June Happenings

Yellow petaled roses with dew droplets

It’s been 9 years since I offered herbal footcare at a refugee camp known as “the jungle” in Calais, France. This shanty town of tarps and scrap metal shacks (demolished in the autumn of 2016) was built on old landfill on the northern french coast. It housed close to 10,000 migrants, folks who had been displaced from their homelands by war and persecution, and who now found their way blocked by closed borders.

Hoping to reach England, many migrants hop lorries and trains to make the channel crossing. A few might be successful, but many end up with rubber bullet contusions, sprains, broken bones, or their skin torn by barbed wire. It was difficult to see so many in such devastating circumstances. But I was glad that I had even this little service to offer. I was grateful that I could hold someone’s foot, soothe some of their pains, and offer a moment of tender care.

 

What those trips clarified for me in the summer of 2016, was that it wasn’t just what I was doing that mattered, but how I was doing it. Beyond the herbal bandaids or foot fixes I could offer, just as important was the connections we were making and the holding of space for someone to be seen and heard. And for them to be held.

Sounds simple. And most of the time it is just that simple, be it at Standing Rock or the Apollo House Occupation, on Skid Row or at any pop-up clinic that we run. Meet people where they are at and help them on their journey.

And sometimes you have to silence a lot of voices to do the work well. Push mute on the folks who say you’re an enabler. Push mute on the folks who say you’re an angel. Push mute on folks who want to make it about anything other than what it is – doing your best in the chaos that is late-state capitalism. I sometimes worry that we have become so lost in the maze of digital feedback that we are losing the ability to do the actual work. Together.As you can see in the photo, I worked outside. This was in large part for logistical reasons (the caravans were small and already crowed and some of the foot tools create extra dust). But to be honest, I much prefer working outdoors.

I love the air and the wind and the sun. I love being able to gauge the energy of the day. I love being available to the passersby who might not have known we existed if we were sequestered away indoors. I love working to the hum of community. Often I hear herbalists complain of feeling isolated and I think – get ye outside with the people!

Some of the crew I served with on those trips went on to start the Mobile Herbal Clinic, a monthly volunteer run clinic serving in Calais & Dunkerque. Over the years this volunteer-run project has supported thousands of refugees and it would be lovely if we could offer them some support as well! Please consider making a donation or volunteering.

We are taking our summer break from the Community & Clinical Care Free School Course, but I still have one little bit of herbwork to suggest in this lovely month of June: smell the roses, feel the dirt beneath your fingers, break bread with friends and sing to the trees. Get ye outside with the plants and the people!

You can view all this month’s happenings in our newsletter here.

Herbally yours,
Lorna

May Happenings

Closeup of Hawthorne blossoms with their white cups and pink anthers

This weekend my love and I went to Belfast to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. We visited with family and made our return to the Holestone of Doagh, an ancient standing stone where couples go to join hands and hearts. Surrounded by the rolling green hills of Antrim under a bright sun, we renewed our pledge, visited with an old Hawthorne tree, and wished upon a dandelion.

And while our loving cup is filled to the brim, I am also drowning in grief and disbelief witnessing the continued tragedy of Gaza, of the West Bank, of Palestine and the Palestinian people. Grief for the suffering of so many and disbelief that an entire population is being starved of food and aid while the world quietly watches.

I have written here before of my father’s life, a Palestinian Jew born a refugee from Nazi Germany. But what I haven’t yet shared is that my husband was also born under apartheid rule, a child of the Troubles in the north of Ireland. His earliest memories in Belfast are colored by senseless, ever-spiraling violence, and littered with the detritus of bombs, bullets and kneecappings.

I am glad that now we can make some beautiful memories together and my deepest wish is that the children of Palestine live to get that same chance. 

May we make it so. 

Herbally yours,
Lorna

Check out our May Happenings Newsletter here.

April Happenings

Purple violets growing against grey stone.

I took some time today to enjoy spring’s changing palette, rambling the grounds of an old hotel and watching the raw umber woodlands come to life, dappled with phthalo yellow-green and red-ochre.

I heard the birds calling and the wind’s response, felt the warm kiss of sunlight on my face and arms. I contemplated the clouds breaking around the mountains in a distant view, feeling protected in my snug of tall grasses, sunbathing in that small glenn by the lake. 

I allowed my mind to soar with the black wingtipped bird and sink into the muddy bog, buzz with the flies and dance on the rippling waters flowing past my perch.

I greeted the returning spring apothecary, growing all around me, the nettles and violets and primrose. I remembered how time slows to match the sweet-scented breathing of a mossy forest. How grateful I am for another spring to savor and to share.

Herbally yours,
Lorna

Check out our April Happenings Newsletter here.

Redbud Rising & March Happenings

Redbud (Cercis canadensis) March 31, 2013 Sprinkle them on you salads and enjoy the tangy delight that is a redbud blossom. They give you a dose of vitamin C and are filled with the vibrancy of early spring.

In the 2017 spring edition of Herbalista Happenings (at the start of the first *rump presidency), I wrote of a ‘redbud rising‘ and the way the redbud tree’s fuschia-coloured petals, erupting out of dark grey bark, help inspire me to action. I wrote about how natural it is to feel these vernal stirrings, and how we humans often ride the fierce energy of spring to power a revolution. We can see examples of it scattered across history, in events like the People’s Spring (also known as the Spring of Nations) that rolled across Europe in 1848. We can see it in the Paris Commune of 1871 or the Tibetan Uprising of 1959. From the Wounded Knee Occupation of 1973 to the Arab Spring which swept northern Africa and the Middle East in 2011, we, the people, oh how we do spring!

And so here we find ourselves again, in the first spring of another devastating *rump term. Now herbalism teaches us to live in accordance with the seasons, and so I’m here to say that I hope we can do just that. May we allow the spring energy to rise-up through us and help us move towards a more verdant, compassionate, and equitable world.

It is not an easy journey we are on, but one that we are well able for when we walk it together, working the streets AND the halls of government, agitating and advocating for a more collaborative society. And so as we join together on this mission, may we take care ourselves and of one another. Fittingly, this month’s free school modules are on Herbal Self-Care and how we, as community herbalists, can support herbal self-care in the community through HerbCare Stations and HerbCare Packs. You can find the link below and I do hope you will join us. 💚

Check out our March Happenings Newsletter here.

Herbally yours,
Lorna

New Free School Course & February Happenings

The Herb Bus is popped in the back parking lot of the Open Door. The bare trees of February stretch overhead.

The month of February is a special time for Herbalista and for all of us really. There is something about the rising, potent earth-energy filled with the promise of spring ahead that makes it a wonderful time both to start seeds and new projects.

So many of our programs got their start at this time of year – the Herb Bus, the Grow a Row Project, the Herbalista Community Health Fair, and the Herbalista Free School were all launched in the month of February.

And this year, at the midpoint between the winer solstice and the spring equinox, we are riding this energy again as we release our newest Free School offering – the Community & Clinical Care Course.

We hope that this course helps our herbal community put their love for people, plants and the planet into action. Because the time is now. 

And while the issues of today seem complex, I believe the solutions are right here in front of us. I say the revolution will be armed by medicine-makers and fought with Fire Cider. The revolution will spread through community gardens, soup kitchens, and mobile libraries. This is what revolution looks like – doin’ the herbwork together, for each other, and for a more vibrant and equitable world. We hope you can join us. 💚

You can check out our February Happenings newsletter here.

Herbally yours,
Lorna

January Happenings

A gorse bush in full bloom, covered in yellow flowers. The sky is bright blue with scattered clouds.

Just a few lovely gorse flowers to brighten your day. And if you carefully move in close, past the thorns, to bury your nose in one of the pea-shaped flowers, you will catch the scent of coconuts and be whisked away as only aromatics can do.

We are looking forward to filling 2025 with magic as we make good medicine together – crafting remedies, sharing skills, and building community. We hope you can join us. 💚

You can read our January Happenings Newletter here.

Herbally yours,
Lorna

2024 Herbalista Service Report

The Herbalista Logo at the top with line drawings of yarrow to either side. It reads in white letters Herbalista 2024 Service Report on a dark green background

A Note from Herbalista

Community herbalism is a powerful thing. Not only does it have the power to heal, it actually empowers people to heal themselves. And unlike the dominant capitalistic-colonial system, it manages to build economic potential while both stewarding the environment and protecting human dignity.

On a more personal note, it is through this type of collaborative herbwork that I continue to find both hope and purpose, particularly now, during an especially tragic year.

Lorna is in profile in front of a large tree and holds a plant in her hands.

And it might even be within these moments of grief and of horror, as we bear witness to genocide, climate disasters, and ever-punishing poverty, that we are able to summon the courage and the strength we need to reject the status quo and do the work it takes to compassionately create a more loving (and infinitely more sustainable) system of life. And we don’t have to go it alone. Let us look to each other and our herbal elders for inspiration. We community herbalists stand on mighty and loving shoulders.

I am pleased to share with you this year’s service report, filled with all the herbwork that we have done together. In addition to our regular programming, we helped co-create some new community offerings (check out Brigid Books and the Herbal Mutual Aid Directory) and also poured a tremendous amount of effort into the rebuilding of our online resources. We redid our website and the online toolkit; we updated many of our downloadable worksheets and guides; and we continued working on our latest Free School Course entitled Community and Clinical Care, to be released this coming February.

We look forward to continuing our work together, building community through herbalism, in 2025.

Herbally yours,
Lorna Mauney-Brodek

2024 Herbalista Service Report

Join the Resistance

Pink Roses bloom with bold text reading "JOIN THE RESISTANCE"

Grow-A-Row for your community. Launch a Mobile Library. Start a Fire Cider Brigade. Create an HerbCare Station. They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.

Herbal Mutual Aid Directory

Yarrow in bloom at the Learning Garden

What it is:  The Herbal Mutual Aid Directory (HMAD) is a listing of herbal mutual aid projects involved in relief efforts after the devastating hurricanes that tore through the southeastern US.  You can … Read more

Herbal Mutual Aid

HerbCare by the people for the people. Herbal Mutual Aid Directory. Link to join the directory bit.ly/mutual-aid-herbs

For anyone following our work these past dozen years, you will have become quite familiar with phrases like “by the people, for the people”, “solidarity not charity”, “give what you … Read more