HEJGRO
About Hejgro Foraged Products
- WHO ARE WE? -
Hejgro is an award winning micro business based in Frome, Somerset.
All our products are handmade in small batches with love
“May you walk gently through the world & know its beauty all the days of your life.” Apache Indian proverb
In Hejgro we not only forage locally, but also try wherever possible to source all our ingredients organically and as locally as possible, taking in account the food miles and our carbon footprint. All our food is 100% vegan, contains no gluten or refined sugars. In our balms we blend the medicinal properties of wild herbs and pure natural beeswax. We use no plastic packaging, although if you order delivery you may find mixed filler recycled from what has been delivered to us from others. We pay living wage to all involved.
“I’m passionate about promoting a re-connection with nature in all her abundance. I realise every time I go foraging in the beautiful meadows & woods of the West country how blessed I am to have this wild and unspoilt resource on my doorstep. How grateful i am to be able to pick wild food free of any fertilisers or pesticides. I believe we should be taking back control of what we eat. I believe we should celebrate the richness of nutrient dense, healthy and healing, seasonally available wild produce.”
Meet the team behind Hejgro, say hello to Pavla, that’s me! Yes I am the team. Ok I admit it, I get helpers during the busy seasons but other than that I create the recipes, I do the foraging, the cooking, the packaging, the customer service, the sales, all of it.
Now let me tell you a bit about my background. I grew up in the Czech Republic. It was still Czechoslovakia back then, a communist country. We had no access to western products, people had no idea about healthy food and most children’s diet consisted of white wheat, dairy products and sugar. In my adult life I worked out that my body doesn’t really like milk products, too much wheat, or refined sugar. And that’s why my products don’t contain any of those ingredients.
The other side of living in a communism was more positive for me. There was still a strongly felt connection with nature. Everyone knew we can eat Nettles, and Dandelions. Nettle soup in spring wasn’t a quirky adventure, it was common. My grandma would always send me out to fetch her herbs for stomach pain or this and that. As a 10 year old I knew them all, St. John’s Worth and Yarrow were all around growing wild, Lemon Balm and Ladies Mantle were planted in our garden… They were all my friends, little beings in pretty green and colourful dresses. And they still are my friends. I talk to them when I go picking. I voice my gratitude to the woods every time I pick Wild Garlic to make my pesto for you.
I moved to the UK a number of years ago and I love the countryside here. I’m blessed to have all my friends here too! Cleavers with their sticky coat cling to me whispering “I am you and you are me, let me clean your body”. Anybody else here is a fan of cleavers water? I’m very lucky for my passion became my profession. I love my work! And I love sharing my knowledge and all the goodness of our native plants with you. Thank you mother earth for being so bountiful.