The mission of the Solidarity Apothecary is to materially support revolutionary struggles and communities with plant medicines to strengthen collective autonomy, self-defence and resilience to climate change, capitalism and state violence.
This episode is a review of the work towards this goal in 2025.
Content warning - references to suicide and prison.
Music from Sole & DJ Pain – Battle of Humans | Plant illustrations by @amani_writes | In solidarity, please subscribe, rate & review this podcast wherever you listen.
Transcripts
Nicole:
Welcome to the Frontline Herbalism Podcast with your host, Nicole Rose from the
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Solidarity Apothecary.
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This is your place for all things plants and
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liberation.
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Let's get started.
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Hello. Welcome back to the Frontline Herbalism Podcast.
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I am sorry for ghosting you for six weeks.
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Life has been a bit full on and if you know me, you.
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You know what's been happening.
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And I'm going to talk about it in a minute.
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But, yeah, this episode I'm gonna record a bit of a review of 2025.
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I really like doing this because,
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yeah, it just is like a big thank you to everyone who has, like, donated or, like,
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contributed to their course.
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For example, the herbalism PTSD and traumatic
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stress course literally funds, like, 95% of the work of the Solidarity Apothecary.
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So, like, I really want to show people who've joined that course that, like, it is an act of
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solidarity to join it and that it has repercussions in terms of everything I'm able
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to do.
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And, you know, I just think, like,
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especially in social movements, there's, like, often not much focus put on, like, looking
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back and reflection.
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And I think that stuff, like, I always do,
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like, a really thorough kind of life review before I, like, design my next year, if that
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makes sense.
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I mean, I've also got four planets in Capricorn, so I ******* love that ****.
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And at the end of this episode, I'm going to be talking about a new season.
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Sexy. Very sexy.
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I didn't design it myself, unfortunately.
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My amazing graphic designer friend designed it for me.
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But yeah, a new kind of sexy kind of planner which will just, like, help you design your
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year next year and how you can connect with plants and all the things.
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But I will talk about that later and I'll put a link in the show notes to where you can get
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it.
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It's free.
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But, yeah, I'm just gonna.
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I'm just gonna dive in.
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So, obviously the reason I've been absent is it's been my best friend's inquest into his
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death.
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So a court case, but they're not assigning
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kind of like,
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oh, you're guilty or not guilty or that sort of ****, but, like, a jury is there and they
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listen to, like,
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all sorts of evidence presented about the sort of, like,
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contributors to the person's death and what happened.
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And, like, their job is to kind of like,
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create a kind of narrative at the end of, like, why this person died based on the facts
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that we know.
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And yeah, so Taylor was my best friend for 14 years.
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Who I met in prison when I was 21 years old.
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And then I stayed in touch with their entire
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sentence, basically until they killed themselves.
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Sorry, content warning.
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I will be talking about suicide a little bit.
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And, yeah, like, a huge part of the solidarity apothecary has been my experiences both in
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prison myself and supporting people in prison for a really long time, like, since I was like
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15, 16 years old.
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Yeah. But Taylor was like a workingclass trans man on this sentence called the IPP sentence.
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It's like a really brutal,
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indeterminate sentence for public protection.
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So basically it's kind of like a life sentence
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for minor crime.
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So he just got under four years for burglary for stealing from his.
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His neighbor, basically to fund his drug addiction, which, you know, isn't pretty.
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And he experienced a lot of remorse and regret about that action.
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But, you know, you know, people in active addiction who also live in poverty, like, it
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is kind of part and parcel of that.
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Anyway, the.
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Oh, yeah, the inquest was like, super ******* intense.
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So obviously had been preparing for it pretty much since Taylor died and had got in touch
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with a solicitor team and yeah, they were going through their kind of processes with me.
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And then, yeah, it just took a really long time.
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Like, he died in July 22 and then the inquest wasn't until this November.
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Um,
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but, yeah, just like months of work and calls with the solicitor and the barrister and
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answering loads of questions and reading, like, horrific disclosure of all these
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statements of people and things.
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And,
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yeah, it's just.
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I don't know, it's just been like,
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really,
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really full on.
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And so, yeah, the actual inquest itself lasted two and a half weeks and it was a process of
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every day court started at 10 and finished around and just like, witness after witness,
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like, sharing their graphic testimony into, you know, like, everything from how he was in
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prison to how they found him dead in a pool of blood and like,
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yeah, it just was like,
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harrowing.
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And I knew it would enrage me, but, like,
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yeah, I'm grateful that I'm in such a better place these days with ptsd and I just had so
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many tools that I'd never had in my early 20s when this stuff was like, really,
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I mean,
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okay, not just my early 20s until.
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I mean, it's still a big part of my life.
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But,
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yeah, like, I. I was grateful that I was able to,
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you know, take a lot of herbal medicine and I was able to join online, thankfully.
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So it meant that, like, I could look after Lee until 10 and then my mom or,
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like, rob Rob's mum could look after him and then I would go and listen into the courtroom
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and then I would come back and do these lunch and then I would go back again.
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But it meant I could work in the herb shed.
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So it was really nice to, like,
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pack medicines and, like, decant things and, like, mix up teas and stuff and, like, yeah,
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if I put an email out on my email list about it of, like, this reciprocity circle of, like,
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while I'm listening to this ******* horror of this inquest and this injustice and how
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******* violent the prison system is, like, I'm also just making medicine for prisoner
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families and people experiencing repression.
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And that felt kind of really nice.
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But, yeah, that was a lot of challenges.
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The day before, I had to go to court the first
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day because I had to read, like, a statement out about Taylor's life as his, like,
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registered next of kin.
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And Lee got, like, hand, foot and mouth and like, literally the day before I went to
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court, I didn't have any sleep, like, not even 10 minutes.
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Like, it was horrific.
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Like, I was just surviving on adrenaline, basically.
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Anyway, I could talk about the inquest.
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So much.
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Like, there's just.
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Yeah, so much that happened.
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Billy got hand, foot, mouth and then he got a bit better and then took him to nursery and
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then he caught the flu off of Rob's mum and,
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yeah, just.
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And then I caught it off him.
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So it was like just, you know, this bug that's been going around, so it's been really full
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on.
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I've had some for astrology nerds, I've had some, like, gnarly, like, Saturn conjunct
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Mars,
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like Pluto on my midheaven, kind of like crazy astro weather, just, like throwing me against
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the wall.
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And then something happened with a close
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friend,
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like, in the middle of it that was, like, really upsetting and enraging in terms of,
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like,
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lies being said about me by one person.
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And it just.
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Anyways, so that didn't help anything.
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But,
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yeah, it's just been a lot of grief and, like, processing my 20s.
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But, like, somehow the inquest kind of like brought Taylor alive.
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Like, it brought him back.
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And then when it finished, it was like, that's
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when I got smashed.
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Do you know what I mean? Which was last Wednesday.
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So, yeah, I just haven't felt like coming on the podcast.
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Okay, I might take a little pause.
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So, yeah, that is exactly why I didn't want to come on the podcast, because if I talk about
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it to anyone, I'm just like.
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However, the independent did a really good Piece all about Taylor's life and the IPP and
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the inquest.
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I don't normally like, excuse me, like work with journalists like mainstream journalists
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because, you know, like mainstream newspapers are just normally like horrifying and just
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like reproduce all the horrific things in the world.
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But she came recommended by some like IPP family campaigns and I knew that Taylor wanted
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his story out there and you know, his story is going to get out there like much more via that
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route than it is via like anarchist news or whatever, even though that's like my people.
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So yeah, I will put a link in the show notes and if you want to learn more, you can read
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that piece.
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Just a trigger warning.
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It's really upsetting and yeah, not the easiest but yeah, anyway, so that's been going
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on and because of Lee being sick, I haven't been able to work very much.
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But in the nighttime, you know, in the ******* baby life hustle of working when he's asleep,
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I have managed to put together this 2025 review post and I'll put a link to it in the
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show notes so you can read it.
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But I'm gonna read it and then just like ad lib a bit as I do so.
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The mission of the Solidary Apothecary is to materially support revolutionary struggles and
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communities with plant medicines to strengthen collective autonomy, self defense and
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resilience to climate change, capitalism and state violence.
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Each year I review the work towards this go year I came out of the newborn trenches and
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into the toddler phase.
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Like I'm sorry if you're in the newborn
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trenches, but the toddler phase is like legit harder.
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I used to see like Instagram rules being like, just wait here.
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He's a toddler and I thought there's no way it'll be harder.
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But like, woo,
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it's a whole new level of exhaustion,
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but also just, you know, constant ******* joy.
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You know, that kid is ******* everything to me and it's just, yeah, brings me endless
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happiness.
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But yeah, it's meant that I've been able to reconnect with myself again and focus more on
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the sold out Apothecary and its offerings, which I've loved.
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On a personal level, the year brought some of the most challenging months of my life,
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leaving me as a single mother.
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I will share more when it feels right.
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And then I talk about the inquest.
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Yeah, here are some of the things that went down in 2025 with the Solidarity Apothecary.
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So number one,
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herbal care packages.
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So yeah, care packages have been sent to people around the world.
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And like, I'm so stoked that the request form has just been working so well.
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Like, it's just reduced, like so much work and friction just having this simple form that
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people can complete.
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That, like, answers all my questions.
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Yeah. And I think it's also created this, like, it's better for people requesting
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support, like, to feel more confident, if that makes sense.
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So I did crunch some numbers based on my ctable database where I track what I send, but
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that doesn't include like all these informal requests where, like,
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someone visits me and then I give them a bunch of stuff for someone that's struggling or
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someone comes on a course of mine and then they take a bunch of like care packages away
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with them.
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So I need to get better at kind of like tracking those.
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But yeah, I mean, I think this amount is like, pretty awesome.
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And I was like, quite blown away, like calculating it all.
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But yeah, 87 care packages went to people experiencing repression.
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18 packages went to prisoner family members.
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And you know, some people are in like both
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categories.
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Right.
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But I don't Double count them.
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192 packages went to people involved in grassroots groups working for liberation in
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different ways.
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And 56 medicines were also sent for use at the
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Earthworm Winter Moot.
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57 packages went to hunt saboteurs.
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And two sites of resistance requested packages
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receiving a bigger volume of medicines to distribute with an average of five items in a
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pack.
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This is around 1,780 medicines,
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which is ******* awesome and explains where the money has gone.
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No, I'm just kidding.
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My course, like, slightly flopped, so things
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are a little bit tight.
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But yeah, this is exactly why I *******
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fundraise to get these medicines out there.
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So some of the groups happy to be publicly named.
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So on the form people can say, like, if they are happy with,
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you know, like if they want a solidarity post, for example, or if they just want it private.
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And actually most people will just opt for private.
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But, like, a few groups were happy to be named publicly, so.
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So,
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yeah, they included the Abolitionist Healing Collective, Black Youth Project, Jacksonville
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Bournemouth Anarchists, Bristol Anarchist Black Cross, Bristol Free Shop, Devon County
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Hunt, sabs, Mad Pride, Sheffield Motor City, Mobile, Wellness, North London Hunt, sabs,
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Prisoners for Palestine Radical Use Space for Educations, Resist and Renew, Root and Riot,
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Sheffield Radical Pride,
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Trans Support,
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Southampton animal action, stop, L3, Harris, three counties, Hunt, Sabs and trans kids
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Deserve Better.
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But yeah, there are a bunch of other projects as well.
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But I'm ******* stoked that these guys are happy for me to share that I've shared
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medicine with them and a few individuals also requested herbs.
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So individuals with solidarity call outs included artist Tasnim Amin, who is a working
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class artist who was violently arrested after stopping a raid on refugees and asylum seekers
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who were being sent to Bibi Stockholm Barge.
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And I put a link on the website there to donate to their GoFundMe as well as Kendra
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Hannah who is asking for support to get out of a nursing home and into suitable disability
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accommodation.
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So yeah, if you are interested in requesting a herbal care package, please check out the page
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with all the info and that's.
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You can find that on the review post.
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All right.
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And the next one is distributing the
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Prisoner's Hubble to prisoners worldwide.
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So if you don't know, the Prisoner's Hubble is
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a book all about herbal medicine based on my experiences in prison.
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There's like 10 in depth plant profiles as well as like a big section about how to use
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like spices and fruits and veg and stuff like medicinally.
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So yeah, it's been a really big year for the Prisoner's Herbal Active Distribution.
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So these are like the Anarchist publishers who printed the book.
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Shout out to them fronted the cost for 3,000 more to get printed.
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******* yes.
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I call them my Anarchist Sugar Daddies.
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Shout out to John Active.
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I don't think he'd want to be called a sugar
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daddy, but.
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And you know, there's like other people
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involved in Active as well, but it's just like my little joke.
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But yeah, basically I get a pound for every copy sold.
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So when they reprint things like Overcoming Burnout or the Herbalism and State Violence
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book, that will then say, for example, if they print 1,000, that would give me a thousand
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pounds which is then spent on printing the Prisoner's Herbal.
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So I don't take any money from my books.
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They all just kind of go in this nice circle
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to fund the Prisoner's Herbal Distribution.
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I'm still in like some debt to them for the
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coloring books and for the Prisoners Herbal, but they're so laid back, I just move the
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money when I can.
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But yes.
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So they printed 3,000 of them and 1,000 of
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them came to the UK and 2,000 of them made their way across the Atlantic to the US and
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some projects received them, including Midwest Books to Prisoners who are awesome and Irela
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from Cosmic Rose Apothecary received them on the East Coast.
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No, West Coast. Oh my God, my geography is terrible.
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But I'm so ******* grateful that they just received these like palettes of books and have
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been getting them out to people in prison.
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The book was also translated by Comrades into Romanian.
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So I put a link to that and I've made the translated versions available on my store for
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the Spanish and Italian versions.
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Yeah. And I just can't thank Comrades enough who are sort of quietly distributing the books
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to prisoners across their.
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Across their regions.
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Yeah. And on the review page is a link to where you can request a copy of the Prisoner's
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Herbal book.
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I haven't asked if they're all right to say their name publicly, so I won't.
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But just the comrade in London who's been like, packing and posting books.
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Legend.
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I do not miss that packing labor.
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Like, it was years of parcels and post offices
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and yeah, it's just lush that it just sort of works like a machine, you know, just like
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other people posting the books and, you know, they enjoy getting them out to peep in prison.
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And we've got a sexy spreadsheet tracking them all.
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And yeah, it's just.
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Yeah, I'm really.
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I'm really, really grateful for that.
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But you can still buy the book as an ebook on my site.
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And, like, physical copies are available from places like Active Distribution.
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And I haven't checked if I can share this publicly, but PM Press are going to be
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printing the Prisoner's Herbal and Herbalism and State Violence, like, officially
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publishing them next year and the year after.
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So, yeah, I will do, like, a bigger announcement about that, but I felt like it
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was a way to kind of make sure that, you know, people were getting access to the books beyond
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ways that I'm capable of promoting them.
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And excuse me, they are up for, like, sending copies to prisoners as well that I request to
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them.
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So again, it just gave us this, like, epic new
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level of, like, potential distribution and stuff.
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So,
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yeah, I'm stoked with that.
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All right, so part three of this review is Herbal Support through Repression with the
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Hawthorne program.
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So this autumn, I launched my first group program called Hawthorne.
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And oh my God, it was dreamy.
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For a long time, I've craved a more collective
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setting in which to offer herbal support, where the medicine is in the relationships
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between each other as well as the plants.
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So Hawthorne was for people experiencing repression.
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And obviously I want to safeguard people's confidentiality.
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But all I can say is the group was like an amazing mix of humans.
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We had calls every two weeks.
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And I also had one to one course with everyone where I sort of created like, individualized
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herbal recommendations for them and blends and then got them in the post.
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And yeah, there was definitely lots of learnings like around the interruption with
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childcare and how for group programs next year I'm gonna just like anchor in days with the
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grandmas to know that like if Leah's sick it won't interrupt that kind of flow.
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Because I felt like it was like quite a dramatic interruption a lot because it was
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like virus season and Lee only like Lee only goes to nursery like a few mornings a week.
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But it was enough to be like very disruptive when he wasn't a nursery.
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But yeah, but they're like model of having like a group chat and group calls and herbs
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that everyone had that we could do, you know, tasting with and share experiences with and
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stuff.
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Like it was so transformational.
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And don't get me wrong, like I ******* love
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one to one work.
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And I should probably also announce that I,
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yeah, I'm going to be seeing like clients like one to one people in January and I will put
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that on my website, like how to book and stuff.
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But I think like one to one is like so important and special for like so many people.
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But I think yeah, for other people they really value that like group setting and that like
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sort of social support.
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But yeah, I'm gonna do another podcast all about the offerings for next year.
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So I will dive deep into some programs, one of which is called Rooted in Struggle for people
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Experiencing burnout and the is for prisoner family members.
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And then I'm going to do Hawthorne again.
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And then late in the winter next year I'm
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going to do one for people healing from incarceration.
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So yeah, keep your eyes posted on those.
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All right.
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And the next one is the Frontline Herbalism
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podcast, which you know about because you're listening to it.
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But yeah, it's been a real challenge to maintain.
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I write on the post about Lee starting nursing.
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Nurturing.
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That's quite a good verb, isn't it?
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But yeah, I. I failed basically to make interviews happen and I write here more often
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than not.
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I would record mini solo episodes in the car
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park down the road from the nursery.
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Talk about single mum life.
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Guess where I'm recording this?
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I'm recording this in Costa car park.
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Ah. I. So I live in the countryside pretty much and like no cafes open until 9am so it's
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like a real nightmare.
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Other than Costa and Lee gets dropped off at
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8.
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So it's like most of the time I just drive home.
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But yeah, I thought I would.
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Yeah, we've got a Christmas party at the
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nursery.
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It's like the first party I've gone to since
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I'VE got pregnant, so I'm very excited.
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I'm wearing a nice little dress.
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Anyway,
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with the podcast interview, I have, yeah, big plans for it next year in terms of interviews,
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but I'm not going to be hard on myself and because, you know, like, I did produce a lot
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of good content and good episodes.
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There's like a list of episodes basically on this post.
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But you know, I've got this Herbal Support through Repression series which hopefully
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you've listened to where I talk about my personal experiences,
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support through court cases, stuff around self neglect and burnout, stuff around prisoner
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support and defendant support, as well as making herbal care packages.
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I did the Soothing survival series about herbal support for Fight Flight, like freeze
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and shut down and sort of like a general one on herbal support for trauma.
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And then yeah, I don't know if you missed it, but I had a three part series on learning
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herbalism about my experiences with the plant medicine school and yeah,
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DIY learning versus formal clinical training.
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So yeah, you can check them all out.
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Well, you know where they are because you're
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listening to it.
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But yeah, solid.
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Apothecary.org forward/podcast.
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Hello.
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Okay, so section 5 is herbalism courses and workshops.
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So this year I launched the Herbalism PTSD and Traumatic stress course twice.
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And yeah, I'm really happy that I've anchored in this pattern now of launching with the
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spring solstice and the autumn solstice, which feels really good.
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But yeah, unfortunately this autumn Lee was off sick as I've mentioned a lot of the time
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and pretty much like the whole launch window he was ill and yeah, basically.
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And I like crunched all the data and I sent like a third less emails.
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Yeah and I basically made like a third less than I normally do.
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And it's so interesting that it like pretty much correlated like because the way.
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Anyway, this is all boring digital marketing nonsense.
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But like the waiting list was like similar size to before.
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You know, the rates that people joined, like the amount like 75% people join on the
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solidarity place and the average donation is about £25.
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And like none of that changed but like literally just not closing on a Sunday really
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affected the sales and yeah, just not being able to send as many emails basically.
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So that sucked.
Nicole:
But I'm, yeah, I'm very grateful obviously
Nicole:
that yeah, loads of people joined and the main reason why I run the course is so that people
Nicole:
can,
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you know,
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get a handle on ******* trauma and the nervous system and the body and connect with these
Nicole:
incredible plants and nervines and collective responses to Traumatic stress and all the
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things.
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So yeah, I will be launching it again in March.
Nicole:
So please, please, please join the waiting list if you're interested in participating in
Nicole:
that course.
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I also taught two practical medicine making intensives.
Nicole:
So these are like the face to face, three day courses.
Nicole:
Oh my God, they were ******* awesome.
Nicole:
Like such babes, like such incredible groups.
Nicole:
Melo, one of the learners who came in the like closing, like go round was like not a single,
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like everyone was awesome.
Nicole:
So yeah, that was just like so nice and it's
Nicole:
such a joy.
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And I have two amazing happy helpers, like a
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different one for each course, but they're epic humans and it's just.
Nicole:
Yeah, it was just like tons of fun.
Nicole:
It's really hard being away from Lee.
Nicole:
Like I still see him through the day, but like,
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yeah, that was tough.
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Anyway,
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and then my Making Herbal Medicine with Glycerin workshop continues to sort of gently
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generate sales online.
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And yeah, I've been happy to hear about people making glycerites, like really quickly and
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effectively.
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I was also honored to be invited to speak at various events online that included a workshop
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on herbal support for trauma with survivors of sexual violence with the crew called Sleek.
Nicole:
Maybe you've listened to the Sleek podcast interviews on here.
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They are awesome.
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I also did a talk on Herbal Support through repression for a feminist congress in
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Switzerland,
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as well as a talk on the politics of burnout for Zagreb Anarchist Book Fair, which I also
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share in the podcast.
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And I did a little talk for the Plants, Mushrooms and Resistance gathering in Romania
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about the prisoners herbal and they talked about how they translated the book into
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Romanian.
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And oh, the gathering sounded so nice, like so lovely and dreamy.
Nicole:
Everyone that went has just said it was wonderful.
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So it's going to happen again this year in Poland in July.
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So. So ******* Google that **** and get there if you can.
Nicole:
I was also on a panel for the wonderful project LETS About Madness, Disability and
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Herbalism.
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I barely spoke in that panel and I felt bad about getting paid, but they.
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Yeah, I just had to leave early to get Lee to bed.
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So it was tough.
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But yeah, it was really an honor to be there with the other people.
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And yeah, I also at the very beginning of the year published a talk on herbalism and border
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violence, which you can also find on my website and on the podcast and I've written
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here.
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Honestly, I cannot say thank you enough for these invitations.
Nicole:
Looking after a little human alone can be incredibly isolating.
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I miss traveling to gatherings and events and experiencing that affinity.
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So it's nice to be Able to join online, however briefly to get that feeling of
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connection.
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So yeah, that is a ******* invitation.
Nicole:
Send us your invites.
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No, I'm just joking but like it is true.
Nicole:
Like I ******* miss bopping about, you know, I
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used to to bop around Europe doing tours about different repression cases and fundraising and
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going to Calais and you know, and now I'm in a car park in street just living my best life.
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But yeah, any invitations are really, really welcome.
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All right, so number six is called system.
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System systems.
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So for 2025 my word of the year was root systems.
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I know that's two words,
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I'm not going to lie.
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Right.
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I love systems and I'm a real systems thinker but prioritizing them over other projects,
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especially new shiny ones, can take a lot of discipline.
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But yeah, systems I focused on building for the Solar Apothecary this year included
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improving the herbal care packages, requests and distribution systems as I've mentioned on
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the Ctable database.
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If you would be interested in a podcast with
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all the behind the scenes stuff on SOFTW and yeah systems and how I organize things,
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please let me know because I would love to talk about that but I just feel like no one's
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interested.
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But it is like the engine to the Soldier
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Apothecary.
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So if you would be into that, let me know.
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I also work with the amazing Chantal who manages my.
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Helps manage my inbox for two hours a week.
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Game changer.
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I made an online drive of all my files so that I could access them from my phone which was
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like, like also a game changer because it means that I'm not just like dependent on the
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laptop all the time,
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which is very hard when you have a toddler.
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So that's been really good.
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I sorted out my website and improved the onboarding system for learners enrolling in my
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courses.
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So now like anyone enrolled gets like a eight
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weeks.
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Eight a reminder every eight weeks about how to log in.
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Yeah, so that's been really good and I think it's like increased the amount of people that
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actually work through the course.
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I set up a frequently asked questions page on my website,
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updated the Prisoner's Herbal database thanks to Chantelle.
Nicole:
Oh my God, that's amazing.
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And yeah, I think the biggest thing was I set up all my clinical systems now on new software
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called Write up and it means that I've made bespoke online intake forms and I've got all
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my scheduling organized and yeah, we put it into practice with some one to one people and
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the Hawthorne crew and that's like yeah,
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been ******* epic.
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And I'm excited about.
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Yeah, kind of,
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yeah.
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Utilizing that like more strongly next year.
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So yeah, like this kind of boring behind the scenes stuff.
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Like it is boring but like, oh my God, it does save you so much time and energy in the long
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run.
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And I think when you have a baby you have to just be ruthless with prioritizing and just
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optimize as much as you can.
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So yeah.
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And then round of applause.
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The grand finale finale has been formalizing my good manufacturing practices system systems
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for my medicine making.
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So this basically means that everything is
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traceable from production to distribution.
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So any herbs coming into the apothecary, from things I harvest in the garden to you know,
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things I might buy from the organic herb trading company, for example,
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like I'm recording all of that, all the batch numbers, all of that stuff.
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I'm keeping records when I'm like making a batch of something and every time I send
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something out I'm tracking that.
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So if anyone, God forbid, had a bad reaction to something I'd sent them, I would know
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exactly who else has received that medicine from which batch and how to recall it.
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So yeah, that's been a ******* mission.
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And I'm very grateful that I did an online
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course with the herbal Medics Academy in the so called US that just made all of this ****
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make sense.
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And then I've made kind of like bespoke forms.
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I don't really give a **** about like state
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compliance if that makes sense.
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But I really care and I've reframed it for
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myself to prioritize it that like I care about, about quality and potency of medicines
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and I care about like safety basically like a lot.
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So.
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And yeah, through that process I've been trying really hard to like document all my
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medicine making instructions because I have big plans for next year if I can wangle it
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financially to hire a dispensing assistant who could help just a few hours a week to help
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make medicines in the herb shed and get out out blends to clients and things because like,
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yeah, I just have such limited time to work and I don't want to lose any more time with my
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son.
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So yeah, it's kind of.
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Yeah, I feel like it would be a great opportunity for like a herbal student for
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example.
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So keep your ears open if you're interested in that.
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Okay. So the last section is Solidarity beyond the solidary apothecary.
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So I try and see the solidarity apothecary as just like one part of a broader solidarity
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ecosystem, different social Struggles, different communities and like, yeah, just
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kind of one little niche in this big ecosystem.
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And, you know, I'm a human.
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Like, it's hard to feel peace with what we can
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do and what we can't do.
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And yeah, like, for me, like, especially in adapting to motherhood and recognizing that,
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like many of my sort of previous quote unquote, frontline roles are just not possible
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now, especially as a single parent,
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you.
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You kind of just need to, like, do what you
Nicole:
can that makes sense and kind of optimize what you've got.
Nicole:
And I'm so grateful that this project has built up such an amazing supporter base.
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Like loads of people on my email list and social media and all that ****.
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But it just means that, like, if I put a call out for something, like, we are able to like,
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mobilize resources and that's like,
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awesome.
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So, yeah, some of the things that have happened this year include like a large merch
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fundraiser for the Mobile Herbal Clinic, Calais.
Nicole:
Maybe you saw those sexy plants.
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No, no Borders T shirts.
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Maybe you have one.
Nicole:
Maybe you're wearing one right now.
Nicole:
But yeah, that's always a big deal.
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I'm going to do another one in January.
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It kind of like, is a large factor in sustaining the project.
Nicole:
I also set up on the website, the Mobile Herbal Clinic website, the infrastructure to
Nicole:
enable people to donate monthly.
Nicole:
So, like, please become a supporter if you
Nicole:
can.
Nicole:
Like, if we had a few hundred people donating
Nicole:
every month, like, we wouldn't have to do all this fundraising.
Nicole:
So, yeah, I know.
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Just keep the clinic going.
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And yeah, I also, for the project for the Mobile Herbal Clinic Clinic, but kind of
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offered to just solidly make the cough syrup as the main medicine maker.
Nicole:
Louise was like, struggling with it because she makes so much medicine and coordinates
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volunteers and things.
Nicole:
So I've just been holding it down with the cough syrup and literally making hundreds.
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And I've had some really lovely humans come and help bottle it and,
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you know, do the marshmallow gloop and stuff.
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So if you'd like to do that in 2026, please
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hit me up.
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Also raise funds for the crew in Mexico through the Plants no Borders fundraiser.
Nicole:
I did a ebook fundraiser for a family in Gaza that raised over £1,000.
Nicole:
And I also participated in this Seeds of Solidarity funding drive for Sudanese and
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Palestinian farmers which raised like a thousand Canadian dollars.
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So, yeah, and yeah, sorry, I'm just.
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I'm just aware of time because I'm getting
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cold and I'm in this ******* car park.
Nicole:
But yeah, the other project I've Been.
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Oh yeah, sorry.
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And I've also tried to promote the Guabamin Herbal Street Clinic fundraiser.
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So this is an amazing herbal clinic in so called Canada and I've put it on my podcast
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already in my newsletter and my Instagram.
Nicole:
But they're still really struggling to get enough donations to keep going.
Nicole:
So please, please, please check out the link on this review page for that.
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And yeah, just hit me up if there's ever any sort of like herbal related projects that I
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can share on my kind of networks, if that makes sense.
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The other thing I've been stoked to be invol with is no Borders Herbals, which I also did a
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podcast about in the global herbal solidarity episode.
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And I would really love to do some interviews with folks involved in it and also with folks
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that are resisting like border violence in the Balkans.
Nicole:
But yeah, no Borders Herbals is a self organized project of grassroots herbalists and
Nicole:
organizers distributing herbal medicine packs to people on the move along the Balkan route.
Nicole:
Rooted in mutual aid and solidarity, the project supports people facing border violence
Nicole:
and denied access to healthcare care.
Nicole:
So our gorgeous T shirts, our plants won't follow your law and order T shirts raised over
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1700 pounds.
Nicole:
And yeah, we're definitely still up for people getting involved.
Nicole:
So I've put a link to that there and then.
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Yeah, I always include a little bit of goal
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account accountability of things I did achieve and didn't achieve.
Nicole:
But I didn't bother doing it thoroughly because most of them are integrated in what
Nicole:
I've just read out.
Nicole:
But things that I did not achieve were redesigning my herb garden when.
Nicole:
When the **** I thought I would do that? I don't know.
Nicole:
Doubling the enrollment in the Herbalism PTSD and traumatic stress course.
Nicole:
I'm just not there with like having a big enough waiting list for that.
Nicole:
Being involved in some kind of herbal harm reduction project locally fcking love to do
Nicole:
more local things herbally.
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So if you are involved in any groups in Somerset, please contact me because now Lee's
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in nursery, like that stuff is becoming more possible.
Nicole:
Organizing a prisoner solidarity training didn't happen.
Nicole:
Get fit postpartum.
Nicole:
Oh my gosh.
Nicole:
So I've lost a lot of weight, which I'm, you know, I'm not fat phobic.
Nicole:
But I'm just saying like I'm in my body how I want to be in my body, if that makes sense.
Nicole:
And what feels good to me.
Nicole:
But like how people manage to do workouts with
Nicole:
a toddler?
Nicole:
No idea.
Nicole:
Like literally no idea.
Nicole:
So give me some tips.
Nicole:
Get surfing and Paddleboarding in Cornwall.
Nicole:
Yeah, yeah, just ******* fantasy right now
Nicole:
unfortunately.
Nicole:
Unless, yeah, unless I have more childcare
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help and yeah, and then there's like a list there of things that I decided to not do which
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I'm not going to read out because I've been talking for ages.
Nicole:
But yeah, as always I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who supported this
Nicole:
project and this work.
Nicole:
It's such a weird ******* hybrid of like some,
Nicole:
a lot of solo work but, but like loads of collaboration and getting involved in
Nicole:
different things and then you know,
Nicole:
I'm not a charity or a workers co op, I'm like a soul trader.
Nicole:
But then I'm also doing loads of solidarity stuff and I know it's like a weird model but
Nicole:
like somehow it's like working and is enabling a lot of impact and I'm just so grateful to
Nicole:
everyone that has supported,
Nicole:
you know, like contributed to a course or made a donation or like just shared something on
Nicole:
social media or forwarded my email to someone, someone or just send me a email like through
Nicole:
the inquest.
Nicole:
Like people sent me such beautiful emails.
Nicole:
Like I could cry at how compassionate and
Nicole:
loving these emails were and how held I felt by people.
Nicole:
Like I had a whole little signal group of babes that were just amazing through the
Nicole:
inquest.
Nicole:
So I'm so grateful to that.
Nicole:
Oh my God, I'm gonna cry.
Nicole:
But yeah, it's been a full on year.
Nicole:
I don't think I'll be able to get out any other podcasts right now but I'm gonna
Nicole:
announce like a kind of plans post with things and offerings for next year.
Nicole:
So look out for.
Nicole:
My God, I've forgotten to talk about the planner.
Nicole:
So yeah,
Nicole:
this sexy planner has all the reflection questions you need to design your year next
Nicole:
year in terms of which plants you'd like to connect with, which medicine making skills
Nicole:
you'd like to develop.
Nicole:
How can you meet like plant nerd queer babes, you know, like all the things.
Nicole:
Okay.
Nicole:
It doesn't frame it like that but it's.
Nicole:
There's a section on like how to, how to find your people as well as questions around like
Nicole:
herbalism in action and you know like what would you like to,
Nicole:
you know, how would you like to kind of give back right to the plants?
Nicole:
So I will put a link in the show notes to it.
Nicole:
I'm going to promote it properly in January
Nicole:
but I know that like people get ahead of the curve and are in a like reflective space now
Nicole:
even though it's like stupid ridiculous Christmas time where everyone is just like
Nicole:
family trauma.
Nicole:
But if you've got 10 minutes and you're on your ******* phone and you want to download it
Nicole:
and check it out, please, it is a ******* beautiful resource that I think will help
Nicole:
people with their herbal journeys.
Nicole:
So, yeah, check that out.
Nicole:
And thank you for listening.
Nicole:
Okay, bye.
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Way thanks so much for listening to the
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Frontline Herbalism Podcast.
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You can find the transcript, the links, all
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the resources from the show at solidarityapothecary.