Ep. 109 Plantcestors, People, Place :: Growing Ancestral Food as Medicine & Community Connection with Brandon Ruiz

Brandon Ruiz is a community herbalist and urban farmer living in Charlotte, NC. He owns Atabey Choreto Medicinals, directs the CLT Herbal Accessibility Project and spends his time working in urban gardens, making medicine and working with his community. Brandon works mainly with plants of the tropics, specifically from the Caribbean and Borikén (Puerto Rico), his ancestral homeland.

In this interview, Brandon shares his plant path starting with a remedy from his grandmother that saved him from surgery. We discuss how he mingles herbal medicine with herbal history and herb cultivation, and also with community activism - looking at the elements we need to cultivate a community movement. 

Brandon shares how he started a community garden project and how connection to plants can bring people together, why he began growing plants for food with ancestral connection, and the importance of growing your own food to connect with your ancestors. We talk about the challenges of tracking ancestral history and lineages for BIPOC, and bias in genetic testing. Finally Brandon shares words of advice for others wanting to start up an herbal history garden or cultural community herbalism project.

Show Notes

In this episode, we discuss:

  • How Brandon began his plant path early starting with a remedy from his grandmother that saved him from surgery

  • What inspired Brandon to mingle herbal medicine with herbal history and herb cultivation

  • The meaning of Atabey and Choreto, and the link to Taino indigenous roots

  • Why Brandon began growing plants for food with ancestral connection, and the importance of growing your own food to connect with your ancestors

  • How Brandon started a community garden project and how connection to plants can bring people together

  • What connection to “plantcestors” can bring forth for people, Brandon shares about his own cultural heritage and which plants are especially dear to him

  • How Brandon is focusing on growing plants that are culturally significant to communities in Charlotte, NC, including Molocia (Egyptian spinach or jute), culantro/recao (the main herb in sofrito), and more

  • The power of food for connecting, how foods have been shared & blended culturally

  • Changing the food system: Self-sufficiency as part of the reclamation process

  • Brandon’s vision for the future of the Charlotte Herbal Accessibility Project

  • The challenges of tracking ancestral history and lineages for BIPOC, and bias in genetic testing

  • Bits on the history of the Carribean and its diverse multicultural background

  • How botany is a “hands-on sport” and can be a spiritual experience

  • Words of advice for others wanting to start up an herbal history garden or cultural community herbalism project, and how it all starts with personal connection

Love this podcast? Subscribe over on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify and never miss an episode!

Connect With Brandon Ruiz

Website | Instagram | Facebook

Donations to the Charlotte Herbal Accessibility Project can be made via the website: The Charlotte Herbal Accessibility Project

Resources + Links Mentioned 

Bakers Creek Heirloom Seeds

Truelove Seeds, @seedkeeping

Note: Links marked with an asterisk (*) are affiliate links. Making a purchase through these links won’t cost you anything but we will receive a small commission. This is an easy, free way of supporting the podcast and production costs. Thank you!

 

Wildly Rooted Resources

Get Wildly UNSTUCK: Mastering the Mindset of Health

Get access to this 6-module audio program for free!

You’ll learn the top 5 things sabotaging your health goals and what to do about them (hint: it doesn't have to do with your willpower...) 

 

Your support means the world...

If the show has helped, inspired or spoken to you, it would mean the world to me if you show your support through a small financial contribution. Each FYW episode is a labor of love that takes me about three days to produce... From as little as $1 a month, your support will help to cover the costs associated with producing and hosting the show. I love you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

To make a contribution, head to the Patreon page here.

If you would like to make a one-time contribution, you may use our personal Venmo Link here and offer any dollar amount you'd like - send to @WildlyRooted: https://venmo.com/WildlyRooted

Thank you as every penny counts toward supporting this work! xo

 

Share this episode by clicking the SHARE button below!