This week, I share my conversation with Botanica Fabula's Amanda Edmiston.   Amanda is an herbalist, folklorist and storyteller here in Scotland.  She has a particular passion for reconnecting people to plants, to the land, to traditional knowledge and to each other.  While she has a number of fabulous projects on the go the focus of our chat is on an intergenerational project she led called a Kist in Thyme.

The Kist in Thyme pages are here: https://botanicafabula.co.uk/the-kist-in-thyme and here: https://botanicafabula.co.uk/kist-in-thyme-poppets-and-besoms-halloween-2020

The story of Chase the Devil is told here on the 'Tales of the Taibhsear'  album (with musician Debbie Armour, Burd Ellen)  https://talesofthetaibhsear.bandcamp.com/track/chase-the-devil  or on the podcast that accompanies Amanda's other project The Very Curious Herbal here: https://anchor.fm/amanda-edmiston/episodes/St-Johns-Wort--The-Very-Curious-Herbal-e10mdfh/a-a5hi8ol

There's also a wee piece Amanda made as part of the first strand of the project with the children's art and a story on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/e1tPirWJDLU

The Tobar an Dualchais archive is here: https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/?l=en

The Scottish School of Herbal Medicine is no more, the co-founder still operates courses under the same name but they are no longer the same degree and masters level National Institute of Medical Herbalists accredited courses.  There is only the archive offering links to research and methods left here; https://www.herbalmedicine.org.uk/

Glasgow's  Hidden Gardens are here: https://thehiddengardens.org.uk/

Amanda's website and social media links are

www.botanicafabula.co.uk

Instagram: Amanda.edmiston

Photo credit: John Ritchie