An ode to the many forms of community herbalism, where plants and people cultivate each other.
Whether you live rurally or in the middle of a metropolis, it’s likely that there are seeds of community herbalism, providing a hub of rambunctious connection between fellow locals and local nature. Below is a round-up of some thriving initiatives that weave vibrant networks of support, solidarity, joy and health by way of access to medicinal herbs, both in the garden and in the cup of tea you’ll doubtless be offered. The featured organisations are mostly UK-centric, given the location of the Herbal Reality team, but if you’re reading this elsewhere and know of a community herbalism project that deserves to be featured, send a run-down over to info@herbalreality.com.
When we start interacting with herbs, it quickly becomes clear that their medicine is not only in what we ingest but also in the spaces that spring up around those plants. The gardens in which they grow, the places in which people gather together to process them into medicines, the opportunities for movement and socialising that bud organically from where people and plants spend time.
Movement in Thyme
Movement in Thyme brings those special spaces to you, offering a range of workshops in movement and herbalism that can be accessed individually or as retreats. Their focus is making wellbeing through nature connection accessible, with movement and herbs being natural centre points. See more at https://www.movementinthyme.com.
Seed Sistas
The Seed Sistas Kazz and Fi are committed to creating community herb gardens that nourish connection while facilitating fun and flair. Involved with the Community Apothecary (see description also in this round-up), they have also facilitated the herbal journeys of the many who embark on their Sensory Herbalism apprenticeship. Their books and courses are gateways to the magic of herbs and healing. See their web-based garden at https://seedsistas.co.uk/.
Sacred Seeds
The Sacred Seeds team are keen to bring volunteers to their community-supported herbalism (like community-supported agriculture, but for herbs) plot to share growing and company. It’s a place for workshops and a full dive into herb-growing inspiration at https://www.sacredseeds.org.uk/.
Community herbal clinics
Community herbal clinics, making themselves accessible to as many as possible both geographically and economically, provide services to those for whom other types of healthcare are not an option or have not been supportive. While home herbal remedies may suffice for self-limiting conditions, these clinics offer the benefit of examination and advice from qualified medical herbalists who can offer support that exceeds what is possible at home. Often, those who see patients with health concerns are also passionate about spreading herbal knowledge, keen to enable anyone who wants to keep themselves well using medicinal herbs.
Living Medicine is a fantastic organisation that runs workshops and courses in self-care, centred around food and home herbalism. Medical herbalists share their wisdom on healing plants and food and the courses are tailored to public community groups and social prescribing. This video shares more from the founder herbalist Alex Laird.
The Solidarity Apothecary grew out of clinical herbalist Nicole Rose’s work supporting frontline organisers, defendants, ex-prisoners and prisoner families with plant medicines after she spent years incarcerated for activism. Solidarity Apothecary offers consultations to address health needs, as well as courses, workshops, a podcast, a book and information in support of rebuilding a society based on solidarity rather than domination. A true dandelion pushing through the cracks, find out more at https://solidarityapothecary.org/.
Edinburgh-based Grass Roots Remedies offers low-cost herbal medicine consultations at the Wester Hailes clinic, which runs alongside NHS services out of the Wester Hailes Healthy Living Centre. They have a medicinal herb garden that provides herbs for some of the remedies prescribed and have won a variety of awards for their services, which include workshops and courses. Read on at https://grassrootsremedies.co.uk.
Sprouting from the Scottish Radical Herbal Network, the Herbal Unity Clinic operates in Glasgow to offer affordable herbal healthcare, particularly to people without papers. They also run study groups and workshops to share skills and knowledge in keeping well during troubling times. More details can be found at https://radicalherbalscotland.co.uk/directory/unity-herbal-clinic/.
Rhizome Community Herbal Clinic is a busy Bristol clinic that offers a sliding scale fee structure for treatment, as well as opportunities to grow at their medicine garden in St Werburgh’s. The Bristol chapter of Herbalists Without Borders happens alongside the other Rhizome activities, enabling people to deepen their medicine-making practice while sourcing materials for herbalists to treat those with little access to other medical care. Rhizome also offer in-person and online courses for those wishing to up-skill in self- and community care – find out more at www.rhizomeclinic.org.uk.
Hopping across the pond to Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Herbalista must be mentioned, a free clinic on wheels that has since grown to support a wonderful range of herbal healthcare services, from foot clinics to bicycle dispensaries. They offer plant rambles for those wanting to learn more about the herbal allies around, ways to get involved with growing and medicine making. There’s plenty to explore at https://herbalista.org/.
The Mobile Herbal Clinic is truly a project to support, having helped over 6000 refugees living in the vicinity of Calais and Dunkirk to access herbal medicines since 2019. Every month, a mobile clinic is set up for a week, taking fresh supplies and a skilled team out from England. There are herbalist and non-herbalist volunteering roles, both behind the scenes and on the ground. To find out more, visit https://mobileherbalclinic.org/.
Through Hedge Herbs, you can find herbal consultations, but also a wealth of workshops, walks, and events happening through the Community Apothecary. The Community Apothecary is a community interest company rooted in the triad of gardens, learning and medicines, and with the hands of their network, they establish medicine gardens in the London borough of Waltham Forest. More can be found at http://www.hedgeherbs.org.uk/community-apothecary/.
Nature and nurture projects
Some projects specifically nurture the intersection between nature and culture, acknowledging that most everyone feels deeply refreshed by an opportunity to spend time in beautiful outdoor areas while celebrating human creativity. In urban areas, culture can sometimes lack grounding in the nature that nourishes us and provides all our materials, but the following initiatives exemplify how nature and culture enrich and inspire each other, and all those who partake.
May Project Gardens, a south London centre that sees permaculture principles intersecting with arts, culture and life up-skilling, welcomes the public at their open Sundays, 12-4 pm. Established by Ian Solomon-Kawall, the garden is located in what was previously his mother’s garden, now home to a schedule of performances, host to mental health-supporting team away days, and headquarters of the accredited Hip Hop Garden programme that engages young people with life skills through the universal language and culture of hip-hop. They welcome people who have time and talent to share in support of the project, as well as visitors – find out more at https://www.mayproject.org/.
Phytology is an East London cultural institute that hosts artists in residence at their outdoor learning, making and exhibition space. The medicine garden there has been cultivated by herbalists including Rasheeqa Ahmad, and raw ingredients harvested there have been used to make the balms, syrups and vinegars Herbalists Without Borders offer in their clinics. Like herbalism itself, bridging art and science, medicine and culture, Phytology’s work is inherently interdisciplinary and seeks both to express and remedy the environmental and social complexities woven into city life. To visit or find out about events and projects hosted at the Bethnal Green Nature Reserve, visit Phytology’s website https://www.phytology.org.uk/.
Closely linked with Phytology is the Mobile Apothecary, supporting underserved communities in East London by distributing herbal medicines from their bicycle dispensary, usually right next to the Refugee Kitchen. Hot meal and a tonic – what could be better? The project hosts harvesting and making sessions in affiliation with Phytology and Herbalists Without Borders, sharing skills with those who are interested and generating materials for the Mobile Herbal Clinic that goes to France each month. Details on where to find them at https://mobileapothecary.org.uk/.
Summary
This quick round-up is just a tiny glimpse of the type of energy happening in the community herbalism space, mostly in the UK. Look around your area, and it will take you almost no time at all to locate the community medicine garden, maybe linked with a local seasonal produce cafe, the Transition Town group, the library or health centre. These groups usually welcome volunteers and those who want to soak up the calm and joy that tends to permeate a space in which plants and people are cultivated and cared for. If there really isn’t one, perhaps it’s your moment to begin! Any of these organisations would be happy to talk to someone starting up a herbal hub space, to smooth the way as much as possible. The abandoned lot full of weeds, the near corner of the local park, and outside the community centre are all places brimming with potential to draw people and good cheer in, rather than be ignored by passers-by. Happy planting!
