herbalism and decolonial gardening ressources

19 Sep 2021

I felt compelled today the regroup the nice media I’ve consumed about the topic of herbalism and gardening from some sort of decolonial lens. It’s a logical continuation of the feelings I have found in myself while writing my last post in the mouth of the lion, i.e. that I am deeply sensitive and interested in gardening and interacting with plants as a way to nurture the collective dimension of human life.

So here’s some great podcast I’ve listened to these days :

• Restorative Agriculture : Gardening, Homesteading, & Permaculture by Revolutionary Left Radio, emphasis on gardening/permaculture as a way to be resilient and useful for our communities in the incertain times to come + critique of the whiteness in the permaculture world, needing to reindigezine our practice
• Ann Armbrecht: Healing with herbalism and its deeper relational values by Green Dreamer , covers herbalism at large, but talks more specifically about the commodification of plants, also includes an invitation to rethink our relation to healing and medecine in general, emphasis put on connecting with our local plants (Green Dreamer podcast is wholesome in general, probably my fav podcast at the moment)
• To follow up with the Rev Left Radio episode, the guest of the already mentioned episode, Sole has his own podcast Propaganda by the Seed which I haven’t tried yet, but I am sure I will enjoy it because hey when comrades/revolutionaries meet plants, I always enjoy it
• rise up! good witch podcast is also a good one I’ve been enjoying this last year, it is more on the spiritual/esoteric side, but still very militant, the host likes to highlight people’s plant origin story (that is, to cover how they came to herbalism) and it’s a very interesting way to approach herbalism in my opinion

Now time to turn to the interesting books :

• I’ve added Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer to my ereader after the already mentioned Rev left podcast episode, which is a book about the indigineous ways of taking care of the land to what I’ve understand, and I’m very excited to start it. Sole said it adds to the poetic dimension of gardening and this book made him cry a lot. I also downloaded Gaia’s Garden following his recommendations, which is apparently a classic of permaculture litterature, but I feel like I will enjoy it less because it seems like a practical guide for people who owns landLa ré
• The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming by Masanobu Fukuoka. This is a book I’ve enjoyed a few years ago. It’s, in some way, a japanese permaculture book but with a mix of anarchism and buddhism and it really resonated with me. I need to re-reagood it some day.
• Radical Remedies by Brittany Ducham is a book about using herbalism for self-care and self-healing but it looks like uber wholesome. It’s like a kitchen witchcraft guidebook. It oftens cross my instagram feed and I always say to myself that I need to gift it to me.

Meanwhile, I also put my name in the waiting list for this online AEC en production maraîchère biologique of the Cégep de de Victoriaville (just in prevision for the next existential crisis you know). I’m already daydreaming of doing my intership at the farm of Santropol Roulant hahaha

Hopefully, I’ll update this post with time!