Book Review The Hearth Witch's Garden Herbal

The Hearth Witch's Garden Herbal: Plants, recipes & rituals for healing & magical self-care by Anna Franklin

Llewellyn Publications, 2023

The author begins with, "...Our gardens can be many things to us: a haven from the busy world, the place we link with the natural world, somewhere that delights the senses, a place of ritual, or a place of meditation.  It can also provide us with food, medicine, and magical ingredients."  And this is true.  Gardens can mean many things to many people.  This book is in that category.  It has recipes and information that can delight anyone, from Pagan to Herbalist.  This book includes over 30 profiles of various plants.  The profiles are set up with sections for medicine, magic, culinary, or cosmetic use, so you can go right to what interests you.  It makes it easy to zero in on the plant of your particular interest at a particular time and find out everything you can, as well as experiment with a recipe or two.  Dandelion wine! Midsummer Incense!  Macerated Lilac oil! Fuchsia Berry Jam!

I had so much fun delving into this volume.  It even had instructions for making my own hydrosol!!!!  Everything is explained clearly and concisely which I appreciate in today's busy world.  It was a delight to curl up with this book on a cold and dreary afternoon and it inspired so many ideas I had to get my idea notebook to contain them all.  I will definitely keep this one by my chair so I can grab it at a minutes' notice.  If you enjoy gardening and experimenting with various plants, you will find this a must have for your library.  It includes an appendix and bibliography.  The herbs are listed A-Z and there are 321 pages.  

I will include a recipe we all may want to use as the winter winds blow to soothe our chapped skin.  On page 125 there's a recipe for

Chamomile Baby Powder

Take 2 Tablespoons chamomile dried flowers ground in a coffee grinder (*or I'm adding pestle or blender), 3 Tablespoons Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), and 5 teaspoons of Cornflour (cornstarch)

Mix the ingredients together.  Put through a sieve to get any large particles out.  Keep the fine powder in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

The author, a well-known Pagan Priestess, has written twenty-eight books which have been translated into nine languages.  Anna lives in an English village with her partner John, their cats and chickens.