Welcome to Botanical Revival! My name is Heron (he/they) and I’m excited to share this project with you.
Botanical Revival is a queer, trans, and disabled-owned business dedicated to collective and cultural healing through working with the land. The natural world knows how to heal, and we can look to her for guidance in our own healing, whether that’s physically, mentally, socially, or spiritually. And healing happens on all levels: individual, familial, community, collective, and environmental.
Here at Botanical Revival, we discuss issues relating to all of these modes of healing–specifically through mimicking healing processes that already exist in nature. Through this business, you’ll find information about herbalism, regenerative farming, somatic experiencing, functional nutrition, food sovereignty, death work, decolonization, and more.
Because Botanical Revival aims to shrink the accessibility gap to these areas of study, most of our content is free. This platform is ever-evolving and the goal is to provide as much information as professional courses for free or really cheap. Finances are a huge roadblock for a lot of people, so let’s work to take those barriers down!
Learn more about Botanical Revival’s mission, content, and more by clicking here.
The Permaculture Design Process
Permaculture is a kind of agriculture that mimics the way plants and animals naturally grow in the wild. In conventional agriculture, there is an emphasis on separation and order. We grow in straight, tilled rows planting only one crop per row or per field under lots of water, fertilizer, and pesticides that have been trucked in from elsewhere. This is largely true for organic agriculture, too.
In permaculture, the emphasis is on relationships. We create micro-environments that mimic the ways plants naturally grow. When we do this, we don’t have clean rows like we do when we use conventional growing methods, but we create environments that don’t need outside inputs, that reserve water, and that can protect themselves from opportunistic plants and pests.
Inspired by Toby Hemmingway in his book, Gaia’s Garden (if you’re new to permaculture, I really recommend checking out his guide) there are five steps to the design process. The steps are (1) Observe, (2) Vision, (3) Research, (4) Develop, and (5) Implement.
Learn more about these steps by reading my article on permaculture design.
Hi, I’m Heron, the Owner of Botanical Revival
My name is Heron (he/they) and I am the owner of Botanical Revival. I am a queer, trans, autistic, gen z quintessential Taurus. My family comes from the Northeastern United States where much of my family still lives.
I grew up in the woods and on the waters of beautiful Maine and I am very proud of my Acadian heritage. As a kid, my family spent a lot of time hiking, kayaking, camping, and exploring the Maine forests. Today, I’m living the van life, traveling across the United States, continuing to stoke the fire of my adventurous heart.
As I travel, I am also studying to become an herbalist. Herbalism, nutrition, and trauma psychology have been my loves for much of my life and I am now exploring career paths in these fields. And thus, Botanical Revival is here!
Support Accessible Healing
If you like the content Botanical Revival creates, consider supporting us on Patreon. When you subscribe to our Patreon, not only are you helping to create this free content, but you’ll also receive all of our workbooks, courses, and more for free! Be the first person to receive all of our new content and newsletters–you’ll never miss an update again!
My Favorite Botanical Books
When you are interested in botanicals, there is a whole world to explore. This world is limitless and contains more routes for exploration than you probably think. That’s why I’ve collected these lists of botanical books. We all need inspiration from time to time and these books will guide you no matter the direction you wish to go.
I have gathered these books through lots of education and learning. In college, I studied food systems, sustainable agriculture, and food sovereignty. I am also a student of herbalism with the Commonwealth Center for Holistic Herbalism. Plus, I spend all of my free time reading, researching, painting, and studying botanicals.
There are lots of botanical books listed in this article (over 84, in fact!) but there are dozens more in my bookshop. In my shop, you can find all of the titles listed here and more!
Virtual Assistance Services by Botanical Revival
A virtual assistant is a professional who offers assistant services remotely. These services can include email and task management, social media management, scheduling, tech support, etc. VAs are private contractors, which means you don’t have to worry about hiring them and dealing with taxes. Their help is easy to access and they help you free up time so that you can get to doing what you love!
Get the time freedom you desrve in your business. That’s my virtual assistance mission.
Because Botanical Revival is a community-oriented business, I offer general VA services to other small businesses that align with my values and mission. It’s my goal to help other small businesses thrive, especially those that are supporting a holistic vision of the future.
Learn more about our services and how we can work together here:
Free Downloads from Botanical Revival
Botanical Revival is constantly uploading new free content. This content includes workbooks, recipe books, glossaries, meditations, buying guides, journal prompts, and more. Because we’re expanding quickly, there will always be more free content to download. To check out all of Botanical Revival’s free content, check out the downloads page. And be sure to bookmark it so you never miss a new addition!
A Dedication:
Photo by Jacob Downing
On November 20, 2019, my baby sister, Savannah Mary McTague, died after falling from Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park, Utah.
Sav was nineteen years old but had experienced more life than most people her age. When she was seventeen, she got on a train and left our little hometown in Maine. She backpacked and traveled through California, Oregon, and Washington; worked in Glacier and Zion National Park; and spent a few months in Australia.
Her adventurous spirit was planning to continue traveling around the world. In lieu of her plans, I hope that her memory will serve to inspire many young people to take charge of their lives as she did.
Read her obituary here and more about my experience with her death here.
