New for 2025, we are delighted to launch Jekka’s Herb Days. We have combined our popular open days with Jekka’s HerbFest to make special herb themed events thoughout the year.
Jekka's April Herb Day theme is Medicinal Herbs and it is being held on Friday 4th April & Saturday 5th April 2025. Each day will run from 9 am - 4 pm with talks, Jekka’s Herbetum tours, a stall by the National Institute of Medical Herbalists and food by Chiki Monkey a local plant-based caterer available.
As a proud independent family business, we love to support local artisans! This year, we’re delighted to welcome back Shorkk and The Village Pottery, familiar faces from Jekka’s HerbFest. We’re also joined by Saskia Essences, a member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, who will be sharing her beautiful flower essences, similar to Bach Flower Remedies. Read more about them below.
Find more about Jekka's April Medicinal Herb Days and book a place online!
Saskia's Flower Essences
Saskia Marjoram, of Saskia’s Flower Essences, has been working with plants her whole life. She mostly concentrates on making and prescribing flower essences (like the Bach Flower Remedies) and is based in Wincanton (East Somerset.)
After more than 20 years working with flower essences her relationship with each plant is continually growing. Discovering how they work and what they can help us with deepens with every conversation she has, “being able to help people in such a profound way is endlessly rewarding and I can’t quite imagine doing anything else.”
Saskia teaches classes on flower essences and their uses, also on how to distil plants and enjoys offering guidance on which essences people might need and why.
After decades of gardening for other people Saskia now feels able to allow more space for the plants that decide they want to come and grow in her (semi wild) ‘garden’ - “it used to be a car park so is a bit of a gardener’s challenge. As a flower essence producer most of the flowers I use come from the wild, although I do grow some of them at home so I can get to know them better and, as they are diluted down to such a great extent, very few are needed to actually make the essences.”
Saskia’s favourite medicinal herb is Yarrow – “such a stalwart” - and very useful as a flower essence too.
Shorkk
Shorkk is a husband and wife team based in Bristol with roots in Lebanon and Scotland. They import minimally processed ingredients from Lebanon for cooks who care. Lebanese culinary heritage is rightly world famous. As passionate cooks, they are delighted to be able to share some iconic Lebanese ingredients with those in the UK who see food as medicine.
They are passionate about sharing a brighter side to Lebanon! The cliché of the civil war is hard to shift, but they wish to show a different side to the country. To tell the story of the richness of the soil, farmed by people who are deeply connected to their land where a healthy diet is part of their DNA. Shorrk started their business in 2020 selling a few Lebanese ingredients at their local farmers market in Bristol. Offering tastes of the extra virgin olive oil made from “souri” olives, the citrusy sumac, the tangy pomegranate molasses their customers appreciated the difference with supermarket varieties.
All the products they import have health benefits: from the polyphenol in Zejd’s EVOO to the antioxidants in Bassatin Baanoub’s oregano; adding these to your foods means you’re looking after your health. As part of their mission, they support not just these two producers, but also a community kitchen in Beirut, an agreocology farm in the Bekaa, an NGO working with Palestinians and another NGO passing on skills to women with no identity papers to allow them to work.
At this time of year, their current favourite herb is oregano - Origanum syriacum, which Bassatin Baanoub supplies to them. They harvest the flowering tips of the plant. Oregano is higher in antioxidants than most fruits and vegetables. In its dried form its health benefits are more intense. It is often drunk as an infusion to relieve symptoms of a winter cough or cold.
The Village Pottery
Individually hand-thrown ceramics for home and restaurants, designed to be used for many years to come. Jen Hamilton makes pieces that she hopes will blend into the fabric of your day making little moments that bit more enjoyable.
“Pottery can connect with people through their everyday rituals. The mug you choose when you sit down to relax and take time out for you can really enhance and bring joy to that precious time of rest. Clay always brings me back down to earth and grounds me, it’s a part of my identity. I am very grateful to have a creative outlet in my life.”
This year, The Village Pottery, is celebrating 20 years of business, which has grown and evolved over the years as a response to demand but it also around motherhood. What started as a little family run shop/cafe/studio in Clifton Village is now a production pottery studio in Easton-in-Gordano where others can come and work along side Jen and learn the dynamics of running a pottery studio.
Jen finds it fascinating how you can learn so much about your craft by having to verbally break it down and relay that to others. If people are looking to refine their throwing skills she enjoys helping them to break down the problem areas so that we can understand where things could be improved. Being a production potter Jen has had to refine her practice to make it more time efficient and therefore more cost effective. She finds other makers come to her for advice on this after they’ve been producing for a few years. It can feel very daunting making that leap from hobbyist to full time maker.
Jen’s favourite herb is Mint. “I love it in food and in tea. The first ever cheque (yes it was that long ago!) I received for some pottery work I created was for a set of herbal tea pots. The teapots had holes in the lid to allow the air to circulate and infuse. The spout was above the lid so that when you poured the tea out, the holes strained the fresh mint leaves for you. The teapots were decorated in a dark blue lace pattern. I still have one on my shelf to remind me of that proud excitement of selling my first piece of pottery.”
Want to know more?
Book a place onto Jekka's April Medicinal Herb Days - Tickets available online!
Alternatively, come and visit the herb farm in South Gloucestershire at one of our Herb Days, Open Days or Herb Experiences.
You can find more about herbs in Jekka’s blog, our past newsletters and videos as well as Jekka's new book '100 Herbs to Grow' and Jekka's existing books, namely 'A Pocketful of Herbs' or Jekka's Complete Herb Book, and also by browsing Jekkapedia and exploring our herb based recipes.
For advice on growing and maintaining herbs, check out ‘Jekka’s Seasonal Tips’ blog series, which includes what to do in your herb garden in early spring, late spring, summer and autumn & winter. Together they form the basis of Jekka’s guide on how to grow herbs.
Please also see Jekka's herbs of the month blogs: Bay (January), Rosemary (February), Salad Burnet (March), French Tarragon (April), Angelica (May), Alliums (June), Lavender (July), Basil (August), Mint (September), Szechuan Pepper (October), Thyme (November) and Curry Tree (December)
Herb plants are available and you can organise a collection from our herb farm in South Gloucestershire or at one of our Open Days. Please see our 'Looking Good List' for availability and use our webform or email your list directly to us (sales@jekkas.com). We no longer offer a general mail order service for our plants but we do offer an occasional limited selection of Jekka's Culinary Herb Boxes.