10/10/2026
💛 September Herbalism Series Recap: Community Care with Freedom Fighter Herbs
What does it look like to slow down, soften, and allow ourselves to receive care, especially when so much of our lives and organizing asks us to constantly give, respond, and keep going?
For our September Ancestral Intelligence: Technologies of the Earth gathering, we welcomed Freedom Fighter Herbs to explore herbalism as a practice of collective care, nourishment, and moving at the pace of our bodies.
Building on Aug’s heart-opening rose medicine, this gathering invited us to practice something that can feel surprisingly difficult: allowing ourselves to be cared for.
The FFH team embodied that invitation beautifully.
From sharing the principles guiding their abolitionist herbal mutual aid work to preparing herbal salt blends, heating water, tending foot baths, and cleaning/resetting stations so everyone could receive medicine, every detail reflected such intentionality, generosity, and love.
For many, it was their first herbal foot soak. As folks settled in, we offered a sound bath to invite more ease, softness, and presence. FFH even brought their own herbal medicines for our community to sample and take home, extending that care beyond our gathering.
And none of it happened alone. Our El Paseo stewardship team jumped in to tend the fire, harvest fresh herbs, and help bring everything together.
This was collective care in action. From the plants and fire to the water, sound, and many hands tending to one another, there was so much sweetness and magic in making space to give and receive.
A huge thank you to FFH for the generosity, wisdom, and medicine you shared. Your work reminds us that responding to urgent needs and honoring the slower rhythms of our bodies are both necessary to sustain ourselves, our communities, and our movements for liberation.
Tomorrow is bittersweet as we gather for our final herbalism workshop of the season at El Paseo’s Harvest Fest! Check out our previous post for details and come visit our table.
As harvest season closes, we’re excited for the seeds we’ve planted together and all that is still to grow 🌿
