Growing and Brewing your own Tea - Feel Good Gardens - Adult Learning

Based at Feel Good Gardens near Sherwood Pines, this hands-on course will teach you about growing and using at least 5 tea plants in your own growing space, whether it be a windowsill, balcony, some pots in your backyard, a garden, or a community growing space

What will be covered on the course?

You will learn about:

Everyday plants that you probably know about already, that you can drink as an infusion (or ‘tea’)

How to grow these plants, covering ideal growing conditions and how to adapt these to your own space

Ways of making herbal tea plants more productive

How to make the plants into tea, which parts of the plants to use, and how to ‘process’ and store the herbs

Different methods of making teas and tisanes

The course will also touch on the pros and cons of different plants and foraging for plants that you can make tea from.

No prior skills are needed, but an interest in the outdoors and gardening would be an advantage. Learners will be asked to dress for the outdoors and changes in weather.

What will learners achieve by the end of the course?

Learners will:

• Learn how to grow at least 5 plants, including growing conditions and how to adapt them to their own circumstances (including not having a garden).

• Find out which parts of the plants to use (eg leaves, stems, petals, seeds etc)

• Research 3 properties of each plant (for example flavours, therapeutic properties, nutritional benefits)

• Experiment with tastes and flavours of each plant by using up to 3 different brewing methods (raw, dried, tea bags or infusers, cold/hot and different materials for drinking vessels)

• Try their hand at least 3 hands-on methods for drying plants to use as teas and tisanes, and the pros and cons of each

There will also be lots of interesting plant facts about different cultures and how they use teas and tisanes, and a chance to look at all the other potential herbal teas growing at Feel Good Gardens!

What you will need to bring to the course:

1) Decent outdoor clothing including sun protection on hot days

2) Gardening gloves

3) Books: Growing your own Tea Garden by Jodi Helmer; The Garden Apothecary by Christine Iverson; Wild Tea: Brew your own teas and infusions from home-grown and foraged ingredients by Nick Moyle and Richard Hood