Hello plant people and welcome back to Herbal Radio! Over the next couple of weeks, we are thrilled to share two episodes featuring the four esteemed organizations that were the recipients of the 2023 Grants 4 Plants Program.

For those unfamiliar with Grants 4 Plants, Mountain Rose Herbs created the grant program back in 2018 to support nonprofits, small businesses, and home herbalists who are working towards making this planet a better place. Since its inception, we’ve proudly been able to fund many invaluable initiatives leading towards organic and sustainable agriculture, herbal education, protection of native and medicinal plants, and environmental stewardship.

This week, we are featuring two of the Regenerative Agriculture Fellows of Saticoy Food Hub, Kim Aguilar and Soli Guitierrez, and the Garden Coordinator of Rosalinda Sauro Sirianni Memorial Garden, Kate Robson. 

We hope each of you listening in today will be inspired by the commendable work these organizations are providing for their communities and beyond. Please be sure to check out the links included below to find out how you can support these invaluable initiatives. We’ll see you next week when we hear from the other two organizations that won the 2023 Grants 4 Plants program. For now, we thank you for joining us on another botanical adventure! 

Learn more about these organizations and the hard-working faces behind them:

Saticoy Food Hub is a non-profit organization located in Saticoy, California, which is an unincorporated area of Ventura County. There, they work to build food sovereignty with Saticoy residents and help sustain the organization's three major programs: Saticoy Community Fridge, Saticoy Certified Farmers Market, and Saticoy Sowers. Saticoy Sowers is food and medicine cultivation education that is meant to bring community members together to learn from each other about traditional and regenerative agricultural practices in culturally-relevant ways. The Saticoy Sowers program also provides access to the Food Hub’s newly established seed library, nursery, and gleaning tools, thanks in part to the generous support of Mountain Rose Herbs. 

Kim Aguilar (they/them) is a community advocate with a background in Environmental Studies and Sociology, holding a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara. They are dedicated to advancing the vision of food sovereignty in Saticoy through food access and self-sufficient food cultivation. In their time at Saticoy Food Hub, they helped develop Saticoy Sowers, a backyard growers program that integrates herbalism and holistic medicine aimed at fostering sustainable practices and community health.

Soli Gutierrez (she/her) is a community educator and organizer focused on food sovereignty, traditional regenerative agriculture, and Spanish language access. Born and raised in Ventura County. In 2019, she co-founded the Pesticide-Free Soil Project, which collaborated with schools on compost tea parties and hosted local environmental experts. Since 2021, she has been working in bilingual education, relearning traditional food cultivation methods, and restoring native plant habitats. 

If you are a champion for social justice and healthy food systems, you can support their mission by donating HERE.

Sign up for the Saticoy Food Hub Newsletter!

Follow Saticoy Food Hub's programs on the Instagram accounts below:

• Saticoy Food Hub
• Saticoy Community Fridge
• Saticoy Farmer's Market

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Rosalinda Sauro Sirianni Memorial Garden, founded by North Hills Community Outreach’s (NHCO), is a volunteer, community-supported organic garden that provides over 1,000 families with an average of 4,500 lbs. of produce every year that is distributed throughout their three  designated food pantries throughout northern Allegheny County. NHCO strives to provide low-income families access to quality, healthy, and nourishing food, and this mission is the driving force behind the hard work that is poured into the Rosalinda Sauro Sirianni Memorial Garden.

If you are interested in helping further the mission of NHCO to provide locally-grown, organic produce to families in need, please consider donating by following the link HERE. 

Learn more about garden volunteer opportunities HERE. 

Kate Robson (she/her) grew up on a rural farm in Indiana County, PA, where her parents and grandparents took pride in the food they grew. Some of Kate's earliest memories with her family included shucking corn, snapping beans, and squeegeeing tomatoes. After a decade in science and agriculture education, Kate received her Master’s Degree in Environmental Science from Point Park University. Her thesis focused on the health, environmental, and community impacts of community gardens in urban areas, and her goal was to get involved with urban agriculture in Pittsburgh, PA. Kate took a position at North Hills Community Outreach, where she focuses on helping community members facing crisis, hardship, and poverty in northern Allegheny County. Kate currently serves as the Garden Coordinator of the Rosalinda Sauro Sirianni Memorial Garden. 

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