The Medicinal Forest Garden Handbook tells you everything you need to know to set up a resilient forest garden to provide food and medicine for body and soul. This book is eminently practical, addressing all the things you need to think about from the very first planning stages right through to harvesting and making your own medicinal preparations. Forty medicinal trees and shrubs are covered in detail, and there are recipes for making a range of medicines. I especially loved the inspiring examples of people who have put these ideas into practice in a wide variety of contexts.
Julie Bruton-Seal, artist, jeweller, photographer, herbalist and author
Anne has drawn on her vast experience to produce a beautifully practical guide to growing and using woody perennials for healing. Covering all aspects of plants care, harvest and use this book should become a standard for anyone growing these crops. For the growing number of agroforesters in the UK there is also great information on scaling up production to meet the demands of larger markets.
Ben Raskin, Head of Horticulture and Agroforestry at the Soil Association
This is an extremely comprehensive, multi-layered, informative book, as rich and diverse as a forest garden itself. Anne Stobart speaks from a place of authority and commitment, to bring us this wealth of detailed information and has created an invaluable guide for anyone interested in both forest gardening and medicinal trees and plants. Relevant for both small and large projects, it is a vital addition to any growers’ bookshelf!
Glennie Kindred, author of Walking with Trees and Letting in the Wild Edges
Thanks to Anne Stobart, we have at last a book that explores the vast potential that forest gardens have for growing medicinal plants. Written by an expert in the field, meticulously researched and wide in scope, the book also touches on the many other health benefits of forest gardens.
Tomas Remiarz, permaculture practitioner and author of Forest Gardening in Practice
In the present climate of highlighted concern about climate change, this reference book shows what underused resources are in the world around us, and informs us in meticulously well researched fashion.
Colin Porter, ex-head Gardener RHS Rosemoor and chair of the Landscape Gardens Health Network
This book is a treasure trove of information. Anne (an experienced medical herbalist and grower of medicine), has deep insightful wisdoms that are beautifully articulated throughout the book. The book is in two main parts; Part 1 has detailed practical information on applications of tree medicine, designing, growing, harvesting and creating remedies and Part 2 provides a directory of 40 medicinal trees and shrubs.
Karen Lawton, one of the Seed SistAs from Sensory Solutions Herbal Evolution
As a nurseryman you learn something new every day, but after reading The Medicinal Forest Garden Handbook I discovered that we have a whole pharmacy in our back yard, with hundreds of medicines under hands’ reach. The book is easy to read, clear, complete and furthermore, very practical.
Johan van den Berk, co-owner of Van den Berk Nurseries
Whether you want to grow a few medicinal trees or set up a larger-scale forest garden, you are in luck. Anne Stobart has distilled her personal experience and knowledge into the book that will guide your choices and set your course. Converting a former Sitka spruce forest into her own living forest garden has been a work of just under two decades. In the book she combines science with art and technique and explains why such a garden might be worthwhile on so many levels. She offers excellent descriptions of the plants she uses, harvesting techniques and ways to turn the harvest into medicinal preparations. It is all here: planting through to using, all set out in a clear style and a friendly encouraging, yet authoritative tone.
Barbara Segall, writer, herb gardener and author of several books, including The Herb Garden Month by Month
The Medicinal Forest Garden Handbook presents us with a unique and original exploration of environmental stewardship. The introductory chapters poignantly and in a visually stunning way, underscore the multigenerational value of medicinal forest gardens, while each botanical entry weaves the philosophical with the essential guidance needed for their creation.
Roy Upton, President of American Herbal Pharmacopoeia
The Medicinal Forest Garden Handbook is full of hope and inspiration. It lays out the methods for multi-layered forest farming and natural healing that will serve us long into the future. It offers gem after gem of practical insight into the healing wisdom of the herbal tradition – and how you can grow them and care for yourself, your loved ones and the world around, one tree at a time. All gleaned from Anne’s experience as a Medical Herbalist and an expert in permaculture. It’s both practical and visionary.
Sebastian Pole, Master Herbsmith and co-founder Pukka Herbs
Anne brings her experience as a practising medical herbalist to provide a thoroughly dependable and insightful resource. Her skill as a herbalist combined with her experience in permaculture and knowledge of the history of natural medicine means that Anne is an outstanding guide. This handbook is sure to establish itself as the key work in aiding the development of truly therapeutic forest gardens.
Peter Conway, Fellow of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists and the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy and author of The Consultation in Phytotherapy
Based on her own experience of creating a forest garden of medicinal trees and shrubs from scratch, Stobart guides us expertly through all essentials, from planning and design, and practical horticulture, through to medicine making for both personal use and at a scale for marketing. Recipes for medicinal products and a directory of 40 detailed plant profiles are included, supported with a wealth of images, tables, sample projects, and research. The development of the garden as an educational experience for environmentally sustainable living is inspirational.
Vicki Pitman, clinical medical herbalist, and author of three books, including Aromatherapy: A Practical Approach
Not many people realize that the medicinal ‘herbs’ they use more than often were picked from a tree or a shrub. In this attractive and clearly written, well-referenced and effectively illustrated book, Anne Stobart clears this up thoroughly. Whilst doing so, she reveals a possible future with innovation in ecological farming. Our planet desperately needs these kinds of innovative lifestyle projects, where both agriculture and medicine convert into more sustainable human activities.
Tedje van Asseldonk, ethnobiologist and permaculture herb farmer http://mintal.eu, www.ethnobotany.nl
The Medicinal Forest Garden Handbook is exactly what it claims. Meticulously researched and resourced, it is a single volume guide to all aspects of medicinal plant growing, herb preparation and medicinal herb use. Plants come alive and at times you can almost sense the seeds ready to sprout! Anne Stobart’s wealth of experience as herbalist, forest gardener and academic underpins this useful and beautifully illustrated book. Anyone into gardening, herb growing and herbal medicine will be keen to have it to hand.
Andrew Chevallier, past president of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, and author of the Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine
Anne Stobart has produced this beautiful practical guide to medicinal forest gardening full of interesting facts and useful advice for anyone interested in the medicinal properties of trees or wanting to expand their knowledge of forest gardens. An excellent resource for experts and amateurs alike, based on years of practical experience and containing a wealth of knowledge and insight.
Sally Westaway, Senior agroforestry researcher at the Organic Research Centre
Diversity is the key to a thriving forest garden, and Anne’s inspirational book has unlocked a new layer of possibility and potential. We now have the knowledge and guidance to create our own perennial designs that not only heal our planet, but also ourselves.
Huw Richards, YouTuber, permaculturist and author of Grow Food for Free