Community Herbalism Panel Discussion
In the spirit of community and sharing, we are hosting a discussion panel featuring community herbalists with experience in folk herbalism and mutual aid projects. We re-envisioned Wild Indigo Herb Fest earlier this year.
We are announcing four of our featured speakers to entice you to become a Founding Member by November 1.
Founding Members help us out by ensuring that we have the funds to get this show on the road. To show our gratitude, Founding Members will receive a special gift during the conference. To become a Founding Member, just register for the conference by November 1.
Luke and Linda Black Elk
Luke and Linda were deeply involved as Water Protectors at Standing Rock and worked to support their local community during ICE raids in Minneapolis.
Linda was raised in the Ohio valley, and her knowledge began with learning about edible and medicinal plants from her mother and grandmother, before she continued to pursue her education in field of ethnobotany.* She is author of “Watoto Unyutapi”, a field guide to edible wild plants of the Dakota people, which is now out of print. Linda served as the Director of Education at NATIFS, a Native-led nonprofit in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Luke Black Elk is a food sovereignty activist who teaches indigenous gardening, food preservation, and foraging. Luke is deeply involved with communities throughout Oceti Sakowin, the diverse tribes of the Great Plains. Luke is a board member of Tatanka Wakpala Model Sustainable Community, which is a Native non-profit on the Cheyenne River Nation, and Makoce Ikikcupi, a Native non-profit, which is a Reparative Justice project on Dakota lands in Minnesota.
Along with participating in the panel discussion, Luke and Linda will offer a walk to talk about indigenous foraging and medicine gathering, a discussion on ways to honor all our relatives, human and non-human alike, and a post-conference intensive on sharing their experiences and strategies in mutual aid.
Kat Maier
Kat is a founding member of the Botanica Mobile Clinic and Sacred Plant Traditions, a center for herbal studies in Charlottesville, Virginia, and a contributor to Mutual Aid Herbs, a project to support mutual aid herbalism with a directory of mutual aid herb projects throughout the U.S. Kat will join the panel discussion, offer a workshop called Our Medicine Bags for These Times and, present a post-conference intensive on the skills needed to build a community herbalism practice.
Leah Wolfe
Leah spent many years working as an herbal street medic, supporting frontline communities, and responding to disasters. Leah founded the Trillium Center in 2012, contributes to Mutual Aid Herbs with Kat, and recently established a new mutual aid project in NE Ohio called The Crow’s Feet. Leah will participate in the panel discussion, a plant walk, and offer a post-conference intensive called Emergent Herbalism.
Abby Artemisia
Botanist, Herbalist, Forager, Educator, and Author, Abby Artemisia, lives in Appalachian North Carolina. For the past two decades she has taught about plant identification, ethical foraging, and working with plants as food and herbs throughout the country. Her mission is offering nature and herbal education from an Antiracist perspective to create healing through connection with the natural world and each other. You can find out more at www.thewanderschool.com. Abby will be offering a plant walk, a lecture on How to be an AntiRacist Herbalist & Why It’s Important, and a post-conference intensive called Herbal Aid for Modern Times.
Register by November 1 to become a Founding Member. You will be honored with a gift at the conference to show our appreciation for your early support.
