By: Sarah Nuñez with excerpts from Camille and Isabella.

Edited by Carolina McCready

Praying and offering divinations on/with the land is an act of gratitude and a call for protection. Rising and resting with the animals, protectors, guides, ancestors, and plants is the calling for this year.  It is a regular act of ceremony, just like putting on your shoes and coat to go outside. Let's embrace guidance that leads us toward abundance, protection, and love! Lots and lots of love.  Let's have faith to know we are going to be provided for, we are going to be ok, and we will construct the futures we desire. Every day, finding my way back to you and cherish your gentle embrace, your warmth, and your caring nature. Dear Mother Earth, please keep bringing us comfort and helping to heal the ache in our hearts and minds. Every day, moment, second of our time here with you.

Five brilliant community leaders selected Aflorar Herb Collective as a path to community connection and healing in October 2025 through the Tzedek Social Justice Fund! It's THE time for us to make our decade-long dreams a reality through building a Climate Resilient Residential Community Hub. As the nasturtiums teach us that all parts of the plant can be used, we are taking the lesson not to throw anything away as we dream our future vision.

Tzedek's partnership will help us complete an indoor and outdoor healing and community space designed by and for people of color, queer, immigrant, and working-class community members, while welcoming interfaith and spiritual communities for gatherings, ceremonies, and shared care.

Our plan includes:

• Indoor build out: a healing room, shared work space, demo kitchen, a multipurpose space, an overnight sanctuary for traveling healers, artists, and organizers.
• Expanded outdoor gathering areas: tree and shrub removal, rain shelter, expanded growing area, picnic tables, and accessible green space.

We imagine the impact like that of nasturtiums spreading through the garden—offering protection from pests and nourishing the soil. A sanctuary, a place to breathe, heal, and rest. Regularly sharing and providing knowledge about health, wellness, and community resources through herbal education that incorporates culinary and folk traditions, food, and recipes. Fertile ground for planning, dreaming, and building stronger collaborations through using indigenous wisdom, traditional healing practices, and healing justice at the center of our work. A hub that strengthens the web of grassroots BIPOC- and queer-led care already alive in this city. In moments of crisis, it will continue to be a mutual aid anchor, as a steady ground for caterpillars, butterflies, hummingbirds, and all kinds of people to land. We are ready for the next crisis, when it happens

We are working hard to complete Phase 1 of this project by July 2026, and we still need to support and make this project come to life. Please reach out to Sarah Nuñez for how to support, info@aflorarherbcollective.org

We're starting off the year strong (and with new nose rings) with a great team to get the work done and help bring all of you along with us, too. Just as smoke rises up to send our prayers to the heavens, our people are out here pouring love into the day-to-day parts that make up Aflorar Herb Collective, the land we grow on, projects we mobilize, and growers we network. They help the work travel out to the planes of existence far beyond where we are rooted and grounded

Sarah, Ecosystem Connector, mobilizes the resources, manages the construction, land projects, and partnerships, and teaches at outreach events and conferences.

Camille, Story Catcher who gathers and tells the stories and connections of our work online and behind the scenes.

Isabella, Aflorar Organizer who connects to the mutual aid distribution sites like the monthly Free Acupuncture Clinic at Umoja and at 8 sites across WNC. They bring volunteers together and manage the apothecary, supplies, and care kit distribution across the country.

Advisory Council: Mari Mujica, Teresa Lajara, and Paulina Mendez meet monthly to help guide, steer, and root our work across Appalachia.

Kentucky Hub Leaders: Mari Mujica and Teresa Lajara gather regularly with the crew in Kentucky to grow, root, and love each other on the land and with herbal allies.

Consultants- We have so much love for Mitzi Melaine with Emerge/Flourish who is offering writing support for our grants and resource mobilization and Jardana Peacock, who is designing a capital campaign for us through the rad work of Hollerin' Up. Please take a look at Jardana's writing here.

Volunteers who provide us with SO much help. From making teas to dropping off supplies, heavy lifting of things, and holding us down. We are especially thankful this month to Zsa Zsa, Lydia, Chloe, and Cc, who are always willing and able to show up at the hub to make herbal goodies and bring forward their care to our work.

Last spring we harvested a bunch of oregano and made an oil that we recently bottled in the hub to give out to our communities this year. This is a great addition to the breath steam’s oregano, thyme, and eucalyptus love.

Oregano Oil

Do you need a little extra love this spring? Fill out this form to request a care kit for your or your loved ones. We have a limited number available and will do our best to fill the need in 2-3 weeks. Items for the care kits will depend on what we have available at the time and may be limited to items we make in-house.

We did a lot last year while we gave care to our own tender hearts after the hurricane, and in the current political climate.

In January and February Aflorar provided--

• 185 people served
• 133 care kits/baskets distributed 
• Served Buncombe County and Minneapolis, MN 
• 11 different orgs/communities/entities served

We will be making teas at the Campaign for Southern Equality Resource Center Days. The next one is scheduled for March 26th. We are super excited to be joining these events, offering free support for individuals, including Tarot Readings, massage chairs, legal support, Reiki sessions, haircuts, and so much more! 

In April, we will be attending the Appalachia Funders Network gathering from the 13-15th providing a tea station for all attendees. This year’s theme for the gathering is Foraging forward: Fortitude, Renewal, and Hope in Appalachia. If you want to join, click here!

SAVE THE DATE
Aflorar Herb Collective Plant Give Away in Collaboration with Gaia Herbs and Southside Community Gardens on May 16th from 10am-4pm. Grab all the plant starts you want for free!

Donate to our work and consider a recurring monthly donation to help us throughout the year. We wish to have 10 new recurring donors this year. You can spread out your love to us every month! With your donation, you can help us with:

• $20 will pay for 1 month of gas to deliver herbs to our liberation zones across the community
• $120 or $12 per month will mail 10 care kits to people across the country 
• $180 or $15 per month will buy enough herbs to make 100 small pouches of our tea blends, breathe steams, and bath salts 
• $250 or $20 per month will pay for a tea station at a local community event for organizers and social justice warriors who need to rest 
• $500 or $40 per month will support one of our growers in the growers' network 
• $600 or $50 per month will provide us with enough tincture bottles for 6 months of supplies

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 at the beginning of Summer for the next newsletter.

We are choosing to honor the land, our people, and you every single day!

Please join us, friends.

With love,

Sarah, Isabella, Camille, Paulina, Mari and Teresa