Episode 86: Nicole Rose of Solidarity Apothecary

This week I’m talking to anarchist organiser, agroecologist and grassroots herbalist, Nicole Rose. Nicole runs the Solidarity Apothecary, an organisation supporting mainly prisoners and refugees either by supplying herbal remedies or by facilitating the growing and making of these. We talk about Nicole’s work to help prisoners, refugees and other facing state repression by helping them with their physical and mental wellbeing through a connection to nature.   About Nicole Rose: “I’m undertaking a four-year clinical training with The Plant Medicine School in Ireland to develop my skills as a practitioner. This site shares my learning journey as well as the work of my project, the Solidarity Apothecary. Plants and social struggle have always been inseparable to me. I learnt how to grow food on a 3.5 year prison sentence for a campaign to close down Europe’s largest animal testing company. Inside, it was the plants cracking the concrete that kept me going. On release, I have organised with many collectives and campaigns, from helping organise the first Radical Herbalism Gathering in the UK to stopping fracking in Somerset. I now mostly engage with campaigns against prison expansion and the prison industrial complex, as well as supporting prisoners and people experiencing repression. As a massive and unashamed plant geek, my main field has been agroecology and food autonomy.  I started Empty Cages Design in 2011 to offer design consultancy services and community education in liberatory forms of land use, including teaching an annual Vegan Permaculture Design Course. In 2013, I co-founded Feed Avalon, a workers cooperative that works for socially-just and ecologically sound food production in Glastonbury, Street and surrounding villages. We have community gardens, a kitchen, mushroom farm and all sorts of projects! I complimented this grassroots work with studying for a Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design, as well as a BSc Integrative Ecosocial Design and MSc Applied Agroecology with Gaia University." - https://solidarityapothecary.org/about-nicole/ What We Discuss: The Solidarity Apothecary and what sparked Nicole to start the project Who benefits from the herbal remedies Nicole produces? What are some of the most popular remedies? What are the benefits to prisoners of connecting with nature? How much opportunity do they have to engage with the natural world and healing plants whilst they are in prison? How the Solidarity Apothecary benefits people outside the prison system The idea of Queer Ecology How inaccessible horticulture, ecology and permaculture can seem to LGBTQ+ people. What can be done about this. Links: www.solidarityapothecary.org  Email Nicole Rose [email protected] The Prisoner’s Herbal by Nicole Rose Land In Our Names  Justice for Kevan  Get in touch: Email [email protected]  Website www.rootsandall.co.uk  Twitter @rootsandall  Instagram @rootsandallpod  Patreon Link - Help me keep the podcast free & independent!   Or donate as much or as little as you like at GoFundMe