Community herbal education is the at the heart of what our co-operative offers. Our core work is running free workshops for community groups. We also run regular herb walks open to the public to book onto, as well as two more in depth courses called Wild Things: A Year of Wild Food & Medicine (Year One & Year Two). The Wild Things Courses are taught both in person and online on our platform Coursecraft.
Wild Things: A Year of Wild Food & Medicine (Year One)
The Wild Things Course is an eight month exploration of wild food and medicine growing in a variety of habitats in and around Edinburgh through the seasons. It includes opportunities to gain confidence in low impact foraging, beginners botany and ecology, and to develop a sensory approach to using wild plants both as food and medicine. There will be a combination of theoretical sessions, practical remedy making and outings into some of Edinburgh’s most beautiful wild areas. Read more about it here
Wild Things: A Year of Wild Food & Medicine (Year Two)
Wild Things (Year Two) is a continuation of the first year’s course, aimed at deepening our exploration of the wonderful wild herbs growing all around us. It builds on existing knowledge of botany, ecology, foraging and sensory herbalism. Like Year One the classroom sessions are made up of a mixture of theoretical and practical activities, and we will visit seven new habitats on our herb walks.. Read more about it here
Useful Information About Our Workshops:
Herb Walks
We welcome children to our herb walks. We don’t charge a set price for children under 14, but instead ask you to pay what you can. Make sure you book your children a place too. Please be aware though that the pace of a herb walk is slow, and not suitable for all children. Usually we don’t cover much ground at all, and stop often to look and talk about plants. This may or may not be an exciting way to spend time for your child!
Please don’t bring your dogs along, unless they are for assistance.
Medicine Making Workshops
If you would like to bring your child along to a medicine making workshop please contact us to enquire about the cost and whether the workshop is appropriate.
Hire Us:
Our aim is to provide affordable, accessible & participatory herbal education which we are able to tailor to specific needs. We have a lot of experience of working with vulnerable groups & creating bespoke workshops to suit particular groups.
We charge a sliding scale of £30-£50 per hour (plus materials costs) for running a workshop for your group. You can choose the rate you pay based on your organisation’s income. You can find out more information about why we use a sliding scale here
This is a list of our most commonly offered workshops. You can download them as a PDF here. We facilitate them in pairs to ensure a high quality learning experience for participants:
Botany & Plant Identification:
- Seasonal Herb Walks with Basic Botany, Ecology & Low Impact Foraging
- Introduction to Edible & Medicinal Fungi
Practical Remedy Making:
- Herbal Vinegars
- Herbal Syrups
- Herbal Ointments & Balms
- Herbal Tinctures
- Wild Weed Pesto from the Woods
- Mixing your own Natural Creams
- Herbal Lip Balms
Seasonal Medicine Making Sessions:
A series of workshops exploring the abundant wild herbs of each season & making a variety of medicines out of them
- Spring Medicine Making
- Summer Medicine Making
- Autumn Medicine Making
- Winter Medicine Making
We are able to offer most of these workshops in the field & ‘off grid’ using outdoor equipment where desirable: Kelly Kettles, Gas Cookers and Mortar & Pestles!
Previous Clients Include:
Lochend Community Growing Project, Pilton Community Gardeners, LGBT Health & Wellbeing Centre, S.E.A.S.O.N.S mental health support group, Wester Hailes Edible Estates, & the Wester Hailes Health Agency, Royal Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh, The Conservation Volunteers(TCV), the Federation of City Farms & Community Garden, Trellis Scotland, Vegan Meet Up Group, Ormiston Grows, The Himalaya Centre for Arts & Culture, Edinburgh Garden Partners, Carr Gomm, Bridgend Inspiring Growth, Pilton Community Health Project, Primal Bushcraft & Survival, Wauchope Community Garden
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