Wild Things: A Year of Wild Food & Medicine (Year 1) 2026

The online version of our popular 8 month course exploring wild food and medicine. We offer Wild Things Online on a sliding scale from £375-£700 which can be paid in 1 or 3 monthly instalments - see below for how this works & optional in person add ons.

Please read through all the information below including the FAQs & book your place here:

Buy now

Join us this season for herb walks...

...& making remedies in the kitchen

Choose to study in a way that works for you

In 2026 we will be offering 3 different ways to study Wild Things with us to suit different learning & lifestyles:

Our online course - work at your own pace as content is released throughout the season, connecting with other students and facilitators in our discussion space and on our Q&A live zooms
Our in-person course in Glasgow - meet roughly monthly on Saturdays for a morning herb walk followed by the afternoon of theory & remedy making in the classroom
Our in-person course in Edinburgh - meet roughly fortnightly for a half day alternating between herb walks and classroom sessions

We give in-person students full access to our online version of the course too!

Find out more about our in-person Glasgow class here

Find out more about our in-person Edinburgh class here

Welcome to Wild Things - We can't wait to start learning with you...

The Wild Things course is an eight month exploration of British wild food & medicinal plants growing in a variety of habitats through the seasons.

It provides opportunities to gain confidence in low impact foraging, beginners botany & ecology, & to develop a sensory approach to using wild plants both as food & medicine. There will be a combination of theoretical sessions, practical remedy making tutorials and introductions to many different plant species which you are encouraged to go out and meet in person yourselves.

Increasingly today our food & medicine is flown to us from far regions of the globe. Health food shops are stocked with ‘superfoods’ from rare and diminishing habitats, and we are commonly offered endangered species like Arnica & Echinacea. We have lost our connection to our local bioregions, & with it all of the history & traditions that our landscape & the plants that grow there can offer us. This course is about re-connection & about building sustainable, healthful practices through a deepening relationship with our local ecosystems.

The plants that are covered on this course are those that are common & abundant in the Northern British Isles. While the theoretical elements and practical remedy making sessions will be applicable wherever you are, we suggest this course will fit best for people living in the British Isles or in a similar climate.

Course Outcomes

Develop an understanding of the ethics and practice of ecological harvesting and gain confidence in low impact foraging
Try out recipes and learn practical remedy making skills for home use
Learn about the edible and medicinal properties of some of our common British plants & when to harvest them
Develop a sensory approach to herbal medicine
Beginners botany & ecology & the ability to confidently identify common species
Gain an understanding of how to live more harmoniously with the seasons

Course Format

This course consists of 15 roughly fortnightly sessions spanning from March to October to cover a range of seasons. There is a wee break around midsummer to consolidate what you have learnt so far.

Each fortnight we will release a new session which alternate between 'indoor' online theoretical content mixed with practical remedy making skills & sensory herbal tea tastings, and 'outdoor' virtual herb walks exploring the common and abundant plants of that season. In total there are 8 'indoor' sessions and 7 'outdoor' sessions making up the 15 online lessons (all pre recorded).

Each session comes with a guided sensory tea tasting - we will post 15 mystery herbs out to you at the start of the course to explore with us over the 8 months.

The digital course handbook covers 40 common plant species, and beyond this we will meet others on our virtual walks as well.

What The Online Course Includes

Digital handbook '40 Herbs By Season of Harvesting, Herbal Action, Body System & Suitable Preparations'
15 in depth herb monographs covering Plant ID, Parts Used, Edibility & Nutrition, Constituents, Medicinal actions & Therapeutics, Uses, History & Folklore, Preparations, Growing & Harvesting & more
7 virtual herb walks following the seasons presented through videos, audio recordings & photographs
Digital classroom sessions cover: Botany Basics, An Introduction to Traditional Western Herbalism, An Introduction to Sensory Herbalism, Ecology Basics, Plant Communities, Sustainable Foraging, Foraging & The Law (UK), Spring Tonics, Herbal Actions, A Sensory Approach to Plant Chemistry, An Introduction to Seed Saving & Invasive Species, Preserving the Bountiful Autumn, Foraging in the Dark Months & Home Medicine Chest Creation
Practical tutorials on: Exploring the Tastes of Herbs, Spring Tonics, Identifying Edible Weeds in Your Garden, Harvesting Drying & Storing Herbs, Infusions & Decoctions, Tincture Making, Herbal Infused Oils, Herbal Ointments, Herbal Salts, Raw & Cooked Herbal Syrups & Herbal Infused Vinegars
15 'Mystery' herbs posted out to you for sensory herb tastings
Student discussion space - engage with other students in the course by sharing recipes, photos & great resources with each other. This is also a space where questions can be asked about the course content & perhaps finding other online students that live locally to you.
Q&A zooms - we will hold 4 Seasonal Live Online Discussions on Zoom as the course flows over the season. This space is another great way to meet other folks studying the course as well as giving you more structure to move through the material.

Online Course Contents & Release Dates

The course content release dates show when a lesson becomes available to you, as the course flows over the season. You do not have to study a lesson on its release date if you are not available as they are all pre-recorded.

We give you unlimited access to each lesson from its release date & continue to give you full access to all course materials after the course has finished so you can return to the resources again & again. We hope you will re-engage with course material as the seasons come back round again & deepen your learning over time.

Course Content Release Dates

Content will be released roughly fortnightly from March until October (with a few weeks break around Midsummer).

1: March Theory & Practical - Friday 13th March: course introduction, basic principles, sensory herbalism introduction & mystery herb 1
2: March Herb Walk - Friday 27th March: virtual herb walk 1 & mystery herb 2
3: April Theory & Practical - Friday 10th April: ecology & plant communities, sustainable foraging practice, spring tonics & mystery herb 3
4: April Herb Walk - Friday 24th April: virtual herb walk 2 & mystery herb 4
5: May Theory & Practical - Friday 8th May: herbal preparations introduction, harvesting, drying & storing, infusions & decoctions & mystery herb 5
6: May Herb Walk - Friday 22nd May: virtual herb walk 3 & mystery herb 6
7: June Theory & Practical - Friday 12th June: herbal actions introduction, herbal tinctures & mystery herb 7

(midsummer break)

8: July Herb Walk - Friday 10th July: virtual herb walk 4 & mystery herb 8
9: July Theory & Practical - Friday 24th July: a sensory approach to plant chemistry, infused oils & mystery herb 9
10: August Herb Walk - Friday 7th August: virtual herb walk 5 & mystery herb 10
11: August Theory & Practical - Friday 21st August: seeds, herbal ointments & mystery herb 11
12: September Herb Walk - Friday 4th September: virtual herb walk 6 & mystery herb 12
13: September Theory & Practical - Friday 18th September: preserving the bountiful autumn, herbal syrups, herbal infused vinegars & mystery herb 13
14: October Herb Walk - Friday 2nd October: virtual herb walk 7 & mystery herb 14
15: October Theory & Practical - Friday 16th October: foraging in the dark months, home medicine chest & mystery herb 15

Extra to our core lessons, in 2026 we will be holding 4 optional Q&A zooms with course facilitators that will flow over the season. These will be spaces to get together and meet other students, share recipes and ask questions. This space is another great way to meet other folks studying the course as well as giving you more structure to move through the material.

Optional Live Zoom Dates

All Wednesday evenings 6.30-7.30pm

Zoom 1: 25th March
Zoom 2: 27th May
Zoom 3: 26th August
Zoom 4: 28th October

How Much Does It Cost?

The Course has four options for pricing, offered on a sliding scale i.e. you pay a price in keeping with your ability to do so (see below for more information). They range from £375 to £700. We also have a limited number of subsidised places on offer. Course fees can be paid in 1 or 3 monthly instalments. Paying by instalments will include a small admin fee.

Option 1: £700 (choosing this price allows us to provide more subsidised places for those with limited funds)

Option 2: £600 (please use WT1PRICE600 coupon at the check out to deduct £100)

Option 3: £500 (please use WT1PRICE500 coupon at the check out to deduct £200)

Option 4: £375 (please use WT1PRICE375 coupon at the check out to deduct £325)

We have a limited number of subsidised places available at £250 as well (please use WT1SUBSIDISEDPRICE250 coupon at the check out to deduct £450)

How Much Should I Pay?

Below are some guidelines to inform which course fee is most appropriate for your situation. We acknowledge that there are many factors which determine how much expendable income and financial security folks have & we appreciate that everyone’s situation is different, so please refer to the below as guideline only. We won’t ask for any proof of your personal circumstances & trust each of you to judge which price feels right for you.

For example, if some of the statements below describe your situation you may choose to buy a low cost place for £375 or a subsidised place for £250:

- I have access to benefits or am employed but have very limited expendable income
- I have limited savings and/or limited access to any financial support from others
- I am a carer &/or have dependants
- I have no recourse to public funds
- I have chronic health issues which impact my financial security

For example, if some of the statements below describe your situation you may choose to buy a medium cost place for £600 or a solidarity place for £700:

- I am able to comfortably meet my basic needs, have savings & an expendable income
- any debt that I have doesn’t impact my daily life
- I comfortably rent a property or own my own
- I own a car & can comfortably afford fuel
- I am able to afford to go on holidays

Courses purchased at the solidarity price enable us to carry out our community work & offer subsidised places on the course to folks who would not be able to access it otherwise. We are trusting everyone to respect this model & thank you all for playing your part in increasing the accessibility of the course.

Why Do We Use A Sliding Scale?

Our core aim in Grass Roots Remedies Co-operative is to try & make herbal knowledge, skills & consultations accessible to everyone. As well as running herb walks, courses & workshops we also provide a community herbal clinic in Wester Hailes, South West Edinburgh which runs by donation to local people (as far as we know the only one of its kind in Scotland). We also run a free programme of community workshops in the neighbourhood.

We use a sliding scale in our workshops and courses: a sliding scale is a mechanism where people pay different fees according to their income & access to resources, so that services can be made accessible to as many people as possible, & folk are less financially excluded. A sliding scale means that everyone pays a similar proportion of their income for the same service.

This increases access for people who are systemically excluded from participating in community activities such as people of colour, people with disabilities or health conditions, LGBTQ* & working class communities, immigrants & women-led groups.

By paying a higher rate on the scale if you can afford it, you are enabling us to carry out our core work of providing free and low cost education & herbal consultations in areas of deprivation. We really appreciate your continuing support.

Looking for our fully in-person class?

Available on 8 Saturdays from March to October in Glasgow?

Find out more about our in-person Glasgow class here

Available for 15 fortnightly half day sessions on Fridays in Edinburgh?

Find out more about our in-person Edinburgh class here

Frequently asked questions

You’ve got questions. We’ve got answers.

When do enrolments open & close?

We open enrolments for the course around October of the year before the course starts in March. If you'd like to be notified of when enrollment is available, sign up below or email us at soraya@grassrootsremedies.co.uk. We close enrolments at the end of April each year so folks coming across the course later in the spring won't miss out. We feel that folks joining after the end of April might not catch up with the beginning of the course & so may not get the most out of the learning experience, so if you get in touch from May onwards you will go into the cohort for the following year. Get in touch with us to be the first to know when bookings will open.

Do I have to study each online lesson on the dates they are published?

No. These dates are just when content is released through this seasonal course. Once a lesson is released you can study it anytime afterwards at your leisure, though our suggestion is to carve out some time each week to follow the course through the season.

The optional live Q&A sessions which happen monthly on zoom do need to be attended at the time shown. We will record the zooms so if you miss it you can catch up later.

How many hours a week do I need to study?

You can study the Wild Things online course at your own pace - taking breaks when you need to & returning at your leisure. Sessions are released roughly fortnightly with a midsummer break in the middle. Sessions will differ in length a little but in general if all resources are worked through in a lesson, digital classroom sessions require roughly 3 hours & digital herb walks require roughly 2 hours.

How long do I have access to the course?

You will continue to have access to the course after the course ends. Once the course finishes we will no longer be answering your queries in the comments section, but you will have all the course material at your fingertips for years to come, so you can revisit our lessons again and again. We have done this as we feel that you will get the most out of the course material this way & trust that you will respect this & not share our Wild Things resources with others (even your bestest of friends). The educational arm of our co-op allows our community herbal medicine clinics to exist & we are trusting everyone to respect this model to sustain them & provide this health service to folks in the future. Thank you for playing your part in sustainable community herbalism!

How can I engage with course facilitators & other students?

Extra to the core pre-recorded lessons of the Wild Things course we encourage all students to:

1) Ask questions and share recipes & recources on the Discussions Space. Course facilitators will answer questions within 3 working days.

2)Attend 4 Seasonal Live Online Discussions - all on Wednesday evenings 6.30-7.30pm. We will also record these sessions in case you can't make it along. These sessions are a place to ask questions about the course material.

I want to pay in instalments. Is there a charge for this?

Yes. We give the option of paying in one go when booking or to select payment in 3 monthly instalments. We increase the price to account for the bank charges & admin fees for paying in 3 instalments.

For example if you book onto the course on December 1st choosing to pay £700 you can either pay:

1 instalment: £700 on Dec 1st

3 instalments: £240 on Dec 1st, £240 on January 1st, £240 on February 1st, paying £720 in total.

I want to purchase a subsidised place at £250 but they are all allocated. Will any more become available?

We have 5 subsidised places at £250. When these are allocated the option to purchase the course at this price is no longer available. We will then review course sales fortnightly & release more subsidised places if we have had people purchase places at the solidarity price.

If you are trying to purchase a subsidised place and they are not available please email soraya@grassrootsremedies.co.uk to put you on a waiting list. If a place becomes available you will be notified by email. If a place does not become available you will be emailed when course bookings open for the following year.

What is your refund policy?

If you have booked onto the online course but have changed your mind we can fully refund minus a 5% transaction fee up until 27th February 2026. No refunds can be given after this date. This also applies to in person herb walks.

I'm pregnant, breast or chestfeeding or have a medical condition. Is this course safe for me?

One key component of the course is our guided sensory herbal tea tastings - we will post out 15 mystery herbs at the start of the course and provide you with guidance on meeting them with all of your senses. For each herb we will provide any contraindications in advance so you can decide for yourself if it is suitable for you to taste them or not. If you have any questions about this, you'll be able to check in with us, & there's no pressure to taste any of them. You can always sit with the herb & just smell it instead if that's what feels right. We provide full monographs on each herb to be downloaded after your tasting.

I live outside of the British Isles, is this course suitable for me?

The plants that are covered on this course are those that are common and abundant in the British Isles, with an emphasis on the North. While the theoretical elements and practical remedy making sessions will be applicable wherever you are, we suggest this course will fit best for people living in the British Isles or in a similar climate.

Depending on where you live we may or may not be able to post your 15 mystery teas to you. We will try our best to do so and may be in touch about postage costs for outside of the UK.

I already have some herbal knowledge, is this course for me?

The Wild Things year 1 course brings together a diverse range of subjects (found in the course outcomes section above). The course also focuses on wild plants only, many of which may be new to you. The herbs covered are:

nettle, dandelion, garlic mustard, sticky willie, few flowered leek, wild garlic, chickweed, coltsfoot, birch, pine, white dead nettle, hawthorn, elder, comfrey, meadowsweet, horsetail, plantain, daisy, st john's wort, lime flower, sweet cicely, raspberry leaf, rose, yarrow, self heal, mugwort, sea buckthorn, burdock, blackberry, valerian, marsh mallow, wild cherry bark, cramp bark, willow, oak, birch polypore fungus, turkey tail fungus, old man's beard lichen.

Do I get a qualification for completing this course?

Wild Things is a self-led course for your own learning, enjoyment & skills. There is no formal qualification awarded as a result of completing the course. If you would like a Certificate of Completion for your CPD or for another reason at the end, we are happy to provide these on request.

I still have a question, how can I contact you?

We are happy to answer any questions you might have. Send us an email at hello@grassrootsremedies.co.uk.

About Grass Roots Remedies Co-operative

We are an Edinburgh & Glasgow based workers' cooperative whose central philosophy is that herbal medicine is the medicine of the people and should be accessible to everyone. We offer a series of practical courses and workshops, run the low cost Wester Hailes Community Herbal Medicine Clinic, the North Edinburgh Community Herbal Clinic, and produce simple resources to enable folks to practice herbalism at home. We also run Plant Medicine School Scotland, in collaboration with The Plant Medicine School over in Ireland.

For more information check out our website here: www.grassrootsremedies.co.uk

You can read about our co-op members who are also the Wild Things course facilitators here: https://grassrootsremedies.co....

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What have previous students said about the course?

- Wild Things Online Student 2023

"I thoroughly enjoyed completing this introductory herbalism course at my own pace and learning with the seasons. The content is a perfect blend of theoretical and practical and it encouraged my own curiosity at all times."

- Wild Things Blended Student 2023

"I joined Wild Things Year 1 to learn about herbal medicine as research for a project I am working on. I didn't expect to learn SO much, to find it so fascinating, or that the herb walks would become a monthly highlight."

- Wild Things Online Student 2023

"The Wild Things course has deepened my relationship with so many plants that live alongside me in the local area. The many places I have walked each week experiencing and harvesting through the seasons has been nourishing at all levels. My home is full of herbs, syrups, tinctures, vinegar's and lotions, this wild abundance has been a true joy."