieve has a great collection of interviews on her podcast with various herbalists worldwide.

Remembering to trust the herbs with Columbia Hillen

I try to go for a long walk in nature every day. And sometimes, at some point, I just stand still and listen. When you slow down, you realise that the landscape is not quiet. It has its own language.

There’s a subtle conversation always happening around us, one we’ve mostly forgotten how to notice. Can you feel it, the whispering of leaves, the slow patience and deep knowing of roots, the way wild things respond not just to light and water?

Are we the observers of nature, or are we the ones being observed?

In this week’s episode of the Wylde Podcast, I talk with herbalist, writer and photographer Columbia Hillen. She's the founder of Anamcara Healing Herbs Garden in Donegal.

Her story will take you from the ancient herbal traditions of Romania to the wild rich landscapes of Ireland.

She grew up in Transylvania where herbs and spices are traditionally important in both food and medicine, and is now on a mission in Ireland to help people rediscover and trust the wild plants around them, and teach them that medicine starts with food.

And near the end of our conversation, she says something that stayed with me long after we stopped recording:

“I think plants understand us so much better than we understand them.”

It’s a quote that makes you stop, breathe, and look again at the world around you.

Listen to the interview