All about the incredible medicinal qualities of Rose. Plus exciting announcements!

Content warning - mentions of imprisonment, solitary confinement, border violence

Links & resources from this episode

• Plants Know No Borders T-shirts fundraiser
• Solidarity Knows No Borders T-shirts fundraiser
• Demonstration for Kevan (see @solidarity.apothecary instagram)
• Prisoner’s Herbal Book
• Innocence and Corruption: an abolitionist understanding of youth oppression kickstarter
• The Anima Print

Welcome to the Frontline Herbalism podcast with your host, Nicole Rose from the Solidarity Apothecary.

This is your place for all things plants and liberation.

Let's get started.

Hey friends, how are you doing?

Oh, I'm very sad cuz this is like the last plant profile in the prisoner's herbal book.

But I'm very happy because it's all about rose and yeah, the focus of the book is more about kind of like general uses of rose petals, for example.

And it's not as kind of explicit as you know, making amazing medicine like rose tincture or rose petal glycerine, which you can't do in prison.

, because, you know, rose is like a huge ally of mine.

I talk about Rose a lot in the herbalism, PTSD and traumatic stress course.

, you know, there's like so many deep fascinating different dimensions to Rose and it's kind of affinity for people who are often very like, inflamed, inflamed blood vessels, you know, from kind of being in like fight or flight all the time.

But yeah, so this is not the only podcast I will ever do about Rose, if that makes sense.

This is just a reading from the prisoner's herbal book, , with some kind of like thrifty little things you can do with rose petals, , written for people in prison, but yes, some other news.

, so yeah, I am a little bit tired.

I had a very long week in Calais last week.

, and then I kind of topped and tailed it with prison visits, which maybe wasn't so wise, but it just makes so much sense when all my friends are like in the southeast, , inside.

So yeah, I was very lucky to see my friend Kevan and also to see Ryan Dwyer, who is one of the kill the bill prisoners and an absolute babe.

But yeah, call was a very intense week.

, on day one someone got shot and some people ran to the clinic and were screaming saying Someone's been shot.

Someone's been shot.

So I just grabbed like the go bag and followed them and ran to the person.

And yeah, I won't dive into it in detail.

I've talked a little bit about it on Instagram, but, , luckily he was okay.

He was in hospital and he got out and I think we did the best we could in our like, first aid context.

But yeah, it definitely has stayed with me in terms of how awful it is for people living there and all the news, you know, about the legislation and how people are criminalized and just like, yeah, the kind of rage and injustice about it all.

, it's definitely hard to swallow, especially like when you are like really interfacing with it a lot all the time, if that makes sense.

So, yeah.

We have exciting announcement.

We have launched, , some t-shirts to help raise money for the clinic.

If you didn't know, we kind of lost one of our main funders, which was like a herbal medicine company.

And yeah, we're very short on funds.

We're kind of fundraising like trip by trip at the moment, which is frustrating.

If you can recommend any grant funders, I would love to hear about them.

But yeah, we have these beautiful t-shirts with the illustrations that my close friend Amani has drawn, which we've used.

The bandanas and then the coloring book and yeah, the plants chosen are all plants that we use regularly with the clinic in Calais.

And the T-shirt says Plants Know No Borders.

And there's another design with Solidarity Knows No Borders.

I think the reason the plants no, no borders like logo or like phrase is like so special to me is because I think, yeah, plants are just incredible.

Like they don't, you know, like, they don't recognize like nations, if that makes sense in terms of like capitalist nations, , or borders, you know.

Seeds, disperse and travel like all around the world, and plants kind of, you know, live all over the place.

And yeah, they're just really beautiful defiance against the border regime, in my opinion.

And I think that our clinic is also trying to be in defiance to this hostile environment.

You know, like our medicines are harvested from the land where we live generally.

I.

You know, we have to buy some things in, but generally, like we, you know, sow the seeds, we grow the medicines ourselves, we make the medicines, and then we offer them in support and solidarity with people fleeing war and oppression and torture and all sorts of horrific things, and who have ended up in call.

And then because of the violence of the British state are not able to find a safe way across, you know, they have to risk their lives on the water because there are not the mechanisms.

Unlike, you know, for refugees from Ukraine or Hong Kong, where there is like some administrative systems where people are, can apply for visas from different locations, but that is not in place for people from other places, you know, like Syria or Rojava, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and so yeah, people are having to risk their lives to cross the water.

So, yeah.

So I'll put a link in the bio to those t-shirts, please.

, check them out.

The people listening from England, Wales, and Scotland, there is a demo in London on the 25th and 26th of April at the high court, like the royal courts of justice, where Kev, my friend Kevan in prison is bringing like a legal challenge against his prolonged solitary confinement.

It's a really, really, really big deal.

You know, like if he wins this, like it would list like highlight like the horrific abuse and torture he's experienced in prison and you know, hopefully also shift shift where he is in the prison system, if that makes sense.

You know, solitary.

Solitary confinement is this like really widespread torture technique, and yeah, and in England, like it is mostly in this kind of like high security estate and it is like generally targeted at like Muslim black and men of color, you know, also white working class men.

But yeah, they are like often, you know, routinely attacked, denied food like bullying and harassment from officers.

You know, I've lost count the amount of times, like I've spoken to Kevan.

Horrific things have gone down.

You know, like them using CS gas like in the bloody segregation unit when they're not meant to or when they, you know, like bang on his door at night or two in the morning screaming at him saying they're gonna murder him when he gets out of his cell in the morning.

Like, or just like sleep deprivation tactics.

Like, there's just so many like horrific things that he's been through, you know, like he's been one of my best friends for the last six, seven years and you know, I visit him all the time.

We speak pretty much every day and just, yeah, what he has to live through is just like hell on.

And yeah, if you could make it to that demo, I would really, really, really appreciate it.

It would also be really nice to see people, , I feel like I've been very antisocial cause of the pandemic and everything else, so it'd be really lovely to see you if you're in London.

, come and say hello and yeah.

The other reason to support the demo is because Kev is like the most incredible organizer.

Like even if you wasn't like, we should still show up for people in these conditions.

But the fact is like he's taken so many risks inside to show up for other prisoners, you know, to risk abuse and punishment himself, to call out against injustice.

You know, part of the reason he is so targeted is because he is so vocal and persistent with advocating for abolition, you know, for alternatives to prison, against racism.

Like everything, you know, like he's an amazing guy.

So, yeah, please come to that.

And you may have seen on Instagram, I shared a post, but I just wanted to plug it.

Because I know lots of people that listen care about abolition.

They're working towards liberation in different ways, and I just wondered what people think around abolition and children and young people.

Like what oppression do they experience?

How did their, you know, struggles fit in with abolition and vice versa?

And I must say, like I haven't, you know, it's definitely like a growth area for me.

Learning, you know, like thinking in that context, if that makes sense.

an Abolitionist Understanding of Youth Oppression.

And they are a teenager and they are an amazing organizer as well.

I was on their podcast a couple of years ago, maybe called, we Speak of Freedom.

And yeah, and it, yeah, so basically there's like a Kickstarter that's been launched asking for people to donate and like pre-order the book.

And they also have like a bunch of beautiful t-shirts depending on your pledge amount.

And yet this is like one of the quotes by Aiyana "you have been taught a lie.

That lie says We live in a society that loves children, but children as some of the most at risk.

Coerced and oppressed people on the planet.

We are one of the most forgotten, marginalized groups as so many mock our liberation.

Most adults will not talk about this with the nuanced perspective and experience that is needed, whether because they just don't know, don't care, or want to protect their privilege.

So I, a radical abolitionist writer, liberator, delinquent, teenager, will write out the words and thoughts that I believe have been missing from the minds of so many of us."

Gives me goosebumps.

, so yeah, and it's part of a new Black-led micro publisher, , which is given a platform to marginalized writers, which has been started by Aiyana and also Eshe a friend of mine who's, yeah also just an incredible organizer, like coined the term full spectrum community care, just.

Yeah, so consistent all the time.

So their website is the https://www.theanimaprint.org/.

, and yeah, check out my post on Instagram, which, you know, has all the various links and things, and I'll put the links in the show notes too.

And yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna get onto Rose cuz this, I know the roses aren't out yet where I am, but, , hopefully people will be listening to this podcast in all sorts of like back to front ways.

So it might be that you are.

Yeah.

Seeing roses where you are right now?

I just cannot wait for Rose season.

I've purposely tried to not book much in in June because I just love it.

I just make liters and liters and liters of rose petal glycerite, and then I distribute that to folks experiencing repression for the rest of the year.

So anyway, enjoy the.

Episode.

Hello.

Okay, Rose.

So the Latin name, so it's Rosa, different Rosa Species and the Plant Family is the rosacea family.

The Rose Family.

Identification.

Roses have a climbing habit and prickly stems as in bramble, but the stems are rounded in section so they look smoother.

Apart from the prickles, their leaves are not evergreen and are divided into five to seven leaflets, which apart from the end one are in two rows along the leaf stalk.

Large stipules leaf like structures are attached to each side of the lower part of the leaf stalk.

For wild roses, they have large white or pink flowers in the summer, becoming red hips in the autumn.

And obviously there's like 1,000,001 other species of roses, right, that are beautiful and have different colors and petals and everything.

Other species.

There are 13 species of wild rose in Britain and many hundreds of different kinds of domestic cultivars.

Wild roses include field roses, sweet brier, downy rose, , and commonly used medicinal roses include apothecary's rose, damask roses, and province roses.

And Europe's native rose is dog rose, rosa canina.

Okay, folk names in English, , rose, queen of flowers, Rosa, , Witches Briar.

, and many more I'm sure.

, Chemical constituents.

Tannins, pectin, carotene, fruit acids, flavonoids fatty oil, nicotinamide .Vitamins, A B C E N K.

And folic acid, calcium, potassium, sodium, sulfur, iron, saponins, rutin and quercetin.

Okay, food and nutrition.

So rose petals and rose hips have many well-known uses, most famously in the perfumery and cosmetic fields.

However, rose hips have been long made into various conserves.

In her herbal kitchen book, Kami McBride shares that she makes rose hips into drinks, smoothies, vinegar, cordial oil, ghee, bath and foot soaks.

She uses the rose petals for facial masks, steams, body wraps, therapeutic baths, and foot soaks.

Ecological roles.

Wild roses can be found on dry to moist soils, especially in lowland woods and hedgerows cultivation.

Roses generally like partial shade to full sun with frequent watering.

There are many resources and opinions about how to grow roses energetics.

So temperature, they are cooling, moisture, their petals and moist and the hips are drying.

Tissue states indicated include heat excitation, damp relaxation, and cold depression, and the tastes are bittersweet and astringent.

And then in terms of herbal actions, rose petals are alternative antibacterial, anti-inflammatory astringent, nervine, nutritive tonic and rose hips are antibacterial, anti-inflammatory antioxidant, anti anti-spasmodic, astringent carminative, nutritive and I'm sure many, many, many more.

So some of the health challenges supported by Rose.

Nutrition and immunity.

Research from way back in the 1930s showed that rose hips had 24 times more vitamin C than oranges, plus good supplies of vitamins A, B, and K.

Gabrielle Hatfield writes how Rose hips substituted oranges during the Second World War through impressive self-organization.

The collection was organized at a county level by schools, voluntary groups, and branches of the Women's Institute.

By the end of the war, 2000 tons of roads hip had been collected for syrup manufacture.

The syrup helps to fight infection in the digestive tract.

The pets also have good antiviral properties and combine well with St.John's Wort, Elder and self heal for treating viral infection.

Sore throats and toothache.

Kami recommends gargling rose petal tea for a sore throat and rosewater or rose Tea also makes a good mouthwash for mouth ulcers and bleeding gums.

Eye troubles.

Rose petals.

Boiled together with chickweed was a traditional medicine recorded by Gabrielle Hatfield.

Rosewater or Cool Rose tea is also a soft, safe eyewash.

Nervous system support , Julie and Matthew write that rose butresses the nervous system relieves insomnia, soothes nerves and evens out heart palpitations, arrhythmias.

I know from experience how cooling water can be for people in states of hyper arousal and post traumatic stress.

Elizabeth Brooke, the author of the fantastic book, traditional Western Herbal Medicine, writes how Rose is an excellent heart remedy followingtrauma, heartbreak, and all kinds of depression and anxiety.

It calls agitation and restlessness, gives hope and space, and helps to drown out dark, negative feelings such as suspicion, cynicism, bitterness, and anger.

Rose brings a feeling of love, wellbeing, peace, and happiness.

Rose can create a sense of safety inside, even if they're outside is not safe.

It can help increase inner strength to cope and help us relearn to receive love when barriers have been put up.

It is also a powerful support for those experiencing loss and grief.

Skin inflammation, and general skincare.

Rose can also help cool skin inflammation and take the heat out of boils, acne spots and rashes.

Rose vinegar is also commonly used after prolonged sun exposure.

Rose is incredibly popular for skincare and is used in all variety of lotions, toners, face sprays, cleansers, and more.

Rose leaves have been used to treat cuts due to their as stringent and antibacterial action.

Vaginal challenges, uterine pain, excessive menstruation, cramps, and menopause.

Julie and Matthew Seale write how Rose is a cooling tonic, reducing uterine pain, and the cramp of heavy periods and supplements, the treatment of infertility and low libido, especially during menopause where it's particularly cooling and balance.

Rose is also used in vaginal steaming, and can be a safe, effective douche too.

Alexis J Cunningfolk describes how excessive menstruation is eased by a strong tea of dried rose.

Also useful for uterine spasms and cramping.

A vaginal douche can relieve infection, inflammation and conditions such as vaginitis and thrash checks, diarrhea and internal hemorrhage.

Add to postpartum sitz baths for healing.

Digestive.

Rose can be used to reduce the spasms involved in diarrhea, colitis, and dyssentry.

Alexis also highlights that Rose has probiotic qualities, and in addition to supporting healthy gut flora, it assists in clearing toxins from the gut.

It assists with promoting healthy metabolism and helping return the body to its ideal weight.

Use rose during and after the use of antibiotics to rebuild gut flora.

A rose petal bath can have a cooling effect on hemorrhoids.

Cautions.

The short hairs in rose hips are dangerous internally.

Been added to infamous itching powders used in pranks for generations.

It's always best to process rose hips, for example, by boiling and using in syrups.

Caution is also advised during pregnancy.

How to practically use roses in prison.

Where you might find roses.

So I know many prisoners will see rose listed in the contents and be like, what the fuck?

There are no roses in prison gardens.

However, I included it because in HMP Bronzefield where I was, the main courtyard was full of them.

I think in newer prisons, especially private prisons, they are planted up with flowers like roses to somehow sanitize the suffering and violence inflicted by the prison on people's lives.

For the many visitors and government officials walking around the gardens, plants like roses give the impression that is a better place than it is, if you know what I mean.

If you are lucky enough to have roses grown somewhere, then they're likely to be in full sun, or at the very least partial shade.

They will be planted in beds and not growing in the concrete, like plants like dandelions.

Okay.

Sore throat.

Make a strong tea with rose petals and gargle mouth ulcers and bleeding gums.

Make a strong tea with the rose petals and gargle.

Viral infections.

Drink rose petal tea.

If you can access rose hips to process and make into tea even better.

Eye inflammation.

Make a strong tea with rose petals combined with chickweed if you can.

But no problem if you can't.

Once it is cool, try to wash your eye.

In the how to prepare plant medicines in prison section, I have included information on how to make an eye bath.

Insomnia drink, rose petal tea.

Stress, despair, and grief, drink rose pet tea.

Skin inflammation, such as boils, acne spots and rashes.

Add rose petals to your bath if possible.

You can also make a strong infusion with rose petals and soak fabric in the infusion.

Then apply to the area DIY skin tone or clean.

Wash your face with cool rose petal tea.

Small cuts.

Place a rose petal directly on the cut.

You'll be amazed at how quickly it can stop bleeding.

Hot flushes due to menopause.

Drink rose petal tea, menstrual cramps.

Drink rose pet tea.

Vaginitis and thrush.

Add rose petals to a bath if possible.

Diarrhea takes sips of rose petal tea during recovery.

Hemorrhoids, add rose petals to the bath or make a sits bath with a strong rose petal infusion.

Okay, that's it on the amazing Rose, and I will speak to you all soon.

Thanks so much for listening to the Frontline Herbalism podcast.