EP51: Green Recovery - Beyond Sexual Trauma

EP51: Green Recovery - Beyond Sexual Trauma

Author: Robin Harford July 5, 2024 Duration: 47:28

In this powerful episode, host Robin Harford welcomes Hannah-May Batley, founder of Hedge School, to discuss her groundbreaking work in plant-based healing and community regeneration.

Hannah-May shares her journey from a post-mining community in South Yorkshire to creating a unique curriculum that addresses trauma, particularly sexual violence against women, through reconnection with nature.

She explains how foraging, wild food, and traditional plant knowledge can be powerful tools for recovery and resilience.

Highlights Include

  • The origins of Hedge School and its impact on post-mining communities
  • How plant-based practices can aid in sexual violence recovery
  • The intersection of class, land rights, and healing
  • Personal insights into nature as an anchor during dark times

This episode offers a sensitive yet hopeful exploration of how returning to our roots - literally and figuratively - can pave the way for profound healing and community restoration.

Don't miss this inspiring conversation about the transformative power of our connection to plants and place.

Rape Crisis Resources

Recommended Books

About Hannah-May Batley

Hannah-May is an unruly educator & the founder of Hedge School, a school that seeks to recover, reconnect & restore our relationship with kith & kin through plant-work, traditional skills & unruly education. 

She would describe herself as a woman deeply interested in the human relationship with plants, minerals & mark-making. Hannah-may teaches foraging, community herbalism, wild food, how to forage & process wild pigments & botanical inks, preservation methods & folk medicine.

She is a writer with work published in several UK journals & magazines & is currently working on her first book. Hannah-May is a member of the Society of Ethnobotanist & Pigments Revealed International. She specialises in working with community trauma, taking plant-work into marginalised communities.

Connect With Hannah-May Batley

Instagram: Woman of the Hedge
Instagram: Hannah-May Batley
Substack: Root and Rock
Website: HedgeSchool.co.uk


Back Matter

Follow me (Robin Harford), for the latest updates and insights around foraging and wild food on Substack, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

If you're ready to uncover the secrets of Britain and Northern Europe's wild plants, grab a copy of my bestselling foraging book. Inside, you'll learn how to safely harvest and thrive on nature's bounty.

Embark on a journey through 48 essential wild plants, all beautifully illustrated in full colour. Rediscover the forgotten wisdom of our ancestors and revive our ancestral heritage. Get your copy today and start your foraging journey!


There's a quiet revolution happening just outside our doors, in the hedgerows, parks, and forgotten corners of the landscape. Eatweeds Podcast: For People Who Love Plants is your guide to that green world, hosted by forager and ethnobotanist Robin Harford. This isn't just a list of what's edible; it's a deep, sensory dive into our relationship with the flora around us. Each episode feels like a walk with a knowledgeable friend, one who points out not just the names of plants, but their stories, their historical uses, and their place in both ancient traditions and modern kitchens. You'll hear conversations that weave together practical foraging tips with cultural anthropology, exploring how plants have sustained human life for millennia as food, medicine, and material. Robin brings on experts and practitioners who share their hands-on experiences, from turning acorns into flour to understanding the medicinal compounds in a common weed. The podcast moves seamlessly from the science of plant identification to the folklore buried in their old names, creating a rich tapestry that connects listeners directly to their environment. It’s for anyone who has ever looked at a plant and wondered, "What's your story?" This series provides those answers, fostering a deeper appreciation for the wild, often overlooked bounty that grows all around us, making every walk an opportunity for discovery and connection.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 58

Eatweeds Podcast: For People Who Love Plants
Podcast Episodes
EP17: New York's Notorious Vegan Forager [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:56
Notorious New York vegan forager Steve Brill was busted by the cops for picking a dandelion. In this interview the father and daughter double-act discuss their foraging antics around New York. While revealing how to craf…
EW16: Herbalists Without Borders [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:54
An interview with Becs Griffiths and Annwen Jones from Herbalists Without Borders (Bristol) - talking about social justice, radical herbalism and providing free healthcare to people fleeing conflict, persecution, and int…
EP15: The Handmade Apothecary [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:37
In this episode I talk with two amazing herbalists about why we need to build ‘health resilience’ using herbal medicine, in an age of NHS cuts and a national health crisis. When is the best time to self-medicate, and whe…
EP11: Nathaniel Hughes On Intuitive Herbalism [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:35
Nathaniel Hughes discusses intuitive herbalism. How to develop deep relationship with the healing plants that live around us. How to know plants beyond the intellect, and meeting plants as friends. Lay-herbalism; the con…
EP10: The Wild & Wonderful World of Fungi [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:07
A walk in the woods fungi foraging with the wild and wonderful Craig Worrall from Edible Leeds. I recently visited Craig at his home in Leeds, and he kindly took me out to one of his favourite fungi patches to talk all t…
EP09: Foraging With Europe’s Grand Master [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:29
A very special interview with foraging grand-master Francois Couplan. In this podcast Francois talks about his early influencers, animism, human and non-human relationships, plus the new wave of using wild edible plants…
EP08: Emma Kidd on First Steps to Seeing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:17
Practical ways to deepen your relationship with plants, by enhancing your ability to 'see' plants more fully, in a way that no mainstream botany class can ever teach you.