Support and Collective Healing for US Political Prisoner Herman Bell

Update!:  Herman Bell is now in general population! He was told that the charges will be dropped! Visit Free Herman Bell for more information on how to best support him.

From Herman (written earlier) with many thanks for all of our efforts:

September 27, 2017

My dear brothers and sisters,

Thank you for the outpouring of cards, letters, healing-love and energy that you sent me in response to the unprovoked brutal assault on me by NYS prison guards at Comstock, NY – a vicious slap aside the head from behind and shoved to the ground. I protected myself as best as I could. I sustained multiple kicks, punches to the face and eyes, repeated head slams into concrete, and 2 cracked ribs. They tried to bury me with raining blows, not knowing that I am a seed. But the burning pepper spray sprayed into my eyes and mouth is what did me in – and yet, here I am.

Now I know why visitors bring flowers and candy to the hospital. I was immediately sent, however, not to a hospital but to the Box for “assault on staff,” so the cards and letters and love you sent me were my flowers and candy. You did great!

I was astonished, not by the outpouring of your support, but by the enormity of it.

People are coming together and are standing up. They are finding that they are not entitled to the rights and freedoms they think they have as americans. Instead of the consideration americans – many of them voters – deserve, they are ignored by authoritarian and elected officials.

They lack healthcare, suffer from unrestrained police violence, mass incarceration, lack a living wage, experience poverty and homelessness, and suffer from a toxic environment. People are standing up against these injustices, insisting that their demands be respected and addressed.

The social injustice, jackboot repression, racist attacks, discrimination, wealth disparities, unemployment, lack of affordable housing (the list doesn’t just end there), creates waves of fierce discontent which ls gaining steady momentum, becoming a full-blown cleansing tsunami, the force of which is irresistible.

And that force is you, the People, coming together and taking a stand. My flowers and candy is your outpouring of support for me, our political prisoners, the mass incarcerated and the voiceless.

To write each of you (I’ve literally received hundreds of letters) a personal “thank you” at this time would be impossible. So, I send this “thank you!” instead.

Thank you! I thank you deeply one and all for the empathy, outrage, love and support you’ve expressed in the face of the assault on me. May our resolve to produce social change remain unshakeable.

Herman Bell
79C0262
​Shawangunk Correctional Facility
P.O. Box 700
Wallkill, New York 12589
(most updated addresses for U.S. Political Prisoners, with birthdays, posted here)


Some of you may know Herman Bell, who is a US Political Prisoner, former Black Panther, movement elder, Victory Gardens Project co-founder, Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar co-creator, father, grandfather, husband, and mentor to many both on the inside and the outside.  How is Herman connected with herbs and herbal justice?  In the 15 years since I was a volunteer at the Victory Gardens Project, near my hometown in Maine, Herman and I have corresponded.  He is a friend and mentor to me.  The Radherb Collective, which I was a part of for many years, took inspiration from the Victory Gardens Project.  Over the years, though our letters and face-to-face visits, Herman has helped shape who I am as an herbalist, how I make remedies, and my understanding of the the way herbs and social justice are completely entwined.  

Herman is 69 years old, has been incarcerated for 43 years and has been denied parole 7 times.  On Sept 5th Herman was assaulted by a group of officers at Great Meadow Correctional Facility.  He was singled out, brought to an area away from all the other inmates to where there is no video surveillance, and guards began beating him.  The account is personally really difficult for me to read, and the thought that he could have died in the attack is beyond upsetting.  He did survive the attack.  He was then taken to the infirmary where he waited for hours and did not receive adequate medical care for the beating he had just endured.  He had the medical staff note that there were no abrasions on his hands or any other indication that he assaulted a guard.  He was transferred to another facility hours away where he has been held in solitary, continues to be denied medical care for the head trauma and other injuries inflicted on him by the guards, and he is also facing the serious charge of assaulting an officer.  He continues to experience headaches, his vision is affected from being maced at close range, and two ribs were broken in the attack.

Anyone who knows Herman knows he did not assault an officer.  Herman is an elder who has not had an infraction for over 20 years (when he participated in a strike over inmate conditions), he was only days away from finally having a family visit (which he'd been denied without justification for over two and half years), and he has been preparing for his next parole hearing in early 2018.

Immediate action is needed

1.  We need to flood the Commissioner with messages of support demanding that Herman receive medical attention, be removed from solitary, have the charges against him dropped, have access to family visits, and that the officers who attacked him be fired.  You can simply cut and past the sample letter here, or add your own personal message.  Here is a pdf of the letter that you can print out, sign/address/date, and send.  If you are able, please print out extra copies for friends and family to also sign and send in.  Also, if you are able, please send this same letter to: Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of New York State, NYS State Capitol Building, Albany, NY 12224.

2.  Please take a few minutes to send an email to the Commissioner and Governor.  (Sample email below)

3.  People are also encouraged to write to Herman to show support.  (Address below)

4.  Please spread the word!!!  If you have other organizations that you are connected with, please share this message with them and encourage friends and family to send letters as well.  This information can be found online here.

Here is a sample email that you can simply cut and paste:

_________________________________________________

Anthony Annucci

Commissioner

Department of Corrections and Community Supervision

anthony.annucci@doccs.ny.gov

(518) 457-8134

Cc: Governor Andrew Cuomo

https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form

(212) 257-6405

Dear Commissioner Annucci (Governor Cuomo):

I am writing in concern and outrage over the unprovoked beating by Great Meadow C.F. correctional officers of Herman Bell, #79C0262.

On September 5th, with no provocation, five or six correctional officers assaulted this widely respected elder. These guards punched and kicked Mr. Bell all over his body while he was on the ground. He was kneed in the chest and stomach, breaking two of his ribs. One guard then grabbed his head and slammed it into the ground three times, at which point Mr. Bell thought his life would be ending. He was excessively maced at close range all over his face and eyes, causing temporarily blindness and inability to breathe.

Mr. Bell is accused of assaulting one of the officers. This charge is absurd. The assault on Herman Bell is part of an epidemic of violence by NYS prison guards against the incarcerated population--an epidemic documented by the New York Times and other journalists, as well as by criminal justice agencies.

The idea that this 69-year-old man would have hit an officer is ludicrous, as he was about to have a family visit (the first in two and a half years) and was beginning preparations for an appearance at the Board of Parole this coming February. Mr. Bell was looking forward to the family visit with great anticipation, and he is optimistic about his chances at the Board, given recent changes in parole regulations and the appointment of new commissioners. There is absolutely no doubt that he did not commit any infraction on September 5th; he also has not had a ticket in the past 20 years. Mr. Bell has been imprisoned in the NY State system for over 38 years and has never been accused of assaulting staff.

This brutal assault by Great Meadow guards constitutes not only staff abuse but also elder abuse. Mr. Bell will be 70 years of age in four months. He was badly injured in the beating. Mr. Bell requires both a CT scan of his head and an ophthalmology examination.

I write to demand that you take these actions:

That Herman Bell be immediately given adequate medical screening and attention at an outside hospital;

That CO J. Saunders and the other officers responsible for the beating be fired;

That the ridiculous charges brought against Herman Bell be dropped immediately and that he be returned at least to general population (he 

had been on the Honor Block at Great Meadow and despite his request was never given a reason for being moved to general population);

That Mr. Bell’s family visits be reinstated;

That Mr. Bell be moved to a facility where his family visiting can take place and be rescheduled at the earliest possible date.

Sincerely,

NAME/ADDRESS

_________________________________________________

More info about the assault and a longer sample letter (which points out that the attack is a form of elder abuse) to print out and send to the Commissioner available here.

_________________________________________________

Herman's new address:::

Herman Bell
79C0262
​Shawangunk Correctional Facility
P.O. Box 700
Wallkill, New York 12589

(most updated addresses for U.S. Political Prisoners, with birthdays, posted here)

_________________________________________________

For anyone reading this during the weekend of Sept 23-24, feel free to join us in the Collective Healing for Herman Bell from wherever you are.  People are gathering together from across Turtle Island/the US, Lebanon, Ireland, and possibly beyond to send Herman healing energy to heal and strengthen his body and spirit. Emails and letters to the Commissioner and Governor are vital.  Sending Herman our love in this collective way is another that we can manifest our support and solidarity.

For those in Central Vermont, there will be a Letter Writing Event to Support Herman Bell on Sunday Oct 29, 2017 from 2-4pm at the Christ Episcopal Church, 64 State St, Montpelier, VT.  More info to come.

at the park sitting with the oak trees to draw strength to send to herman. 

with protective and healing herbs. yarrow, calendula, & plantain. and healing waters.

For more information and updates:

FreeHermanBell.org website

Weeks After Guards Attacked Him, Political Prisoner Herman Bell Is Being 

Denied Family Visits: Bell’s daughter-in-law, kihana miraya ross, reflects on how vital visits are for both Bell and their family

The Scourge of Racial Bias in New York State’s Prisons: A New York Times investigation draws on nearly 60,000 disciplinary cases from state prisons and interviews with inmates to explore the system’s inequities and the ripple effect they can have. 

Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar Facebook page

Video of Herman and his family here

Release Aging People in Prison: RAPP Campaign

Jericho Movement working for the freedom of all political prisoners

The Freedom Archives 12,000 hours of audio and video recordings and thousands of documents about social justice movements locally, nationally, and internationally from the 1960s to the present. The Archives features speeches of movement leaders and community activists, protests and demonstrations, cultural currents of rebellion and resistance.

Video of Herman and his family here

Writing to (Political) Prisoners

The Hour of Sun Light In Prison by Erik Reuland

Abolish the Prison Industrial Complex by Nicolas Lampert, Transcending
Walls and Bars Molly Fair, and As We Wait By Colin Matthes

When I share stories about the U.S. Political Prisoners that I write to, people often ask how I got started writing to folks and what I write about.  People often express interest in supporting these community organizers who've been incarcerated, but are unsure of where to begin.   I heard about Amnesty International when I was maybe in 8^th grade, and learning about such injustices really affected me.           I got on their mailing list and signed some petitions.    It wasn’t until years later when I became involved in activism/community organizing that I began to understand that political prisoners don’t exclusively exist in faraway nations.    I attended a rally for Mumia Abu Jamal at Madison Square Garden (which wasn’t a garden at all or even square, go figure?!), read the autobiography of Assata Shakur’s in a Civil Rights Movement and Black Power class, and learned about Leonard Peltier's case. Despite this involvement and education, it wasn’t until a few years later more when I got involved with the Victory Gardens Project in Central Maine that I began to learn the extent to which the US government (through the FBI's COINTELPRO program) has targeted and infiltrated organizations working for social justice, playing on divisions and fueling disagreements, tampering with written correspondence and wire tapping phone conversations, framing individuals and assassinating people.       (It was before Sept 2001 that I was learning about all this, and the meaning of political prisoner has since changed/grown.)   I definitely recognized the importance of maintaining communication with those who are incarcerated – to let them know they aren’t forgotten; to give appreciation for their dedication to community health, education, etc; to let them know about projects happening on the outside, to learn history directly from the people that were part of shaping it.   I knew all this, still I didn’t write.    I didn’t feel like I was ever doing enough, especially compared to the sacrifices they’d made to their own freedom in their commitment to their own communities, and ones faraway, such as South Africa during apartheid.

And to be honest, another motivation for writing to U.S. Political Prisoners is that I don’t like being told what to do.      Never have.    The powers that be lock people in cages, feed them nasty food, deny them medical attention and education, surveil every aspect of their life and communications with the outside world, deprive them of fresh air and sunlight, deem them criminals (often based solely on the color of their skin, nationality, and/or class background), all the while profiting from this dehumanizing system.  Political prisoners in particular are targeted by officials, harassed, and often held in solitary confinement without reason. And me?  Growing up white and in a family who isn't seen as criminals because of our skin color and class background, I’m just supposed to forget about them all.  Fear them, vote for harsher sentencing, believe what the media tells me, and feel safer because they’re kept behind bars.    I’m supposed to dismiss this nation’s violent history which began with the genocide of indigenous people, and then built by the labor of Africans who were stolen from their home, brought here in horrific conditions, and then those who survived the voyage enslaved, bought and sold, and bred like cattle.    There are many other groups that have been exploited, yet we're supposed to ignore the fact that the U.S. is built on exploitation of people and nature.    We're supposed to believe that that’s all just in the past now.  We’re supposed to believe that everyone is born with the same opportunities, privileges, resources, and options.  I know none of this is true, so I don’t buy into what I was taught, such as the image of Black Panthers being thugs.   They have rarely been recognized for their community organizing efforts focused on creating community health centers, day care centers, breakfast programs so that the kids could go to school with full bellies and learn, transportation and housing services, and many many other programs to provide for the community. (Other programs listed here)

The criminalization and incarceration of people of color in general and community organizers of color specifically divides people who actually, truly have much in common.  Mass incarceration tears apart families, isolates community members, and it deprives us of our elders who have much insight to offer into social justice movements past, present, and future. We have much to learn from Political Prisoners who the powers that be deem criminals and seek to make invisible.

_______________________________________________________

Drop a Line to a Prisoner from the Slingshot Planner 2010

"Many people in radical circles spend a bit of their time doing prisoner support activities. This can range from joining a books-to-prisoners project that mails free books to inmates, to individually becoming penpals with a prisoner. Some people focus on political prisoners — prisoners held because of their involvement in radical actions or framed because of their beliefs. Other people see the entire prison-industrial complex as illegitimate, criticize the way that it targets marginalized communities, and/or believe that it is wrong to imprison people at all. Many people are in prison because of the war on drugs, or because economic inequality under capitalism impoverishes entire communities and pushes people to do illegal things to survive.
A key way we can support prisoners is by communicating with them. Prison is a deeply isolating environment. In an email-dominated world, writing an old-fashioned letter on paper can be surprisingly rewarding for you as well as a prisoner. There are many penpal networks that connect prisoners with those on the outside.

Here are some tips on writing letters to prisoners.
• When writing to prisoners, you have to put their prisoner number on the first line of the mailing address to get it through.• Make sure to put a return address on your letter. If you are writing to a prisoner you don’t know, it may be best to use a PO box or other neutral address.

• If you’re writing to a prisoner, keep in mind that the prison officials or other authorities may read your letter. Don’t discuss anything sensitive. If the prisoner is waiting for trial or sentencing (or on appeal), it may be better not to discuss the details of their case.

• Prisons prohibit mailing certain items like books, food, money, etc. Ask the prisoner for the rules.

• Don’t make promises you can’t keep like offering to find a lawyer to take their case, sending them money or expensive items, offering them housing on release, organizing a support campaign, etc.— being let down when you’re locked up can be especially devastating. Be clear about your intentions. If you’re not looking for a romantic relationship, it can be helpful to all involved to say so right off.

• While the state locking people up is shitty, it doesn’t follow that all prisoners are angels. They are people just like everyone else, and some of them are flawed or can be manipulative. If you think about prisoners as just like everyone else, it will help you to use reasonable caution without treating them better or worse than you would another penpal.

• Be careful about accepting collect phone calls from jail — prison collect calls are usually absurdly expensive.

Here are some resources to get started:
Critical Resistance - www.criticalresistance.org Anarchist Black Cross - www.abcf.net

Anti-Copyright. Borrow whatever you want. We did. Slingshot is a quarterly, independent, radical, newspaper published in the East Bay since 1988 by the Slingshot Collective. For more information: Write to Slingshot or visit at: 3124 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94705 slingshot@tao.ca http://slingshot.tao.ca/ Or call us at 510-540-0751 ext. 3. Subscriptions are FREE to USA prisoners or USA low income persons - just let us know if you are either. We also send out FREE packages of the paper if you will distribute them for free to other folks in your area. Slingshot Newspaper is always on the lookout for writers, artists, editors, photographers, distributors and independent thinkers to help us put out this paper. If you have such skills and would like to contribute we'd greatly appreciate it. Please let us know if you have article ideas, artwork, calendar items, spots to add to the radical contact list, suggestions for distribution, thoughts about what we should be doing next . . ."

___________________________________________________________

Prison Communication Details:


Books ~ Check in with your friend or the jail/prison to see what books, magazines, art supplies, etc. that they may be able to receive.      Some facilities only allow new, softcover books sent directly from the publisher, a book store, or Amazon.com.   Check in with your friend or call the jail/prison to see if you can send a new, softcover book from your local independent book store!  Or ask the publisher to make a donation. Unfortunately, some publishers (at least Penguin/DK, who I called and spoke with) actually have a policy against sending books into correctional facilities. P/DK said it was because so many were rejected due to content, shipping, yada yada yada. With educational opportunities constantly being cut back in prisons, creating policies that make it even more difficult for people to pursue education and read for enjoyment is just hateful.  Feel free to contact publishers to inquire about their policies and encourage their support of our incarcerated community members!  And support small, local, independent businesses, too! Magazines may need to come directly from the publisher. The Sun Magazine provides free subscriptions to those incarcerated! Slingshot too!  You can also send in a Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calender (see "Order for Prisoners" for the special reduced rate).

Photos ~ If you'd like to send photos to your friend, check to see if there are any restrictions. Often they can't be nude photos, Polaroids, and some places the photos need to be color-copied, not actual photos. There also may be a limit to the number of photos or pages of color-copies that you can send and/or that they can have in their cell.

Articles ~ Again, check with your friend or the facility, as sometimes there are limits to the number of pages you can mail to your friend at once. Also, some facilities don't allow any articles at all, or anything that looks as though it was printed from the internet. (Some places only allow articles if it's in a magazine that's sent from a publisher)  If printing something down from offline, you can copy and paste it into a document so that it doesn't show any hyperlink info that may get it taken away.

Don't get discouraged!  Get creative!  Maybe you can color-copy 
a homemade collage?! Maybe you have a friend that works at 
a bookstore that can help you get good books to your friend!  
Look into what publications or organizations offer free subscriptions, 
books, and other resources to prisoners, and spread the word!

What do you love? As a community herbalist and health educator, I often write about the community health projects I'm involved with and what's growing in my garden when I write to friends/mentors in prison. I first started corresponding with Political Prisoners when I was working with the Victory Gardens Project and we asked "If you were a plant, which would you be and why?" We received many poetic responses that inspired us to rename certain plants. The first year after that season that I had my own spacious garden I also grew a "three brothers" planting, based on the three sisters traditional method of growing corn, beans, and squash together, a relationship with is mutually beneficial for all plants, from the Haudenosaunee/Iroquois peoples. Three of those who's responded to our "which vegetable?" question had decided on: corn, beans, and watermelon (not quite squash, but in the same family). I grew these plants in their honor and drew up this collage and map to show them:

The prison industrial system seeks to cut off prisoners not only from their loved ones, but also from nature. My friend that I just heard from today has been incarcerated for 18 months - 18 months without sun. This has serious negative effects not only on the body (no vitamin D from the source!), but on the spirit as well. In the notecards, the words, and even the stamps that I send to my friends, I seek to carry the vitality of the trees, my garden, the sunlight, and snow all into them behind bars. The system doesn't make it easy, but it's worth the effort because it's a beautiful thing to be part of maintaining a connection which strengthens the spirit, and for prisoners to feel that support and nourishment!

Names ~ Some people have chosen their own names or have been given names which are different from those that the government uses for them. Check to see - list their government name on the envelope so that they are sure to receive the letter, and address the letter to the name they choose to be called by. Using their own chosen name (just as you would for someone who's transgender - using the pronoun and/or name that they identify as and wish to be called by), rather than the one they were given without choice, is a sign of respect. For example, in writings by and/or for Political Prisoners you may see the abbreviation sn, which means "slave name."  In the US slave-masters gave enslaved Africans their European last name and denied people the freedom to carry the African name of their ancestors. Some people have reclaimed African names for themselves.

Connect with other supporters~ Keep up on your friend's case, find ways that you can lend your support. Spearheading a national campaign for your friend's liberation is not the only way of being involved. Connect with others who are working on your friend's particular campaign or those working for prison justice/prison abolition at the community/state/nation/global level. This may include helping to organize a fundraiser for their legal fees, writing a letter of support to the parole board when they're up for parole, contacting the US Parole Board as part of an organized campaign, etc. Also, seeking out information about the details of their case/campaign from someone who's organizing on behalf of your friend can save your friend a lot of time hand-writing details that may already be available online. Also, if you're mailing packages to your friend it's good to check in to see if there's anyone that coordinates what they are receiving. Some facilities have limits on the weight and/or number of packages that can be received per month or year, so sometimes it's better to mail your gift, food, etc. to a person that's sending a larger package. Likewise, if you're visiting your friend, it's good to find out if there's a limit to the number of visitors that they can receive in a given time and just to check in with them to see if it's a good time for a visit. Again, don't get discouraged, get creative! I've gotten good food, including herbal-food-medicine for health conditions, to the inside. Find out the rules and then work with them!  (While also being mindful that pushing the limits too much can possibly lead to negative repercussion for your friend on the inside!)  Also, it's good to be in communication with other friends/supporters so that you can receive news of transfers - and the change of address, change in what people can receive, visiting and calling situations, etc. that may happen with being moved to a new facility.

Use your Privilege! ~ If you are on the outside, and especially if you are from a more privileged background where you are not targeted by police, not portrayed as a criminal in the media, and the life-path created for you by the education system, law enforcement, and other social forces was not pointing straight to prison (see School-to-Prison Pipeline info), as it is for many people, use your privilege! Have conversations - speak up - challenge racist/classist/hateful thinking and speech!  Lift up the voices of those most impacted - those who are incarcerated, those who've been released, and those who have loved ones who are locked up - and also, relieve some of the emotional labor of those most impacted having to speak up by addressing racism and lock-them-up-and-throw-away-the-key thinking and actions.  If you are connected to prisons out of choice, rooted in a sense of justice, rather than having loved ones being targeted and incarcerated, it's important to talk with folks in your circles - friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, people on the bus, etc. about prisoners rights, in solidarity with those who are isolated and silenced, and to resist the stigma and shame placed upon those incarcerated.  I am not speaking about condescending charity work and speaking for other people.  I'm talking about speaking from your own experience (because that's the only one we can really know and speak from), using I-statements to express why maintaining communication with someone held within prison walls is important to you. How do you benefit from this correspondence and relationship? How is your liberation entwined with theirs?

"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

Envision a Better Future for Women in Prison by Lydia Crumbley,

End the Attack on Our Communities: Build Families Not Prisons!
by Melanie Cervantes, and Assata Shakur by Melanie Cervantes

Away from this computer now, it's time to sit down and hand-write a proper letter, some people have birthdays this month! (See the  NYC Jericho Movement's Prisoner page, with up-to-date addresses of prisoners and many of their birthdays as well!)

Additional Resources:

*Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calender - joint fundraising and educational project between outside organizers in Montreal, Hamilton, New York, and Baltimore, and political prisoners being held in maximum-security prisons: David Gilbert and Xinachtli (s/n Alvaro Luna Hernandez).
*More images at: Just Seeds' Critical Resistance page
*The Gendered Nature of Prisoner Resistance and the Invisibility of Women Prisoners' Organizing
*NYC Jericho Movement's Prisoner page is great with keeping prisoner addresses up-to-date and also lists their birthdays
*Earlier blog post: The Radical Roots of Community Acupuncture in the US
*Freedom Archive - 10,000 hours of audio and video recordings documenting social justice movements locally, nationally, and internationally from the 1960s to the present. The Archives features speeches of movement leaders and community activists, protests and demonstrations, cultural currents of rebellion and resistance.
*Critical Resistance: a national, member-based grassroots organization that works to build a mass movement to dismantle the prison-industrial complex.
*Dignity and Power Now: For All Incarcerated People, Their Families, and Communities

*Initiate Justice: Activating the Power of People Impacted by Incarceration

Much gratitude to Burning Books radical, independent bookstore in Buffalo, NY and all the other small, independent book stores that take the time to send (and re-send and re-send again) books in to our loved ones who are locked up.

Image from Critical Resistance website.

updated: 12/19

Elderberry (and other) Syrup Recipes

Juicing the Elderberries - multiple times! - for a batch of
"All Power to the People! Eldercampane Syrup."

Stirring the local honey in. Juicing the limes, while the Cinnamon and honey look on.

Measuring out the tincture. The finished syrup. Yum.

Word on the street is that a bunch of folks have Elderberries in the freezer from last Autumn and are seeking recipes. Ask and ye shall receive! I'm including not only recipes for immune-supporting Elderberry syrups, but ones for building Iron, protecting or decongesting the lungs, and settling the stomach. Please see the glossary below if you're unsure of a term. And if something is unclear, please ask! Information like this means little if you can't put it into practice to make medicine for your community!

As with everything herbal, there are a gazillion recipes and methods to making your remedies. I make my food and medicine using pinches, dashes, and handfuls. However, in order to re-create good creations and to share recipes with others, I've been recording general directions and amounts. So, I'm sharing these recipes that I've used, adapted, and created over the years. Feel free to experiment and please post your comments, questions, and recipes!

Why syrups? Herbal syrups are remedies that are more concentrated than teas (though less concentrated than tinctures). They take time to simmer, but they also keep for months, making them more convenient than simmering tonic herbs daily or making decoctions when you’re not feeling well. Using good local honey, rather than the white sugar that some syrup recipes call for, creates not only a sweet tasting remedy but also soothes the mucus membranes of our throats and digestive tracts. Depending on the herbs you choose, you can make a daily tonic with herbs to build blood or give immune support, or a syrup for acute situations, such as an expectorant or sore throat remedy for cold and flu season. Syrups can also be made alcohol-free for kids, those in recovery, those allergic to alcohol, etc, and they usually taste gooooood. If possible, keep your syrups refrigerated so that they keep longer.

A note on sugar and honey: Many syrup recipes call for loads of refined sugar. When I'm feeling under the weather I definitely don't want to be taking sugar, which depletes the immune system, so in my recipes I use local honey and refrigerate my syrups.  I love to use local honey in my syrups. Simmering the honey with the herbs creates a thicker, more syrupy consistency, but also cooks some of the vitality and medicinal properties out of the honey. Oh no! But the bees worked so hard! And the humans, too. So I don't cook the honey, or sometimes I cook just a small amount of it and add most of it later once the syrup has cooled a bit. I would rather have a more liquidy medicinal syrup than a less medicinal thick syrup.

A note on consistency: The recipes below (besides the goopy Horehound Syrup recipe), come out with a liquidy consistency.  They are like a really concentrated tea-concoction, rather than a thicker syrupy consistency that you may be used to.  You can experiment with adding ingredients that will thicken your syrup, such as Slippery Elm powder (from a cultivated, organic source, as this tree is at-risk), to achieve the consistency you're seeking.

Most syrups, especially ones containing honey, are recommended for children over 2. Check in with your health care provider or trusted friends to see about dosages for little ones.

General Syrup-Making Info:
I like to make my syrups when I can be at home and take my time - time to let it simmmer, to let it cool, and to clean up the mess afterwards. Especially if I'm using Elderberries. As always, its a good idea to read over the recipe before embarking on your syrupy adventure to be sure that you've got what you need for ingredients and supplies, or at least that you've got a general idea so that you can improvise.

When I was living somewhere with pretty heavily-chlorinated water, when I would visit friends and family with good water from a well or spring I bring along a half gallon jar so that I can use it for making medicine. Use what you've got access to, but if you can get your hands on good water your medicine will be that much stronger. That being said, I'd rather use tap water than give a penny of my money to Poland Springs/Nestle and other water-stealing corporations.

In general, I don't measure my herbs by weight, as many herbal recipes do. I prefer to measure my herbs out in a measuring cup. I add the herbs and water into a large pot and simmer the brew until I've reduced the liquid by half, i.e. simmer 2 cups of water down to 1 cup. I then remove the pot from heat, strain out and compost the herbs, return the liquid to the pot, and let the hot liquid cool before adding 1/2 the amount of local honey (1/2 cup honey to 1 cup of concentrated tea). I usually let it cool for about 15-20 minutes before adding the honey so that heat doesn't kill the living enzymes and other good stuff in the honey, but it's still warm enough that the honey will dissolve. Many recipes call for far more sweetener, but I feel like this amount is plenty. If I'm adding additional ingredients - tinctures, apple cider vinegar, lemon/lime juice, etc. - I let the liquid cool even more, almost down to room temperature, so that the alcohol doesn't evaporate off and the heat doesn't kill the vitamin C or living enzymes in the other ingredients.

Pour your syrup into sterilized bottles, using brand new ones or washing reused ones with hot soapy water and rinsing carefully with boiling water. Label your syrup with the ingredients and date, and record your recipes if you wish. It's often recommended to use up your syrup within a few months, but depending on the ingredients you choose that may have anti-bacterial, preservative properties, they may last longer.

Elderberry Syrup
This simple syrup combines elderberries, long praised for its anti-viral properties, with sore throat-soothing honey.  Be sure to use only blue-black Elderberries, Sambucus nigra. (The red ones can be toxic.) Here in Northern New England U.S., the Elder trees that you want to harvest from are in bloom in June and ripen in early September. Don't eat Elderberries that haven’t been cooked first, as eating too many can make you sick.

1 cup fresh or ½ cup dried Elderberries
3 cups Water
3/4-1 cup Honey

1. Add the berries and water to a pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer over low heat for 30-60 minutes.
2. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer, being sure to squeeze or crush as much of the juice out of the berries that you can.
3. Let the liquid cool, but while it's still warm enough to dissolve honey, add the honey and stir. 
4. Pour the syrup into clean containers (preferable narrow-mouthed containers for easily pouring) and store in the refrigerator, where it should keep for a few months.  If you would like to preserve your syrup for longer, you can add a few ounces of alcohol or tincture.


Elecampane Syrup
Elecampane is an amazing medicine for infections that settle deep in the lungs.

1/2 cup dried Elecampane root
2 3” Cinnamon sticks broken up into bits, optional
2 1/2 cups Water
3/4 cup (or more) local Honey
1+ ounce Elecampane tincture

Bring the first three ingredients to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer until the liquid is reduced to half. Strain and compost the herb. Add honey after the tea has cooled, but is still warm enough to dissolve the honey. Once cooled to room temperature, add the Elecampane tincture and stir.

Elder starting to bloom by the stream, Old school print of Elecampane (aka Elf Dock)

Elecampane blossom and ripe, heavy Elderberries with dewy spider web 

All Power to the People! Eldercampane Syrup
One time I had a wee bit of Elderberry syrup and a wee bit of Elecampane syrup and so I combined them. It was so delicious and medicinal. This is how the Eldercampane syrup came to be. And then one day I was making a batch while listening to a Democracy Now! program on the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton on our local community radio station 91.1 WGDR. As I made medicine, I reflected on the concept of supporting and strengthening our defenses. I make this syrup with gratitude in honor of all those who’ve organized past and present for community health, including the Black Panther Party and the Young Lords.   (I don't make this syrup available for sale, if I did I'd only use that name as a fundraiser for political prisoners, Black Lives Matter, etc)

I gather the Elderberries from my friend's thriving, abundant bushes, and the Elecampane that I harvest grows prolifically along the tree line in the moist lower pasture at my family's farm. The faraway spices I try to get from the most ethical sources I can find - friends have brought them back from markets visited on their travels or family visits or I try to get my hands on fair-trade, worker-owned, organic, etc. sources. The Ginger and Cinnamon are both great for respiratory/ immune health and the Cinnamon helps make the syrup a bit more viscous, once cooled. This recipe makes a delicious, anti-viral syrup to speed recovery during cold and flu season. I like the taste so much that I integrate it as a food, pouring it on my buckwheat pancakes, or just taking a shot of it when folks around me are sick, I'm not getting enough sleep, or am feeling stressed or under the weather. This is a big batch, feel free to decrease it. Or make a lot and share it!

Here we go! Combine the following ingredients in a large pot and simmer uncovered until the liquid is reduced by half:

3/4 cup dried Elecampane root
4” fresh Ginger, grated
3 3" Cinnamon stick, broken into bits
9 cups Water

While the herbs are simmering, juice your fresh Elderberries. I put my berries through the juicer at least three times to get all their good juice out. If you have frozen Elderberries, remove them from the freezer before making the syrup so that they can thaw out. If you have dried Elderberries, simmer 1 or 1 1/2 cups with the herbs above.  If you don't have a juicer, just add the Elderberries to the Elecampane, Ginger, and Cinnamon and let them all simmer together.

Letting the liquid cool as mentioned above in general instructions, blend together:

2 1/2 cup of Elderberry juice
3 cups local Honey
5 ounces local Apple Cider Vinegar (my favorite is Honest-To-Goodness)
juice of 2 fresh Limes
6 ounces Echinacea tincture (whole plant - root, leaf, flower, bud, and seed)
3 drops homemade Self-heal flower essence per bottle (to support the body in healing itself)

When the hot liquid has cooled enough, but is still warm enough to dissolve honey, add the juice-honey-vinegar-lime-tincture-flower essence blend and stir.  Pour your syrup into bottles, label, and share! The honey, apple cider vinegar, and tincture are all natural preservatives, prolonging the life of the syrup. It's often recommended to use up your syrup within a few months, but with this recipe, I've had the syrup last over a year.

Variations: You can add other herbs that you’d like to simmer along with the elderberries. For a cold and flu prevention syrup, you can add Astragalus root, simmered with the Elderberries and/or added as a tincture. For syrup to take when you’re sick, you can add other herbs such as Thyme for anti-bacterial respiratory support, and/or Marshmallow root for its soothing qualities.

 (You can buy Honest to Goodness Apple Cider Vinegar in C. Vermont Coops, or buy it in bulk directly from them.  Call: 802-685-3061 )

Instant Ginger Syrup
Alright, technically this is really an infused honey rather than a syrup, but the infused honey is just as good (I think), quicker to make, and uses less fuel/electricity.

This "syrup" is great when you want the benefits of fresh ginger root, but you’re not able to brew up tea. You can bring it with you to work and on trips, though it is best to refrigerate it and I like to make small batches and use it up within a few days. It’s powerfully decongesting, soothes a sore throat, boosts the immune system, and helps to ease motion sickness. Simply grate a couple handfuls of fresh grated ginger to a medium sized jar and cover with local honey. As the ginger releases its moisture, the honey becomes more liquidy and spoon-able. I take the syrup as is, but if you don't like to eat lil bits of ginger, you can strain them out. If the honey is more granular, you can gently heat it by placing your glass honey jar in warm (not HOT! - it may crack and/or you may cook the good stuff out) water to liquefy it before straining.

The roots and leaves of Iron Building Syrup.

Iron Building Syrup
Iron Building Syrup is rich in vitamins and minerals, especially iron.  This syrup helps build up iron in the blood with herbs that are more absorbable by your body than synthetic iron pills, which can cause constipation. This syrup is great for those who menstruate, as we are cyclically building and shedding our blood, and especially helpful for vegetarians and others who may tend to get anemic! I like to take this syrup throughout the month or during and after my period to build up nutrients that are lost with my flow.

1/2 cup each dried: Dandelion leaf, Dandelion root, Burdock root, Yellow dock, Nettle leaf, and Raspberry leaf
12 cups Water

Simmer this brew down to 6 cups. Strain the herbs from the liquid. Pour the liquid back into the pot. Remove from heat. Letting the liquid cool as mentioned above in general instructions, blend together:

2-3 cups local Honey
7 tablespoons fair-trade black strap Molasses

Once cooled, to add more medicinal properties and help preserve your syrup, you can add:

4 ounces brandy or tincture of any of the above herbs

Your syrup is all made!  Bottle, seal, and label. Store in the refrigerator. Take 2-6 tablespoons daily.

 

Old school print of Licorice 

Old school print of Coltsfoot and Coltsfoot leaves

Persistent Cough Syrup
Early this past winter many folks just couldn't kick the persistent cough that held on long after their cold or flu had passed. My neighbor asked for help. Ginger and Thyme came to mind initially. Then he told me he'd tried Echinacea, Elecampane, and Goldenseal roots, and Garlic. When I got home to my apothecary the remedies that I thought would be helpful weren't the ones calling to me. Licorice was loud. Then I went to my lung tonic blend - the leaves of Plantain, Mullein, Lungwort, and Coltsfoot. The Coltsfoot wanted to join the Licorice root and be made into a syrup. I love Licorice root. It's a great syrup herb because it's anti-viral, relaxing, soothing to mucus membranes, and supports respiratory health. I didn't have as much personal experience with Coltsfoot, however, so I took the opportunity to look it up in some of my herbals. And in her writings on Coltsfoot, Mrs. M. Grieve recommends a Licorice-Coltsfoot Syrup. !!!  So here's what I made:

7 large dried Coltsfoot leaves (harvested away from roads, where it commonly grows), crushed into bits
3 small handfuls Licorice root, cut and sifted herb (if long, tongue-depressor like slices of roots, break into bits)
2 1/4 cup Water

Simmer down to 1 cup of strong tea. Add:

1/2 cup local Honey

Take a teaspoon as needed to soothe a dry, irritated, sore throat and to ease coughing. If you're concerned with Licorice's affect on those with high blood pressure, you can keep your daily dosage low or choose a different blend of herbs.

Bitter, fuzzy Horehound.

Horehound Syrup
From Michael Moore’s Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West:  “Horehound is an old and revered bitter expectorant. For coughs and lung congestion in general, a syrup is often preferable. This is my recipe (there are endless variations): Boil an ounce of Horehound in a pint of water for twenty minutes, strain and reduce the liquid to a cup. Add two cups honey and stir over low heat. Remove from heat and add one ounce powdered Slippery elm bark or powdered Comfrey root, the juice from one lime, and one-half cup brandy. If you are fortunate enough to have some handy, several tablespoons of powdered Osha Root can also be added. Mix thoroughly and bottle. Take a tablespoon or two as needed.”

A note on Osha Root, since this plant is at-risk: “Use the wild plant only when absolutely necessary; otherwise use only cultivated resources. Thyme, elecampane, marshmallow, lovage, angelica, and rosemary are all good alternatives.” From Planting the Future: Saving Our Medicinal Herbs edited by Rosemary Gladstar and Pamela Hirsch.  Slippery Elm is also at-risk, so please get it from a cultivated source.

And just be aware that when you add the slippery elm bark powder to this syrup the consistency radically transforms from a liquidy liquid into a snotty globby mess! Hooray (as long as you don't mind)!

Making Elderberry-White Pine syrup with an afterschool program.

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Glossary:
tinctures - alcohol-based herbal extracts
decoction - a tea made by simmering the more tenacious parts of plants - i.e. roots, barks, certain seeds.
herbals - herb books. It's a good idea to have at least 3 reliable herbals to turn to for information.
Did I use any other unfamiliar terms? Let me know!