What is radical herbalism? For me, radical herbalism is about getting to the root of health issues. The word radical means “going to the root.” I believe that every person has a right to good health. This goes beyond providing health care. Do you see the difference?
What I see is that health care in the U.S. is largely centered around the treatment of disease. This approach to health means that most people get help after they are already sick. Programs that emphasize prevention and wellness are becoming more common because it’s becoming more clear that many of the most common health issues can be prevented with a good diet, clean water and air, and exercise.
Once upon a time, herbalism was daily part of life. So as I see it, one aspect of radical herbalism is about re-integrating herbalism into daily life. But I can’t stop there. After studying for a masters degree in public health, I learned more about how everything is interconnected and that good health is more complex than just telling people to eat better and exercise more. What if they live in a place where fresh and whole foods aren’t available? What if they can’t afford the health food prices? What if they don’t know the foods they are eating aren’t the best thing? So we’re talking about access to food, knowledge about healthy foods (which changes all the time depending on what’s in the news), cultural ideas about food, the social impact on why we eat what we eat and so on.
So how do you get to the root of the problem?
Join me for a class on radical herbalism and the different ways that herbalism can become part of daily living at the United Plant Savers Botanical Sanctuary in Rutland, Ohio. If you’d like to learn about how to get to the root of your own health issues, or how to create projects that consider root issues, this might be the class for you. Here is the flier with details.
Viriditas,
Leah Wolfe
P.S. The photo above is me teaching at the RadHerb gathering at Farmacy Herbs!
Click here to register now!
Workshop Activities
- Stories from the streets & fields
- How to create a radical herb project
- Indispensable herbs
- A plant walk
- A pop-up herb tent
- Slide-show of the Trillium Center’s botanical sanctuary & other projects.
- Discussion on herb safety & the ethics of free clinics
Join Leah Wolfe, MPH, herbalist, health educator & street medic, to follow her journey through radical herbalism; first stop, seventeenth century Ireland & on to coal country, the mountains of the west, post-earthquake Haiti, the fracking-waste front lines, Standing Rock, & the final destination, a rust belt food desert. Wolfe started the Trillium Center in 2013 to bring herbal education & ethics to local & regional communities. Learn more at trilliumcenter.org. Contact us at 440.812.9921 or leah@trilliumcenter.org
Click here to register now!
Trillium Center 