Hello

I am a fourth year architecture student at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. My current project is to design a work unit in London for a herbalist including a small herbal farm which would grow herbs such as peppermint and sage in particular. I have chosen these because of their culinary qualities as well as their medicinal qualities. I understand that sage for example acts as an excellent decongestant used to treat colds and hay fever. As part of this project, I am currently researching the technical processes of growing the herbs and the various methodologies and techniques used in drying and preparing the herbs ready for consumption. I am particularly looking for technical data with regards to:

- Technical information with regards to the herbs themselves (peppermint and sage)
- Environmental factors concerned with growing herbs (ie: indigenous herbs to England) and their environmental requirements - temperature, water requirements etc.
- Their seasonal characteristics. I understand most herbs grow during maximum exposure to south sunlight during the summer. However, I am curious to know if there are herbs which can grow during the winter and if so what are the requirements for them?
- The processes involved in the drying of the herbs. What type of machinery is used? How much dried herb is produced in relation to the growing area on the farm? What are the conditions under which the herbs are processed? What is the time scale between picking the herbs and the moment when they are ready for consumption?
- Are there any herbs which can grow vertically for example: on vines?

Ideally I would like the opportunity to visit a 'herbalist' and see how the herbs are prepared before they enter the store. It would be most useful if I could see this being carried out and to discover what the story is behind the dried herbs which appear in the jars in the shops? Are these processes something which are carried out in specialist herbal farms?

I would be most greatful if you could help me in any way possible with regards to this. Even if it is to only recommend literature that would provide technical data.

Thank you and I look forward to your replies.

It might be useful to speak to the folks at Rutland http://www.rutlandbio.com
especially with regard to large scale processing technicalities and timescales.

For environmental and seasonal info I always turn to Jekka's Complete herb book as well as a quick flip through Claire Loewenfeld's Herb gardening - why and how to grow herbs.

For indigenous herbs check out Julian Barker's The medicinal flora of Britain and Northwestern Europe (my new fav herb book)

Ken Fern's Plants for a future - edible and useful plants for a healthier world, is a mine of information and has an online database http://www.pfaf.org/index.php

Vertical herbs? The first two that come to mind when you say growing up vines are Hops and Passiflora. But,of course, there are also the medicinal trees - birch, elder, willow... and the bushy ones - Hawthorn, Vib op, Witchhazel...

I would be very interested to see what you come up with. My absolute dream is to have a consulting room (possibly with small shop out front), a processing unit and dispensary out the back with a big window overlooking acres of my own grown herbs. I may, however, be underestimating the number of hours in a day!!

Good luck, I've just embarked on my own final year project - its daunting to say the least...

If you go to our home page and look at Herbs in Medicine,you will see that there is an excellent article on sage,together with some book suggestions.In the section Herb of the Month you will also find information on both the mint family and sage.

I would echo Claire`s advice on Rutland. They grow all their herbs bio-dynamically and I have always found them to be very helpful.

Your project sounds facinating and it would be great if you could keep us updated on your progress.

Good luck
Linda

Thank you both for your kind replies. I did read your replies a while ago and posted a reply to say thank you but it doesnt seem to appear on the forum. Maybe I made a mistake and wrote it on the wrong thread of soemthing. Anyway, your help is much appreciated.



I got in touch with Rutland and they were very useful, and likewise, Neals yard remedies and other herb farms helped me a great deal.



The project is progressing and I hope to complete this by the end of Feburary. You are most welcome to have a look at this. We have an end of year show during the summer where my work may or may not be shown. Otherwise I could maybe post a link to it on the internet if I succeed in uploading it etc.



LM

(edited to remove copies of original responses and to add LM's name instead of Guest)

Many thanks for getting back to us on this project. I think we would all be interested in how it develops, so please do keep us updated.

Linda