Our Mission

The mission of Dandelion Collaborative is to empower and restore communities through healing justice. With personal coaching, cultural connection, public education, and folk medicine support, DColl aims to build a just, kind, and healthy community that values social justice and equity, liberated healing systems, and traditional holistic wisdom.

Collaborative

adjective

[kəˈlæbərətɪv]

involving two or more people or organizations working together for a particular purpose

[from Cambridge Dictionary]

I'm going to let you in on a little secret: The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything is NOT "42." (Sorry! Also, props to anyone who gets the reference - let's be friends!) The meaning of life is actually found in cultivating meaningful relationships and experiences.

While true in personal life, I would argue that this philosophy is more poignant in civic engagement. It truly does take a village -- it takes a network of hard-working, like-minded, mission-driven people to build a strong community founded in reciprocity and restorative practice.

No one out there can do it all by themself. I mean, seems simple enough, right? We're here to lift each other up and help each other thrive. If not, then what's the point?

Why Dandelion, though?

Dandelion is a mighty little plant, commonplace but miraculous. It can grow in places where nothing should grow - between cracks in the sidewalk, along polluted highways, and throughout yards and prairies where it is continuously mowed over. A weed, some say. But did you know the entire plant, from the root to the flower, is edible and medicinal? It is among the first food sources for pollinators in the spring. Even its seeds offer a magical, whimsical joy. Dandelion does nothing but grow and give and persevere. A wildflower, not a weed. A gift. Roasted Dandelion Root was my first herb. A desperate attempt to ease the symptoms of a chronic condition opened the door for me to a new world - not just herbal medicine, but deep medicine. Soul medicine. Social medicine. Injustice and politics and rewritten history. Unwritten history. Ancestry. Spirituality. And, of course, connection and collaboration. Dandelion is a lifestyle. So cheers to Dandelion, sunshine of the earth.

ABOUT THE FOUNDER

Amy Shake Ortiz (she/they) is an educator, an ally, a speaker, an activist, an herbalist, a performer, and a lifelong learner.

Amy came to holistic and herbal medicine instinctively as a response to her own chronic health issues, and over the span of more than a decade they have continued to learn and grow their capacity as a healer, herbalist, and educator. Amy's identity as a queer, neurodivergent, psychiatrically disabled Latine woman informs her study and practice entirely.

Their health and herbal education is rooted deeply in cultural and experiential learning, including Wild Medicine Ways with Hannah Schiller, FitoSofía (Wise Green Boricua Medicine) with Maria Benedetti, and Caribbean Medicine Making with Brandon Ruiz. She holds a certificate in Holistic and Integrative Health from Allegra. Still, Amy continues to expand her understanding of holism and health with both certificate programs and folk learning.

Amy's vision is to grow Dandelion Collaborative up through the cracks in society by advocating for health sovereignty, personal liberation, cooperative community building, ethnobotany, and environmental sustainability.

Amy lives, forages, and creates with gratitude and care on Muheconneok and Haudenosaunee ancestral lands.

To put it lightly.

I have too many and/or not enough words, so I’m just going to let this speak for itself for the time being. Please give to the fundraiser if you can, or share if you can’t give financially right now. kthxbye.

you’re so right. give me pockets and I fill them chock full of black walnut shells, every time.

The thing I love most about plant medicine is how adaptable and diverse it can be. There is a form of medicine for anyone and everyone.

I started as a tea girlie, but I’ve grown to appreciate various forms of medicine in different contexts or for different needs. It’s important to understand that a huge part of this is getting to know the herbs I use more intimately, studying phytochemicals, metabolism, and more. But that’s a different conversation for a different day.

Over the years smoking has become one of my absolute favorite ways to come back to my body while assisting my body and mind to relax, cool down, sleep, and more. In this case, plant medicine combined with mindfulness and breathing can be alchemical and transportive for the nervous system and the soul.

Yes, you can smoke herbs! It’s more than just cannabis and tobacco, friends. SO many herbs offer amazing healing properties when taken in smoke form, without the mind altering high, the addictive properties, or the drug test flags.

Please keep in mind that smoking, no matter what you smoke, is still smoking. That is to say, it can still cause damage if done too often or without proper consideration of what is being ingested. But as with all things, with balance most people can enjoy the benefits of smoking herbs without seeing negative effects.

Do you like to light up?

Over an hour in 30 seconds.

Friends, starting and running a small business is no small thing. It’s early mornings and late nights, it’s sometimes asking for help but mostly doing it alone, and it’s…amazing. Because it’s mine. It’s my story. I’m so proud of this lil booth! And I’m excited to continue to build beyond it. 💛💚

You know what’s so cool? Making your own food and medicine from things found in nature, as intended. But you know what’s even cooler? That a good amount of what you need can be found right in your neighborhood. You don’t have to be a backwoods pro or own any special equipment — Mother Nature has made sure that even through the destruction that humankind has wrought on the earth, what we need is still accessible to us.

Even though I like what summer offers, I do not handle the heat well. This heat wave, in particular, has been ROUGH. 75+% humidity?? Are you kidding me?? Aside from air conditioning, my favorite way to beat this heavy heat is to stay hydrated with infused water. This beautiful pink drink? She’s strawberry basil 🍓🌿

Hydration + flavor = summer vibes on point

Packed with antioxidants, vitamins, and a burst of freshness, this delicious duo keeps you cool and energized all day. I repurposed strawberry tops [yes, including the green leafy bits] that were “scraps” from making a strawberry rhubarb crisp, and pinched some fresh basil from my garden. Could you use a little dry basil from your spice rack? Well, sure. But keep in mind it will be a very different flavor and experience than using fresh leaves (which are notably sweeter and not as warming). Whichever you choose, infuse overnight in the fridge and then strain the next day. Keep it refrigerated for up to a week, and enjoy!

𝕙𝕖 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕞𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕙𝕠𝕨 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕓𝕖, 𝕚𝕟 𝕤𝕡𝕚𝕥𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕒𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕚𝕥 𝕚𝕤

Foraging, plant medicine, food from nature - it’s not easy work. It is often accessible as far as skill, but it takes a special kind of patience and understanding. It takes slowing down and paying close attention. It takes knowing your land. Before you know it, hours, days, years are gone. For me, the work is almost meditative. It allows me to stop and smell the roses, as it were. In a world that moves so quickly, bombarding us with information, and in many places actual bahms, processing through herbs and making medicine is a way to connect to earth’s power and allow me time to see the way the world could be…in spite of the way that it is: A world where we all recognize the power of the earth and our connection to it.

My heart goes out every day to Palestine, DR Congo, Sudan, Ukraine, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Burkina Faso, Myanmar, Yemen, Syria, Haiti, Cameroon, Argentina, North & South American Indigenous communities, and so so many other places in the world I know I’m missing, whose people and land are constantly under siege, being unal1v3d, d1spl4ced, p0liced, and t0rtured because of our faulty sociopolitical and economic systems. I often feel helpless, and I access my privilege to turn away. It’s a coping mechanism. But constantly turning away also means disconnecting from the world and the land we share as well. Now more than ever, a hand on the ground here at home is a hand on the ground halfway across the world. Stay connected, friends.

𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕚𝕥? 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕣 𝕚𝕥?

This time spent making food and medicine, even as I entertain myself by singing, is not for me. It’s for everyone. It’s the only way I know how to show the way the world could be. And it reminds me that there is really no escape — no one is free until we are all free.

If only we would all show up for it.

𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕗𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕚𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕒 𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕚𝕟? 𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕥 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕘? 𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕥 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕨𝕒𝕪?

Music and above quote (lyrics): 𝘏𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 by Anaïs Mitchell @hadestown @anaismitchell

For my friends in diaspora — I don’t know who needs to hear this (it’s me, I need to hear it), but: incorporating cultural foods into your life doesn’t need to be all-or-nothing. It can look like some fruit here, or a flavor blend there. It can look like having staples in the pantry *just in case* but probably not touching them all that frequently. It can look like buying them where you can, when your budget allows, and doing the best with what you have. Once a day, once a week, once a month? It doesn’t matter. It’s being connected in whatever way works for you 🫶🏼

Especially in the US, we live in a society that tells us you can’t be intersectional, particularly when it comes to racial or ethnic identity. You have to check a box on the census and then remain there. For many of us, our own communities back up that belief with expectations that make us feel like we’re too much _____ and not enough _____.

To access cultural foods at the supermarket, you’re immediately othered by an “ethnic foods” sign (and that’s if you can find your culture’s foods and spices at the local market in the first place).

I think many of us, no matter the part of the world we’re trying to connect with, understand the struggle of feeling like we need to make a choice — here or there? But in reality there is no right way to live a multicultural life.

So let this be a reminder to you: you don’t have to make a choice. You can be both, do both, connect with both. Or neither! You do you. Just don’t get stuck in the trap of being a perfect [insert heritage here], because that’s where the real separation happens.

I had a professor in college who taught us that German has two words for “to know” - ‘wissen’ and ‘kennen.’ ‘Wissen’ means to simply have knowledge about something or someone, to be aware of it. ‘Kennen,’ however, means to understand something, someone, somewhere. It expresses familiarity or intimacy. To me, this is an incredibly important distinction. It is the difference between interest and embodiment.

I still don’t consider myself a forager. Several years in I still feel like a foraging infant. So while I do some wildcrafting, I’m often scared to do too much. Foraging means building a special relationship with the land around us, and getting to know plant and fungus allies like we do friends and partners. It means knowing their place in the ecosystem, their growing patterns and cycles, their gifts — and treating them with the respect they deserve. Foraging means seeing yourself as part of nature rather than seeing nature as apart, an escape or a commodity. And, as you can imagine, this is a long, long journey, particularly within the confines of a capitalist upbringing. At the absolute very least this journey requires two full cycles (years), but realistically it’s a lifetime of study and attention, of knowing and being and embodying. I have over a decade of herbal education in me and I still need to remind myself of all that I do know, because it barely touches the surface of the vast reality of the natural world. Foraging, wildcrafting, herbal medicine - they’re not something you can *truly* learn from a book or a Google search. Wissen is not enough here. These practices are something you need to know, kennen, in order to bring them to life for yourself and others in a way that honors their place in history and society. Realization, friends, not capitalization.

Thanks, I hate it.

I currently live in a place where conformity is valued over wholeness, and uniformity is valued over nature. I am extremely lucky to have a safe place to live, however I am not given a choice regarding the maintenance and care of the green space around me. It frustrates me to no end to see these dandelions popping up knowing full well they are actively being eradicated and their ecosystem poisoned.

Yet there they are. After two pesticide treatments in as many weeks they’re still here! The spirit in that is my favorite thing about dandelions. But if you know me at all, you know it doesn’t stop there. Click the 👉🏼link in bio👈🏼 for more about why we need dandelions and their resilience.

NOTE: Do not harvest dandelions or other plants that have been sprayed, or that grow near sprayed areas, to use for medicine, food, or dye. Just admire their resilience, then find a pesticide-free area to harvest from.

What is grief and grieving to you?

In Dark Moon Grief Gathering we explore our grief in several different ways - through art, writing, movement, spirituality, herbs, and, most importantly, community. We recognize grief is not one emotion, but a complex blend of several emotions. We honor all the layers, all the questions, all the experiences, and all the sources of grief in ritual and companionship.

Join us the 2nd Tuesday of each month at @nwr_albany for kinship in grief and connection in spirit. 7PM. Free and open to everyone.

#griefsupport #albanyny #safespace

tfw you take a moment to just enjoy the privilege of being in a body. and shake up your tinctures while you’re at it.

#bodyneutrality #healthsovereignty #holistic

The weather is colder, the days are shorter, and the body is beginning to slow down - even as the world continues to rage.

In any case, if like me you are privileged to be able to put some of your waning energy toward physical wellness, then take a peek at the herbal supports I’ve crafted specifically for this time of year.

If your burden lies elsewhere, reach out. I am making space for you, friend.

👉🏼link in bio

in this house we don’t do “wellness,” we do wholeness.

Lavender + Lemongrass x Lavender + Lemongrass!

The cool thing about joining “the vendor circuit” is getting to know other vendors and seeing them grow and glow literally right alongside you. Antanaja, founder of @mooreorganicbeauty, is out there kickin’ butt and I love to see it! Her body butter is *chef’s kiss* and I cannot wait to add this lavender-lemongrass “Zen” body butter to my self care routine 😁

SPOOKY SEASON IS UPON US! I celebrate everything with music, so here is my fave spooky song for you 😉

🎶 “Bottom of the River” by Delta Rae
🎤Track: @kylagabka

If you wish you could smell-o-vision this reel, then I’ve got good news! Tomorrow at the @delmarfarmersmarket I will have just a handful of Autumn Equinox Simmer Pot Jars available for purchase. Welcome Autumn, and Blessed Mabon to all! 💛💚

I often get asked if I actually use the products and techniques I share with the public. The simple answer is yes, but it’s more than that. I was and always will be my first client. I turned toward holistic, plant, and folk medicines as a means for healing and growing myself. The healing I’ve done, and continue to do, has made it possible to begin to extend the reach of the medicine I make, but it remains rooted in me and my life.

Does that mean everything will work the same for everyone? Absolutely not. Health and medicine are extremely nuanced, and holistic health requires a much longer, deeper conversation. But there are little steps we can take, little daily rituals like making a cup of tea, to help us begin. Wanna start? I’ll be drinking it with you.

Interested in a consult? DM, or email dandelioncollaborative518@gmail.com! Link in bio for more.

Why I don’t use white sage for smoke cleansing anymore, and neither should you:

If you have easy access to white sage, it’s probably not for you.

The practice of burning white sage for smudging comes directly from rituals at the heart of peoples and cultures indigenous to the southwestern U.S. and Mexico. In addition to being appropriative of Turtle Island’s indigenous cultures, white sage is over-harvested and poached due to its popularity among [mostly White] New Age “spiritualists,” leading to shortage and inaccessibility for the indigenous people who need it for ritual, food, and culture.

However, using smoke for spiritual cleansing and intuitive connection is a practice that has been used the world over for millennia. There are SO MANY options out there that are less extractive and more considerate of indigenous cultures - most of which you can easily grow in your garden or find in a walk around the neighborhood or a local park. Some you can even get at the supermarket, and others are actually invasive (*cough cough* mugwort 👀) so get to picking! Rosemary, thyme, mint, pine, fir, lavender, cedar, rose (petal and leaf), cypress, just to name a FEW, are options for purification, protection, inviting positivity or abundance, opening up intuition or introspection, stress relief, mental clarity, and more.

If you want to learn more about ethical herbal smoke practices, DMs are open 👉🏼 or try a white sage-free bespoke incense wand, available at DColl pop-ups or by request!

Say it with me:

Food is medicine.
Equity is medicine.
Housing is medicine.
Clean water is medicine.
Creating is medicine.
Education is medicine.
Community is medicine.
Earth is medicine.
Movement is medicine.
Justice is medicine.

#holistichealth #justice

Beginning in September, join me at @nwr_albany to get support in grief and all that comes with it.

Loss can come in many forms - loss of a loved one, loss of faith, loss of trust, loss of identity, and so much more. As if loss isn’t difficult enough, with loss also comes grief - a complex, heavy, and often misunderstood clutter of emotions.

Dark Moon Grief Gathering will harness the energy of the end of the moon cycle to create a safe, open, and accessible space to explore all forms of loss and grief in community without any expectations. Amy Elizabeth of Dandelion Collaborative will facilitate discussions, meditations, spiritual or herbal ceremonies, or other activities, with the intention of encouraging recognition, communication, and processing of grief so we can learn to move through the world despite our burden.

Gatherings may occasionally involve movement, however all movement will be both extremely low impact and accessible. Come as you are.

2nd Tuesday of each month @ 7:00 PM
Beginning September 12
Noteworthy Resources Community Room
Free for everyone - register at link in bio

#grief #griefsupport #spiritualhealing

it smells like iced lemon loaf and I’m obsessed.

organic cold pressed 🥑 oil
raw organic 🐝 beeswax from @beehollowfarm
lemon balm from my garden 👩🏻‍🌾
echinacea foraged locally and sustainably #rensselaercounty

that’s it for ingredients! simple smart life forreal forreal.

#simplesmartlife #leoseason #herbalism

Just LOOK at the beautiful ✨golden✨ color of this Golden Oyster Mushroom Tincture 😍

Oyster mushroom is a strong supporter of the cardiovascular system and metabolic health, and, like many mushrooms, offers major antioxidant and nutritional benefits.

Thank you to @wild_hudson_valley for spotting and providing the mushrooms for this tincture during the Full Moon Walk in June!

Find this tincture and so much more at the @palacealbany Community Block Party on August 19! 👉🏼 Link in bio for more info.

Let’s play spot the differences: chamomile vs feverfew 🌼

When you’re trying to hang dry some herbs but the humidity is 76%. Indoors. With air conditioning. 🥵💀 At least my house plants are happy 🤷🏻‍♀️

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Our Mission

Collaborative

Why Dandelion, though?

ABOUT THE FOUNDER

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