Community

May Happenings

May 8, 2025May 6, 2025 by Lorna

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

April 1, 2025 by Lorna

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

March 28, 2025March 4, 2025 by Lorna

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

March 28, 2025February 4, 2025 by Lorna

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

March 28, 2025January 5, 2025 by Lorna

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