Dirt as a Spark and an Archive

Within herbalism, we often focus on plants, but not on the soil they are grown in. Soil, dirt and clay are healing in and of themselves. We will explore the uses of dirt and soil in healing practices through creation myth, electrical conductivity, antimicrobial action, and as a site of memorial and remembrance.

We will examine our own relationships to dirt, as well as our relationships to the land we are on now and the land our ancestors came from. In order for plants to grow, they need to be planted in nourishing soil. As humans we also need to be connected to the earth in order to create, grow and thrive. In a time and culture where we are simultaneously disconnected from the earth, while being asked to produce more and more, touching the ground can have profoundly radical and transformative possibilities.

Nicole Acosta Nemergut is an herbalist, Chinese Medicine student, zine maker and educator based in New York with roots in Puerto Rico and Europe. Her work through Ballast Botanicals is inspired by the concept of ballast flora. When ships would arrive in a port without cargo or people they would fill the ballast with dirt from the places they sailed from to balance the ship. Upon arriving the ballast would be emptied, unloading soil and seeds from across the world and altering the landscape and environment. When records were hidden and destroyed, or there were none to begin with, the soil continues to hold those stories.