It’s a little scary starting an endeavor such as the Wild Indigo Herb Fest. Have you ever thrown a party and chewed your fingernails to nibs wondering if anyone would come?
That’s how it feels. This process of creating an event that requires time and money and people.
But that feeling waned when I drew up our full line up of herbalists, ethnobotanists, naturalists, and plain ole’ flora and fauna devotees.
We asked presenters to choose a category for their presentations: kids programming, mutual aid and community herbalism, folk herbalism, clinical herbalism, and cross pollination. If you missed our last blog, visit Next Generation Herbalists or visit our Kids Fest page.
It’s all coming together bit by bit in a way that is place-based and Earth-bound. We hope it will be a wonderful retreat from the madness of the world where we can heal, make friends, cross pollinate, and then head back out into the fray.
Mutual Aid & Community Herbalism
Given the state of our nation, I’ll focus a bit more on mutual aid and community herbalism.
Mutual aid is the act of helping others in times of need. Sometimes mutual aid agreements are codified such as those between rural fire departments or disaster organizations.
Community herbalism overlaps with mutual aid, usually in long-term projects that address community-specific needs. Community herbalism addresses local needs, filling gaps for people without health insurance, focusing on health justice, increasing access to herbs through education, free clinics, and medicine making parties. Community herbal projects are unique, reflecting the people involved.
Mutual aid is often spontaneous and community-based. Mutual aid rises up in the face of disaster. It doesn’t matter whether the disaster is environmental or political. And there’s no shortage of disasters in these very strange times.
Here are some resources if you’re looking for help or want to help:
Herbal Mutual Aid Directory and Herbal Mutual Aid Directory Map
Resources: supporting community during ICE operations by Minnesota Council of Nonprofits
Folk Herbalism
Folk herbalism often overlaps with community herbalism. Folk herbalism draws in the threads of place-based or inherited culture and the lore embedded in those cultures and places. For instance, Appalachian herbalism has threads drawn from the wisdom and traditions of Africa, Scotland, Ireland, England, German, indigenous North Americans, and others. Folk herbalists are often also historians, folklorists, and artists. This track at Wild Indigo Herb Fest includes herbal dyes, herb lore, story magic, graveyard flora, traditional healing techniques, and healing roles extending beyond herbalism as a clinical practice.
Clinical Herbalism
Not surprisingly we have a long list of clinical topics that will appeal to anyone who wants to focus on herbs for body systems, specific conditions, tissue states, and assessment techniques.
Medicine Making
An herb conference without medicine making would be incomplete. Topics include jams, jellies, cough drops, and syrups, and a bit of phytochemistry.
Cross Pollination
Cross pollination is our goal from two angles. One we want the kind of cross pollination that happens when herbalists from different regions meet, and two we want to recognize the multidisciplinary nature of herbalism crossing the divides of botany, ethnobotany, biology, chemistry, medicine, body work, sound healing, sociology, folk tradition and art.
Right now we are crunching the schedule, figuring out how to squeeze it all together. We’ll release all the topics as soon as we have confirmation of them all.
In the meantime, see all of our presenters’ shining faces and read their bios here.
Bee a Sponsor
We are grateful for our early sponsors, but we need a few more to make this debut event a smashing success. Click here to learn about becoming a sponsor or pass the word on to businesses or organizations with like minds.
Creating a Vibrant Market
We are seeking vendors and food trucks. Check out the vending info here. Many of our presenters will be vending, but we also invite local vendors to get involved.
Spread the word!
