This month I had an amazing event take place at The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. It was one of the most rewarding days
I do wish I had my own camera to take photographs, so apologies I will have to be creative with my Google image search this month.
So I invited the MECOPP Minority Ethnic Carers and Old and Pensioners group to attend a herbal tea day. The day focused on the health benfits and folklore of scottish plants of Holyrood Park. I had 17 elderly Chinese people attend. During the planning stages for the event I was going to partner up with Anna a herbalist she is fantastic and we have enjoyed networking and she was due to help me run the event. Unfortunately luck was not on our side as she could not make the day. I ended up taking full responsibility in running the day and gave talks and put together information sheets.
I was rather nervous as the whole groups were expecting a herbalist and I was told they would be disappointed as they had lots of questions they wanted to ask . After hearing this I felt very worried and low in confidence but I choose to carry one with my planning and believe in myself! Just seconds into my talk my words were translated into Chinese, the group was so endearing. I had no idea that when I spoke just a few words how long it would take to translate! It gave me a good time to think about what I was saying and worked out nicely .We made 3 types of tea you could easily make these yourself so give it a go!
I felt really comfortable talking in front of my guest I was talking about each plant and the stories behind them. I had no idea how I had remembered things or where my confidence and knowledge had appeared from!
The best moment was when my group demanded more teas and more photocopies of the handout I had put together. When the ladies were writing notes and asking questions I felt in my element. They enjoyed the day so much that they asked to take away the plants so that they could forage for the same plants and make their own tea at home.
Bramble Tea
We all know about blackberries and how delicious they are just eaten alone, or in: jam, tarts and pies. What about the leaves have they been forgotten?
An infusion of the leaves of the blackberry eases a sore throat; either drink it, or gargle with it.In days of old, the leaf of the bramble was commonly used to make a traditional British breakfast tea. It bears an uncanny resemblance in flavour to Earl Grey, and bramble-leaf tea offers the added benefit of having blood-cleansing properties.
After we had made tea,Max Coleman took the group for a walk. We stopped at the native woodland section in RBGE here we looked at the plants that we had made tea with and found other plants that we could use. The group were able to put into practice their identification skills and be confident to go away and take that new information home with them.
I am coming to the end of my placement and have put together a hand over report for others to look back on so that it is clear what work had taken place at RBGE.I also have a portfolio of poster and planning documents so any future trainees can get some idea of what its like starting out.
I have spent a lot of time sending applications off. Let’s just say I have had 3 interviews so far and I am really learning a lot. I need one interview and one phones call to say’ yes’ to change my life. There have been ups and a down in applying for jobs but securing 3 interviews has made me feel positive. I believe if you want something then persistence pays off. Its not down to luck its about hard work well maybe a little bit of luck.
I went out for a lovely Christmas meal with staff members and had such lovely feedback from RBGE staff members, they have really helped boost my confidence.
Being a Natural Communities Trainee has changed me, I am confident and positive about what my future holds. For all those wanting to break into the environmental sector keep going.
Please see the two short films below to get an idea of what i have been up to this year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etWm0F7Cap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0YCo78efgY
Thanks for reading and watching my films!
Claire