Pippa Lovell has been busy building a big following of foodies who have loved the unique, foraging-based menus at her eaterie, Versa, based at Foraging Vintners in Port Erin.

When the business was closed down by Covid, she ran an idea past Kirsten Bennett at The Good Health Store of producing some foraged products to sell and Kirsten agreed to ’give them a go’.

Pippa says: ’It’s a very Covid collaborative situation of leaning on people: I’ll help you out, you help me, that kind of thing.’

Kirsten agrees: ’It’s important that we support Manx products and Manx producers because that is what it is to be in your community.’

The Good Health Store has certainly remained steadfastly part of the local community in Port Erin all through the crisis and has continued to stock products from local businesses like Close Leece Farm and Ross Bakery.

Kirsten says: ’We’ve been open all the time: we’ve tried to be really careful, do all the right things and we feel lucky that we’ve had the support of the customers that means we’ve been able to get to this point and still be open and still be healthy.’

Pippa also turned to DEFA for support to develop a range of Manx herbs blends, sold in a tin.

She says: ’DEFA have been very clear and thoroughly amazing with their information and guidance. They have supported me from the idea stage right through until the final production. I wouldn’t have had the confidence otherwise.’

Pippa has developed a blend of dried, handpicked local herbs which can be used instead of the rather dull jars of ’Italian herbs’ you normally buy in supermarkets.

Pippa says: ’Buy a Manx herb blend and you’ll get loads of flavour and it’s good for your health. They are wild, handpicked, washed and dried.

’Each batch of herbs will be different, following Versa’s motto of only using what is available and truly following the season.

And once you start looking at all the flavours our local environment can offer, you realise what a wide range there is.

Pippa gives a few examples: ’Sea beets can provide a salty element; spruce and pine shoots off the trees act as a zesty element, like lemon; there’s fresh, wild garlic, and jack-by-the-hedge, that’s a mustard flavour.’

She adds: ’The tins challenge the stereotype of a consistent reliable product by playing on the element of chance to open conversation around locality and seasonality. The tins are aimed to be reused and to spark an interest in foraging.

’And you get a lot of uses from a tin as it’s quite a strong flavour. There are so many nutritional benefits of wild foods and I wanted to find a way people could easily inject them into their diet.

’This is a celebration of our Biosphere in a tin!’

Pippa’s herb tins will be available from The Good Health Store and Versa and a few online suppliers. Price will vary according to the blend.

You can find recipes and tips for using them on instagram.com/versaiom.