Hello herbal community, we send you some cooling love and hope you are faring ok as we head deep into late summer and holiday time with the land all brown & yellow around us.

It feels like we are in the belly of the beast now, in the thick of inevitable Gaian feedback systems and hurtling disruption. The temperaments are out of balance and the fire element is dominant; as with any health disorder, through the lens of ancient healing practices, the appropriate response is seeking re-balance. At all levels: are we able to move in that direction together?

This newsletter holds some current updates about our Community Apothecary gardens & Hornbeam Herbals sessions, an offer of garden volunteer travel expenses and some upcoming land & community events you might be interested in. Read on for the juice…

* And a note about insect spray! Now available! Last month we had started to make up a batch of our seasonal summer skin protection spray to defend from insects and soothe bites - a key ingredient from last year’s blend was fresh Plantain leaf, juiced by Jayne, for that cooling soothing anti-inflammatory action (this is a beautiful herb). This summer in the high heat the Plantain has shrivelled too much in our gardens and local lands so we haven’t been able to add it. However Odhran our Hornbeam herbalist has made up a batch now with all the other ingredients (Lemongrass, Lavender, Bay leaf & Oregano from the gardens, decocted in water plus vodka to preserve, Witch Hazel distilled water + Peppermint essential oil). For those who were keen to get some and it wasn’t ready for our July Hornbeam sessions, there is a stock of it in 100ml bottles at our friendly neighbour shop Pempamsie Walthamstow, opposite the Hornbeam Centre at 375 Hoe Street, E17 9AP. If you can go along there you will find Sylvester and a very charming little health food shop with other good stuff and he will sort you out with a bottle - £6 each, for your summer roamings.

Odhran and I are having some break ourselves with no Hornbeam session on the first Wednesday of August, but Mulberry Thursday garden sessions are running with Jayne & Jonny. We’ll be back to Hornbeam on Wednesday 19th August. And from September as shared in last month’s newsletter, we will be charging for the Hornbeam learning workshops, on a sliding scale, more info below.

We wish you restful holiday times this month, and look forward to seeing those of you who are able to come join us in the gardens, and later at Hornbeam, for herbal sharing and care. Keep in touch! Until next month.

Rasheeqa & the Community Apothecary crew (Jayne, Jonny, Odhran) XO

All of these are from earlier in the year as we are somewhat behind on uploading our recent (and historic!) records. If you are joining us for future surveying sessions, it would really help if you could download the iRecord app and help us to contribute to this valuable data we are collecting!

We also have a more informal record of species for the site where we make a note of broader categories of creatures that we observe and are also able to make a record of observations by sound (such as by bird call) as well as visually where we may not easily be able to capture photos.

In addition to biodiversity recording, this month we completed the habitat survey that we started last month. This focussed more broadly on the habitats that we have present in the garden, allowing us to better notice where we might be able to make improvements to create more space for wildlife. We are fortunate to have a relatively large space with mature trees and decent sized patches of scrub. Over the next months we will analyse the results of this survey and hopefully when we repeat it in a year or so's time, we will have a better score to show for it.

Herb focus hour

In July for our herb focus hour at Mulberry, we invited Mayya Papaya to talk to us about za'atar (both the herb(s) and spice blend), the traditional uses and lore around both wild and cultivated forms, the many variations in cultures of west Asia and how access to harvesting these plants has been systematically blocked for Palestinians in their land through restrictions on the wild harvesting of these herbs under the guise of conservation by Israeli authorities and settlers. We are lucky to be able to cultivate similar herbs from these families in our gardens and growing spaces, including both Oregano and Thyme. We are encouraged to be aware of where our food has come from and to avoid buying za'atar mixes where sourcing is vague (eg Mediterranean or ‘Middle Eastern’ - a colonial term) or that have been sourced from herbs knowingly grown on occupied land.

After our garden time with Mayya we gathered again with her at the Hornbeam the following week to make the blend ourselves with herbs both sourced from markets local to Mayya and dried herbs from the garden. We learned, shared, smelled, touched, tasted and ate scrumptious man'ousheh - Palestinian flatbreads - spread with olive oil, za’atar and heloumi cheese, hearing from Mayya’s relatives by voicenote about the central importance of this food in their cultures. It was moving, enlightening and beautiful sensory embodied learning and practice. Thank you Mayya and all who took part!

Here you can find the info sheets from the sessions include the recipe :

Herb Hour Za’atar info sheet

Hornbeam Za’atar & Mana’eesh making info sheet

herbal + holistic health happenings, August & September 2026

• Sunday 3rd August, 12noon-8pm (picnic from 5pm), Down Lane Pavilion, Tottenham N17 9EX: Tottenham Family Fightback Community Picnic & Garden Cleanup: This amazing community have got access back to their garden and will be making this day together tomorrow - come join if you are local. Plus an August summer programme of Tottenham Solidarity activity with family fiestas, free meals, movie nights, political education, community assemblies and more ✊🏾

• Tuesday 4th August, 7-8pm, online: Community Ecologies - 'Planting for Climate Healing: Strategies for Planting in a Changing Climate' by Than Gunabalasingham - Join horticultural educator Than of Nourish The Wild CIC for a free online talk exploring how understanding plant diversity can help us create more resilient food systems and green spaces in a changing climate. As part of Bethnal Green Nature Reserve’s Community Ecologies programme. See also: Chinese Edimental Plants: Sharing Diasporic Stories by Yuyu, Monday 31st August 7-8pm

• Thursday 6th, 10am-Sunday 9th August, 4.30pm, Pan Intercultural Arts, Ground Floor Wing, Camelford House, Albert Embankment, London, SE1 7TP: Black Psychotherapy Summer School - ‘four-day immersive learning experience for Black and Global Majority communities exploring how we can expand our capacity to offer support while refusing to abandon ourselves in the process. Rooted in decolonial, anti-oppressive and liberation-orientated frameworks, this programme explores what it means to build cultures of care that do not rely solely on professional services, but draw upon the wisdom, relationships and collective resources that already exist within our communities.’

• Saturday 8th August + every Saturday through August, Earthseed Community Garden, Bateman Road Allotment - Westward Road Entrance, 95 Westward Rd, London, E4 8QH: Community Build Project - building a garden shelter together and launching the BPOC Growers Network, co-hosted with Waltham Forest Food Growers Network. The shelter will include space to rest, a structure to grow climbing plants, a green roof & bug hotel. Join to start the build and be part of discussions around setting up a Global Majority / Black & People of Colour Network in the borough. With herbal tea tasting, creative session & vegan lunch made by the Gleaners Cooperative.

• Braiding Sweetgrass sharing circle: 23rd August, 12-2pm, Stave Hill Ecological Park, Canada Water: Legacies of capitalist, extractivist colonialism have made connection to the land difficult in so many ways. In this bi-monthly sharing circle, we hope to co-create a supportive space for us to explore and heal our relationships to “nature” together. We’ll do this through slow practices, such as sharing our reflections and savouring words from visionary writers.

A few intentions for the space:

✩ˎˊ˗ To co-create a nourishing, gentle environment for building connections and intergenerational healing

✩ˎˊ˗ To explore, deepen, reclaim, and re-imagine our relationships to land and to “nature”

✩ˎˊ˗ To celebrate the abundance of life all around us and within us (and to hold space for those of us that aren’t able to access these feelings right now)

Book your free ticket to the upcoming sessions here: https://luma.com/r1do9uhd

• Tuesday 25th August, 12.30-1.30pm, online (teams - link sent on registration) - free webinar, Ideas to Action: Starting a Community Growing Project - simple tools to move from vision to reality, with two project leaders sharing their experiences of getting started with their community growing projects. Register to join

• Summer events with Company Drinks in Barking including their community open day on Saturday 12th September, 12-5pm - a beautiful ecosystem-oriented project and place to gather together.

💚 🐝 🕸️

Things to watch / callouts:

🧑🏿‍🌾 Black Rootz community food growers at Wolves Lane Horticultural Centre showcased on Farmwatch! Watch here and this is another longer video about their work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_Uwxj7qDpY

🍆 The Waltham Forest Right to Grow campaign are in need of your support! Over the next two years they want to incubate 20 new growing sites, over 10,000m2 of land, producing at least 120,000kg of organic fruit and veg per year. To do this they want to mobilise their network of 50 trained community organisers and hundreds of interested people to catalyse a massive outreach campaign across schools, estates, pubs, mosques, churches and clubs across the borough. 

If they can reach their target of £10,000 it will allow them to make sure the new green council council implements as robust a RTG policy as possible, to support the existing 8 gardens with tools and infrastructure and give them some breathing room to apply for the larger grants they need to carry out their ambitious plan (last time each donation allowed for 10x the amount in grant funding). If you find this vision inspiring, you can find out more and donate here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/right-to-grow

🌳 Save the Granville Rec: Another threat, another struggle, another callout for community support and solidarity to protect this site in South Kilburn, north London that is precious green space and home to community garden, vegetable growing, mature trees, sanctuary, biodiversity - from being torn down and built upon with unaffordable housing or business premises. You can sign a petition which is gathering momentum here.

⚕️callout from ‘helloearthbody’: ARE YOU LIVING WITH FIBROIDS OR OFFERING HOLISTIC SUPPORT IN YOUR PRACTICE FOR FIBROIDS?
seeking participants willing to conduct 30-60 minute interviews on their experience with alternative/holistic management for their fibroids and symptoms
**AND/OR***
practitioners who offer alternative/holistic support for those living with fibroids in their clinical practice
please spread the word to anyone you think may be interested!)

We welcomed the brilliant Black Women on Wheels to Mulberry Garden one Saturday in July, showing them around the herb garden, hearing about their collective expeditions for health, wellbeing and togetherness and making an uplifting tea blend with a selection of our dried garden herbs for summer joy (Lemon Balm, St John’s Wort & Rose). Find out more about their community here 🚲