Volunteering

Are you interested in learning more about how to grow medicinal herbs while also volunteering for health justice?  Do you want support in finding and creating more community opportunities for mutual aid or community herbalism work? Do you want to not only grow your own herbs, but create a home or business apothecary, mutual aid or community dispensary, or just figure out how to make the most of what you grow?

I volunteer for Herbalists Without Borders as the US Donation Distribution Network Coordinator and the US Seed Grant Program Coordinator. I grow medicinal plants here at Wholly Rooted that are donated to the HWB Donation network. Volunteers work here on site in Deerfield, WI, helping to work on inside and outside projects including, but not limited to:

• Planting seeds and managing seedlings
• Planting out herbs into prepared garden beds
• Weeding, irrigation, managing herbs throughout the summer
• Expanding growing areas, managing cultivated and wild stands
• Harvesting cultivated and wild plants, prepping them, and drying them
• Managing inventory of donated supplies into and out of the network
• Preparing items upon request for free clinics and community events throughout the US
• Making aromatherapy and herbal products from donated supplies, packaging, labeling, and shipping
• Manage inventory via lot/batch/GMP process
• Help package and ship on boxing day
• Help manage seed bank and seed grants
• Ship seeds and supplies as requested
• Harvest seeds and dry them for processing
• Process seeds, package and label for storage
• Other Misc. work associated with running a donation network, seed grant program, and growing medicinal plants for mutual aid work
• Photograph, film, and create social media for HWB to promote this work
• Help label, package, clean up, organize, sort, and sustain a large system

Volunteer Opportunities

For aspiring herbalists and herb growers in the greater Dane County, Wisconsin area, there are opportunities for learning in a hands-on environment here at Wholly Rooted farm during growing season. We live just outside of the town of Deerfield, WI, near both 94 and Highway 12. We are approximately 10 minutes to the far east side of Madison, 20 minutes from the airport, 20 minutes from Olbrich, 25 minutes from John Nolan Drive, etc. 

We grow medicinal herbs for Herbalists Without Borders here, and intake and distribute donations for free clinics, disaster response, community outreach, and community education models throughout the US. As a volunteer, learn how this system works, get hands on experience making aromatherapy and herbal products, understand inventory management, labeling, and tracking, and get your hands in the dirt as we grow seed to seed. You will learn how to grow, tend, harvest, and use the plants. You will learn how to make items as needed for the network. You will pack and ship donated supplies to free clinics and community programs throughout the US. You will learn how to run an apothecary. 

The minimum age for volunteering opportunities is 18 - though we welcome older teens and young adults. We are a LGBTQIA2+ inclusive space. 

Additional Info

My daughter is immune compromised. We take precautions to make sure she is healthy during a pandemic. We have working outdoor spaces of course where we all work in a more spread out environment. Our indoor workspace is a dedicated lower level for the donation network. This space can have open doors and windows, has air purification, and we will work to ensure people are masking indoors and that we have a limited number of folks in the space at a time. This is our home, so we want to know people will work with us to keep our family healthy, will mask, and will not come to volunteer when they are sick. Our lower level space has a bathroom as well as the kitchen space for this work. Please feel free to ask us more about how we help keep a healthy environment.