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What's beautiful about this 
garden and the lineage that

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I grew up on is essentially all 
has to do with my grandparents

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and their lineage

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as Earth workers

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and tending the land farmers 
and also curanderos.

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Curanderos 
are very much 
like Shaman

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considered, that they also work 
integrating

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holistic and traditional root 
work of herbal medicine

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into the kitchen, 
into the practice of community.

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My name is Jesus Garcia.

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I am a traditional shaman 
and herbalist.

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I'm also an Earth worker 
and a gardener.

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And we create beautiful spaces 
like our food forests

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that's really supportive 
for our children

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and the welfare of herbalism 
moving forward into society.

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We are Herbal Action project, 
and that's an initiative

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that we started a few years ago, 
and that's me and my sisters.

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We were in the school district 
being students

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and also being, of course, 
teachers in that position.

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And after, 
you know, 2020 came around,

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we decided to really bring more

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future into our teachers 
by fostering homeschool support.

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And we do that with education

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by not only

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the emotional aspects 
of how we feel

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and how we integrate 
our emotions with the garden,

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but also the education 
on how to be a better parent,

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how to be a better service

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for the land, and also how to be 
that child that we once were.

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To bring wonder

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into the spaces

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that we're cultivating. 
How we ended up

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with this property 
with something very special.

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My grandfather, actually, 
was sick at the time

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and my father was looking 
for a particular place

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for us to call our home, 
to call our safety net.

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And there was this property 
outside of UhlandTexas,

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where it was very kind of barren 
and a little bit

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in a destruction mode.

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And we saw an opportunity there 
to really regenerate the land.

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And my father had a lot to do 
with plugging in the trees,

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knowing the elements 
and understanding the season.

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We have quite 
a few varieties of plants here

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that are not only indigenous

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natural to this world, 
but also medicinal.

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We get to care for these plants 
as if they were our friends

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and how we want to foster 
a relationship

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with the spirit of these plants.

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I'm here 
in one of our special places

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in The Herbal Action 
Project Garden,

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and that is essentially 
our floral and fairy garden.

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And we have here growing 
quite a few different fairy

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connected herbs and native herbs 
like the sunflower.

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We have some comfrey here, 
and this space was created

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from destruction, 
from broken limbs of our oaks,

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and we've turned this 
into a safe

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support system for the children 
so they can run wild,

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be free, 
and also be a little bit

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more open 
into their child connection.

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And that gives this opportunity 
for us adults

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and elders to really think 
about how we were as children

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and how we want to foster 
this education

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and create our own safe 
spaces in the garden.

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So this will be covered 
with blackberries

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so the kids can have a snack

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in the summer

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and really be shielded by these 
mammoth sunflowers as well.

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So we thought about what can we 
really do to create space.

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But food, food sovereignty 
is another big connection

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and community.

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We are here in our mushroom bed

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and what what's 
really great about this is that

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this is part of our lineage 
work.

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My grandmother, 
who was a curandero

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and an Earth worker 
and a gardener herself,

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would always grow mushrooms.

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And that's something that

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is part of our child lineage 
as far as support

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for ecological health 
but also physical health for us.

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And when we say ecological,

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is that the mycelium in the 
mushrooms here in central Texas

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really helps to retain 
a lot of the moisture for us

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so we don't have to overwater 
or try to water

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whenever we have droughts.

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And the children really love 
playing with these mushrooms

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because it inspires them 
to really call upon something

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that is ethereal.

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And we are so enamored

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by the connection 
and the magic of fairies.

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So there are little pockets 
of magical spaces of mushrooms

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that they have planted 
that they get to see grow.

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Now that is part of their fairy 
friendship.

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My grandmother used to cook 
with mushrooms

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and a quick and easy 
way to cook with mushrooms,

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especially to provide

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for your family 
and kids of all ages

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is just take them 
with a little bit of butter.

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And we do this with a recipe 
called calabacitas.

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and calabacitas 
is going to be squash sauteed

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with a little bit of butter, 
oregano and mushrooms.

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And you saute that 
just for a few minutes

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and put it on a plate 
on a bed of rice

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and you have a quick mushroom, 
a supportive connection

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to your mind, body 
and your spirit.

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This is chia.

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This is one

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of our amazing plants 
that we grow here and we grow

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for a lot of benefits,

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like the omega three that 
supplies our oil for our body

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during really hot 
summer months here.

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And she is something 
that we start

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to plant in the March month

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so we can have a long harvest 
until June.

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And this is a beautiful plant 
to have next to your sunflowers

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because it provides 
a beautiful canopy area of shade

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but also grows 
abundantly in our gardens.

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May pops all the flowers

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and we'll use the flowers 
for dishes like we'll fry,

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we'll batter and fry the flowers 
and we'll eat them

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as like 
little popcorn connection.

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So it's great medicine.

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And these are black chia.

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There's white, 
blue, purple and black.

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And so this is the traditional 
Aztec chia, the black chia.

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And my grandmother has been 
growing Chia for some time.

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So that's 
that's an ancestral herb.

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These are seeds 
that we've had for generations.

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We are in our spirit, essence 
therapy bed.

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And in this particular bed 
that we have here,

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we cater a lot 
towards the teenage spirit.

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And so we have medicine here 
that really supports the essence

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and the connection of spirit 
of healing

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for the teenager 
who has been broken hearted.

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And we also have quite

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a few edible flowers 
that we can make teas

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and different tonics 
for the child's spirit,

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especially when the teenager 
is going through some trauma

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or going through some difficulty

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that they can't explain 
to the adults.

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This is their safe haven. 
This is their protection.

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We're so afraid to connect 
with the feminine spirit.

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And I have teen boys 
that come here

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after class and really 
just let a lot of emotion out.

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And we need 
we need that divinity within us.

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My friends, 
we are here in our rose row

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and we plant roses for softening 
the spiritual self.

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And this connection actually 
came from my grandmother.

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We planted roses 
since we were young to really

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bring upon our boundary space 
to protect ourselves

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with the rose root,

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but also bring healing 
with the color yellow.

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The yellow is very much

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identified for spirit healing 
and opening up our softness

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and figuring out our boundaries

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within others 
and other things in the world

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that probably should just keep 
a little bit away from us.

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This is a position where 
we not only use it as medicine

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because rose is an astringent, 
medicine

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brings us back to our core, 
to our roots,

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and helps us to

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protect our space emotionally, 
physically and spiritually.

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The yellow roses are considered 
to be also heart healing,

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so the color of the yellow 
brings softness

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and really opens up our emotions 
to move out

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any particular stagnant energy 
that does not need to be in

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the heart.

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We are in our funeral service 
and death supportive garden,

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and in this garden 
we have a guild

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where we grow a lot of flowers

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for funeral services 
and also altars.

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We create altars in the Latin 
and Mexican community,

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and part of that 
is to really share the grief

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of connecting a little bit more 
to the ethereal side of spirits

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and how we want to 
treat our spirits

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moving forward 
into the next life.

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All of this that we're growing 
here is not only

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a beautiful cat cemetery,

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but it's a beautiful connection 
to how life

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wants to bring us to death.

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We can make

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a lot of possibilities 
with these beautiful bouquets,

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but one thing that's very 
particular and kind is serving

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the land while someone is also 
leaving the land.

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So as a preschool teacher, 
my initiative started to really

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bring this education

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to not only the fundamentals 
of the schools,

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but to also bring this at home 
wherever you are,

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whether you're in apartments, 
whether you're in a small space,

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anybody can cultivate and learn

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from each other 
as far as community

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on how to grow plants,

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how to really apply them 
into our kitchen,

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and how to really gravitate 
towards them

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as spiritual 
and medicinal medicine.