98 – Introducing Series Five: Herbal Support Through Repression & the Hawthorn Programme

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'm so sorry it's been so long again without an episode.

And it's just been the same reasons as before of just having limited child care and kind of

time and space to prioritize the podcast.

Obviously, everything is ******* horrific in the world.

And yeah, kind of organizing and prisoner support stuff's been taking a kind of priority

in my nap times with Lee, my little one.

And yeah, I just.

I don't know, it's just.

Yeah, it's so hard to like, to even be putting

out content about anything other than what's happening in Gaza and Sudan and everywhere

else and just.

Yeah.

Anyway, I know that people listening are probably,

you know, engaged in mutual aid work and organizing and fighting this kind of horror in

the world.

So I'm just grateful for you.

For people who are doing, like, more active Frontline things, it's been very frustrating,

like not having childcare support and kind of.

Yeah, I was normally always the person doing all the things.

Do you know what I mean? And, yeah, it's been difficult just focusing

on the baby, but I also recognize the importance of,

you know, care, work and loving other humans and looking after little ones.

And I definitely don't want to devalue the importance of mothering and parenting because

parenting is super political.

So, yeah, anyway, I've been looking after my bubs.

I also taught two practical medicine making courses which were just amazing.

Like, the groups of people who came were just amazing humans.

I still miss them and just wish I could turn.

Turn the land that my stepdad owns here into

just like a huge collective site with all the queer babes living in vehicles and everything

else here.

That would be my dream one day.

But, yeah, I've mostly been teaching the courses and obviously we had this big mobile

herbal clinic fundraiser which went super well.

I'm so, so sorry if you've ordered from the us there's just been a lot of delays with the

printers and kind of miscommunications with the printers and me just being a bottleneck,

like,

you know, not being able to move money because I couldn't get on my computer because of Lee

and blah, blah, blah.

So I'm really, really sorry.

But you should have hopefully received your items by the time you've listened to this, and

folks in the UK will have definitely received theirs back in June,

if you haven't, definitely let me know because we're going to start selling the leftovers, if

that makes sense,

at various, like, events and things over the summer.

So, yeah, this is series five and I'm going to be focusing on herbal support through repress.

Yeah, I'm gonna be sharing more sort of solo episodes again.

So I'm gonna be reading some things from the Herbalism State Violence book about defendant

support and going into more depth about things like my herbal care packages and court support

packs and herbal court solidarity.

What does that look like?

And yeah, just.

Yeah, hopefully deep diving into some of the

herbs as well.

And then da, da, da, da.

I'm so excited to be back doing interviews.

I'm hoping in September to start reaching out to people to do interviews.

I'm just so excited.

I'm so bored of my own voice and doing so even.

You know, I. Solo episodes are kind of great in the sense they're easier, but I just.

There's just so many amazing people and projects that I'm so desperate to interview

and amplify and learn from.

So, yeah, I'm really excited to be getting stuck into that come September.

But in this episode, I wanted to share all about the Hawthorne program.

So this is a new program I'm launching for.

For people experiencing state repression.

And I'll stop talking about it now because

I've just recorded the whole sales page.

Well, sales page, information page.

I'm not really selling it.

It's like a kind of free solidarity offering.

But yeah, please take a listen and yeah, please apply.

I'll put the deadline for applications in the show notes.

And yeah, thank you for listening.

And yeah, I'm not sure when I'll be able to publish this, but all through July I've been

selling my ebooks on my website and sending it to a family in Gaz, the Hatim family.

So if you.

Yeah, I'm hoping I can get this out today, but if I don't, then,

yeah, that's where the funds have been going.

We've raised.

Raised nearly 500 pounds so far.

But yeah, I'm sorry that I didn't get an episode out sharing that sooner.

People that you know are on my newsletter and Instagram and stuff will have seen that.

Anyway, okay.

So yeah, thank you so much for listening.

And here is all about the Hawthorne program.

Okay, take care.

Hawthorne, a three month program of collective care, herbal solidarity for people

experiencing repression.

So yeah, so it's a program for people

experiencing state repression because of their work towards liberation.

So whether you're awaiting trial, facing prison or carrying the weight of state

repression.

This space is here to hold you.

And I really believe that no one should have to navigate repression alone.

So over three months we'll build like a container of collective care and herbal

support grounded in the amazing heart tending medicine of Hawthorne.

So you'll receive plant medicines made for you by myself and we'll also have group calls and

pre recorded content.

And then yeah, just this general feeling of community connection which I'll dive into a

bit more in this episode.

But yeah, why hawthorn?

So if you're not familiar with hawthorn, it's a really stunning tree that grows literally

everywhere where I live in the southwest England.

And yeah, it gives us medicine in the form of flowers and berries as well as just its

presence.

But yeah, it really has an affinity with the cardiovascular system and can tend the nervous

system through its like gentle relaxant action.

And yeah, aids recovery from burnout on multiple levels.

And at the beginning of the program I'll share like a real deep dive into Hawthorne's

medicinal properties.

And yeah, I think maybe I have an episode all about Hawthorne.

I'm not sure, maybe I don't actually that needs to happen.

But yeah, it's a really, really amazing tree that is like probably one of my most worked

with medicines and sort of like energetically, emotionally like.

Hawthorne offers support to grieving and distressed hearts,

bringing comfort in times of loneliness, loss and isolation that all too commonly accompany

repression.

So why this program?

So in all honesty, I am creating an offering that I would have cherished during the wave of

repression I experienced.

There was little to no collective care during what were some of the most isolating and

exhausting years of my life.

And the uncertainty, life disruption, fear and feelings of betrayal by comrades like really

took their toll on my nervous system and health.

And it was finding plant medicines in prison that gave me a path out of the maze.

And now I'm really passionate about supporting others, surviving state violence to heal from

trauma and find strength from our non human kin.

Okay, so when does it start? So it start, starts in September this year,

2025, for three months.

There is a bit of stuff beforehand.

So I'll be trying to meet with everyone one to

one to give them a bit of like a kind of bespoke call.

I had a fantasy of just sharing an intake form and that being maybe enough.

But I think yeah, people have got just complex health conditions and I, you know, I just want

to connect with people one to one.

So I'm going to be doing that.

But yeah, it's going to be in September when

we sort of like formally start having group call and create a group chat so we can get to

know each other.

And then yeah, I'll share the various bits of content for people to watch and interact with.

And yeah, I'll be posting herbal medicines out to people like through the program.

Okay, so who is it for? So yeah, it's really designed for people who

have experienced or are currently experiencing state repression because of their work towards

collective liberation.

So for example, that may include people with

pending legal cases,

you know, prison abolitionists, anarchists, antifascists, other people targeted by the

police or the courts.

And yeah, individuals living with the physical and emotional aftermath of repression.

And we're just going to be a little group of six to nine people which I'm really excited

about.

So yeah, what's included?

So there's like herbal support for your nervous system and your whole body.

So because you know, like we say nervous system, nervous system, nervous system.

But it's like everything's connected, right? Like it's all of you in your beautiful

complexity.

So that will look different to different people, but it will be a mix of teas,

tinctures, which might not be appropriate for everyone, or glycerites.

So tinctures are like herbal medicine with alcohol and glycerites are herbal medicine

with glycerin.

And yeah, these remedies will be sent to you like throughout the program.

And you know, they're kind of like we've only got three months together, right.

So we're really going to be focusing on our sort of stress response and our sleep and

yeah, a bit of digestive support and all of that will hopefully be supporting our immune

systems.

So yeah, so there's going to be fortnightly calls,

group calls offering connection education, herbal guidance and collective care.

So these will be really like gentle like non medical spaces.

We're going to be checking in with each other, seeing how we're feeling, like navigating the

repression that we're experiencing.

And yeah, just like talking about the plant medicines that we're working with and you

know, oh, I tried this and this really helped or this didn't really help or I took this and

it made me cry or like, you know, whatever, like just your experiences of herbs basically.

And then just between calls we'll communicate via a group like on signal and you know, we'll

talk at the beginning of the program of like what does that look like?

And what our sort of boundaries are around the group chat, stuff like that.

And then yeah, I'll be sharing like pre recorded content that I've made about

different herbal things and nervous system care and sort of other tools that people can

work through in their own time.

I really don't want to overwhelm people.

So a lot of that content's going to be like

completely optional of like whenever you've got the spoons to interact with it.

Okay. So yeah, I'm just as I'm just going through the course page, I'll just read what

I've written here about myself and the Solidarity Apothecary in case you are new to

the podcast and if you are, then welcome.

So yeah, about the Solidarity Apothecary so the mission of the Solidarity Apothecary is to

materially support revolutionary struggles and communities with plant medicines to strengthen

collective autonomy, self defense and resilience to climate change, capitalism and

state violence.

So yeah, that involves distributing herbal medicines to people experiencing state

violence and repression such as prisoners, ex prisoners,

excuse me,

refugees and organizers.

I also offer one to one herbal support.

I'm going to be like relaunching my one to one

clinic this autumn, which I'm excited about and I run courses and have different online

courses and workshops and I work with a separate project called the Mobile Herbal

Clinic Calais where we have a clinic for refugees on the border with France and England

in Calais.

So yeah, about Me so I'm Nicole Rose.

She her I'm an anarchist organizer and

herbalist based in the west country of England.

I live about an hour and a half south of Bristol and I've been studying herbal medicine

for over 16 years I realized and I completed a four year clinical training with the Plant

Medicine School in Ireland.

And yeah, I went through a decade of state repression at a young age culminating in a

three and a half year prison sentence.

So I think I talk about it on one of the other episodes.

But yeah, basically was involved in a campaign trying to close down an animal testing company

and we just experienced like gnarly amounts of repression and police targeting, like house

raids, arrest, being remanded,

infiltration,

like all the things and had lots of like screwed up bail conditions and license

conditions.

And yeah, I was like, I was literally like 18,

19 when well I'd already been involved in the campaign a long time since I was like 10.

But I was, yeah, I was 21 when I went to prison basically.

So it's very formative and I have spent the last 20 years.

I am 20, I am, I'm not 20, I'm 37 now and since I was 16 years old.

I've been supporting people in prison when my first boyfriend got sent to prison.

So yeah, it's over two decades of prisoner support and anti repression work.

And yeah, I just founded the Apothecary to focus on supporting people going through what

I was experiencing and obviously people experiencing other forms of state violence

with herbalism because that's my passion.

So yeah, a little bit about the program accessibility and then I'm going to go through

some of the commonly asked questions.

So yeah,

pre recorded content.

So the videos will have closed captions,

there'll be downloadable audio files and slides as well as transcripts.

Uh, we're gonna host the group calls probably on Jitsi,

but we'll just decide as a group what tech feels accessible to people.

Um, and you know, maybe we will record them and maybe we won't.

I think it's really based on everyone's like needs and desires and their, you know, legal

context and stuff.

Um, but for example, if lots of people are struggling to participate live because of

chronic illness or childcare or other things, then we may need to enable like a recorded

option.

But yeah, we'll make.

I'm trying to do this as more of a non hierarchical offering where obviously I'm the

herbalist and I'm the facilitator and I'm organizing this, but I want the group to be

really designing it and making decisions together of what can make it accessible for

people in a supportive space.

And we'll set guidelines on our group chat of what can we do to share information and

support each other and enable collective care, but also prevent information overwhelm because

I'm sure everyone's in too many group chats.

That's.

Yeah. And medicine.

So I will be doing everything bespoke, which

is a lot of work for me.

But I just.

Herbalism is so hard to do in any sort of non individualistic way because every person's

body and their health and their nervous system and their medications and everything else is

so different.

But there will be like certain medicines that hopefully everyone can take like a Hawthorne

berry glycerite or a Hawthorne flower tea that we can then kind of check in about together.

So yeah,

so applications are open now.

I need to decide when to close them.

But I've told people that I'm going to let people know this second week of August and it

is one of those funny weeks, funny months where there's.

Yeah, I'll probably try and let people know by like the 13th of August.

So if you can get your application in ASAP.

I'd really, really appreciate it.

I will finalize those dates and put them in the show notes in.

I've changed my mind by the time I edit this.

But yeah, I just think it's good for people to know sooner rather than later.

Okay, so some commonly asked questions.

Where can people apply from? So I'm really sorry, but it is really just

eligible for people from England, Wales, Scotland and the north of Ireland.

I've had terrible experiences trying to post medicines to mainland Europe or the US and

things getting stuck in customs.

And it's not so much the cost, it's more like.

It really takes me ages to prepare people's

packages.

Packages like to do a bespoke, like,

formulation and then, you know, write the label and go to the post office.

And then maybe if something gets lost, I've, like, run out of that particular, particular

herb.

So then I have to like batch make a bunch of

glycerite or something and it's just a nightmare and I just can't.

I can't do it anymore.

So I'm just saying, like, just for people from

this context is amazing.

But hopefully in the future we could, like,

find ways around that and support people more internationally.

So. Yeah. What kind of herbal support will I rece.

Um, so, yeah, I've.

I think I've covered this already, but I'll just read this again.

So it really will be prepared based on your needs,

with the kind of goal of the program to support your nervous system, health, sleep

quality and digestion while contending with the chronic stress that repression can

generate.

And I'll prepare unique medicines for you,

likely in the form of tinctures, glycerites and teas.

And what I can't make myself will be purchased from trusted suppliers, depending on the needs

of the group.

So in our, like,

intake kind of process,

you know, there might be herbs that I think would be very nourishing and supportive for

you that I maybe don't grow or harvest here because I don't have the space for it or

something or.

So, yeah, we'll figure that out.

But most things I will have made myself

because that's how I roll.

It's just a bit harder with the bab.

Okay, this is an important question.

So I'm nervous of being in a group of

strangers, especially due to my experiences of repression.

So after a decade of repression myself, like, I really understand this and I think this will

be one of the challenges of the space.

You're really welcome to participate using, like a pseudonym and.

Yeah, at the beginning of the program, we'll create some group guidelines together to help

ensure it's as nourishing as possible.

So you know, we'll talk about things like confidentiality and boundaries and yeah, I

don't want there to be any pressure for people to disclose like any legal information about

their case.

And you know, you can introduce yourself like however you want.

And really like the group calls are like this opportunity to reflect on the pre recorded

materials and share your experiences of plant medicine.

I'm trying not to create a space where everyone's just like re traumatizing each

other and having even more people to support.

Like I want it to be supportive for you and to

feel like a little safe sanctuary amidst a lot of uncertainty and stress.

But yeah, we'll talk about all of this together.

So when does it start? So like I've said, the applications are open

at the moment and I'll be processing them with a plan to start in the beginning of September.

Okay. And we'll have a signal app.

How do I do in the program?

So yeah, put your details through the online form.

You can find that link on the the course page.

I'll also put it in the show notes.

What time will the calls be? So they'll be organized during like daytime

windows.

I've got a 15 month old baby who's like the best thing ever and just bundle of joy.

And we're trying to transition him to nursery at the moment like just a couple of mornings a

week.

So yeah, I'm not basically I'm not available

in the evenings.

So to participate in the program you need to be someone that can join a call like in the

morning for example, or the afternoon.

But again we'll try and choose them for when the group can participate.

Okay, what if I can't attend the live calls? So yeah, if everyone agrees, we'll record the

calls and if not there's this other content that you can interact with.

We'll just kind of have to see how it goes.

Like maybe we'll do a second call or something

like that for people who's missed it.

I'm really aware that like organizer types have like very little time and unpredictable

schedules.

But I just, yeah, we can just do our best.

So how much does the program cost?

So at the moment it's is just like completely via donation.

So I pay for everything I do with the solidarity apothecary through course sales.

Things like the herbalism PTSD and traumatic stress course and my book sales and people

donating, which is amazing.

So thank you.

If you've ever donated to the project.

So basically, like I'm trying to cover the cost of this offering myself, like through the

solidarity apothecary.

And what I'm going to be doing, because I'm a nerd, is I'm going to be really tracking my

hours, tracking how much the medicine costs so that I can know with accuracy how like

energetically and kind of economically demanding this program is so that if I run it

again,

I can know.

Right.

I'll need to charge this amount or I'll need to fundraise this amount to cover this amount

of time.

So really this is like a kind of prototype

experiment, if that makes sense,

where I'm just kind of.

Yeah, seeing, seeing how, you know, I'm hoping

I can do it in sort of boundaried ways.

But we'll just see.

I'll just see how much time and energy and money it will take.

Okay. But yeah, any donations are really welcome.

Like if anyone on the course has a lot of, you know, economic resources or privilege or

financial resources in their campaign, for example, that could cover a donation.

That would be amazing.

Okay. I have a lot of complex and chronic health issues.

Is this program appropriate for me?

Yes and no. So chronic illness can be incredibly isolating and a group environment

will hopefully be nourishing and strengthening.

However, we may need to organize additional calls to explore your health history in more

depth to ensure safety and appropriateness of herbal medicines.

And this is obviously dependent on my availability because of caring for my little

one.

But yeah, I think,

I think basically, like,

you're gonna have different goals.

Like if you're struggling with a really long

term chronic illness,

then it, you're gonna have different goals to someone else.

Like maybe your goals are just to have to take your pain, do your daily pain scale from 10 to

an 8.

Do you know what I mean? Maybe it's to be able to sleep five hours

rather than two hours.

Like, whereas someone else's goal might be to

sleep nine hours a night.

I think.

Yeah, we just have to be realistic about that

sort of time frame.

Like I know from life experience of chronic

illness and supporting other people that it can take a long time to shift how you're

feeling.

And obviously I don't want to have this like, ableist healthism perspective of like every,

you know, every process in the body is somehow like quote unquote curable or fixable because

it's definitely not like.

So yeah, I'm just saying that if you're coming to this space with existing health challenges,

then it's not like, bang, three months and they're all gone.

Do you know what I mean?

Maybe we can continue working together one to one.

For example,

unfortunately, at the end of this program,

I've got a three week inquest for my best friend who killed himself in prison at the end

of November.

So I'm a bit nervous if I'm offering longer

term support that I might drop out a little bit, but I'll communicate that with all the

people in the program.

Yeah, I'll just make sure people are sort of stocked up with what they need before I go

into this horrible court case.

Okay, so how do I know if this program is

right for me?

So if you're currently experiencing or have impact, experience the impacts of state

repression in your organizing work and you're seeking collective care and herbal support for

resilience,

then this program is really designed for you.

And it's especially those for people who feel

isolated or alone in their experiences with legal systems, police or incarceration.

And if you're unsure, like, please just get in touch.

My email's infoolidarypathy.org oh, and that was the last question.

All right, so I'll put a link to the program in the show notes.

Please, please, please apply.

If you don't, if you're not sure that it's right for you, then there's no harm in filling

in the form because at least we'll have some contact.

Does that make sense?

And it might be,

you know, that not everyone,

because I've already had like more applications and spaces already,

but it might be that like a second offering might develop.

For example, people who are struggling with repression from, you know, from like the DWP

or because of disabilities, for example, like,

or it might be we focus on developing a program that is like explicitly around, like

burnout or explicitly around like resisting the genocide in Gaza or Do you know what I

mean?

I'm just like, like, I'm just saying that, like,

please communicate where you're at and then we can just go from there.

And yeah, I'm just trying to reach people who are experiencing repression and struggling and

in the kind of eye of the storm, so to speak.

Okay, so thank you so much for listening.

I will put the deadline for applications in

the show notes.

Please share it with anyone you think could be

interested.

And yeah, thank you 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.