https://www.salenawalker.earth/

Salena Walker, 12 Quay Street, Haverfordwest, Haverfordwest (2026)

31/07/2026

I never grow tired of watching my students' confidence blossom or seeing the beautiful medicines they create.

Whether I'm teaching in-person or meeting with my online students on Zoom as they proudly hold up their latest tincture, vinegar or herbal oil to share with the group, something rather special happens when we make medicine together.
We're not just creating herbal remedies. We're creating a community of herbs and humans.

Each person brings their own energy, experiences and observations, and I truly believe that becomes part of the medicine. The learning is richer, the connection is deeper, and everyone leaves inspired by what the others have created.

My online students create exactly the same magic. Every month we all focus on the same seasonal herbs, make the same remedies together, and then share our creations, questions and discoveries inside our online community. Although we may be hundreds of miles apart, we're still connected by the same plants, the same season, and the same shared journey.

I think that's one of the greatest gifts of herbal medicine. It doesn't just reconnect us with the plants... it reconnects us with each other. 💚

30/07/2026

For years I was taught that if you wanted skullcap, you grew American skullcap. But as I dug deeper into the Welsh herbal tradition, I found myself asking a simple question...

Why are we overlooking the species that has always grown here?

Our native skullcap, Scutellaria galericulata, carries the beautiful Welsh name Cycyllog, meaning the hooded one.

I've been growing both our native skullcap and the American species (S. lateriflora) side by side for the last couple of years, making medicines, studying their chemistry and simply observing them.

In this photo, our native skullcap is on the right. After such a dry summer, it seems to be coping with the drought much better than the American species beside it. It's only an observation from my own garden, but it has certainly made me curious.

American skullcap has a much longer history of modern clinical research, but that doesn't mean our native species has nothing to offer. Perhaps we simply haven't asked enough questions yet.

To me, Wild Welsh Herbalism is about rediscovering the plants that have always grown here and reconnecting them with the language, culture and stories of Cymru. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

29/07/2026

This Saturday I'll be giving my first ever talk entirely in Welsh at the Eisteddfod, and I would love to see some friendly, supportive faces there.

When I was growing up, Welsh was my first singing language, but not my first spoken language. I learnt some at school, a little more at university, and then more again when I lived in North Wales. But after moving to West Wales, I hardly spoke any Welsh for nearly ten years.

After my dad's death, I found myself searching for my roots. Those roots became my culture, and that journey led me back to learning Welsh. Since then, I've dreamed of one day being able to talk about our native Welsh medicinal plants entirely in Cymraeg. This Saturday, that dream becomes a reality.

I'm not going to pretend I'm not nervous... I really am!!! But I'm also incredibly excited!!!

The Welsh language is at the heart of my work. I teach the Welsh names of plants in all of my courses because I believe herbalism should be rooted in the culture and landscape from which it comes. One of the greatest joys for me is seeing my students begin learning Welsh because they realise that Wild Welsh Herbalism is about so much more than identifying plants. It is about reconnecting with a language, a history, a culture, and a way of seeing the world.

If you'd like to hear the stories of our medicinal plants in the mother tongue of Cymru, I'd love to see you there. ❤️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿❤️

28/07/2026

One of my favourite rituals before my students arrive is creating a fresh herbal tea bowl for the day.

Every herb is gathered that morning and chosen with care. I want the blend to be practical, supporting my students throughout a full day of learning, while also looking beautiful and welcoming as they walk through the door.💚

Throughout the day, we'll keep returning to this bowl to make fresh herbal infusions, allowing the plants to nourish us while we learn.

Can you recognise any of the herbs in this bowl?
There's a little clue to one of the flowers in the background...

27/07/2026

Another wonderful weekend with my first-year Wild Welsh Herbalism students. 🌿

This weekend we explored the art of making tinctures, ointments, compresses and poultices using seasonal plants growing all around us. As always, the students headed out into the gardens and woodland to forage the herbs they wanted to turn into their own medicines.

One of my favourite parts of teaching is watching that moment when everything begins to click. Plants that once seemed like "just w**ds" suddenly become familiar friends. Their confidence grows with every season as they learn to recognise our native medicinal plants, discover their Welsh names, forage them safely and respectfully, and transform them into practical remedies with their own hands.

Along the way, they also reconnect with the rich herbal traditions, folklore and healing wisdom that have belonged to Wales for generations. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

There is something deeply empowering about reconnecting with the medicine growing on your own doorstep, while also rediscovering the language, stories and traditions that have always been woven through the plants themselves.

25/07/2026

One of my favourite parts of my year-long Wild Welsh Herbalism course is introducing three new herbs to my students each teaching day.

Before we talk about their medicinal actions, I encourage everyone to explore the plants with their senses first. We look, smell, touch and taste, allowing the herbs to tell their own story before we get into our heads.

The students always love seeing the different colours the teas create before we move on to the herbal shots. Herbal shots have definitely become this Valley girl's signature!!!

I also love watching everyone's expressions as they take that first sip. Some herbs are instantly loved… While others produce faces that say absolutely everything!!!

These three teas all produced completely different colours. Any guesses which herbs they were?

24/07/2026

On the days I'm teaching, I love the slow rhythm of the morning. One of my favourite rituals is wandering through the gardens and woodlands, foraging a bowl of fresh herbs for my students to make teas from throughout the day.

I always try to create a balance within the bowl... Herbs to gently calm the mind while keeping it open to learning, herbs to soothe the digestive system (because a settled gut helps create a settled brain), and herbs that are simply beautiful, bringing a smile before the first sip.

There's something rather special about drinking medicine that was growing just a few minutes earlier.

23/07/2026

Many traditions have animals woven into their medicine, and after years of researching Welsh herbalism, I believe the horse holds a particularly important place within our own traditions.

One plant that has fascinated me is March Ysgallen (Spear Thistle, Cirsium vulgare). The name itself is intriguing. March means stallion or warhorse, while ysgall is thistle, giving us Horse Thistle. Here is me holding this year's tincture, with all parts of the plant, leaves, flowers and seeds. 💚

For the last couple of years I've been experimenting with this remarkable plant. It has been largely overlooked in modern Western herbalism, cursed by many gardeners, and is even listed under the Weeds Act, encouraging us to remove it from the land.

Yet I can't help wondering whether we've overlooked one of our native medicines...

As I've worked with March Ysgallen, I've found myself returning again and again to its affinity for joints, tendons and ligaments, particularly where inflammation is involved. It makes me wonder whether its Welsh name offers us a clue. If the horse was valued for its strength, endurance and movement, perhaps naming this plant after the horse wasn't accidental. Some herbalists have also reported it being particularly helpful for sufferers of spondyloarthropathy, making me wonder just how much knowledge has been hidden in this humble "w**d."

Our ancestors often hid knowledge in language, stories and names. Sometimes the Welsh names of plants can tell us as much as the old herbals themselves... if we're prepared to listen. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

The w**ds we've been taught to pull out are simply medicines we've forgotten how to understand. 💚

22/07/2026

I often get asked whether I sell dried herbs, and the answer is no.

Take this tray of chamomile in the dehydrator. Every flower head has been lovingly picked by hand. One of my favourite parts is the gentle pop as each flower comes away from the stem... it's like nature's own bubble wrap. 😂

When I teach people how to dry herbs, I often notice a shift. Once they realise how much time and care goes into harvesting each tiny flower, they have a choice. They can pick with frustration, wishing it was over, or they can slow down, sink into the rhythm, and enjoy the process. For some, that takes a little longer than others, but I think that's one of the greatest lessons the herbs teach us.

We've become used to buying herbs that have been harvested by machines or by low-paid labour on the other side of the world, so we've lost touch with the true value of the work behind them.

For me, selling dried herbs simply wouldn't be sustainable in so many ways. The herbs I grow are for my students, my family, and my clients. They allow me to teach, to share, and to make medicine rooted in this place.

Chamomile is a great plant to grow. A relatively small patch can provide enough flowers to make a generous amount of tincture as well as plenty to dry for winter. Harvesting it fills the air with its beautiful apple-like scent, making the work feel like a gift rather than a chore.

There's also another reason I love growing chamomile. It benefits the plants growing around them. So I always make sure I have several patches dotted throughout the garden, helping to care for both the plants... and the people. 💚

21/07/2026

The first litre of chamomile tincture has been made for this year's harvest. 💚

As I prepare the chamomile infusion to dilute the alcohol, I always find myself thinking of my Hen Famgu (great-nan), who lovingly grew herbs and vegetables in her garden and made herbal teas for anyone who arrived with an ailment.

Every time I make an infusion, I also think of my dad, who showed me how to make my very first herbal tea, and my mam, who would make me hot herbal infusions whenever I was unwell.

I feel incredibly grateful to have grown up with these traditions. Every tincture I make carries not only the medicine of the herbs, but also my family, my ancestors, and my Welsh culture.

For me, making herbal medicine has never been just about following a recipe. It's about carrying forward the knowledge, care, and traditions that were passed down to me... I couldn't make it any other way. 💚🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿💚

Salena Walker

31/07/2026

30/07/2026

29/07/2026

28/07/2026

27/07/2026

25/07/2026

24/07/2026

23/07/2026

22/07/2026

21/07/2026

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