Big news from the Dandelion Seed Collective
Since 2008, the Olympia Community Herbal Clinic has served as an access point for herbal education, natural remedies, one-on-one consultations, and as a gathering space for people in the south Puget Sound interested in using plants to support their health. It has been an honor to hold this project and help it thrive, but we have come to the conclusion that it is not a sustainable clinical model. Despite many hours attempting to restructure and revamp, we continue to find ourselves burning out, like many before us, and unable to sustain the project. We came to the conclusion that the best way to serve the goals of the project would be to close the clinic, and at the end of August of this year we closed our doors. We have learned and grown so much as individuals through this work; the clinic’s ending is bittersweet, but we hope its death will make space for something new and more sustainable to be born in its place.
We have transferred the bulk of the resources from the OCHC to the Back Door Medicine Collective - a healing collective run by WOC, queers, and allies in Olympia. They have generously offered to absorb our ample apothecary and share their space in order to be able to provide consults to previous OCHC clients whom we continue to see individually. This community apothecary is a component of our continued work as individual herbalists striving to make sure that cost is never a barrier for access to herbal medicine. As individuals, we are exploring collaborations with local herbalists and healers to find a new way to offer plant medicines to our community. One of the projects we are most excited about is a Mobile Healing Space - one that can serve the needs of herbalists as well as others. Stay tuned - we all have new and exciting things in the works!
But what about the Dandelion Seed Conference???
The Dandelion Seed Conference has brought together such a warm and vibrant community, and has been a space of mutual learning and connections; it’s truly a very unique and special conference. We would like to see DSC continue as a fundraiser for other herbal projects, with a focus on prioritizing indigenous and POC led projects in the Pacific Northwest that aim to provide ongoing support for local communities.
One of these future projects is a mobile healing space. The vision is to purchase a vehicle or trailer that will be able to support a variety of healing work - herbal consultations, to energy work, first aid, street outreach, a place to decompress after a protest with a cup of tea. We want this space to be able to serve the needs of many healers - not just herbalists - so please let us know if you would like to be involved with the project and join us at the Gala saturday night to help fundraise for it!
Another project idea the Dandelion Seed Conference would like to explore is a scholarship fund for indigenous and POC herbalists to access herbal education. We are not sure the best way to administer this, and welcome ideas and input about how this might best be done.
We are full of curiosity about how to organize, structure, and administer these and other projects, and hope that we as a community can create amazing things. As an attendee of the DSC, you are part of this community and your support and input is wanted and needed! You are welcome to email any thoughts to [email protected]
With love and gratitude,
Sean, Mary, Rose, and Salix
the Dandelion Seed Collective/Olympia Community Herbal Clinic Practitioners and Organizers
We facilitate this conference with respect and gratitude to the Medicine Creek Treaty Tribes whose land it takes place on. We aim to amplify less heard perspectives, create space for courageous and vulnerable reciprocal learning, and cultivate connection to land and place in a way that supports an accessible, anti-oppressive herbalism.
Since 2008, the Olympia Community Herbal Clinic has served as an access point for herbal education, natural remedies, one-on-one consultations, and as a gathering space for people in the south Puget Sound interested in using plants to support their health. It has been an honor to hold this project and help it thrive, but we have come to the conclusion that it is not a sustainable clinical model. Despite many hours attempting to restructure and revamp, we continue to find ourselves burning out, like many before us, and unable to sustain the project. We came to the conclusion that the best way to serve the goals of the project would be to close the clinic, and at the end of August of this year we closed our doors. We have learned and grown so much as individuals through this work; the clinic’s ending is bittersweet, but we hope its death will make space for something new and more sustainable to be born in its place.
We have transferred the bulk of the resources from the OCHC to the Back Door Medicine Collective - a healing collective run by WOC, queers, and allies in Olympia. They have generously offered to absorb our ample apothecary and share their space in order to be able to provide consults to previous OCHC clients whom we continue to see individually. This community apothecary is a component of our continued work as individual herbalists striving to make sure that cost is never a barrier for access to herbal medicine. As individuals, we are exploring collaborations with local herbalists and healers to find a new way to offer plant medicines to our community. One of the projects we are most excited about is a Mobile Healing Space - one that can serve the needs of herbalists as well as others. Stay tuned - we all have new and exciting things in the works!
But what about the Dandelion Seed Conference???
The Dandelion Seed Conference has brought together such a warm and vibrant community, and has been a space of mutual learning and connections; it’s truly a very unique and special conference. We would like to see DSC continue as a fundraiser for other herbal projects, with a focus on prioritizing indigenous and POC led projects in the Pacific Northwest that aim to provide ongoing support for local communities.
One of these future projects is a mobile healing space. The vision is to purchase a vehicle or trailer that will be able to support a variety of healing work - herbal consultations, to energy work, first aid, street outreach, a place to decompress after a protest with a cup of tea. We want this space to be able to serve the needs of many healers - not just herbalists - so please let us know if you would like to be involved with the project and join us at the Gala saturday night to help fundraise for it!
Another project idea the Dandelion Seed Conference would like to explore is a scholarship fund for indigenous and POC herbalists to access herbal education. We are not sure the best way to administer this, and welcome ideas and input about how this might best be done.
We are full of curiosity about how to organize, structure, and administer these and other projects, and hope that we as a community can create amazing things. As an attendee of the DSC, you are part of this community and your support and input is wanted and needed! You are welcome to email any thoughts to [email protected]
With love and gratitude,
Sean, Mary, Rose, and Salix
the Dandelion Seed Collective/Olympia Community Herbal Clinic Practitioners and Organizers
We facilitate this conference with respect and gratitude to the Medicine Creek Treaty Tribes whose land it takes place on. We aim to amplify less heard perspectives, create space for courageous and vulnerable reciprocal learning, and cultivate connection to land and place in a way that supports an accessible, anti-oppressive herbalism.