In Case of (emotional) Emergency: self-care form to fill out

This form was created to accompany the Self Care Kit: For Emotional First Aid with Heart Elixir, Tulsi Elixir, Yarrow Flower Essence, and Rose Relaxation Bath Fizzies.  The kit was created with the intention of preventing burn-out and helping to promote a culture of self-care and collective-care. More info here.  Feel free to print this form, fill it out, and share.

Click here for a copy that's easier to view and print.

____________________________________

In Case of (emotional) Emergency

To fill out when you’re feeling grounded, supported, calm, inspired, etc.  To read when you’re not.

I feel better when I (check all that apply/fill in the blanks)
□Go outside                                   □Call a friend                                   □Take time alone
□Share meals w/ loved ones.     □Scream into a pillow/in a car    □Dance
□Draw, color, paint, get crafty  □Play with kids                                □Cry it out
□Play soccer                                  □Connect with mentors/elders    □Go for a walk
□Have an orgasm (alone            □Clean my space/change it up     □
     or with someone else)            □Go bowling                                     □    
□Laugh (watch funny film,        □Light a candle                                □      

     hang out with fun folks)        □Get acupuncture/massage          □
□Go bowling                                 □Burn incense                                  □                        

□Massage myself with oils        □Am in water (shower, bath,         □
    before going to bed                    ocean, lake, puddle)

□Listen to good music like __________________________________________

□Watch these movies _____________________________________________


These plants support me: in the form of: tea, massage oil, bath, photos, hanging out with…

□Rose              □Milky oats           □Tulsi                    □Cinnamon      
□Nettles          □Chamomile         □Licorice root      □__________    
□Calendula     □Pine trees            □Lemon Balm     □__________
□Sunflower     □Garlic                   □Corn                    □__________

My (emotional) emergency contacts are:
I can call this person/these friends, mentors, family members, neighbors, hotlines…
*
*
*
*
*

Other suggestions:
-Start with the Basics:  Breathe.  Breathe.  Drink water!  Eat good food!

-Drained from dealing with (or not dealing with) conflict?  Role-play difficult situations/
 conversations with a friend.

-Reach-out!  Let folks know you could use some support (face-to-face or via calls/email/text/Facebook, etc.  Don’t rely on telepathy with this one!)

-Is there an element out of balance?  (Are you feeling angry, fiery, frustrated?  Get in water!
 Feeling uber-emotional or really flakey?  Go outside and feel the earth under your feet.)

-Connect with what grounds you with your deep self (beyond our daily lives): nature, meditating, looking at old photos, talking with old friends who know you well, etc.

-Take times of transition/stress to re-evaluate and learn from it all (when you’re ready)

   Take as much space as you'd like for more notes, drawings, whatever you like…

By Dana L Woodruff, community herbalist and health educator,  Dandelioness Herbals
dandelionessherbals.blogspot.com  dandelionessherbals.etsy.com  @dandelionessherbals
dandelion778@yahoo.com   facebook.com/dandelionessherbals

Talking Plants/Talking Justice: Plant Medicine and Social Justice Interview with Dana Woodruff of Dandelioness Herbals

I was recently interviewed by Ann Armbrecht, co-creator of Numen: The Nature of Plants!  You can check out the full interview here: Plant Medicine and Social Justice with Dana Woodruff. Ann Armbrecht also interviewed folk herbalist and food activist Sandra Lory of Mandala Botanicals here.  Thank you, Ann, for supporting grassroots community herbalism!


Plant Medicine And Social Justice With Dana Woodruff

From the first time I met Dana, I have been so impressed with both her knowledge of and dedication to the plants and herbal medicine and her willingness to talk about topics that herbalists don’t tend to talk about: healthy sexuality, gender identity, social justice and power, and more (you can read about some of those on her blog!). I have especially been interested in her work in prisons and with migrant farm workers, teaching them about herbs, learning from them, and helping them get rights they are often denied. Like Sandra Lory’s work (with whom Dana often teaches workshops), Dana is doing incredibly important work educating about self care and building community health and making sure that this knowledge is accessible to whoever wants it. I was thrilled to finally be able to hear about Dana’s work. Dana’s blog, Dandelioness Herbals is an incredible resource with recipes, resources, reflections and more. Dana also sells her herbal remedies at her Etsy shop. Check them out!

Ann: To start, I’d love to hear how you first got interested in herbal medicine, a bit about the training that you’ve had, and the focus of your work with plants.

Dana: Like so many raised in the US, much of my ancestral lineage has been lost by the process of assimilation.  My childhood in Central Maine wasn’t infused with the plant medicine traditions of my ancestors from Ireland, Scotland, and England. Living rurally, though, I was surrounded by plants.  My mom took us out on wildflower walks, in the spring Grammy and Pop-Pop took me to harvest Dandelion greens. We’d eat fiddleheads and we’d eat out of the gardens in the summer. I grew up in a family with a history of being healthworkers, crafters, and farmers.

Click here to read the entire interview...

I Love Our Timebank!: Nourishing Networks of Community Support

what I've given:

Red Wriggler worms for worm-bin composting, some of my
Dandelioness Herbals products, and I gave my opinion.

what I've received:

Life coaching, Massage (unfortunately my massage didn't involve any snakes,
but it was still really good), and installation of my bike basket and mud guards
 (bicycling according to José Guadalupe Posada).

Okay, there aren't many things that I like to testify about. Timebanking and Uterine/ abdominal massage are the big exceptions.  (More on the uterine/abdominal massage another time!)  I love the Timebank.  OUR Timebank. I love offering services and receiving services, and I feel really good about the exchanges.  

I had a spell of time that was particularly chock-full of fabulous Timebank exchanges. I met with a lifecoach at the perfect time to help me realize where I wanted to focus my energy, I met with another timebank member at Freeride Montpelier Community Bikeshop, who put on my mud guards and basket so I could be less car-dependent and more bike-fabulous, a computer/graphics maven member shared their fonts and Word expertise to help me learn skills to create zines, handouts, pamphlets, etc., and I received a massage where a warm compress of lavender water was placed on my back to relieve muscle tension!

During this same time period, I made a large amount of herbal Iron Syrup for a friend, a member attended my Herbals Salves for Social Justice workshop, and I sent a care package of tinctures and salves across the country to a member who had moved away and wanted to use up the rest of their remaining community credits to receive herbal products. I've become the personal herbalist of a friend who orders shampoo, bath salts, and body scrubs for herself and as gifts for family and friends, using Timebank community credits. I've also received credits for sharing worms (for Vermicompost) and kombucha mamas, filling out a survey for the Timebank, recruiting new members, and redirecting stuff from my workplace that would've gone into the trash or recycling, but instead went to the ReSOURCE (formally the Restore) and was transformed into art!


Giving and receiving hours.
In a culture that thrives off of creating a false sense of scarcity and perpetuating inequality where some are overprivileged, which in turn creates poverty and oppression, Timebanking is a pretty radical concept. In these Timebanking networks, time is the currency that is exchanged and each person and their skills are valued equally, whether they're providing childcare, accounting, massage, driving someone to the store or airport, giving tech support, etc.

In a mainstream culture where some people's time is valued at hundreds of dollars per hour, while others aren't compensated with money at all for their labor (such as raising children, caring for elders, cooking, cleaning, and other domestic/caretaking realms), valuing people's time and skills equally creates a whole other culture of reciprocity, abundance, mutual respect, and a strong sense of community.  It gives us permission to ask for help when we need it, to give support that's needed, and to realize the balance and reciprocity in this.

Had there been hourly rates applied to the services that I received and offered, the labor of all those involved would've differed greatly.  Some of the services I received would have been completely out of my reach. And as I'm committed to making my herbal remedies and workshops accessible, had the exchanges been money-based I would have had to sell many, many elixirs and teach many, many classes to make the money that others may earn in just one hour.  The Timebank not only makes these services accessible, it creates fertile grounds to share skills in the spirit of community interdependence.

While I was really interested in the concept, it took me many, many months to finally become a member of the Onion River Exchange (ORE) timebank, and then later the REACH Care Bank, two local timebanks that have since merged.  You can check out their website here.  I felt that I couldn't commit to yet another project.  I didn't want to make offers that I couldn't follow through with.  Once I finally became a member, I realized that you don't even need to post requests or offers, you can simply look over the list of what people are seeking and offering and contact members directly if there are services that you would like to receive or give.  

And what did I need to do? What I already do and love to do! Folks come to my workshops - Herbal Valentines, Do-It-Yourself Bodycare, Spa Day at the Garden of Seven Gables, Lip Balms for Social Justice, Herbal Gift Giving, The Dandelions are Coming!, etc. using Onion River Exchange Community Credit hours instead of money. People in the community have also responded to my offer of herbal products - elixirs, salves, lip balm, syrups, flower essences, and custom made concoctions (such as Lavender Body Butter). I love opening my herbal apothecary up to the community, and it feels especially good when there is a mutual appreciation and an exchange free from money and the capitalist system.


Other exchanges include:
I received a locally- and home-made (rather than sweatshop-made) oceany colored crocheted rag rug for my bathroom, a rust-colored crocheted cozy for my Mason jar water/tea bottle, and a pink and red carrier for my tincture bottles. I got all done up with a consultation with makeup artist, filled my belly with a member's soup that they brought to a member craft bizarre, a fellow herbalist shared their label-making skills with a Photoshop tutorial, and another member gave me a ride to the train.  I renewed my membership with a community health and healing organization, took sewing classes and received a tutorial in using my serger (like a sewing machine, but with multiple needles), a friend gave me a hand putting plastic on my windows for winter-warmth, and someone with a truck helped me move.  I provided companionship to an elder while her family was away (and I got to learn new fun boardgames by playing them with her!).  I've received massage and cupping, as well as help with mending clothes and weeding my garden.  I've used credits to 'rent' community space for workshops, birthday parties, dinners, and ceremonies.  And on and on and on...

When I think of the Timebank, I sometimes get images dancing by like cheesy montages at the end of the final episode of a 1980's sitcom.  The skills learned, the time shared, the support given and received...

Filmmaker Olivier Asselin visited our local Timebank as part of his Possible documentary project:

The “Possible” documentary project is about telling the stories of individuals and communities who are actively engaged in creating a better, more sustainable future. It’s about showing that normal people are doing real things, things that are within the reach of all of us. The aim of this project is to debunk all of the false barriers people create for themselves when they start thinking about transitioning to a more sustainable way of life. I don’t have the money… not enough space… not enough time… I don’t know how… it will never work… I’m alone.


By showing real life examples, people of all ages, of different economic backgrounds, in rural or urban settings, living in all kinds of climates or settings, it will become obvious that no matter who you are, no matter where you live, you can do something.  -Possible.org

And here we are...

A 700-member time bank in Central Vermont from Olivier Asselin on Vimeo.

Herbs Rock!: Songs about Herbalists, Medicinal Plants, and Food as Medicine

If I were to make a mixed tape (yes, as in a cassette tape cuz I'm from the days before cd's and mp3's and all that...) of songs that weave together plant medicines, respect for traditional healers, and food as medicine, here's where I'd start - with the songs posted below.  Please add more suggestions to the comments!  (And I ended up making a playlist here, just imagine it's a cassette!)

What do songs/music videos have to do with self-care, herbal remedies, and community health?  Lots!  With even minimal exposure to mainstream radio, videos, televisions, or the interwebs, you've probably seen or heard images and lyrics that are offensive in many, many ways.  White people stealing music styles and dance moves from communities of color without any kind of accountability, awareness, collaboration, solidarity, or anything else that may make it anything other than cultural theft.  Music videos where all the microphones are in the hands of cis-gender (non-transgender) men, while any women present are silent and scantily-clad (if clad at all) eye candy.  Violently homophobic lyrics.  It goes on and on and on.

In a world full of creative, brilliant, and down-to-earth music-makers and other artists, we really don't need to limit what we take into our beings to what mainstream media is serving us.  Whether we're tearing up the dance floor or just relaxing at home, listening to the music (and supporting the artists) that feeds us creates a more nourishing, reciprocal cycle.

The music that I listen to when I'm making remedies is part of the medicine.  Sometimes I listen to radio programs like Democracy Now!, Making Contact, First Voices Indigenous Radio or Moccasin Tracks.  Or I listen to the music and words of Climbing PoeTree, Ras K'Dee, Erykah Badu, Goapele, Arrested Development, Lila Downs, and RuPaul.  All that positive consciousness, collective vision for healing and liberation, and you-can-do-it!-ness goes into the remedies, whether I'm pouring Heart Elixir: to open, heal, and protect the heart for Self-Care Kits: for emotional first aid or I'm simmering syrup to blend with infused herbs for Speak Truth! Throat Spray (made with gratitude in honor of whistle blowers and truth tellers, past, present, and future!)

Your mind is sacred.  Take care of it, protect it.

By the fabulous Julio Salgado  shop here

(check out QUIP - Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project here and here)

Red Beans & Rice by Spearhead (Garlic clove...Licorice root...Ginger...and Food as Medicine!) in English/en Inglés



Be Healthy by Dead Prez  (fyi you may just want to end the song at 1:51, totally not suitable for work) in English/en Inglés

"El Yerbito Moderno" by La Sonora Matancera with Celia Cruz (aka Queen of Salsa) en Español/in Spanish

 

Yerbatero by Juanes in Spanish (and check out what happens at 3:16!!) en Español/in Spanish

 

La Cumbia del Mole by the multi-lingual artist Lila Downs, where she sings about many medicinal/culinary herbs.  How many names herbs/spices do you hear? After you listen to the original, you can listen to the English version here and the Spanglish version has disappeared, but maybe we can check it out later because life is so much richer in more than just one language.   en Español/in Spanish

I had to include the video of Palomo Del Comalito by Lila Downs, because corn is so sacred to so many peoples - it's definitely a medicine, feeding much more than the physical body.  Though my ancestors do not have this kind of relationship with corn, I included this song in this list because it is a form of plant spirit medicine. en Español/in Spanish

 

Flores by Danay Suárez  (“Flores” es una canción que habla de resistir / “Flores” {"Flowers"} is a song about resistance) en Español/in Spanish

What songs, foods, plant medicines, artists feed you and your spirit?

(Want more music (in both Spanish and English)?  See the links posted on the So You Want to Learn Spanish?! Hooray! English-only, No Way! post)

Additions:  (keep the suggestions coming!!)

Vendedor De Yuyos (Hierbas) por/by Jorge Cafrune y Marito, en Español/in Spanish

Lyrics here/Letras aca

Do-It-Yourself Hydrosols - Making and Using Flower Waters for Community Health and Self-Care

Herbal Hydrosols (aka Flower Water) 

The process of distilling volatile oils out of herbs and flower in order to make essential oils creates hydrosols, or flower water.  This can be done in fancy copper stills, or we can use supplies that most us already have, or can borrow from friends/family/neighbors, to make our own simple setup.  Hydrosols can be used in homemade herbal concoctions - from cosmetic to medicinal - as well as in community health settings.  We don’t need to buy Rosewater, Lavender Water, or Orange Blossom Water, which may contain sketchy fragrances and pesticides, be produced by companies that treat their workers inhumanely or that harm the planet in their harvesting and overall business practices, etc.  We can make our own hydrosols!    

A note on essential oils:  Many recipes for do-it-yourself Rosewater, Lavender water, and other hydrosols/sprays contain essential oils.  Even organic, 100% pure essential oils can be harvested in unethical ways, may deplete a community's resources of a particular medicinal and culturally important plant, and have other negative impacts that are difficult to know about due to the long chain of many middle-(hu)mans from harvest through production and sale.  {If you are purchasing essential oils, you can seek out and visit distilleries, such as Bleu Lavande in Quebec, or seek sources that you trust who do their research and care about their suppliers and the plants.}  By making hydrosols we can capture the volatile oils of local and abundant plants which we can harvest ourselves, and we are better able to ensure that the plants (and people!) involved are treated with respect. 

Uses for Hydrosols (aka Flower Water) 

*I have included homemade Lavender and/or Rose water in my  herbal first aid kit to use as a cooling spray at marches, rallies, and other events on sunny days.  It’s also great after-care for hot days out in the garden, working in the fields, and at the beach, as well as for hot flashes (aka power surges).  You can add Lavender essential oil to this for its calming effect, as well as flower essences.  I like to add Yarrow flower essence for energetic protection and clear boundaries, especially if this spray is going to be used at events that can be particularly overwhelming. Corn flower essence is also grounding for these situations.  

(I've also carried sunscreen and water in a sports bottle - so it can be squeezed directly into folks' mouths without getting germs on the container - in my Street Medic pack to prevent overheating and protect from the sun.  Prevention is best.  Hydrosols aren't going to prevent a sunburn, but can provide soothing, cooling relief to overheated skin after the fact.  More here: Arnica drops and Lavender Spray: Creating Herbal/Emotional Support at Marches and Demonstrations.)

*If you’ve got a sunburn, you can mix the Lavender and/or Rose water with Aloe juice or gel and/or Lavender essential oil.  I use real aloe that needs to be refrigerated, not the "100%" aloe that often contains sketchy preservatives and colorings.  

*You can use homemade hydrosols in recipes that call for distilled water.  I personally don’t want to give a cent to water-commodifying corporations like Poland Springs/Nestle, and I definitely don't want to use their water in the remedies that I make for my loved ones, my communities, and myself.  By making our own flower water, we encourage self/community-sufficiency and we are also capturing some of the healing properties and fragrance of the plants.

I add Lavender and/or Rose water to: Bath Fizzies (bath fizzy recipe in The People’s Spa: Reclaiming Relaxation and Cultivating Collective-Care), Honey Rose Facial Cleanser, or use straight as a facial toner or body spray.  Hydrosols of soothing, gentle plants can be used in place of distilled water in recipes to make your own baby wipes as well.

*Hydrosols can be used as a spray to help cleanse and move energy in your home*space, workplace, gathering spots, and other collective areas.  This can be a great way to bring in the healing, moving qualities of plants, especially when you aren't able to burn herbs and resins, candles, or incense sticks.  Also, it leaves less of a scent for those with sensitivities.

*You can use your homemade hydrosols as a natural alternative to sprays with toxic ingredients to use in the home:  room spray, bathroom air freshener, linen spray, and whatever area needs some freshening up, such as the car.  Even "natural" store-bought sprays may contain dodgy fragrances and other chemicals.  

*You can create a bedtime hydrosol spray with relaxing herbs to help unwind before sleeping and/or welcome in more vivid dreams and remember them more easily.

*You can use Rose water to soothe pink eye so that you don't have to touch your eyes and possibly share your germs (transmitting it to the other eye if it's only in one, or to another person).  Simply close your eyes and mist them with rose water kept in a spray bottle.  (I've also used moist chamomile tea bags and yarrow compresses for pink eye/conjunctivitis)

*Use as freshening up spray for when traveling, camping, or have other limited access to regular bathing.  This is part of community health because if we're so ripe that other folks don't want to be close to us, it makes collaboration difficult, right?!

*If you have a plant ally that's aromatic, making a hydrosol is another way to connect with the plant.  If there's a plant you're drawn to, a particular one that's caught your attention that you want to learn more from and share time with, making a hydrosol is one of the many ways you can get to know the plant and make medicine with it.  You can also just sit with the plant ~ to listen, notice, take photos, draw, taste (if it edible - check with trusted sources to be sure!), see who else is enjoying it/ pollinating it, sleep by it, etc.  By making a hydrosol, you can capture the plant's vital energy and scent, and preserve it to have with you throughout the year.

*Making hydrosols is a great way preserve some of the properties of aromatic plants that you're cutting back in the autumn and/or if you have fragrant plants that are still very vital, but maybe a bit chewed up by bugs or turning yellow, etc.   If you have an abundance of a certain herb and you've harvested what you'd like for tinctures, teas, infused oils, etc., you can create a hydrosol as another form of medicine.

Directions for Making Hydrosols (aka Flower Water) 

Thank you to Kami McBride whose writing Healing Power of Aroma was helpful in the creation of these instructions.

1. Put a large, clean enamel or stainless steel pot on the stove and put a clean brick or flat stone in the bottom of the pot.

2. Pour enough water into the pot so that the water comes to just below the top of the brick or rock, but you don't want to completely submerge the brick in the water.

3. Add six handfuls of fresh aromatic herbs, or 3 handfuls of dried aromatic herbs, to the water. You can use one single herb or a blend of several. Some aromatic herbs that you can make hydrosols from are: Lavender stem, leaf and flower, Rose petals, White Pine needle, and the leaf and flower of: Tulsi (Holy Basil/Sacred Basil), Lemon Balm, Peppermint, and Catnip. All of these plants can be used in either fresh or dried form. 

4. Put a clean stainless steel metal bowl or glass Pyrex measuring cup on top of the brick inside the pot.

5. Put the lid on the pot upside down so that the lid is pointing down into the inside of the pot.  This part is important.  Also, if you are making your hydrosol with dried herbs and you have the time, you can let the herbs re-hydrate for an hour or two.

6. Fill the top of the inverted lid with ice cubes.  You can also make one large ice cube by freezing water in a yogurt or another wide-mouth plastic container.  (Remove the ice cube from the plastic container - you only want the ice on top of the lid!)  This larger ice cube melts much slower than many smaller ones. 


7. Turn the heat on and once the water has reached a gentle simmer, turn it to low for 20-30 minutes.  The steam that rises to the top of pot and meets the icy-cold lid contains the essential oils of the plant.   The steam condenses and drips down into the bowl and that's your hydrosol/flower water!  Be sure to keep the heat down - you want the water to be hot enough to create steam, but you don't want it to boil and get plant matter and un-distilled water into your bowl.  Be sure that lid is on straight too, so that steam (and those good volatile oils) aren’t escaping.


8.  Carefully remove the lid once it's filled with the melted ice and dump that water into the sink, or pour it into another container to cool and then give the water to your plants, etc.  Take care not to let the melted ice water drip into the bowl.  Replace the lid right away so as not to lose too much of the medicinal properties and fragrance in the steam and the hydrosol/flower water that you've created.  Someone suggested in the comments below to remove the water using a turkey basted, so that you don't have to remove the lid at all and therefore no fragrant steam is lost.  (Thanks for the tip!)

9.  If you feel like the plants still have more essential oils to give, you can put the lid back on (upside down!) and add more ice to continue to the distillation process.  Listen to your intuition - I like to feel like I'm getting all the vital oils from the plant, but I also don't want to dilute the hydrosol by adding steam after the plant has given all its volatile oils.

10.  Once your hydrosol is finished, remove from heat.  Pour the liquid from the metal bowl into a sterilized mason jar or a spray bottle. You now have an herbal hydrosol! I like to let the hydrosol cool to room temperature with the lid on before pouring it into containers, especially if pouring it into plastic.  Another reason to wait to pour the hydrosol until it is cool is that cold glass can break if liquid that is too hot is poured into it.

Large ice cube made in a yogurt container on top of inverted lid, while

making Calendula-Rose-Marigold hydrosol using a glass Pyrex measuring cup.

_______________________________________________

Notes:  

Your herbal hydrosol will ideally be stable for six months to one year.   I like to keep mine in the refrigerator.  This helps them keep longer and makes them especially refreshing to spray on in hot weather.  If you have Rose and/or Lavender water, keeping it in the fridge will make it even more cooling if you're using it to cool hot/sunburned skin, hot flashes, and other hot skin conditions.  Also, the cleaner that everything you're using is, the less likely it is that bacterial will enter, causing your hydrosol to go off.  So if possible, sterilize or wash well with hot soapy water your pot, bowl, and what you're pouring your finished hydrosol into.

In general, you use more of an herb when it is fresh than when it is dried, as the moisture has evaporated out of dried herbs, making it more potent.  If you have less or more of the herbs than what's listed above, use what you've got!  There's no need to pack in tons of herbs, but if you have an abundance, feel free to add more.  Likewise, if you have just a wee bit of a special plant, go ahead and use what you've got.  It may be weaker than if you had more, but it will still capture some of the scent and medicine.

When making a hydrosol, it’s good to have lots of ice on hand.  I like to fill a large freezer bag filled with a few batches of ice cubes so I have plenty on hand.  Or make a larger one as written above.

You don't need to go get a special hydrosol-making pot.  You can use a large canning/lobster pot.  Be sure to clean everything well so that you’re capturing the scent and properties of the plants you’re using, rather than the chili/tamales/lobster that have been cooked in the pot!

Calendula-Rose-Marigold hydrosol

Yarrow-Lavender hydrosol

(Post updated 10/15, 9/16, and 4/17)

Honoring ALL Mothers: Mama's Day Our Way

What does Motherhood in a just world look like?

Walking into a store around Mother’s Day, one would think from all the greeting card images that all mothers are white, able-bodied, middle-class, straight, feminine and female-identified women in nuclear families.

This narrow view of who a mother is excludes so many of us - Immigrant women raising their children in bilingual homes, Transgender moms with disabilities, Masculine-identified women raising their nieces and nephews, Incarcerated mother maintaining connection through barbed wire and concrete walls, Indigenous women honoring both their children and Mother Earth in the struggles against colonization and tar sands, Women of color serving in the military and parenting from overseas, Breast-feeding working-class queer mamas, Survivors of sexual violence who are transforming pain and trauma into creating a safe home for their little ones, Mothers working as domestic workers - separated from their own children to raise the children of upper-class families, Mothers of all skin colors and their little ones who may or may not be the same color, Teen mothers taking good care of their babies, Single moms and multi-generational households, Mothers that cross borders and endure separation from their families in order to provide for them, Mothers by blood, adoption, and chosen-mothers.  

This year, let’s honor all mothers! 

Let’s celebrate midwives, doulas, and other birthworkers!  Let’s take this day as an opportunity to learn more about our own birthstory and send some love to uteruses all over the world!  Let’s support motherhood and parenthood as a whole, and create and nourish culture/communities where families are included and valued.

    To all those who help build strong and resilient communities by creating inclusive,     
    multi-generational spaces-  

    To all the mothers and allies working collectively for justice in the realm of  
    motherhood/parenthood and  other aspects of community justice – 

    To all artists who are creating vivid reflections of families in all their vibrant, simple,   
    complicated, and loving manifestations -

THANK YOU!

Please check out Strong Families -"a home for the 4 out of 5 people living in the US who do not live behind the picket fence—whose lives fall outside outdated notions of family, with a mom at home and a dad at work....We see the trend of families defining themselves beyond the picket fence—across generation, race, gender, immigration status, and sexuality—as a powerful and promising development for the US, and we want to help policy makers catch up.  Our vision is that every family have the rights, recognition and resources it needs to thrive.  We are engaging hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals in our work to get there."

    -and their Mama's Day Our Way  campaign - beautiful and free e-cards here, created by   
    a network of artists and organizations.  Some of their cards are included below.

More resources:
Art of Favianna Rodriguez and Dignidad Rebelde
Radical Doula
The Shodhini Institute
Campaign for Prison Phone Justice  - please sign their Mother's Day petition here.
Brown Boi Project
The Native Youth Sexual Health Network
National Day Laborer Organizing Network

You can click on images below to make them larger.

"My mom would cross 100 borders to give me a better future."

Please sign the petition here.

"Our souls are so much bigger than this"