9 years ago today, the Herb Bus was born… or at least the dream of it was. 

On that day, I flung the first blog post of The Herb Bus Chronicles out into the ether with the hope that by announcing my intentions to the world, they might actually happen.

“Welcome to the Herb Bus Chronicles.  Deciding to facilitate a mobile, herbal clinic for underserved populations comes with a large set of hurdles.  By keeping track of the problems encountered and solutions found, hopefully the Herb Bus can serve as a prototype for sister clinics.”  December 8th, 2012

Brief and pragmatic, these 3 sentences ended up launching a journey of epic proportions– a journey that is still being written, lived and loved.

And as eager as I am to share with you what lay on the horizon for 2022, I thought that first, in celebration of how far we’ve come, I’d create a little timeline of our adventures together in herbalism.  

9 years ago, this project marked my attempt, however small, to respond to what seemed a desperate state of affairs.

I was disillusioned by the status quo of healthcare in the country and by the lack of social support provided by our government.  

It seemed to me that “freedom,” this mindless mantra Americans are trained to repeat, was actually a euphemism for societal neglect, that basically we were “free” from taking care each other.

I couldn’t understand how the “-isms” of community and society (read “communism” and “socialism“) were seen as dirty words and that “capitalism“, which outright places material wealth above human health, was something America bragged about worshipping.

I can safely say that my feelings on these matters haven’t change much in the 9 years that followed.  If anything they have been continually confirmed as I bear witness to the fact that human wellness (read “welfare“) too often depends on the efforts of charitable endeavors as opposed to being recognized as what should be a state’s essential purpose.

But I also know that these gaping holes in our healthcare system and other social structures have actually presented their own freedom of sorts.  This lack has meant we are free to fill the void.  In fact, these deficiencies demand us to dream up new solutions. 

These past 9 years have been filled with incredible herbalistic creation and community building and it has been an absolute honor to take part.

I’m looking forward to co-creating with you in 2022

Herbally yours,
~Lorna