Community Medicine Making Days

The idea for Community Medicine Making Days grew out of a variety of experiences in the early days of Gather & Grow. 

While teaching at Randolph School, Christina got to set up herbal projects for kids across the school, ages 3-11, to work on together. We harvested and dried Dandelion, made hydrosols from plants growing around the school, and blended teas for community events like the annual fall Harvest Feast. At the same time, they began to integrate their herbalism practice into their community organizing work, hosting tea stations at marches and vigils, and supporting activists with free herbal medicine. In April of 2023, Christina worked with a friend and fellow herbalist, Amy White Eyes, to offer herbal medicine and a healing space to students at SUNY New Paltz who had been arrested for their activism around Palestinian liberation. And lastly, Christina began to offer hands-on medicine making stations at local events, such as BCAN's annual Taproots Festival and Queer Family Network's Trans Day of Liberation.

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Through all of these experiences, Christina realized the magic of herbcrafting in community. They created Gather & Grow craving free, accessible spaces where people of different ages and backgrounds can come together to learn with and from each other. 

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Inspired by the work of their friend and mentor, Anne Dunlap of Fierce Rev Remedies and Liberating Lineages Collective, we decided to make Community Medicine Making Days an exchange-based offering. Participants are asked to bring an ingredient or supply as an offering to the space. In return, they leave with handmade medicine, new experiences and knowledge, and deeper community connections. We hope you will join us!