Editorial

i: Editorial

Hold fast to the fresh

Kyra Pollitt

A lot has happened since our last issue, hasn’t it? Here at HNHQ we hold ever tighter to Gaia and send love and solidarity to all caught up in the barbarity of human geo-politics (see The Climate Column for more on this). Our thoughts are, of course, with Ukraine, and also with those fleeing Putin’s Russia— like the family of our Artist of the Month, Anastasiia Morozova. We hope all find peace, refuge, and the solace of nature.

Anastasiia’s beautiful, delicate drawings and paintings make a mouth-watering addition to this month’s Fresh issue, where we focus on the Periwinkle (Vinca major and V. minor) and the mouth.

While Marianne Hughes introduces us to our Herb of the Month, ably assisted by Hazel Brady’s dancing illustration, Dora Wagner (Anthroposophical Views) talks us through…well, talking— and all the other amazing things our mouths do. As ever, Ella Leith Forages through Folklore to find something a little darker, exploring superstitions and practices involving spittle and spitting. You have been warned.

Elsewhere, the Periwinkle creeps its way through this issue, popping up to offer fortitude, courage, and comfort in Rose Morley’s Flower Power column; sneaking into a fairy story Amanda Edmiston had thought was about something else (Botanica Fabula); and weaving through the spine of a beautifully alternative acrostic poem by Lesley Mountain (Red Squirrel Presents…).

Elaine McGillivray has been out and about spotting wildflowers of her own, inspired by pioneering botanist Joan Wendoline Clark (In Focus). She might, perhaps, take a visit to the verges left untended by the council where Callum Halstead (Sage Advice) has spotted all kinds of variety. Whilst Callum encourages us to establish wildlife havens in our own back gardens, Ella Leith has been hacking her way through to the Mother Tree of Suzanne Simard’s autobiographical work (Book Club).

Meanwhile, Ann King has been foraging in the undergrowth for the first shoots of spring to bring us a recipe for Green Sauce (Notes from the Brew Room). And while you’re in the kitchen, Claire Gormley has the science behind getting that smell off your ‘Garlic fingers’ (The Chemistry Column).

Have hope and hold fast to the green, to the fresh.

Honorary Executive: Catherine Conway-Payne

Editorial team: Kyra Pollitt, Ella Leith, Maddy Mould and Anastasia Joyce

Illustration: Maddy Mould

Finance and Distribution: Marianne Hughes

Herbology News is printed on FSC certified, carbon neutral, recycled paper, using non-polluting vegetable-based inks, made from renewable sources.