119 – Planning Your Herbal Year

Welcome to the Frontline Herbalism Podcast with your host Nicole Rose from the

Solidarity Apothecary.

This is your place for all things plants and

liberation.

Let's get started.

Hello. Welcome back to the Frontline Herbalism podcast.

I hope you enjoyed the interview last week that I published on Friday.

Let me know your thoughts if you can.

and asking some questions that can help you reflect and make a little kind of plan for

learning herbalism and developing your skill sets and things.

So just a couple of announcements.

Haven't got time unfortunately to record a standalone episode about it.

But this coming Sunday is the final chance to apply for the Rooted in Struggle program.

So this is a three month container where you get one to one, like herbal support with me.

Like you'll get a call and you'll get your bespoke herbal recommendations and I'll get

the medicine posted out to you.

And there's a group container.

So this is for people who are struggling with

burnout and chronic illness after,

you know, or still.

Most people are still very active in different forms of struggle.

But yeah, it's a kind of support space for people that are struggling with burnout

basically because of their work towards liberation in different ways.

So a bit like the Hawthorne program last year.

We'll be meeting every two weeks for like a

kind of group call to check in, see how we're doing.

There'll be pre recorded content that I've made from different courses and some new

things and yeah, you can work through that in your own time.

And then we'll have like a signal group where we'll, you know, have kind of like mutual care

and memes and check ins with each other and stuff.

So yeah, it's a kind of gentle, supportive space to people who want to maybe, yeah, help

kind of access,

you know, health support which is inaccessible to a lot of people to, you know, improve their

kind of own health but also address some of the drivers of their burnout.

You know, think about things that could potentially change in their collectives and

stuff to help them, you know, feel,

yeah, able to participate more for the long haul.

So yeah, it's a very special offering.

I've been blown away way by the interest but I

want to make sure that I keep promoting it still because yeah, I think,

yeah, people deserve access to that care.

And there's, you know, there's originally only

advertised space for six to nine people.

So I'm gonna have to really think about you Know everyone who's applied and how that's

gonna look and.

Yeah,

so anyway, check that out.

I'll put the link in the show notes and.

Yeah, thanks for listening.

Let's get stuck into some ******* planning.

All right, so let's get stuck into thinking about designing your sort of herbal path for

the next year.

So this is like an audio version talking through the planner that you can get a link to

in the show notes of the episode.

Okay, so the first section is finding your

plants.

And if you're new to herbalism, you might choose to start with just one herb to get to

know.

I feel like this practice of connecting with just one plant is really, really, really

powerful.

For example, when I was in prison and,

you know, that was a big part of my herbal medicine journey in terms of learning about

plants.

I worked with Dandelion, for example, and I worked with Dandelion, like, incredibly

intimately, like sleeping with dandelion root under my p.

Buying dandelion tea with fresh roots, with dried roots, you know, eating the leaves, like

eating the flowers.

You know, combining the roots and the, you know, the leaves in a tea, like, all of the

things.

And I think,

yeah, we.

In a world where there's, like, so much

information on offer, we can often, like, miss that depth.

So I know it's hard to choose one plant, but I would suggest starting with just one plant.

And if you're kind of, like, familiar with this process or, you know, you're like,

studying herbalism intensively, like doing clinical.

Clinical training, it might be more plants.

You know, you might have to be doing your

monographs or your plant profiles or something for your course.

So, yeah, choose your plan.

And then, yeah, there's a little checklist of sort of suggested ideas.

They're just suggestions.

But what are some of the ways you can connect with this herb?

So some of the things I've listed are just sitting with the plant in person,

drawing or photographing the plant.

Maybe you've seen our medicinal herb coloring book that my friend Damani drew these

beautiful illustrations for.

You know, it might be sitting with that herb and coloring the, you know, coloring in the

coloring book.

Maybe you have a smartphone and you are going to take a picture of that plant every day or

once a week when you see them,

and you can help sort of observe the changes through the year, whether that's, you know,

rose hips in the autumn and flowers in the summer, and,

yeah, you know, the first buds, like, yeah, Just try and kind of like,

you know, embrace those sort of observation skills.

So drinking the plant as a tea, obviously, you know, there's like a safety point here that

you just check that that herb doesn't have any contraindications with medication you're

taking, if you're taking medication.

But yeah, you know, tea tasting is like a really fantastic way of people developing a

relationship with plants and herbalism.

So if it is safe to do that, I would really suggest, you know,

yeah, trying, trying the herb, seeing how it tastes,

you know, might be just nibbling a bit of the root or the leaf.

It might be, you know, making a huge, you know, strong tea.

It might be making a really subtle weak tea, you know, with just a few leaves.

Like, there's so many.

Yeah, there's just so many options.

And this podcast is going to be five hours long if I go into this much detail.

But yeah, it might be that you can cook with the plant, you know, for example, nettles, you

might be able to make a delicious, like nettle curry, for example,

maybe like a simple medicine with the plant, like a tincture or a glycerite or a vinegar.

And my Herbalism and State Violence book goes into some of those medicine making methods.

Sleeping with the plant under your pillow.

I know if you don't have many spoons for

harvesting or medicine making, maybe you're really overwhelmed with life and caring

responsibilities and all the things.

Just see how you feel with that herb under your pillow at night.

You know, maybe you start having dreams, maybe you sleep better.

Like, you don't have to always quote, unquote, ingest a plan, if that makes sense.

Keeping an image of the plant nearby, you know, that could be like a tarot card that has

an affinity with that plan.

It could be a beautiful,

you know, art print you found on Etsy.

It could be putting a picture of that herb on

your phone screensaver so you see it every day, you know, just keeping it in your

awareness somehow.

Reading about the plant, you know, diving into all those herbalism books,

listening to a podcast about the plant, you know, just search that plant name, see what

you can find.

And yeah, just kind of like journaling or

reflecting on that on your experiences with that, that hub.

It's, you know, it's all the kind of how I always talk about it is how would you build a

relationship with a human, right? Like with a new friend.

Like, you'd spend time together, you'd get to know them, you'd learn about them and their

history and their, you know,

Their needs and their triggers and their strengths and their weaknesses.

And, you know, it's exactly the same with herbs.

Like, you just need to.

Yeah, just start, you know, start connecting.

I've got a couple of other podcasts around this, around, like, starting your kind of

plant ally practice and how to choose one herb and things.

So,

yeah, definitely have a dig around.

And then I've kind of connected this section into,

like, seasons.

And I know not everyone lives somewhere with,

like,

kind of, you know, three or four seasons and this kind of like, changing climate.

But yeah, for people that do have that kind of cycle,

we might think about the winter.

And in the kind of cold winter months like

we're in now, it's very easy to feel disconnected from herbalism.

But it's a really powerful time to connect with, like, stored plant medicines, like dried

herbs and spices.

And, you know, we can also make preparations like glycerites, for example, in the slow

cooker, I've got a workshop all about making herbal medicine with glycerin, which, you

know, no one's turned away for lack of funds for that.

Please check it out.

But you don't have to stop in winter.

I mean, I know everyone, like, tries to have a rest in winter, but if you're like me and you

just like ******* Aquarius Capricorn mix, you just love the winter anyway.

So this is like my busy period in the summer.

I just want to, like, you know,

hide in the shade, cry.

Anyway.

But yeah, what plant medicines can you connect

with this winter?

You know, maybe it's as simple as buying some ginger from the supermarket and cutting it up

and boiling it in a pan for like half an hour and getting a really, really, really strong

ginger decoction.

You know,

maybe it's making this elderberry glycerite where you're putting elderberries and some

water and some glycerin in a slow cooker for the first time, and you'll just realize the

magic of those berries and how delicious they taste.

Maybe it's making fireside vinegar, you know, like chopping a bunch of lemons and garlic and

ginger and all the things and different herbs and spices, chucking them in a jar, covering

them in vinegar for a few weeks.

You know, like, there's so many different ways you can connect with plant medicines through

the winter.

So, yeah, and I suggest, like, if you're new

to herbalism, just.

Just write down like one herbal tea you'd like to drink.

Right? I'd like to drink thyme tea, you know, and

okay, it's nicer if you have some, you know, dried thyme yourself.

But you can just, just buy thyme from the supermarket and, you know, try it in a cup.

Like it doesn't have to be this huge thing.

Okay. And so spring.

So yeah, obviously spring is just this amazing

time for herbalism when,

yeah, there's these traditional practices connected with spring tonics.

So this is when we are having more sort of fresh and like mineral rich plants and kind of

common herbs used in this period are things like cleavers and dandelion leaves and

nettles.

They often have this kind of diuretic action where, you know, they're kind of.

Yeah. Increasing our urination and increasing our kind of, you know,

assimilation and dare I say, detoxification in our bodies.

I know detox is like a dirty word in kind of like holistic health space where it's like

associated with all sorts of like weird,

often right wing things.

But yeah, this process of supporting the body

in spring is like, you know, as old as time.

So.

Yeah. Which herbs can you connect with in the spring?

So I've listed a couple of examples.

It might be some sort of spring wild salad

where you just have some dandelion leaves and chickweed and maybe you make some nettle

vinegar.

And yeah, if you're new to herbalism, it's literally like, I'm just gonna taste some

dandelion leaves and when you, you know, take your dog or your kids to the park, just pick

some and taste them and then,

you know, that's your kind of like way of building relationship with that plant and

tasting that kind of bitter flavor, for example.

So, yeah, think about what you might be doing in the spring.

And then the summer is obviously this amazing time for medicine making where there's

flowering herbs and trees,

you know, and this might be when you start experimenting with drying herbs, with making

like fresh medicine, like fresh tinctures and glycerites or infused oils, you know.

And yeah, like this is just,

you know, an amazing time of year, very busy time of year for hubless.

But for example, you could dry hawthorn flowers or you know, make hawthorn flower tea

with fresh hawthorne flowers.

Rose petal glycerites.

I've got a recipe and instructions of how to make those on my website.

Lemon balm tincture. Infusing St. John's wort into, you know, sunflower oil or olive oil.

Like there's so many different options and it's.

Yeah, just pick, you know, one thing.

I know it feels a long way off right now in

the summer, but yeah, I Think people.

I think herb herbalism is like any other skill where you just need to get the practice, like,

get the reps in.

Do you know what I mean?

Like, you don't.

I don't know why I'm using a gym metaphor.

Like, I couldn't give a **** about the gym.

But, like, you can learn about weight training by reading about it, right?

Like, you have to read about it and get skill and coaching or whatever, but you also have to

go to the gym and lift those weights.

And I feel like with herbalism,

not that I've ever gone to a gym to lift weights, by the way,

but with herbalism, you have to.

Yeah, get on the land and make those medicines

and taste those herbs and, you know, read those herb books.

Like, it.

You know, it is a kind of involved practice,

but it can be, like, very small and slow and still be incredibly nourishing.

Okay. And then finally, autumn.

So autumn's our time for, like, berries and

roots, depending on where you are in the world.

But, yeah, there's, like, amazing plants in this season, like hawthorn berry glycerides,

for example.

Like, hawthorn berries tend to be out for

quite a long period over the autumn.

So they're, like a fantastic, like, berry, I

think, for people to make medicine with, because there's not this, like,

feeling of, like, oh, God, I'm gonna miss them, if that makes sense.

Because, like, elderberries tend to kind of go on the turn a bit faster.

But I've got a recipe to elderberry cough syrup that you can check out, which has got no

sugar in it.

It's with glycerin,

you know, where you might dig up, like, dandelion roots and pop them in some vinegar.

Like, if you come on my practical medicine making courses, like, I am so much of an

advocate of, like, just stick it in a jar and cover it.

You know, cover glycerin, cover it with vodka, cover it with vinegar.

Like, it doesn't have to be, you know, like, fancy pants, like, white coat herbalism.

Like, it is, you know, it can be amazing and diy, and if you want to get more detailed,

then that's ******* awesome.

And I love geeking out about all the methods, but this planner is really for people that are

like, how the hell do I start with herbalism? And that's why I just want people to choose

one thing that they might try this year.

Okay,

so the next section is about crafting your learning pathway.

So,

yeah, herbalism is, like, amazing because there's so much to learn in every direction.

And I think that's what's, like, enchanted me about herbalism for such a long time because I

just, you know, got Gemini Ascendant.

I just love learning.

I love studying.

I'm constantly listening to podcasts and reading and watching online videos and, you

know, doing online workshops or whatever I can afford, and I just absolutely love that.

And I think her herbalism is amazing because there's so many directions you can go in,

and that can make it super overwhelming for people because they're just like, whoa, like,

where the hell do I start? So,

yeah, I think just noting down, like, which areas of herbalism you'd like to learn more

about.

And, you know, maybe just picking a couple, for example, because they are, like, super

connected and just kind of trying to follow your passion.

Like, you might be like,

I really want to learn about, you know, biochemistry, because it's like, my weak area.

And then actually, you're just, like,

not that interested, but instead you might be like, oh, I really want to learn about,

you know, trauma and stress.

And, you know, you could start my PTSD course,

for example.

So it's like,

you know, going following your passion is really great.

So some of the areas I've included are like, plant identification, plant chemistry,

ecology,

and, I mean, physiology, trauma and stress.

It might be, like, specific areas of health.

Like, you just really want to look into herbalism and high blood pressure or, you

know, metabolic,

like, syndromes and diabetes and things.

Or maybe you just want to, like, focus on a

particular period in history.

Like, you want to learn about,

you know, like, you know, herbalism in Iran or, like, yeah, there's just so many different

options.

And, yeah, there's also so many different

directions in terms of, like, the sort of social and political and economic context that

shape health and herbal practice.

So,

yeah, that kind of,

you know, opportunity to broaden your knowledge base is so expansive.

But, yeah, just picking a couple of things I think is,

yeah, definitely the way to go.

Okay, so, yeah, choose three areas for this

year where you would like to take a deep dive.

And then the next question is, like, how will you develop your knowledge in these areas?

So say, for example, you want to study more about plant chemistry.

You might go, for example, to the American Herbalist Guild website and find a workshop

about plant chemistry that's, you know, 40 minutes or something,

or a longer course.

And you might be like, right, I'm going to do

that.

Or I'm going to listen to three podcast

interviews about, you know, plant identification.

Or I'm gonna prioritize this year going to a workshop about horticulture because I really

want to learn about seed sowing and get sucking in my garden.

So yeah, think about the how.

And then the next question is, what kinds of

medicine making skills would you like to develop this year?

So,

yeah, you might already,

you know, I'm sure I, you know, loads of people that already practice herbalism are

connected into the solidarity apothecary, which is amazing.

So it might be that you want to kind of like step your medicine making in a certain area.

You know, tinctures are often a really fantastic place to start, but some people can

get a bit stuck as that's like often sold as like our main form of medicine.

And you know, I found when learning about like making glycerites that I was a really like

sweet **** all like on the Internet.

That was like helpful.

And so,

yeah, I spent like six years trying every, like every herb possible,

putting in glycerin,

putting in a slow cooker with glycerin, you know, just like which herbs, you know.

And then I learned more about the chemistry of which,

you know, constituents extract better and glycerin.

And, you know, and it's all gone into my glycerin workshop.

But yeah, just kind of like focus on something you would like to develop.

So yeah, I'm obviously, you know, very confident medicine maker, but I haven't got

that much experience in making creams, for example, because Louise from the Mobile Herbal

Clinic, Mobile Herbal Cali Clinic, who's just the most amazing, skilled, knowledgeable

medicine maker,

she's such a cream expert that she makes all the creams for the project.

And so it's like I haven't actually developed the opportunity to make them myself, even

though, you know, I can make the component parts like the infused oils and things.

And yeah, have used them loads like clinically, like, oh my God, especially in

Calais, like with our, you know, we have like an amazing like chickweed cream for itching

and stuff.

So anyway, so yeah, so this year I really just want to get stuck into cream,

for example.

So I'm going to be researching some cream

workshops.

I might see if I can get down to Louise and do

like a few batches with her, for example.

But yeah, which skills would you like to develop?

And then, yeah, is there an area of health that you would really like to learn more

about? For example, you want to understand,

you know, like vaginal ecology and thrush, for example, or you've been getting frequent colds

and you just really want to develop and strengthen your immune system and understand,

you know, how does stress affect the immune system and all of that?

So, like, yeah, which area of health would you really like to learn about more?

And again, everything is interconnected.

But I suggest kind of, yeah, choosing one

thing, if possible.

List any herbal books you would like to read this year.

If you are a book worm, it might be difficult to narrow down that list.

But I would suggest just picking like one,

like one book to start and, you know, seeing how you can get stuck in.

I think the other thing with herbal books is, like, they're often reference books, so

actually you don't have to read them cover to cover.

Like, you know, I rarely read a book cover to cover, but I constantly return to many herbal

books I've got.

So, yeah, it might be once you've identified what areas you want to learn in, it might be

actually your sort of reading goals are like, I just want to learn.

I just want to read like a little chapter of this thing.

Or. Yeah, I've got this book on, you know, quote unquote, women's health.

I'm sorry to all the trans people where all of these Hubble books are.

Are just so bioessentialist with their language.

But it might be like you want to focus on postpartum support or, you know, perimenopause

or.

Yeah, so just try and like think specifically

and then, yeah, kind of, yeah, potentially research different book titles.

List any courses or workshops you would love to undertake.

Oh, my God, there's always like 5 million courses that I want to do and try and narrow

it down.

Shameless plug.

You know, my making herbal medicine with

glycerin course is online all the time that you can access.

If you want to access it for free, you can email supportolidaryapothechry.org and my

amazing helper Chantel will reply with the code.

So that's where people want, you know, super low incomes and stuff with a lot of economic

precarity.

But yeah, you know, there are like a bunch of, you know, amazing online courses and, you

know, it might be that, you know, your learning style and actually you want to do

something face to face, in which case, you know, need to research that a little bit.

All right, so the next section is finding your people.

So self education is fantastic and a wonderful foundation for learning herbalism.

However, it can feel lonely.

So connecting with people who share your

interest or passion for plants is an important part of learning herbalism.

And the first bit I've put here is, list any current friends and people you know who share

your interest in plants or herbalism because it is much nicer to connect with other people,

right?

Like, I have one particular friend who probably wants to stay anonymous.

So I'm not going to name them, but they're hopefully coming down soon to help with some

medicine making.

But they're studying to be a herbalist and there's nothing better in the world than going

on a cheeky forage together.

Do you know what I mean?

Like, just chatting,

chatting relationships, chatting all the gossip and just harvesting the hawthorne

flowers together,

you know, some of my nicest times with friends have been when we've been doing something

plant related together.

And I think,

you know, just like anything where people talk about like accountability buddies and stuff

like, or if, you know, there's any kind of like neurodivergence or like challenge with

doing things alone, then having that other person around can just mean like, yeah, we've

got a ******* elderberry date, you know what I mean?

Like one Saturday a month, we're gonna go together and forage something.

So, yeah, so list any.

You might, you know, maybe you don't know

anyone, but you might have a few people in your network who actually do share your

interest in plants or herbalism who you could connect with already.

So, yeah, what are some of the ways you could connect with them and practice herbalism

together?

You know, maybe you're nervous about going on a face to face medicine making course.

And so going with a friend means that, you know, you can make it happen together.

Or maybe you've got like really limited spoons.

But going with a friend means that they can drive you and, you know, you can have a cat

nap or duck out in their car.

You know, there's all these like little options.

But yeah, just think about how can you practice herbalism with someone else this

year?

So, yeah, if you don't have anyone,

you know, in general, or people nearby, or maybe you live far away from each other.

Like I have this thing where I just know so many people and have so many amazing friends,

but they are just all over the world and very few of them are super close by.

And it's like this heartache me a lot where I just don't get to see the people I love

enough.

And it sucks.

And I feel like our digital world is really creating that for a lot of people.

So I feel like kind of community projects that are like locationally orientated as

communities is like very important and is probably getting more important with this kind

of rise of the Internet.

So, yes, things like community gardens or community herbalism projects, local plant

Walks,

you know, where.

Yeah, where could you potentially meet people?

So you might want to do a little bit of research and pop those down.

The next question is, are there any herbal events you'd like to attend this year in

person or online?

You know, it might be.

Actually I'm going to talk about that next,

about accessibility.

But yeah, maybe there's, you know, some online

conference or face to face gathering like this epic Plants, Mushrooms and Resistance

gathering that's going to be in Poland this year.

That was in Romania last year.

It sounded of just dreamy, like absolute babes

who organized it.

So yeah, it might be that you're like, hey, I

really want to do this thing this year and get to this thing.

Or you know, I run these two practical medicine making courses each year and yeah,

it's always just like the best luscious people.

Like it's just so I look forward to them so much because people are always just *******

rad.

Like somebody came on the course last year, Mello was like, there's not one ********.

I can't believe it.

There's always a ******** on a course.

So yeah, so maybe,

you know, see if there's any events that yeah, could kind of speak to you.

And then the next question is around like accessibility.

So like, if attending an event feels inaccessible, take some time to reflect on

what's getting in the way.

So some questions I've written here are,

are there ways others could support you to attend?

Could organizers make changes to improve access?

Could you organize or co create an alternative space with people you share affinity with?

So, so it's not my first rodeo, do you know what I mean?

Like, I know, I remember getting out of prison and going to this herbal medicine event and it

cost so much money.

I had a little bit of money from a bereavement and I just felt so alienated.

And you know, I'm white and cis, right? So I'm not like the most marginalized person

in the universe.

But like,

oh my God, like I didn't feel like they were my people.

And I felt, felt just, yeah, just so alienated by like the middle classness and you know,

especially from bouncing out of prison.

So that wasn't my space.

But then I connected with some other people,

you know, from Bristol and other places and we started these radical herbalism gatherings

which lasted for five years.

I only organized the first two and then I had

to step back from the collective because I was just like swamped with prisoner solidarity

stuff.

And you know, those Spaces were amazing.

Maybe I didn't always feel affinity with

everyone there, but,

you know, like, sometimes you have to create that space for yourself, if that makes sense.

Like, it might be that you just want to create a little,

you know, queers love plants.

Like trans herbalism learning group, where you

want to just be with other trans people and you want to learn about feminizing or

masculinizing herbs.

And you're going to DIY some workshops and get

in touch with some trans herbivores lists.

You know, like,

just think about ways that you can like kind of maybe overcome some of your own barriers,

if that makes sense.

And the other aspect is like also challenging

people who run events.

And I know not everyone has like the time or energy to do that, and I totally respect that.

But,

you know, it might be contacting an event and asking if there's any travel bursaries or

there's a sliding scale.

For example, my practical medicine making

course courses have, you know, like a third of the places are basically free or subsidized.

You know, people can donate what they can, and that's enabled like loads of people to come to

them over the years who wouldn't have been able to afford a course.

And, you know, the reason I can make that happen is like, I'm a skilled budgeter and I

will charge to people that have financial resources.

More like charging 250quid for a course is not in my comfort zone, if that makes sense.

But knowing that that is possible for actually more people than I realize,

and that enables like a third of the people to come for free and create like a life changing

experience for them.

That's ******* rad.

Do you know what I mean?

And I'm getting better at accepting that, you know, there are people with financial

resources that are, you know, very supportive of contributing a bit extra to make something,

you know, like, accessible and more sort of liberatory.

So on that note,

there's only one place left on my June medicine course.

I need to check the numbers for April,

but I have set a deadline for the end of January for anyone interested in a subsidized

place.

So please get in touch if you're interested in

those places.

They've not been officially allocated yet, if that makes sense.

Okay, so, yeah, just think about what would make a event more accessible for you.

All right, so the next part is herbalism in action.

So herbalism depends on reciprocal relationships with plants and the ecosystems

we live within.

And a lot about what drives me a bit nuts about herbalism is it's often just like, take,

take, take.

It's like, what can I harvest?

And like,

how is this plant quote unquote used for? And like, I feel like what, you know, like

indigenous herbalism of, you know, from places all over the world teaches is just like this

embeddedness and relationship with plants.

And I, you know, like to ask people, like, how can we support plant communities ease.

You know, they're doing literally everything but us, like, sustaining our oxygen.

But like, you know, how can you kind of.

Yeah. Build that relationship with plants and give back to them.

So, for example, it might be planting a medicine garden or getting active in, like, a

land defense campaign,

you know, where you're resisting, like an ecologically damaging development.

Maybe you are supporting some sort of plant conservation project.

Like, how can you, you know, give back to plants this year?

And then the other aspect is kind of, yeah, human focused over.

You know, herbalists can be really active in their communities,

you know, and what ways can you support your community?

So it might be making herbal care packages.

You know, I've recorded a couple of podcast

episodes about how I do that.

And maybe that's something that you could do

with your crew offering herbal first aid demonstrations or, you know, running community

clinics.

Like I said, like, people will be accessing this planner who have different,

you know, levels of herbalism knowledge and skills, and it really.

Yeah, it's difficult because as with anything, there's often,

you know,

blocks to making things happen because we're frightened of hurting someone or we don't feel

like we know enough, or we're not like a quote unquote clinical herbalist with this white

coat or whatever.

But like.

Like part of my frontline herbalism membership

that I'm developing, which I'm launching in the summer, is about what does kind of like do

no harm look like in a community context.

And actually, we are also doing harm by not doing things.

Do you know what I mean? Like, we're doing harm by not making medicine

and donating it to the food bank and, you know, not running community clinics or working

at a border hotspot, serving people on the move.

Like, there's so many amazing things that people can do with herbalism.

And.

And yeah, I don't want clinical herbalists to

have some monopoly on them, if that makes sense.

And yeah, so anyway, this question is just like, what are ways you could support your

community this year?

And, you know, it might be that.

That feels really, really far away.

So, you know, it could be that by the end of the year, you want to be,

you know, Starting a community garden, for example.

So, yeah, try and think in a kind of year long timescale.

And yeah, and then if things are coming up for you now, about like, oh, I'm not sure about

this.

I've put a question here about like,

yeah, if you'd like to get active in these ways but feel unsure or underskilled, take

some time to reflect on what skills or experience do you feel you're missing and how

could you develop them?

And is there anyone you could learn from or work alongside to make this happen?

So it might be like you would like to do you,

you know, like herbal first aid at demonstrations, but you haven't done that

before and you're a bit nervous so it might be, you know, connecting with someone, you

know, that has done that before.

I mean, it's a shame I've got a toddler because I would be very happy to,

you know, have people I could go to demos and stuff with and they could sort of shadow me

and we could, you know,

share all the skills.

But is what it is.

But yeah, there's obviously loads of people around the world with these skills.

So yeah, you know, maybe you just need to reach out to someone and be like,

I, you know, I know you're part of this first aid collective or this medic crew.

Would there be a chance for me to like come along to a couple of demonstrations with you

and learn from you? And you can ******* guarantee that most people

will say yes.

Like, I'm not going to lie.

And I think the reason I am,

you know, quite a confident person other than the old Aries placements.

I don't know why I'm talking about astrology so much in this episode anyway is because I've

been so ******* blessed with having access to mentors.

You know, like, when I worked in Calais, I had an entire summer with someone called Dead,

who is a qualified nurse, a qualified herbalist, a qualified paramedic.

And I just got literally one to one support for an entire summer doing herbal first aid

with her.

And yeah, that was just ******* epic.

And I think, yeah, we have to kind of do a

little bit of work of who could we learn skills from.

And you know, like, if you want to develop your medicine making, it might be that you go

down to, you know,

Hampshire where Louise is, and they make medicine every month for the clinic in Calais

and you might be like, right, I'm going to commit to doing this so that I can really step

up my skills so that next year I can start doing care packages in my Collective, for

example.

So, yeah, just think about what you need to do to make that happen.

Okay, we're nearly finished.

So this is, like, a bit more creative.

This is how I tend to do, like, my personal,

like, planning and visioning process is like, I like working backwards from things.

So I would kind of, you know, like, for this year, I'm like, right.

I want to really deepen my clinical practice.

I want to be running the Black Flag herbal

clinic and seeing anarchists every week, and I want to have a bunch of people coming every

month and making medicine where I live and blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah.

And then I kind of, yeah,

work backwards from that to make that happen.

But think about the entire planner.

And, yeah, you might want to.

To draw something.

You might want to do a mind map or a bullet

point list, but, you know, just kind of.

Yeah, like, where do you want to be at the end of the year?

You know, do you want to be someone who can identify, like, five local plants, for

example, super confidently?

Because you've picked one or two for each each season.

Do you want to have,

you know, a cupboard full of medicine that you've made this year?

You know, just from sticking things in a jar and covering them with vodka?

Like, yeah, just think creatively about how you want to feel, feel by the end of the year

and then just, yeah, what's your next step?

And, you know, sometimes it's literally just starting with one.

You know, maybe that's right.

I'm gonna order that plant book.

Or my one next step is I'm gonna Google local community gardens, or I'm gonna, you know,

enroll in one of Nicole's courses or something.

But, like, yeah, what is one next step that you can do?

Maybe it's just texting someone that, you know, that's like a plant babe who,

you know, knows those stuff, and you're like, yo, can we do a bit of foraging together?

Like, I would love that.

You know, I'll buy you lunch or something.

Like, you know, just.

Yeah, identify one next step.

Or, you know, several next steps, if you like

doing that.

But, yeah, what is your next action to make

that happen?

So I hope you've enjoyed listening to that.

Obviously, you know, you've got to do whatever

planning works for you.

I know planning is not something that comes

easily to everyone, especially in terms of neurodiversity.

But,

you know, hopefully this planner has just even just triggered some questions and some

reflections in you about how you can develop your herbalism this year because,

you know, it's ******* important.

Like, you know, it does feel like you go on Instagram for three seconds and the world is

literally falling apart.

Like, sometimes in the best way, like, in

terms of social change.

But, you know, there's a lot ******* happening and people are coping with a lot.

And there's a lot of chronic stress and poverty and terrible nutrition and,

you know, ecological destruction and all of the things.

And, yeah, learning about herbalism is a skill that can support you for your entire *******

life and support other people.

So I do think it is worth investing time and

energy in that pathway.

And also, it's just ******* fun.

It's great.

It's messy, it's practical.

You know,

being on the land is just the best thing for anyone's nervous system.

So, yeah, I hope you have the best year that you can.

And always feel free to reach out to me if,

you know, you want to, you know, join one of the courses or come and make medicine with me

in Somerset, for example.

I could be your queer plant nerd friend and we could do a foraging together.

You know, like, I,

yeah, feel like I definitely need, like, more very local friends than having a toddler.

And being a single mum is tough.

So, yeah, that practical help is always

welcome.

But anyway, thank you for listening and, yeah,

I'll be stoked to hear how people have used their planners, if they've been helpful,

any improvements on it.

And yeah, thanks so much for listening.

Okay, take care.

Thanks so much for listening to the Frontline

Herbalism podcast.

You can find the transcript, the links, all

the resources from the show@solidarityapothecary.org podcast.