Hi friends and beloveds of the Rose Core Collective! A brief reintroduction: Rose Core Collective is a small herbal mutual aid project, currently held by Chris, Morgan, Sophie, Tessa (and toddler Arlo, who can’t bottle tinctures yet but happily guzzles all the herbal tea he can get). We have been growing, formulating and sharing free herbal medicine since spring 2020.

At this point, our herbs have made it to the West Coast, Gulf Coast, Midwest, and up and down the Appalachias. In addition to sending herbs far afield to organizations doing crucial solidarity work around the country, we have steadily increased our presence in our own backyard since the floods of 2023. We can now be found regularly tabling at rallies for Palestinian liberation and #nonewprisons, at trans health conferences and community care days, and at other events around northern Vermont. We also maintain our deep relationships with folks around the country, many whom we’ve been working with since our inception.

This spring marks the FIFTH ANNIVERSARY of Rose Core Collective, can you believe it?

As we have seen time and again, the plants are always useful, and there is always a need for care inside of any major movement towards social change and collective liberation. We feel so lucky to be able to continue this work through the radical changes we are living through.

Truthfully, we have lost count of how many gallons of tincture and tea we have distributed this year, let alone over the past five years. What we know is that we operate from a place of abundance- we gratefully receive herbs from friends, gardeners and farmers all season long. We’ve had folks drop barrels of high-grade alcohol at our doorstep and pass off pillowcase-sized bags of dry herbs at our local farmer’s markets. We’ve heard feedback from folks halfway across the country and at our local pop-up tent, telling us how important our formulas have been for them in times of grief, transition, and struggle.

We are looking towards this next year with a continued sense of purpose. We know our partnership with the plants and with people is powerful, and have been told again and again that our offerings of care radiate out into many relationships and communities. We plan to keep showing up, keep tending to the plants, keep making and sending medicine to those who are working so hard to build the world we all deserve to live in.

Our goals for 2025:

• Continue to make and send dozens of gallons of herbal tea and tincture to our organizing partners!

• Continue our Garden Day program: Once a month we invite folks to help tend one of the gardens that provides herbs for Rose Core. These days have been nurturing for the plants as well as for our relationships with the many amazing plant-lovers who support our work.

• Expand our offerings, including preparations like Fire Cider and Elderberry Syrup, which are often requested by other herbal aid projects we support.

• Pay ourselves for gas and shipping! With more in-person events, we are spending more and more time in the car and would like to offset driving costs, as well as cover shipping when we do send herbs cross-country.

• Ensure that we can continue to do our work as costs for all our supplies (bottles, alcohol, vinegar, labels, etc) increase.

Towards these goals, we have partnered with Community Resilience Organizations (CROs) to get fiscal sponsorship!

This is a big step for our little group. CROs is a grassroots organizing hub dedicated to supporting racial and environmental justice work in Vermont. It’s a really perfect fit for us, and we are grateful to be a part of the CROs web of community resilience and care.

What does this mean? For one, Rose Core Collective can now apply for grants, so send any grant our way! Second, individual donations are now tax-deductible. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation, you can do so here, with a memo for Rose Core. You can also mail a check (put Rose Core in the memo) to Community Resilience Organizations, P.O. Box 1002, Montpelier, VT 05602.

We are still primarily supported through individual cash donations from those who value our work. We also gratefully accept donations of bulk herbs and prepared tinctures from the list that you can find here. Monetary donations allow us to purchase things like bottles and alcohol, and ship herbs when “punk post” is unavailable.