On reading this book I can hear Lucy’s voice, as we met many years ago when she was training in Western Herbal Medicine and I was helping her tutors in the background. Lucy was one of the students that I felt a connection with and she helped encourage me to also study with the same course. She also kept me on the straight and narrow when times were tough. To read in the Acknowledgements about our tutors, and then find reference to them further in the book is a joy, as they passed on a wealth of knowledge and wisdom which we soaked up in our precious time together. Over the years we have both noticed how we are growing and harvesting, making and preserving medicines at the same time with a seasonal rhythm to our lives which we enjoy.

Lucy’s passion for herbs shines out of these pages, she understands the reciprocal way of working and the deep respect we need for nature, treating plants and people as individuals. Lucy shares her wisdom generously, from her early days of how she tried to learn and how she now works as herbalist, continuing to

progress as a lifelong learner.

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The book has 108 herbs that Lucy has personal experience of working with, she discusses energetics, physiological and emotional actions, but also includes history and folklore. I particularly like how she

explains that the snake oil sellers often called quacks, were selling a blood cleansing product, but their way of describing things then was different to how we now refer to things. In the case of Echinacea Lucy says of people “They continue to exploit their bodies and expect Echinacea to make them better.” A

strong message throughout, is how lifestyle which includes diet and exercise are to be addressed as relying on herbs alone, is not how Herbalists work, the individual often has work to do.

The case studies, magical and historic sections, along with recipes and how Lucy works with herbs in her dispensary, are a reflection of this wise woman, the ancestors would be proud of.