Mountain Rose Herbs Releases Its 2023 Impact Report
In a world where every action leaves a mark, the question isn’t whether we make an impact but rather how we make an impact. Enter the realm of “impact reports”— a transparent lens where companies provide a comprehensive overview of their operations, initiatives, and contributions. It’s not just about the triple bottom line — it’s about revealing the full scope of their footprint. This transparency helps bridge the gap between intention and action, ensuring companies build strong relationships by following through with commitments to responsible business practices.
Seedkeepers, with Rowen White | Tea Talks with Jiling
Rowen White is a Seed Keeper, farmer, and author from the Mohawk community of Akwesasne and a passionate activist for indigenous seed and food sovereignty. She is the Educational Director and lead mentor of Sierra Seeds, an innovative Indigenous seed bank and land-based educational organization located in Nevada City, CA. Rowen is the Founder of the Indigenous Seedkeepers Network, which is committed to restoring the Indigenous Seed Commons, and currently serves as a Cooperative Seed Hub Coordinator.
Interviews on Herbal Radio with Thomas Dick | Featuring Ruby Daniels
This week’s episode of Herbal Radio features the botanical spiritualist, conservation-focused farmer, and owner of Creasy Jane’s herbal remedy store, Ruby Daniels. As a young girl, Ruby spent many of her summers in West Virginia roaming around the outdoors and crafting herbal concoctions with plants she’d find along her adventures. Inspired by her grandmother, a wise herbal healer in her community, Ruby was intrigued to unlock the spiritual connection between humans and the botanicals surrounding us. Today, Ruby is an advocate for sustainable farming and wild harvesting practices through her soil conservation work with USDA, along with sharing Afrolachian history and herbal remedies through her business, Creasy Jane’s, which was inspired by her grandmother and many other herbal healers in her community.
BIPOC Community Herbalist Group Discussion | with Lucretia Van Dyke
Welcome back to Herbal Radio plant people! We’re thrilled to share this special episode with you this week to highlight the BIPOC herbalist community in acknowledgment of Black History Month. We’ve opened our platform up to amplify the voices of 5 BIPOC community herbalists and activists for an impactful and thought-provoking group discussion.
Our featured guest host and long-time good friend, Lucretia Van Dyke, is joined with Christina Lynch, Khetnu Nefer, Tyrone Ledford, and Ruby Daniels to explore the topic of Black History Month and share their unique and collective experiences being Black individuals in the world of herbalism.
We’d like to extend our gratitude for joining us for this necessary and impactful discussion today. Thank you, as always, for tagging along for another botanical adventure!
The Oral Tradition of Caribbean Herbalism
The Caribbean islands, scattered between North and South America, are a hotspot of weather, plant biodiversity, and culture. Islands range from tropical rainforests to chilly mountain peaks, some densely saturated with remote mogotes: isolated, steep-sided mounds on otherwise flat plains. The high humidity and rainfall contribute to a lush flora and fauna. There are over 11,000 discovered plant species, 189 amphibian species, and 564 bird species. The Caribbean’s herbal traditions are rooted in this abundance of biodiversity.
When I am in Puerto Rico visiting my family, I wake up to humidity and roosters calling. I remember this from my youth, too. I grew up mostly in Charlotte, North Carolina, but I came to Puerto Rico for long summer vacations and holidays to visit my grandparents and cousins. As an adult, I come back to see my family, to reconnect to the land, to learn more about myself. The knowledge my family and others have about the plants on the island is not a niche concept that makes them “herbalists” or “healers;” it is the common knowledge of a people about the world they inhabit.
Plant Stories | Featuring Kristy Bredin
This week’s Plant Stories episode features the marine herbalist, purveyor of seaweeds, and founder of Mermaid Botanicals, Kristy Bredin. With a passion for exploration, wildcrafting, and utilizing the medicinal plants of the Pacific Northwest, Kristy found herself drawn to the eldest marine ancestors of all botanicals we know today, seaweeds! We sit down with Kristy and learn about her journey that began through apprenticeships with wise herbalists who embarked her on her journey into the vast ocean of herbalism, wildcrafting, and seaweed activism. Kristy shares with us her profound knowledge of the ancient history of seaweeds, responsible seaweed harvesting practices, utilizing seaweeds as plant medicine, and even her recipe for kelp pickles!
Herbal Aphrodisiacs | Tea Talks Roundtable
*Disclaimer – This episode explores themes of sexual nature and may not be suitable for all audiences.*
Herbal Aphrodisiacs | Tea Talks Roundtable
In this “Tea Talks Roundtable,” Jiling discusses Herbal Aphrodisiacs with herbalists Kimberly Gallagher, Lucretia Vandyke, Marie White, and jim mcdonald.
We explore:
Defining “aphrodisiac”
“Aphrodisiac” herbal actions and examples
How we can make space for pleasure as a culture
Delicious aphrodisiac recipes
Botanical lubricants
Topical kava preparations
Some beautiful sensual poetry
Plant Stories | Featuring Felicia Cocotzin Ruiz
This week’s guest on Herbal Radio is the wise-spirited author and curandera (ku·ran·de·ra), Felicia Cocotzin Ruiz. We recorded our interview with Felicia prior to her keynote presentation for the 2023 Fall Virtual Free Herbalism Project, so be sure to check out her recorded presentation after listening to this episode!
In Felicia’s words, Curanderismo (ku·ran·de·ris·mo) is a 500-year-old traditional healing practice that is still in existence today. It is influenced by Spanish, Indigenous Mexican, the Moors, West African, and Native American traditional healing practices, and is a result of the blending of these cultures during colonization.
Indigenous Burning Practices in Wildfire Management & Native Plant Propagation
On a warm October afternoon in 2021, roughly 40 personnel from Oregon forest agencies, area tribes, and conservation groups, including the Long Tom Watershed Council, gathered on the Andrew Reasoner Wildlife Preserve outside Eugene. Among them were a dozen Native American firefighter trainees who had spent the week learning the essentials of wildfire suppression. That the culmination of their training would be the deliberate burning of an eight-acre parcel of land might strike some as contrary, even outrageous. As a former National Park Ranger who served as a firefighter in the early 90s, this certainly flew in the face of the training I’d received.
Plant Stories | Featuring Richo Cech & Co-Host Jiling Lin
On this episode of Plant Stories on Herbal Radio, we had the opportunity to speak with the acclaimed and enthralling herbalist, Richo Cech. We dive deep into Richo’s life and passions, discussing everything from his seed-seeking adventures in Africa, to captivating stories of how he grew Strictly Medicinal Seeds from the ground up (pun-intended).
Richo Cech started his professional work as an archaeologist and ethnobotanist in East Africa. Upon his return to the United States in 1978, he began cultivating and saving the seed of medicinal plants. Over the years, his gardens have become the basis for Strictly Medicinal Seeds, growers of organic, open pollinated and GMO-free seed and plants of medicinal herbs, culinary herbs, succulents, trees, and garden vegetables. Richo and his family produce a popular, bi-yearly, hand-illustrated seed catalog that provides access to this collection of common, quirky, eclectic, and bizarre seeds and plants. Richo is author of “Making Plant Medicine” (2000), “Growing At-Risk Medicinal Herbs” (2002), and “Growing Plant Medicine” (2009).
Richo has botanized in China and Africa, resulting in the introduction of many new and exciting medicinal herb species to gardeners throughout the world.
