Homegrown Botanica's Garden

I'm Felicity Joy...In short I'm a plant geek + forager + obsessed gardener + self taught herbalist + creative + Mama + many other things! I live on the Kapiti Coast (NZ) with my young family, on 1/3 acre packed to the brim with fruit trees, veges, berries, medicinal plants, wildflowers, edible weeds, natives + a beautiful old Ginkgo tree.

I love to forage everyday, eat weeds, ferment food, experiment with wild brewing, eco print & sew my own clothes with natural dyes from my garden, craft with natural fibres, swim in the ocean, walk barefoot in the forest, dance to good tunes, have yarns around the firepit with friends, & explore with my kids... among many other things.

I love handmade, local, organic and I detest plastic. Every summer I travel around NZ in my van, discovering & foraging wild plants that grow in different parts of our beautiful country. In my 'spare' time, you'll find me in my garden, digging with my bare hands, growing from seed I've collected season after season, feeding the soil with comfrey & seaweed tea, and hand gathering my medicinal herbs. Once a week I get together with slow living, community minded folks & we garden in each other's productive edible gardens.

It wasn't that long ago that our ancestors had a really deep relationship with the natural world and the plants growing around them. They could I.D. edible & medicinal plants & would gather and use these on a daily basis. With the industrial revolution, so many of us have become so detached from the natural world and the gifts that the plants at our doorstep can offer us. I am constantly amazed at the medicinal, nutritional & healing properties of plants, many which are named 'weeds' and grow abundantly all over our urban neighborhoods.

I would like to encourage & inspire everyone to connect with the plants around them. It doesn't matter where you are 'from' or where you 'live' now, you can connect & work with the plants growing around you right now. I believe that foraging or growing your own food is the simplest & most accessible way to ensure a constant and healthy supply of nutritious food.
I share my passion & knowledge of plants by teaching foraging workshops, focusing on nutritious & abundant edible weeds. I also create handblended botanical skincare in small batches with freshly wild harvested or homegrown plants & organic oils.

I hope to inspire and motivate you to consciously connect with plants, your food, medicine & natural world around you, so if that's something that sounds cool to you, you're in the right place.

Thanks for supporting me to live & breathe my dreams!