please come & join us saturday, may 11th at the Hudson Wellness Collective and win yourself a seriously sweet raffle for self care!
2-5pm // 514 Warren Street, Hudson
this sunday, may 5th at 5pm, the Hudson Wellness Collective is hosting an exciting event that you’re warmly welcome to. see the details below!
the Icarus Project co-founders and fellow friends of many, will be reading from their recently published books, celebrating Icarus’ 10th anniversary, guiding us in community discussion and fostering the creation of possibility. please join us! the event is by donation and all are welcome, so please spread the word!
link to the facebook event here.
sunday may 5th, 5pm
Hudson Wellness Collective
514 warren st., hudson, ny
Creativity & Madness: Book Launch for Inbetweenland & Maps to the Other Side
In this afternoon of readings, discussion, and art, we’ll investigate creativity as a tool for survival and liberation. Icarus Project co-founders Jacks McNamara and Sascha DuBrul will offer readings from their new books and selections from The Icarus Project’s 10 year anniversary art show.
Jacks’ first collection of poetry, “Inbetweenland,” maps out radical trajectories through loss, madness, and queer desire to bear unflinching witness to a rarely charted geography of insurrection and grace. Sascha’s collection of adventure stories, “Maps to the Other Side: The Adventures of a Bipolar Cartographer,” documents one person’s odyssey to transform his experiences navigating the psychiatric system by building community in the face of adversity. It offers a set of maps for how rebels and dreamers can survive and thrive in a crazy world.
today i am excited to announce that i am launching my private practice at the Hudson Wellness Collective (HWC). !!!.
in addition to the medicinal herb products available from Good Fight Herb Co. at HWC, I now offer individual health consultations every Monday night at the Collaborative Healing Arts Clinic from 3-7pm, located at HWC. this clinic is a great model for accessible self care and i am honored to join the incredible team of practitioners! using a transformative approach that combines story telling and active listening, I provide a safe, compassionate and judgment free environment for discussing your health needs and exploring self care options that combine nutritional healing, custom formulated herbal medicine and allied modalities. This is a great opportunity to discuss holistic options for a specific health need, or explore how to nourish and support your overall body, mind and spirit through herbs that are locally and organically grown by Good Fight Herb Co. To book an appointment, visit the Clinic’s website for online booking, or contact me at goodfightherbco@gmail.com, or (646) 361-4619. consults are $35 for 40 minutes, and $30 if you book alongside another treatment offered including massage therapy, acupuncture and reiki.
i am thrilled for this opportunity to work with the community in more depth, and look forward to seeing y’all at clinic!
Collaborative Healing Arts Clinic at the Hudson Wellness Collective
every Monday from 3-7pm / 514 Warren Street, Hudson, NY
$35 for single 40 minute treatment / $30 per treatment if booking with more than one practitioner
massage therapy / acupuncture / reiki / herbal consults
thank you, sarah todd, at rural intelligence for this great article featuring Hudson Valley herbalists and the art of taking care of ourselves and others with herbs!
When it comes to cures for colds, flus, and other winter maladies, most people go in for a bit of folk medicine. An old roommate of mine made a pot of garlic tea whenever she felt an ominous tickle in her throat; another friend rubs eucalyptus oil on her chest to battle congestion. But to truly harness the power of herbal remedies, it helps to get an expert opinion.
Happily, herbalists are abundant throughout Dutchess, Columbia, and Berkshire counties. Take Germantown’s Lauren Giambrone, who came to alternative medicine by way of professional burnout. In 2008, Giambrone’s full-time job at a Brooklyn non-profit and long hours at an activist newspaper were taking a toll on her health. “At that time, within activism and community organizing, there was not a culture of self-care,” Giambrone says. “It was like, ‘No time to take care of yourself, we need to change the world!’”
But after years of feeling run-down, Giambrone realized she needed to take health off the back burner. She began studying at the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine in Ithaca. On her 30th birthday, she founded Good Fight Herb Co., now approaching its third growing season.
Today, she’s dedicated to making community wellness a priority for social justice. “Herbalism is known as the people’s medicine,” she says. “Really the intention is autonomy. It’s about being the expert of your own body.”
To that end, Giambrone has plenty of DIY recommendations for staving off viruses that run riot in winter. “Fire cider is a recipe people can make at home,” she says. “It stimulates the immune system and brings a lot of warmth to the core of the body, where colds tend to instigate. It also clears your sinuses.”
To prepare fire cider, Giambrone says, chop up equal portions of ginger root, garlic, and horseradish. Then toss them in a jar with cayenne pepper and cover the batch with apple cider vinegar. After steeping the mixture for two to four weeks, take a teaspoon to a tablespoon as a daily preventative or at the first sign of sickness.
Another one of Good Fight’s standbys is an herbal throat spray that combines calendula, sage, thyme, propolis, and anise hyssop. “That’s a great go-to once the throat tickle starts,” Giambrone says.
For maximum effectiveness, Giambrone says it’s important to take herbal remedies throughout the day. “We’re used to taking one dose of over-the-counter medicine and we’re done for eight hours,” she says. “But with herbs you’ve got to keep up on it.”
As a mother of 10, herbalist Jean Pollock knows all about that kind of healthful vigilance. “When you’re a young mother, you panic when your kids get sick,” she says. Herbal medicine offered the New Marlborough mom a way to keep her brood in fine fettle. In 1997, she took the fruits of her knowledge — and her herb garden — public with Mystical Rose Herbals.
Pollock says that elderberries are one foolproof way to banish colds. “If you’ve been hanging onto a runny nose or a cough,” she says, “get yourself an elderberry tincture. Just take four ounces of it three times a day.”
To wage further war against cold and flu season, Mystical Rose Herbals offers a therapeutic bath salt blend. Mineral-rich salt from the Dead Sea is married with boneset, feverfew, ginger, horehound, and eucalyptus for what Pollock describes as “a kind of whole-body tea.” The bath salts loosen phlegm, while hot water and herbs reduce stress and restore electrolytes.
For those who prefer to drink their tea rather than soak in it, Pollock offers a health tea packed with 15 herbs — from alfalfa to red raspberry leaves. “It’s loaded with vitamins and minerals,” Pollock says. “If you drink it on a regular basis, you’ll keep yourself in top running order.”
Terri Lundquist, owner of The Village Herbalist in Millerton, has a lifetime of experience with alternative medicine. “Growing up,” she says, “my mom believed that you could cure anything with Alka-Seltzer, vinegar, and clay.”
Lundquist went on to study at the Vermont Center for Integrated Herbalism. There, she learned how herbal treatments could complement Western healing methods. “They build us up to be balanced and strong,” she says, “so that we don’t get sick in the first place.”
But sometimes it’s too late for prevention. When fevers wake the flu-ridden in the middle of the night, Lundquist recommends boneset tea — an herb named for its power to stop chills in their tracks. She also suggests fever tea, made with yarrow, peppermint, catnip, and elderflowers. “Those four have been used together for thousands of years,” she says.
With the pollen-saturated winds of spring just around the corner, Lundquist adds that now is a great time to head off allergies. “You should start six weeks in advance,” she says. Nettles, sage, and goldenrod can all be used in preventative teas. Lundquist also recommends reishi mushrooms, which are available in most health food stores.
If the prospect of spring — allergies and all — still seems woefully remote, Lundquist has a few antidotes for cabin fever. Nettle tea and lemon balm are both mood-lifting tonics that boost immune systems. Lundquist is also a big believer in the healing power of food. She suggests keeping onions, garlic, turmeric, and curries simmering on stovetops throughout winter. With ingredients like that, she doesn’t mind getting a taste of her own medicine. “In fact,” she says, “I’m having curried chicken tonight!” —Sarah Todd
Good Fight Herb Co.
Germantown, NY
Products available online or at the Hudson Wellness Collective and a variety of local stores; for full list, click here.
(646) 361-4619
Mystical Rose Herbals
New Marlborough, MA
Products available online.
(413) 229-8057
The Village Herbalist
7 Dutchess Avenue
Millerton, NY 12546
(518) 592-1600
The next episode of Roots, Runners, Rhizomes : Health & Healing from the Underground features Mary Blue of Farmacy Herbs! I am quite excited. Mary is a mentor, friend and comrade, and her work with Farmacy is one that I seek inspiration from for Good Fight. You can tune in to 90.7 on your FM dial if you’re local to Columbia & Greene Counties, or stream live at WGXC.org. The show runs this Monday, February 18th, from 3 – 3:30pm.
An herbalist, farmer and filmmaker, we’ll speak with Mary about her work with Farmacy, as well as discuss her upcoming tour which features her film, Herbal Aide. The Herbal Aide documentary features herbalists who are using their passion for plants as a tool to support their communities, highlighting many well known herbal activists doing non-profit work, disaster relief, community clinics and more.
View the Herbal Aide trailer here.
Along with the film screening, this tour features the album release of Chrysalis : a solo music project of herbalist, farmer and musician, Eli Weaver of Lancaster Farmacy. Eli is a singer songwriter, plays guitar, banjo, piano and autoharp. She writes songs that touch on personal transformation, connection to place, oppression and liberation, and finding balance in life. She is releasing her new album, To Be Free on this winter tour.
Mary & Eli will be bringing their film and music to Hudson, NY on Sunday, March 3rd at the Annex located next to the Basilica at 5pm. Yes!
So tune in on Monday at 3pm and we’ll see you on the 3rd!
have you seen this?! :
it’s no surprise that my dear friend, b, posted this video on her blog, papertastebuds.
she & kid president inspire me to be awesome!
carolyn lazard is my hero.
living with and navigating multiple autoimmune disorders, this piece is a raw and real account of what it’s like to do so. she discusses her body and her health as they are manipulated by her confused immune system and capitalism, she gives her critiques of and dependencies on modern medicine, and she shows us her self, her bravery, her strength and resilience.
she is the ultimate badass. and i am grateful she has written this.
thank you, carolyn! we have so much to learn from you.
find the article here.
this month’s episode of Roots, Runners, Rhizomes : Health & Healing from the Underground, Sarah Falkner and I interview folks from the Columbia County chapter of the Weston Price Foundation about optimal nutrition and nutrient-dense foods that have nourished generations of people worldwide.
to hear the archive from the show, click here!
happy new year, y’all! i’m back from my travels, settling back into the groove of things, feeling good, feeling fresh and hoping y’all are keeping well and warm. i have much more to share and tell but first i must tell you all about this awesome lil’ pop up sale happening this saturday :
a MEAT & MEDICINALS sale at SPARROWBUSH FARM!
sparrowbush farm will be offering their pasture raised products and I’ll be offering Good Fight Herb Co. medicinals tomorrow morning in the barn. you really can’t get better than that!
so come visit us this saturday from 9am – noon at 2409 u.s. route 9 in hudson, ny
friends, comrades, community,
good fight is taking a break for a month to travel, restore, adventure, think, sit, stir, chew and rest… in southeast asia. a time for rejuvenation, inspiration, dreaming, adventuring, learning and scheming. i am grateful for the time to do so and wish you all a healthy and happy month. we’ll be back in action mid january!
in the meantime, for your herbal health needs, please find good fight at the following locales :
* hudson winter farmers’ market :
saturdays dec 8, 15 and 22 / christ church 4th and union, hudson, ny / 10am – 1pm
* hudson wellness collective :
514 warren street, hudson, ny
* megagem :
5th street between warren & columbia, hudson, ny
* germantown variety store :
main street, germantown, ny
