Herb Week is an annual event in Ireland celebrating herbs and herbal medicine. There will be a coordinated series of public events taking place throughout the week aimed at educating and sharing ideas about the importance of herbs and their health benefits. 2015 marks the first year of Herb Week in Ireland and will take place from 23 – 29 May.
Herb Week was established by The Irish Register of Herbalists. Their vision for this event was to engage with the public and to call attention to the professionalism and expertise of herbal practitioners in Ireland. To this end, they have launched three initiatives in which the many different aspects of a herbalist’s skills can be seen.
1. Herb Week 2015 will be launched at the grand opening of St Anne’s Physic Garden in St. Anne’s Park, Dublin 7 on 23 May. This is a herb garden designed to showcase medicinal herbs and is the result of a collaboration between the Irish Register of Herbalists and Dublin City Council Parks Department. Construction began in 2012 and this year it will open its doors to the public. On the day, herbalists from the IRH will be on site to welcome the public and answer questions about the herbs in the garden and herbal medicine in general. There will be an official opening and several tours of the garden throughout the day. As part of our Herbal Urban Schoolyard Garden (H-URB-S Garden) project with selected national schools, we will be doing a demonstration of how to build a simple herb garden.
2. The Herbal Urban Schoolyard Garden (H-URB-S Garden) project is an Irish Register of Herbalists initiative to work with Irish National Schools in disadvantaged urban areas and give them the knowledge and the skills to create their own herbal medicine garden. Nine simple herbs were chosen for their safety, smell, taste, appearance and ease of care: Lavender, Marigold (Calendula), Chamomile, Mint, Rosemary, Lemon Balm, Parsley, Thyme and Heartsease. These could be planted in a small bed (3×3 grid) or placed in pots where space is scarce.
It is the aim of this project to give children an opportunity to develop a relationship with plants and an interest in the natural world. A familiarity with how to grow and use herbs to maintain health is a valuable asset for us all and will benefit these children as they grow into adulthood. Children are encouraged to research the herbs, their botany, their cultivation, health benefits and recipes. This is a pilot scheme focusing on a small selection of schools with children from 4th to 6th class. We hope to roll this out to many more schools in future years and it has the potential to be linked with other initiatives like the Green Schools project, Food Dudes and the Global Action Plan.
3. Finally, there will be a series of practitioner-led events happening all over Ireland. These events will be run by qualified herbalists and will offer the public a chance to find out more about what a herbalist does, how herbs can be used to treat a myriad of health issues and how to find a herbalist in their area. Events will include herb walks, workshops, herb talks, clinic open days, special discounts and much more.
To read more about National Herb Week, please visit our website: nationalherbweek.ie
For queries regarding National Herb Week, email us at: info@nationalherbweek.ie
Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/herbweek Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/herbweek