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Holistic health access, health justice, and inclusion and diversity in herbalism are important to me. I volunteer with Herbalists Without Borders in order to support health justice, holistic health access for all, radical herbalism, and the future of our alternative wellness system locally and globally. We must truly decolonize herbalism and health care in this country to break down inequities and empower people doing this work in their own communities.
To find out more about what Health Justice, visit HWB International: Herbalists Without Borders, Intl I served as the Executive Director of Herbalists Without Borders from 2017-2022. I have stepped down from the ED role, but I continue to volunteer as the HWB US Donation Distribution Mutual Aid Network hub Coordinator and the US Seed Grant Coordinator. Mutual AidI work with HWB and community groups to create mutual aid and reciprocity based community models that empower local people to work in their own communities. I help get resources, training, education, supplies, support, and other needs to those communities so that people can continue their work and/or reach more people. By empowering people in their own communities, we are deconstructing the white savior models of aid and community work, supporting people embedded in the community, the culture, the language, and the traditions, and supporting the ongoing decolonizing and intergenerational healing that is needed in communities historically excluded from health care, holistic care, wellness, and health.
Wholly Rooted Farm is the home of the US Donation Distribution Mutual Aid Network, where we intake donations of supplies from individuals and businesses around the US, and redistribute them out to HWB free clinics and community work around the US. I manage donations for the entire US system for free clinics, community outreach programs, and community education. How does it work? People donate supplements, dried herbs, tinctures, new containers, essential oils, salve, infused oils, and other support to community programs by shipping to my location. I have a dedicated Donation Apothecary space where I inventory all incoming supplies and stock them on the shelves. I create a tax deductible donation receipt for all businesses that donate. I put the new items on our master spreadsheet where all US Coordinators can review the inventory and email me their needs list. I box and ship out to HWB groups on the first and third Mondays of the month. I pack all of the boxes up from their needs list and ship directly to them. HWB is very small budget, but we do have a shipping budget to ship a few boxes to everyone, and then clinics/chapters/projects also can raise money and pay for shipping if they need more supplies or are able to pay into the system. We also accept donations for supplies (we don't get containers donated very often so we must buy them, for example) as well as for the shipping fund. WANT TO DONATE SUPPLIES or HERBS? If you have labeled new/sealed/unexpired supplements or herbal products, essential oils, dried herbs, or new containers, we would love to accept your donation! Please email me at [email protected] and let me know what you have to donate, and I can send you our US Donation Network shipping address. Interested in seeing our needs list? Visit this page. Are you in South Central Wisconsin and interested in donating? We do arrange for outside drop-offs of donated supplies here at our farm. Just email me and I can share our address. We are unable to accept opened or improperly labeled items due to safety and liability issues. You can also ship to us - we accept donated supplies of all sizes from small bags of herbs to pallets. Wholly Rooted also grows herbs for free clinics, and we donate a percentage of what we grow into this system. While we encourage chapters to grow medicinal herbs if they can, not all of us live where we have access to land, many groups serve a large number of people and therefore could not grow everything they need, and when disasters happen, we often need to move large quantities of supplies for disaster relief, so having donated supplies here in our central location ready to ship exactly what is needed to everyone that needs it is important! Wholly Rooted Farm is the home of the HWB Seed Grant program where donated and gathered seeds are collected and redistributed out to communities growing food, medicine, and community, in gardens around the US. I have distributed thousands of packets of seeds over the past 5 years, and will continue to manage the US Seed Grants for HWB. To find out more about the work of HWB, visit: http://www.hwbglobal.org/ Resilience, Restorative Processes, and Social PermacultureI believe that permaculture practices and restorative principles can be used to break down the white dominant social systems that maintain the status quo, and that through our facilitation and support of restorative relationships, we can break down the systems that exist to keep people marginalized and disempowered.
Resilience Is also the state of being adaptable to changing conditions and recover quickly from difficulty. I feel that social permaculture looks at those relationships and structures and address inequity in systems to help make fundamental change and build resilience into the system. It is always a work in progress, I don't have all the answers, but I strive to be a white ally, here to listen to people's real experiences and help support them in their path to empowerment and change. I have a Permaculture and Advanced Systems Design Certification via the Permaculture Women's Guild. HWB Donation Distribution Mutual Aid NetworkI accept donated supplies on behalf of HWB from large supplement companies, small businesses, herb farmers, herb schools, product makers, and individuals, and redistribute those donated supplies to HWB groups providing free clinics, community supported models, mutual aid, and disaster relief throughout the US. While creating a local network and system of support is best, none of us can get everything we need in our own backyard. Our communities are also often at disadvantage due to the inequity and inequality from a history of colonization and oppressive models, making those communities that need the most, have access to the least. By creating this central hub, we can equitably distribute resources to those that need them, when they need them, while reducing manpower and waste. I am currently managing the entire US Distribution Network at my farm. I intake donations of supplies every day, and I box and ship requested supplies from our network spreadsheet inventory every other Monday. To see our HWB wishlist, visit this link, and to see some of the donors and supporters that contribute into this system, visit this page. 100% of the donated supplies go right back out to communities in need and to community based models! Interested in being a part of this network? Join HWB as a Member and then form a Chapter, Clinic, or Project!
Speaking and PresentingI do speak and present on health justice, humanitarian aid, community health models, and health justice from the lens of social permaculture. See my webinar/podcast/presentation page for more information.
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