Planting seeds at Saritas Botanical Sanctuary with students 

The last few months have been full of movement for us in Asheville, NC, and around Kentucky as we seed our gardens, plant teachings for our communities, and connect with many new groups and people. While we are still recovering from Hurricane Helene and many of our kin have been impacted by major flooding, tornadoes, and fires across Appalachia and Puerto Rico we are full of joy and love and ready for the summer season to bring us more blessings that will continue to nourish us as we continue to recover and love eachother deeply. We are standing in solidarity with all the people fighting for our freedom in Los Angeles at this time. We see you and are here to support you!

By Sarah Nuñez, Co-Founder + Ecosystem Connector

Back in August 2024, some of our members traveled to Detroit to support the National Network of Abortion Funds with a healing space at their annual gathering. While there, we toured the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership, and I learned so much on the walking and driving tour of Detroit hosted by the Center. One of the things that struck me was the many ways that the community of Detroit organized around liberation zones - places of rest, relaxation, organizing, and building tactics for freedom and liberation outside of the state. There were places to learn, grow a garden, make art, organize, and take care of basic needs in short proximity to one another. 

In reflection, after eight months of living through the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Asheville, NC, I have experienced many organic liberation zones come to the forefront of our community. It felt like a natural way to organize our people and the resources we needed. From small hubs like our own serving a few hundred people to warehouses opening and moving resources to thousands of people every month. I remember Haywood St. in West Asheville full of hot meals, resources, and medical care for anyone who needed it. I am still in awe of the way we survived weeks after the storm without clean water and how we continue to build and connect liberation zones across the region. 

Our volunteer Gennie Gonzalez helped us to visualize this work with this map that shows where we are serving up herbs and delivering love to our beloved community.

Map created by Gennie Gonzalez
Geospatial Analyst | Community Advocate | Real Estate Broker

Since the storm we have been working with people, groups, and organizations in less than a 5 mile radius of our organizing hub who are sheltering families, protecting immigrants, feeding our neighbors who are houseless, growing food and herbs, providing healing modalities like acupuncture and clinical herbalism, sharing resources, paying for rent and utilities to families, and taking good care of eachother. It's mutual aid and community care in a way I have never really experienced. Living through a climate catastrophe like this was not easy on any level of the mind, body, and spirit. I am humbled daily to see just what we can do for one another and the ways that humans are human in such raw, loving, and caring ways. This continues to fuel me and the work we do everyday and guides us towards our future visions.

Y'all, we've been busy like little bees buzzing around town. Here are some of the numbers we have to share with you so far…

Buzzing bee on motherwort this spring

• 78 instances of support (some orgs/communities served more than once)
• 52 different orgs/communities/entities served
• 111 kits/baskets distributed
• 1,118 people served (includes herbal mutual aid, Grower's Network Support, and our 2025 Plant Giveaway).
• Served Buncombe, Cherokee, Henderson, Madison, Yancey, Mecklenburg, Guilford, and Durham counties, as well as Tennessee, California, South Carolina, and Puerto Rico

We have officially launched our Growers Network with 13 growers across Appalachia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Alabama, and Puerto Rico! Our network will be growing, drying, and processing herbs for the collective to be used in bath salts, steams, teas, and apothecary. We have folks growing tulsi, lemon balm, chamomile, thyme, oregano, and many more herbs for us. Stay tuned to social media for more updates on the growers and what they are growing for us.

We are a new garden partner with Compost Now and welcome your donations of compost for our Growers Network. If you wish to support us this way, please follow the instructions on this link or press the button below and help us grow our herb gardens this spring.

Our people showed up this year for the Appalachian Funders Network annual gathering in Bristol, Tennessee. It was a great way to connect with other folks who have been impacted by climate catastrophes and see new ways to move in the face of so many threats. We hosted a tea station, panel discussion, and workshop on Building Community Care+Mutual Aid Networks During Climate Catastrophes and Threats. The shining star of this event was our specialty Vision Tea Blend. We allowed the herbs themselves to speak more about what and how they want to be used, and this is what they had to say:

Attendees at AFN workshop making Vision Tea

• Hibiscus- I can keep you cool when it gets too hot and bring you joy+happiness that will uplift your heart
• Rose- I bring you love and lots of it
• Chamomile- I can calm your inner child and bring you a sense of calm throughout your entire body
• Cinnamon- I will help you to circulate blood through your body and bring you warmth in collective action

We made tea together in our workshop, which will be sent to a mutual aid group in Tennessee. Thanks to everyone who came and engaged with us at this event and other pop-ups we have done around the community over the past year.

In May, we hosted two free plant giveaways at our garden hub, and over 60 community members came through to pick up plant starts for their home and community gardens! We’re honored to help spread the beauty and healing that plants bring into our neighborhoods.

A huge thank you to Gaia Herbs for donating the plant starts that made this possible.

We are so happy to have given out so many free plant starts, especially to these local partners:

• Taoist Traditions
• Tyson Sampson
• Tierra Fértil
• Semillas de Vida
• Asheville Tool Library
• Season of Grace Garden- Western Correctional Center for Women

And with folks in our Growers Network: 

• Christina Torres
• Sally Reeske
• Amieris Lavender 
• Gennie Gonzales
• Uplift Garden Access Project
• Sarita’s Healing Hub
• Solar Community Farm
• Southside Community Farm

Want to learn more? Check out this beautiful write-up by Patricia Serrano in Enlace Latino NC featuring the plant giveaway and our collective’s work in Asheville!

We'll be doing some demos, herb making, and chats at the following events this Spring and Summer. We would love to see you there too!

• NC Herb Association Wild Herb Weekend: July 25th, 26th, and 27th
• Firefly Festival: July 10th - 13th

Organic Growers School Conference Weekend Recap March 14th - 16th

Friday’s class, Herbal Community Care & Mutual Aid, centered on the power of plant medicine in our collective healing. Our space was a sanctuary, filled with an altar, tinctures, moments of reflection, and hands-on making of tea blends for our herbal mutual aid work.

On Sunday, we hosted a Community Care and Healing Sanctuary designed to invite folks to slow down and integrate through plant medicine, reconnection with the self and higher guidance, creative practice, somatic tending, and gently turning towards grief.

Sandra Garcia, a home gardener in Asheville, shared her experience on our Sunday Rest Sanctuary, stating, “The space felt welcoming and calm as I stepped into the room. I had some delicious tea with my favorite herbs, along with tinctures that helped me reset, calm, and get grounded after a full weekend of classes. The room was thoughtfully designed, offering space to grieve, reflect, and harmonize. I am still integrating the wisdom from the cards I pulled.”

We also have new merchandise that we are selling to raise funds for our work. We have t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, bags, and stickers for sale. If you're interested in purchasing and are local to WNC, please reach out to aflorarherbcollective@gmail.com.

Deep gratitude to everyone who made attending and participating in this year's conference possible:
✨ Healers: Ekua, Sarah, Jo, Paulina
✨ Presenters: Jesenia, Sarah
✨ Merch table: Zsa Zsa, Camille, Isabella
✨ Volunteers: Steve Pavey, Mary BP, OGS volunteers
✨ Special thanks to Cuentos y Café for sharing herbal books that went along with our Friday class and for being amazing <3 

We just want to share some exciting news! There’s a new community care station located inside Noir Collective on the block in Asheville, NC! Stop by to get free goodies and resources in the Aflorar section. The shop is open 11 AM - 6 PM from Wednesday to Saturday, located on 39 S Market St. 

Noir collective store front in the Block

by Teresa Lajara, Kentucky Aflorar Organizer

KY Members gather for planting

On May 10th, the Kentucky team of the Aflorar Herb Collective gathered at La Chacra Farms for a special day of care, connection, and community. We held a plant exchange, sharing seedlings (from Tap Root Nursery), smiles, and stories with one another. We also worked on care kits for our Asheville community, filling each one with love and healing herbs. The sun was shining, laughter filled the air, and we spent time learning from each other and the land. We believe in healing together and honoring the traditional ways rooted in our cultures. We will continue to gather every second Saturday of the month through the end of the year. These monthly meetups are open to all who want to connect, learn, and grow in our blooming circle.

A special shout out to the Kentucky growers who are part of our growers network this year too. We are thankful for all the ways that the land and people continue to feed our work.

Lorena Miller with Punkin Hollow Farm, Stephen Pavey, and Mari Mujica with La Chacra Farm. 

Thank you for your time and care in joining us and reading more about our work and the love we share with communities and each other. We'll see you again late summer/early fall for the next newsletter.

We are choosing justice, connection, and love every single day.

Please join us, friends.

With love,

Sarah, Zsa Zsa, Isabella, Paulina, Camille, Mari and Teresa