HerbCare Stations

What is an HerbCare Station?

HerbCare Stations are basically Herbal Self-Care Stations. By placing herbal self-care stations in the community, we demystify herbal medicine and empower people to care for themselves with herbs. These stations are typically stocked with easy-to-use remedies, made with common and familiar herbs that are generally considered safe. In particular we like to use kitchen medicine such as fire cider, ginger chews, chamomile tea, rose water, etc.

HerbCare Stations can literally go anywhere that people might congregate. We have installed HerbCare Stations (aka self-care stations) at community centers, co-housing facilities, occupations, shelters, refugee camps, and offices. We’ve pushed them around on carts and also set-up pop-up HerbCare stations in city parks or at health fairs, festivals and gatherings.

These mini-health stations offer folks a chance to care for themselves with herbs and vitamins. It offers a chance to both heal and to learn. If you are interested in creating an HerbCare Station in your neck of the woods, check out the Resources on this page to get you started.

Important Considerations

If you are looking to create a station in your neck of the woods, here are some of the guiding principles that we find helpful.

Your HerbCare Station should reflect the needs and desires of the community you serve.
Use common and accessible remedies, such as items you might find in a local grocery store or growing nearby.
Use remedies that are generally considered safe with limited contraindications.
LABEL EVERYTHING with all the ingredients so people can make informed decisions.
Make remedies easy to serve in a hygienic manner (i.e. hand pumps on bottles or individually packaged remedies).
Provide hand sanitizer.
Create signage to help folks find what they need and learn more about the remedies and herbs.
Use trays or boxes to contain the station, helping it to stay organized and clean.
Have Fun and get creative!

Create a Station

HerbCare Station Video + Guide

In this 90 minute class, Lorna covers all the basics, from stocking your station to keeping it clean. She shares the history of our HerbCare stations along the way, which we hope offers a little bit of inspiration. This video was recorded at the Free School on July 6, 2022. It is marked with chapters to make it easy to review specific sections as you desire.

Please use the HerbCare Station Guide to follow along.

HerbCare Station Guide