Friday, September 18, 2020

There was a place where Blue Vervain grew...

 

Image description:  photo 1 – Blue vervain that’s been growing all season in a pot, sitting on the pebbled shore beside a body of water.  The blue vervain leaves are bright green and yellow-green, with a purple-red stem.  Photo 2 – Close up of the blue vervain once it’s been planted in its new home.


There was a place where Blue Vervain grew, not far from the water and near its friends Goldenrod and Joe Pye weed.  I harvested some there, taking only a bit to make remedies for myself and to share with others.  I gathered some leaves and the top part of the flowers, leaving a lot of flowers further down on the plant for the pollinators to feed from and so that the plant would go to seed for future generations.  Maybe others did the same, gathered just a bit.  Maybe they harvested the whole flowering tops so that there were none left for the insects and birds.  In the years since, as I’ve visited that place I look for those plants, the deep purple-blue flowers growing up tall stalks – not to harvest, just to see them.  But I stopped seeing them.  They seemed to be gone.  So I started planting the seeds that a friend had gathered.  I cold stratified them – pressing the seeds into tiny pots of soil that I misted with water and then covered with plastic and stored in the fridge, simulating winter.  Some seeds I planted only need a couple weeks in the fridge, others require 90 days.  The Blue Vervain popped up soon after I removed the little pots from the fridge and there were so many that I could share them with friends as well.  They didn’t grow a lot last season, but in the autumn my friend and I tucked the seedlings in the ground all over the garden - at the far ends of many beds to grow near the Goldenrod and Elder and other plants growing on-the-edge. 


In the spring I looked for them and didn’t see any Blue Vervain emerging.  Maybe they were too small still when we planted them?  Maybe they’d needed some protection in the winter that I hadn’t provided?  So I cold stratified more seeds for this season.  As I waited for the seeds in the fridge, I saw some popping back up in the garden, and then my friend saw some more and then each time I’d go to the garden I would see more and more until I’m pretty sure every single one we’d planted had returned!  The garden was rich in Blue Vervain!  Beautiful and full of medicine, I harvested some on Lughnasadh and also the following full moon to tincture fresh to ease tension held in the muscles and mind and leading up to menstruation and also some to dry for the altar and to burn.   Once again this next year the seeds I’d stratified popped up and since there was already an abundance of Blue Vervain in the garden now, the seedlings could ALL be shared with more friends to plant in more gardens!  And now many friends have this gorgeous plant growing in the garden - to harvest for medicine and for the pollinators and to replenish what had been taken.  And I brought a plant back to that place where I had one harvested, once taken, and perhaps had contributed to its disappearance.  I brought the plant back to that place, walked around til I found the spot that it seemed to want to be, planted it and gave it water.  I returned to that spot recently and despite the dry season and being a bit chomped up by wee bugs, the plants was vibrant and full of life. 


One of the problem with wildcrafting, with harvesting herbs that we do not tend, is that it is easy to *not* see the impact of our actions.  We can treat the land like an equation – oh, I only take 10%, a quarter, a half….pretending like we are exceptional, harvesting the “right” way, taking the “right” amount, and that we are the only humans that might visit that place to harvest and that only humans need those plants, rely on those plants, have relationship with that plant. 


Especially if you are traveling or staying in an area for only a few year cycles or less, you may not realize that a plant is beginning to disappear from a place it once grew.  Perhaps it is a slow-growing at-risk woodland plant, or maybe a more common plant that wasn’t able to go to seed because people gathered the flowering tops.   If we aren’t even aware of the harm we cause, how can we change our patterns?  If we are raised in a white supremacist capitalist culture of taketaketake, seeing the land and plants as objects that belong to us for us to do as we wish, this fundamentally shapes our relationship to the land, the plants, and the remedies we make.  When this kind of domination that seeps into all areas of our lives is not questioned, it comes thru how we speak about plants in our posts, articles, books, and classrooms.  It’s particularly concerning that herbalists teach wildcrafting to students, sometimes traveling quite far together to go collect plants instead of cultivating herbs together and getting to truly know the plants and their cycles.  Also those students then tell others and on and on until there are herbalists and friends-of-herbalists and friends-of-someone-who-took-a-class-with-that-herbalist swooping into areas and depleting herbs from the woods, deserts, mountains, shoreline, and fields. 


I have been in such programs and I wish I had spoken up more at the time about how awful it felt to harvest plants I didn’t know from a place that I didn’t know (for an herbalist I was studying with to then sell to someone who claimed to sell ‘ethically wildcrafted’ herbs).  It felt awful and no we weren’t clear-cutting, we weren’t taking every plant, but it still felt like too much.  I first started learning about herbs in the garden with friends and family as a teen.  The garden and plants and people in my life were my teachers.  Yes, I was coming at it with a settler mindset because that is how I was raised, and also I listened to the plants.  It was when I starting taking more classes and reading more herb books that this frantic energy entered – feeling like I was cramming for a test, learning about plants more like specimens and chemical constituents than their own autonomous beings.  Even when I learned about them as magical beings, they were presented as *my* magical beings to harvest and do what I want with and profit from.  When we don’t understand and dismantle the white supremacist capitalist colonial mentality we are steeped in growing up, our actions that we may think are rooted in connection and integrity are not.  They may be a softer, greener version of those oppressive systems, but they are still very much those oppressive systems. 


I am so thankfull to the plants for teaching me so much all the time about relationship, growth, tending, consent, and myself.  I am also so thankfull for the decentralized crew of herbalists all over the world who are deeply committed to transformation, unlearning, dismantling oppressive systems, having hard conversations, providing plant remedies to the community thru mutual aid and long-term projects, speaking up even and especially when the message is not appreciated, willing to have our worlds turned upside down to remember/re-envision a world of relationship, reciprocity, where we all have our needs met, where we repair the impacts of trauma on ourselves and our communities, where we can be present enough to understand the impact of our words and actions on the beings around us and strive to be in relationship in a good way. 



image description:  the purple-blue flowers of blue vervain and its deep green 
leaves, harvested from plants started from seed and tended in the garden, 
floating in brandy in a clear wide-mouth ball jar on a wooden patio.


2021 update:  This season once again the Blue Vervain is thriving in the garden, and new babies are popping up in various beds, so the plants started from local seed can go to others who can plant them both where they've harvested them along the river, as well as in their home gardens.

Friday, January 17, 2020

The Prisoner’s Herbal by Nicole Rose



Focusing on common plants and do-it-yourself recipes, the thoughtful information shared in The Prisoner’s Herbal by Nicole Rose of Solidarity Apothecary holds so much potential for cross-pollination within and beyond the barbed wire and prison walls that seek to divide us. Writing from personal experience of having been locked up and connecting with plants at many levels, Rose has documented the various ways people may be able to integrate “weeds” from the yard, as well as medicinal fruits, vegetables, and spices into their daily lives while on the inside.

This book is important not only because is it full of information about familiar plants and simple yet powerful remedies made with them, it shares this info in a down-to-earth, accessible way and within the context of truth-telling about colonization and the impact of state violence. Rose writes about remedies for everyday ailments and health concerns such as high blood pressure, infections, and wounds, as well as the stress, trauma, and PTSD that so many experience, especially those living within the dehumanizing environment of prison.

I can see this book – with its beautiful cover of a gorgeous, vibrant dandelion in bloom against a grey concrete wall – and the valuable information contained within it rippling out through cellblocks, recipes shared in the cafeteria, plants recommended back and forth from either side of the tables in the visiting areas. As this book was written with so much care and thought as to what is accessible and possible within the extremely restricted experience of incarceration, it can be translated easily to the outside once folks are released, as it focuses on plants available in the spice section of grocery stores, the medicinal “weeds” thriving in parks and community gardens, and what’s available in convenience stores. The wealth of information held in this book can spread like dandelion seeds, back and forth through phone calls, letters, and visits between those on the inside and those on the outside, as well as through prison abolition organizations and books to prisoner projects.

Integrating herbal medicine such as food, teas, and compresses into our lives has been practiced world-wide since forever. This book makes vital information often withheld from those who are locked up available to everyone. Within a prison system that seeks to deprive people of their freedom, this book supports us in reclaiming our health and healing so that we can connect with and draw strength from the plants around us, and shares with us the empowering knowledge and skills to take care of ourselves and each other.

Please support the Solidarity Apothecary by making a donation and/or buying a copy of the The Prisoner’s Herbal, Overcoming Burnout, or some of Solidarity Apothecary’s gear so that more copies of The Prisoner’s Herbal can reach those on the inside.



Reading "The Prisoner's Herbal" by Nicole Rose of Solidarity Apothecary &
writing cards to U.S. Political Prisoners on these lovely postcards created by 
Chelsea Iris Granger. For more info see my blog post 
"Writing to (Political) Prisoners" with many links. 

Monday, July 29, 2019

Plant Ramble for Border Kindness

Plant Ramble for Border Kindness 
with Dana L Woodruff of Dandelioness Herbals
Friday Aug 2nd, 2019  5:30-7pm
Plainfield Farmers Market, on the lawn of the Grace United Methodist Church 
Plainfield, Vermont 

Image may contain: flower, plant, nature and outdoor

Let's TGIF together and get to know (better) the plants all around us in the village.  We'll focus on a few abundant local  "weeds" and the food, medicine, and lessons that they offer. This plant walk will be part super basic plant identification, part storytelling session, and part herbal first aid/wellness class.  We'll share simple recipes for making food and remedies to share with our community and loved ones, and discuss ways that plants support social justice movements near and far.

We'll gather at the Plainfield Farmers Market (on the lawn of the Grace United Methodist Church) at 5:30pm and then we'll make our way over to the Rec Field, visiting plants along the way.  All ages and experience levels welcome. Event is sprinkle or shine (if it's really pouring we'll postpone).  Please RSVP if you can via email: dandelion778 (at) yahoo (dot) com or send a message via Facebook to Dandelioness Herbals.

By donation $1-100+ cash at the plant walk or via Paypal, no one turned away for lack of funds. This event is a fundraiser for Border Kindness.  If anyone would like to contribute to our collective donation w/o attending the plant walk, you can send $ via PayPal to paypal.me/dandelioness or send me a message.

WHAT IS BORDER KINDNESS?
Border Kindness is an organization based in Mexicali, Mexico, that has been providing 1,500 meals daily, supporting members of the migrant community in intense summer heat, including those that are being deported from the US and left in an unfamiliar area, sometimes without even their shoes."Border Kindness provides migrants, refugees, and the displaced with comprehensive services that include food, shelter, clothing and medical care. Our programs and interventions are designed to identify, protect and nurture the most vulnerable – including women, children, elderly and families. Border Kindness believes everyone should have the opportunity to live free of pain, hunger, intimidation and fear.  We believe everyone is our neighbor." For more info, click here.


ACCESSIBILITY + TRANSPORTATION
We will ramble from the church on flat, paved sidewalk down Mill St to Rec Field Rd. There are no steps to the Rec Field, but there is a medium-steep, unpaved hill down to the field. There is a parking lot with plenty of parking and Port-a-Potty that is not wheelchair-accessible at the Rec Field. Please let me know if you have any questions.Please bring water and whatever else you need in order to be comfortable for our time together (sun, rain, bugs, etc). Plant walk will be in English, with Spanish clarification throughout if anyone would like.Carpooling encouraged, feel free to post on this page to coordinate.   The church is on the GMT/RCA Route 2 Commuter bus between Montpelier and St. Johnsbury for those who would like to arrive via bus from either direction (though the plant ramble will end after the last bus).


For more info, please click here.

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Reciprocity and Reparations: Ways to Give Back as Herbalists

Reciprocity and Reparations: Ways to Give Back as Herbalists





For those of us who support community healing and know that dismantling racism is at the very foundation of this, there are many ways that we as herbalists can show up for and support each other. Whether sending first aid supplies to those stopping pipelines, remedies for tear gas exposure and grief to community members affirming that Black Lives Matters, teas and glycerites to free and sliding-scale clinics, salves to the US/Mexican border, or fundraising for people of color-led projects, there are many details we can be attentive to so that our herbal support is truly rooted in solidarity. We’ll explore not only the practical details of coordinating herbal donations, but how we can do so in a way that interrupts the all-too-common ‘white savior’ complex and ego tripping. Deeply exploring our intentions and impacts strengthens our relationships with ourselves, each other, and the plants, so that we can make and share good medicine and be part of cultivating collective healing.

The description above is for a workshop that I'm teaching at the New England Women's Herbal conference August 23–25, 2019.

This page is a space where folks can share resources, thoughts, and questions in the comments below.  The comments are moderated, so your message will not appear immediately, but I will approve it soon as long as it pertains to the topic, is helpful for community dialogue, and isn't racist/victim-blaming/otherwise problematic.  {Sorry for the inconvenience, but it's become necessary due to spam and trolls}  I will be adding resources created for and from this class in the future here on this page.

I am also co-teaching an intensive with Ayo Ngozi and Stephanie MorningstarIntersections Between Herbalism, Health, and Justice: Moving from “Allyship” to “Accompliceship."  I will post a link to the handout here after the conference.


The first resource to be posted here is this important video:
"Freaked out by police? Pissed about ICE? Outraged at gentrification? What should we do? People are overwhelmed, pissed, and scared right now. This video is about how mutual aid projects are a way to plug into helping people and mobilizing for change. Check out the mutual aid toolkit at BigDoorBrigade.com for more inspiration and information about starting mutual aid projects where you live!"





"If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together." ~ Lilla Watson, Indigenous Australian visual artist, activist, and academic

Monday, November 26, 2018

Support Remedies Without Borders/Remedios Sin Fronteras!


Please help us celebrate the project's 12th anniversary by making a donation!  

Remedies Without Borders/Remedios Sin Fronteras is an herbal medicine-making project supplying humanitarian aid organizations with salves, lip balms, foot powders, and other remedies for those on either side of the human-made US/Mexican border.  Remedies are distributed to those crossing the Sonoran desert, those who have been deported, and those presenting themselves for asylum, as well as long-term volunteers and residents of militarized border communities.


Heal-All Salve/Pomada Curalo Todo on the left, Muscle Rub/
Pomada para Dolor Muscular on the right, with Renée Barry's beautyfull art

The story:::

In 2008 I learned about No More Deaths/ No Más Muertes, a humanitarian aid organization in Arizona providing water, food, and first aid care to those crossing from Mexico into the US through the Sonoran Desert.  I was teaching community herbal medicine-making workshops in Vermont and surrounding areas and after reviewing their needs list I got in touch with them to see if the herbal salves and lip balms we were making would be useful.  They said yes and I sent the first shipment of remedies in 2009.  The project has evolved over the years and now includes muscle rub, antifungal salve, foot powder, aromatherapy sniffers, healing perfumes, and elixirs and sprays for emotional support and energetic protection.  We’ve received really positive feedback about how the remedies have supported those crossing the desert during extremely intense, difficult, and traumatic journeys as well as those providing desert aid support and community organizing in the borderlands.  The remedies are made with much care – from planting calendula and other seeds in the spring, tending and harvesting the plants, transforming them into remedies, creating labels in Spanish with images of healing herbs, bottling and labeling them all, and packing and sending them off to Arizona/Sonora.  Donations of herbs have been shared from many gardens, near and far, as well as beeswax and other supplies.  Remedies have been made collectively at a local college and high schools, herbal gatherings and community workshops, with mentees, and with family and friends - both youth and grownups.  Sometimes we do a mapping activity together where we trace our ancestry, grounding the remedies in a heart-centered place of solidarity.  

In 2015 we received a grant from Herbal Aide.  Having the grant money meant we could buy salve containers in bulk, we could purchase proper and more durable labels, and we were able to send a lot more remedies.  In the winter of 2016/7 I fundraised thru YouCaring and thanks to everyone's generosity, I met my goal.  The majority of funds went towards covering expenses (supplies and shipping), and a portion also went towards funding my first visit to the Sonoran desert.  I wanted to become better acquainted with the people, projects, plants, and land there.  Though I appreciated the many years of email and phone communication, there were certain conversations I felt needed to happen face to face, specifically around remedies to heal sexual trauma.  Being able to visit the desert aid camp and offices, I was able to see how the remedies were being used, how they could be improved, and what other remedies might be needed.  Over the past few years I've connected with the Kino Border Initiative/Iniciative Kino para la Frontera in Nogales, Sonora and I was able to visit their comedor, where those who are preparing to cross the desert and those who have been deported and left in an unfamiliar place with few to no resources can receive clothes, food, and first aid care, as well as call their loved ones.  I was also able to visit their women's shelter, an experience that has inspired remedies for the project (see photos below) as well as a separate herbal project at our local domestic violence shelter in Central Vermont.

Our fundraising goal now is to raise $4000, with the vast majority of this money going towards getting more remedies to the border.  We need more containers for salve, lip balms, foot powder, tinctures and elixirs, etc.  We need to cover postage for multiple shipments.  We need to buy supplies such as alcohol for tinctures and oil for salves.  This year we're also excited to connect with other organizations to explore potential collaborations and we also want to continue supporting those most impacted by racist and xenophobic policies and practices, as well as the caregivers and community members who have been forced to live with checkpoints, racial profiling, and militarization.  A small portion of funds will be put aside for a future visit to the desert to deliver remedies and continue to cultivate relationships with the people and projects receiving and distributing the remedies.  

Please help us grow this project, any amount is much appreciated!



From hand-harvested herbs infused in oil to Heal-All Salve.

DONATIONS can be made 4 ways:::  
2. PayPal to paypal.me/dandelioness Please include a note that the money is for Remedios Sin Fronteras/Remedies Without Borders
3. Check made out to Dana L Woodruff (please email dandelion778@yahoo.com for mailing address)
4. Cash given in person  




 Healing perfumes inspired by the visit to the women's shelter in Nogales, Sonora.  Made with herb-infused oils, homemade flower essences, essential oils, and gemstone powders.



Feel free to share this link with others who love plants, herbal remedies, im/migrant justice, collective liberation, and healing justice.  Thank you so much!  





Tracing our ancestries activity, exploring immigration past and present.


Saturday, June 23, 2018

How To Support Families at the Border and Abolish ICE!

Friends have been in touch recently, moved by the horrific family separations at the US/Mexican border, to see how they can support the children and families being traumatized by this new policy. This current situation – whether it’s family separation or family detention – is inhumane and inexcusable. And also U.S. immigration policy and practice has been a complete nightmare for a long time. Mass detention and deportations, sexual abuse and death at the hands of those “just doing their job” at the border and in detention facilities, corporations profiting off of putting people in cages and politicians pushing to build more facilities and fill every bed. Border patrol destroying life-saving humanitarian aid supplies like water placed in the desert by volunteers, some of whom are facing federal charges for working to ease suffering and prevent deaths that are very much intentionally orchestrated by government policy. And on and on… Many are feeling a sense of urgency and it’s important to gather that collective energy and channel it into action. Also, the situation is ongoing – it’s not a matter of changing one policy or making the system a tiny bit less horrible. Immediate change is important, and also we need *sustained collective action*

When folks ask what they can do now, my first thought is *Support the Groups That Have Been Doing This Work* There are organizations all over that are doing crucial work, both locally and beyond borders: Gathering community support thru letters and petitions and raising bail money to get neighbors and loved ones out of detention, providing legal advocacy and translation, organizing to become sanctuary communities and for Fair and Impartial Policing Policies that stop local and state law enforcement from working with and as federal immigration agents, rallying to get trans people out of detention where they are particularly vulnerable, doing humanitarian aid work and search and rescue missions in the borderlands, border communities resisting checkpoints and working to end militarization and harassment, and on and on. People are coming together to raise awareness and co-create brilliant strategies of community response to what’s happening locally and beyond. Whatever added crises that the powers-that-be cause on top of the everyday crises impacts all these groups and their efforts.

I’m listing some ways that people can support ongoing justice work. Please add more suggestions, resources, and events in the comments! Thank you.

SHOW UP!
First Day of No School Rally: Stopping Family Separation Now Rally, Mon June 25th 6-7:30pm, Vermont State House. 
Families Belong Together Rally, Sat June 30th In D.C. and around the country 

LEARN MORE
It can be really difficult to understand the many layers of policies and lived experiences and constant changes with immigration. There are many people and groups raising awareness about immigration policy, “prevention through deterrence” strategies, and mass detention and deportation thru a historical lens challenging racism and xenophobia. Some news sources to check out are Democracy Now! and AJ+/Al Jazeera. You can follow organizers and artists such as Alan Pelaez and Jennicet Eva Gutiérrez who are making connections between anti-black racism and xenophobia, transphobia and the criminalization of migration, and organizations such as No More Deaths/No Más Muertes, Mijente, Puente Human Rights Movement, Mariposas Sin Fronteras, Kino Border Initiative / Iniciativa Kino para la Frontera, and We Belong Together.

SUPPORT EXISTING ORGANIZATIONS
There are community organizations all over who are doing the important daily work of addressing the root causes of im/migration, mass detention, and deportation. Groups are resisting racial profiling and the targeting of immigrant communities, changing policy at the local, state, and national level, challenging white supremacy in our schools and creating/defending ethnic studies curriculum, and working in coalition with other organizations working for racial justice, trans liberation, indigenous rights, reproductive justice, disability justice, and more. What are you most drawn to? You can connect with groups in your local area, and you can also find groups that may be geographically far from you but that are in alignment with your values and resonate with what you are most passionate about. 

There are many ways to be involved. You can spread the word about events, write letters to the editor, provide transportation or food for events, get organizations you’re already connected with (your union, faith organization, craft group) to support grassroots community organizations. Attend events and panels organized by (or that at least include!) people of color-led organizations. Listen to what they are asking for in terms of support and help provide resources that are requested. You and/or organizations you’re connected with can become a sustaining member of a grassroots group, giving a monthly donation so that groups can focus less on fundraising and more on campaigns and long-term vision. With time, as you continue to show up and cultivate relationships based on solidarity, other ways of giving support may reveal themselves. 

ABOLISH ICE
Team up with others to understand how ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is impacting YOUR community. Who is ICE targeting in your area? How are people responding and organizing? How are people holding your local and state law enforcement accountable and ending racial profiling and collusion with immigration officials? Who is addressing systemic racism and xenophobia? In Vermont, you can support Migrant Justice / Justicia Migrante and Justice For All by showing up to rallies, joining them at the Statehouse to support important legislation, donating money or helping to organize a fundraiser. Following their Facebook pages and signing up on their email lists will help keep you in the loop. If you don’t know of any human rights/immigrant rights groups in your area, you can check out the ACLU in your region to see what projects they’re working on and who they’re collaborating with. And speak with your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers! Wherever you live, surely there are others around you who are outraged by all that is happening and teaming up can help support our collective mental and emotional health. It also builds courage so that we can speak out against racism and xenophobia whenever and wherever we encounter it. 

TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER
Simply reading the news, let alone directly being impacted by immigration policies and actively working for justice, can be heartbreaking. It’s important to take care of ourselves and each other however we can. The most basics of self-care/survival can easily fall by the wayside when we are feeling so much. Constantly facing dehumanizing words, images, and policies can take a toll on our health at many levels. We can support each other to stay hydrated, get some sleep, get some movement (physical, emotional, etc), eat (nourishing foods are great, and so are comfort foods or whatever we can eat/afford), take our herbs/medications and get to health appointments, share time together and/or have time for solitude, get outside or visit a garden or look at beautyfull images of flowers and trees, whatever we need to do.
You can also check out this In Case of (emotional) Emergency form

MORE RESOURCES
Longer lists of groups to support here

For those who love plants and herbal remedies: For the past 10+ years I’ve made herbal remedies for those crossing the Sonoran Desert and those providing humanitarian aid in Sonora, Mexico and Arizona. If anyone would like to make a donation towards this project, I have left this fundraiser active here

Message from Free the Children Coalition “A lot of people are feeling helpless regarding the kidnapping of children and their internment. It seems that people are feeling the desperate situation requires desperate measures, and they are right. But PLEASE keep in mind the potential harm to those you are trying to help with measures that can cause unintended consequences for the vulnerable children and the immigrant community. Check your privilege. Shutting down an ICE facility, taking over a Congressional Office, demanding statements, identifying those who are profiting from these centers are all good options….” More here 

Here’s How You Can Help Fight Family Separation at the Border: Lawyers, translators, donations, protest. (article) "The best way to stop the horrific separation of children from their families at the border is to pay attention to what is happening to their parents…(who) are being criminally prosecuted, facing up to 20 years in prison for simply migrating. It is this criminal prosecution for “illegal entry” and “re-entry” by the Department of Justice that allows for the government to take children away, put them in cages, or send them to live with complete strangers, while their parents sit in private prisons.” 





The Racist History of Illegal Immigration (video – graphic images) here

…Please list more resources and organizations in the comments!