Historically...
I made a practice of having my Fridays be my medicine making days. began hosting Friday apothecary days in 2020 at what is now known as the Herb House. A small group of people attended on and off over the years. as the farm business grew and my vision to have a farm and herb practice of sharing and learning in community and commitment to gifting my surplus to community developed, I began a pilot of having an herb learner in residence to help me manage the land, hold space for community and staff a free booth at a local farmers market. I have taken a break as of October 2025 and though we have had one off gatherings and shared space I am in process of looking at what it will look like to relaunch community days at the Herb House. AND what it looks like to build something in community that is shared, sustainable and for us by us. below you can see what I've been cooking up. I'd love for new collaborators and to reconnect with past collaborators.
As these systems crumble around us. I know we can come together to build something to shelter us from the fall out.
How we practice mutual aid at the Community Herb Library
At Community Herb Library we strive to flatten hierarchy, searching for collective decision-making across participating people who are committed to the sustainability or our project and desire to bring herbal medicine learning and access of herbal offerings to our varying communities rather than placing leadership within a closed executive team. With this joint decision-making, all participating members are empowered to enact change and take responsibility for the direction of programing and venues in which the herbs grown here and herbal offerings find their home. Community Herb Library participants work together to figure out strategies and resources to meet each other's community needs for access to herbs/herbal medicine and herbal medicine knowledge in an overwhelmingly extractive and white supremacist herb industrial complex that created the illusion shortages and barriers to accessing our ancestral ways of healing and connecting in the first place.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_aidhttps://www.mutualaid.coop/what-is-mutual-aid/
https://www.thecut.com/2020/09/what-exactly-is-mutual-aid-how-to-get-involved.html
: reciprocal aid and cooperation as among individuals in social groups
“Mutual aid.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mutual%20aid. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
Realities of the structures we exist in and challenges and navigation we must make together
Community Herb Library is a private residence. The person who is financially responsible for the house and management of the land lives on the premises.
I am the person who is currently in residence is disabled and receives benefits from the federal government and that money is what pays for the overhead expenses of this space. This does not include Herbal Supplies. It is limited to mortgage, utilities, taxes, internet, food and toiletries and laundry- labor that is required to maintain the garden spaces and harvest the herbs and processing that doesn't get completed with community support. I can not do it all alone and the more help I can get the more we can offer to the community. In order for this to be a community project, this requires community support, buy-in and participation.
Security Culture
This is a private residence and we prioritize the safety of People of the Global Majority, Gender Expansive People, People with Disabilities, and Survivors of Violence.
We don't tolerate abuses of any kind and are deeply committed to dismantling Patriarchy, Capitalism, and White Supremacy and all the ways it shows up around us and in us.
DO NOT share our location with others. If you are mentioning gatherings some questions to consider before inviting others as we will ask these of you when you want to extend an invitation to others to join this space
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating send a message. Spring of 2026 we hope to refresh how we are doing this work with new collaborators.
I made a practice of having my Fridays be my medicine making days. began hosting Friday apothecary days in 2020 at what is now known as the Herb House. A small group of people attended on and off over the years. as the farm business grew and my vision to have a farm and herb practice of sharing and learning in community and commitment to gifting my surplus to community developed, I began a pilot of having an herb learner in residence to help me manage the land, hold space for community and staff a free booth at a local farmers market. I have taken a break as of October 2025 and though we have had one off gatherings and shared space I am in process of looking at what it will look like to relaunch community days at the Herb House. AND what it looks like to build something in community that is shared, sustainable and for us by us. below you can see what I've been cooking up. I'd love for new collaborators and to reconnect with past collaborators.
As these systems crumble around us. I know we can come together to build something to shelter us from the fall out.
How we practice mutual aid at the Community Herb Library
At Community Herb Library we strive to flatten hierarchy, searching for collective decision-making across participating people who are committed to the sustainability or our project and desire to bring herbal medicine learning and access of herbal offerings to our varying communities rather than placing leadership within a closed executive team. With this joint decision-making, all participating members are empowered to enact change and take responsibility for the direction of programing and venues in which the herbs grown here and herbal offerings find their home. Community Herb Library participants work together to figure out strategies and resources to meet each other's community needs for access to herbs/herbal medicine and herbal medicine knowledge in an overwhelmingly extractive and white supremacist herb industrial complex that created the illusion shortages and barriers to accessing our ancestral ways of healing and connecting in the first place.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_aidhttps://www.mutualaid.coop/what-is-mutual-aid/
https://www.thecut.com/2020/09/what-exactly-is-mutual-aid-how-to-get-involved.html
: reciprocal aid and cooperation as among individuals in social groups
“Mutual aid.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mutual%20aid. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
Realities of the structures we exist in and challenges and navigation we must make together
Community Herb Library is a private residence. The person who is financially responsible for the house and management of the land lives on the premises.
I am the person who is currently in residence is disabled and receives benefits from the federal government and that money is what pays for the overhead expenses of this space. This does not include Herbal Supplies. It is limited to mortgage, utilities, taxes, internet, food and toiletries and laundry- labor that is required to maintain the garden spaces and harvest the herbs and processing that doesn't get completed with community support. I can not do it all alone and the more help I can get the more we can offer to the community. In order for this to be a community project, this requires community support, buy-in and participation.
Security Culture
This is a private residence and we prioritize the safety of People of the Global Majority, Gender Expansive People, People with Disabilities, and Survivors of Violence.
We don't tolerate abuses of any kind and are deeply committed to dismantling Patriarchy, Capitalism, and White Supremacy and all the ways it shows up around us and in us.
DO NOT share our location with others. If you are mentioning gatherings some questions to consider before inviting others as we will ask these of you when you want to extend an invitation to others to join this space
If you are interested in connecting and collaborating send a message. Spring of 2026 we hope to refresh how we are doing this work with new collaborators.
