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. Donations to the Charlotte Herbal Accessibility Project can be made via the website.  Click here for full show notes   >> GET YOUR FREE BOOK LIST :: Get access to the Chronic to Creatrix Book Club List of 40+ of my fave books to boost your intuition, nourish your body & connect to your Inner Healer! >> SUBSCRIBE :: Sign up for newsletter to receive updates on upcoming programs and events >> GET WILDLY UNSTUCK :: Sign up for Wildly Unstuck audio program (it’s free) + learn the top 5 things sabotaging your health goals & what to do about them. ***** SUPPORT THE PODCAST 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 monthly 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   ***** For more from Wildly Rooted Get Wildly UNSTUCK audio program (it's free) Support Wildly Rooted on Patreon (I thank you!) Work with Venessa 1-on-1 Say hi on Instagram @WildlyRooted