10 years of community herbalism
We have been running the award winning Wester Hailes Community Herbal Clinic since 2015. It sits inside The Wester Hailes Healthy Living Centre which houses a range of services including the local NHS medical practice, social work and local charities. The Health Agency is one of these and we rent a room from it to run the clinic and also collaborate on regular happenings by getting involved with the weekly community meal, gardening sessions and run a free herbal workshop series in the neighbourhood too.
There is a rich history of community organising in Wester Hailes, and our clinic stands on the shoulders of that. Our aim is to provide a professional clinical herbal service to the local community, whilst also providing spaces for folks to get together, connect over plant medicine and find out more about herbalism together – by growing, foraging, eating herbs or making remedies from them. We offer clinic appointments at a subsidised rate, and produce a small herbal product range that we sell to the public to raise funds for the clinic, whilst also offering ‘pay it forward’ clinic appointments where folk can donate so someone who can’t afford an appointment can come along and receive the service.
A sing along in the polytunnel
So on a Saturday afternoon in September this year we celebrated our low cost clinic reaching double digits, and the Greenway garden, a community garden down the road was the perfect place to get together for it. We shared a hearty locally made meal, with local bread and a gorgeous big birthday cake from the wonderful Granton Garden Bakery, and herbal teas and autumnal concoctions flowed as faces old and new joined the celebration.
A huge thank you to Alan Gordon, the community gardener at the Greenway who provided the shed and polytunnel to dive into so we could dodge the September rains, to Stacey McGregor from The Health Agency who helped with the delicious food, and to the local plant community who held us for the afternoon as we celebrated surrounded by the abundant bright orange berries of Sea Buckthorn, ripening Rosehips and Haws. We then gathered in the polytunnel to join the incredible singer songwriters Karine Polwart and Katarina Juvancic for some beautiful plantlore themed songs and a good sing along too – Big thanks again for celebrating with us!
Looking to the next 10 years & how to get involved
We hope to link in with more community workers and organisations in the South West of Edinburgh so more people can reach our low cost clinic and link in with the herbal skillsharing community in Wester Hailes – building community connections, empowerment and resilience when so many of our services are severely underfunded and overstretched. We would love for more and more people to know about us and access the clinic and its community – please help us spread the word.
Whether you are in a local General Practice, charity, community organisation or an individual in the South West of Edinburgh – if you would like to know more or link in with us please do get in touch at clinic@grassrootsremedies.co.uk
If you live further afield and can support our clinic by buying one of our locally crafted herbal products check out our online shop or make a ‘pay it forward’ donation here. You can also find our wholesale prices if you would like to stock our herbal products in your shop. Thank you for reading and your support for sustainable community herbalism.
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