Our Blog
Herb Profile: Plantain
Botanical Name: Plantago major, P.lanceolata Common Names: Broadleaf Plantain, Ribwort Plantain. Also: Greater Plantain & Rat’s Tails (Broadleaf), Birdseed, Healing Blade, Hen-plant, White Man’s Foot, Soldier’s Herb, Snakeweed (Ribwort) Waybread Gaelic: lus an...
Love letter to the Blackford Glen Medicine Garden
Like many community projects Grass Roots Remedies has slowly grown and evolved over the years. An arm sprouting here, a leg over there, and today (Imbolc 2025) we are proud to have a whole body of happenings with our small team working in our award winning low cost...
Herb Profile: Valerian
Valerian Botanical Name: Valeriana officinalis Common Names: All-Heal, Great Wild Valerian, Garden Heliotrope, Bloody Butcher, Cat's Valerian, Sete Wale (Set Well), Baldrian (German), Valeriana (Spanish), Sumbul-ul-tib (Farsi) Gaelic Names: Lus-bileach Family:...
Herb Profile: Burdock
Burdock Botanical Names: Arctium lappa, A. minus, A. nemorosum Common Names: Burdock, Beggar’s Buttons, Cocklebur, Stickleback, Sticky Bobs, Hare Lock, Gobo Root (Japan), niúbàng (牛蒡) (China), ueong (우엉) (Korea) Gaelic Names: meacan-dogha, Seircean suirich...
Black Cohosh: Sustainable Slow Medicine
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...
URGENT: Help Save our Community Clinic & Work in Edinburgh
Heart-breakingly, our award-winning community clinic and work in the community in Wester Hailes (video here), South Edinburgh are threatened with funding cuts. Our hosts, the Health Agency are facing massive cuts to funding, to be discussed at a meeting of the...
Sensory Herbalism, Nature Connection & Resilience
I was one of those kids that would watch bugs for what seemed like hours. My eyes following each tiny stick-like leg until all 6 had sequentially moved and that beetle was a little further along its road, just for that unfamiliar movement to repeat again and again and...
Herb Garden Volunteering in Edinburgh
Have you ever thoughts about growing or using medicinal and edible herbs but don't have space or know where to start? Grass Roots Remedies Co-operative has two growing spaces in Edinburgh where you can learn to grow, tend and harvest medicineal plants either at...
Early Summer Foraging
Whether you've been foraging for ages or thinking about dipping your toe in to it sometime soon, now is a great time to start. Here in Scotland, it feels like Spring has definitely passed and our foraging thoughts turn to Summer flowers and maybe even some early...