It was with enormous excitement & reverence that we harvested, divided, replanted, and tinctured some Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa) during November’s rising supermoon. This was the culmination of around 8 years work of trying to respectfully cultivate plants we love but which come from sensitive ecological situations. We’ve been planting Black Cohosh in various spots around Edinburgh for 8 years, but it took us a while to find a place where it thrived, and then we waited another 5 years to finally dig her up. This long, slow time meant it felt like digging up an old friend whom I’d watched the butterflies visit every autumn with her majestic tall white flower spikes. We then divided the roots into another 13 plants and planted these at our garden on Lauriston Farm, as well as saving her seeds to moist/then cold stratify over winter and sow in the spring.
Thanks to a group of volunteers we got them all planted and washed the remaining roots for medicine making. Our full moon tinctures will infuse now for another month before we strain them and then take them to the community clinic in Wester Hailes where a lot of folk will benefit from her bitter, spicy and relaxing medicine for hormonal regulation & tension, and for preparing for birth. Hopefully our newest Black Cohosh babies will also thrive in their new spot and we can have plenty more medicine to serve a wider population in the years to come without having to import this herb from the unceded lands known as the USA where it is threatened in the wild.
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