About Us
Wild Ginger Community Herbal Center (formerly Centro Ashé) is a small family run business stewarded by the Brown Meehan family. While we love to teach and guide during many of our programs, and while our work with Wild Ginger is our livlihood, it has always been our goal to engage in our local community and work with teachers and create programs that represent many voices in herbal medicine and healing. Instead of being the sole teachers, we are instead at our heart a community rooted education center, , and medicinal plant sanctuary in Southern Maryland just south of Washington DC as well as Talamanca, Costa Rica our respective home communities (Molly Meehan from DC and Javier Brown from Caribe Sur of Costa Rica). We seek to engage community through organizing educational activities that celebrate the art, tradition, and culture of herbalism, and that cultivate meaningful connections with the earth and eachother. We are thankful for beautiful land we are blessed to call home and are humbled to be able to share it with those who come visit!
At Wild Ginger Herbal Education we are grateful to build in community with many teachers and partners as well as with all who come to participate i our programs to keep the knowledge of our food, herbal medicine, seeds, and our healing traditions alive and vital within our communities. Our belief is that plant medicine is the people's medicine, everyone of us comes from a lineage of plant people, and this knowledge is our birthright. We are a community rooted educational center, our goal is to keep our classes affordable & accessible while honoring the time, energy, and knowledge our instructors come to share. We celebrate the richness and diversity of folk herbalism while providing practical knowledge that can support each of us, our families and communities. We honor the incredible knowledge present within our communities and our teachers are all local herbalists and plant people in the communities we work, the knowledge is right here! By attending our programs and buying our products you are supporting this cosmovision, creating alternatives to the dominant paradigm, and you are helping us to provide employment to local herbalists and to keeping our dynamic educational center & teaching gardens running. We are constantly seeking to strengthen our programs, create expanded intergenerational learning environments, and honor the community that grows along with this process. As a small mission driven business we truly rely on community support of our programs, and so it is with true gratitude we thank you for your interest and support, we look forward to building with you!
In Costa Rica our work is based in the South Caribbean Coast, an area known as Talamanca, home to indigenous groups including the BriBri, Kekoldi, Cabecar as well as Afro-Caribbean and Chinese communities who came to work building railroads, work on banana plantations, and as fishermen. Over the years this area has become increasingly diverse with residents from virtually all over the globe. Our programs focus on the sustainable local agricultural food system as well as traditional herbalism as it is practiced across the incredible cultures that inhabit Talamanca. Our classes are held at our herbal center in Manzanillo, Caribe Sur, Limon, Costa Rica. We work with many local community members as well as international teachers who have immigrated here and offer unique valuable knowledge or partner to host educational programs with us.
At Wild Ginger Herbal Education we are grateful to build in community with many teachers and partners as well as with all who come to participate i our programs to keep the knowledge of our food, herbal medicine, seeds, and our healing traditions alive and vital within our communities. Our belief is that plant medicine is the people's medicine, everyone of us comes from a lineage of plant people, and this knowledge is our birthright. We are a community rooted educational center, our goal is to keep our classes affordable & accessible while honoring the time, energy, and knowledge our instructors come to share. We celebrate the richness and diversity of folk herbalism while providing practical knowledge that can support each of us, our families and communities. We honor the incredible knowledge present within our communities and our teachers are all local herbalists and plant people in the communities we work, the knowledge is right here! By attending our programs and buying our products you are supporting this cosmovision, creating alternatives to the dominant paradigm, and you are helping us to provide employment to local herbalists and to keeping our dynamic educational center & teaching gardens running. We are constantly seeking to strengthen our programs, create expanded intergenerational learning environments, and honor the community that grows along with this process. As a small mission driven business we truly rely on community support of our programs, and so it is with true gratitude we thank you for your interest and support, we look forward to building with you!
In Costa Rica our work is based in the South Caribbean Coast, an area known as Talamanca, home to indigenous groups including the BriBri, Kekoldi, Cabecar as well as Afro-Caribbean and Chinese communities who came to work building railroads, work on banana plantations, and as fishermen. Over the years this area has become increasingly diverse with residents from virtually all over the globe. Our programs focus on the sustainable local agricultural food system as well as traditional herbalism as it is practiced across the incredible cultures that inhabit Talamanca. Our classes are held at our herbal center in Manzanillo, Caribe Sur, Limon, Costa Rica. We work with many local community members as well as international teachers who have immigrated here and offer unique valuable knowledge or partner to host educational programs with us.
Steiner Show Interview with Molly Meehan & Ayo Ngozi of Centro Ashé
starts at 13 minute mark
To Heal DC WPFW Show
hosted by Joni Eisenberg interview with Molly Meehan of Centro Ashé Herbs as well as Derrick Jackson of Sign of Jonah Partnerships in Healing
Press
Beyond Local Food - Re-Localizing Our Medicine - 2014
http://naturalawakeningsdc.com/global/beyond-local-food-and-re-localizing-our-folk-medicine/
Medicinal Mushroom Class Blog
http://hibouladybaby.blogspot.com/2014/04/edumucation-centro-ashe-medicinal.html
Chesapeake Herb Gathering Blog Plus Elderberry Sumac Syrup~ Witchin in the Kitchen
http://www.witchininthekitchen.com/2013/10/chesapeake-herbal-conference/
2012 Women Innovators in Art & Agriculture Panel - Younity Women's Art Collective
http://theyounity.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/women-innovators-in-art-agriculture-panel-re-cap/
2012 Here On Earth ~ Southern Maryland Independent
http://www.somdnews.com/article/20120530/NEWS/705259927/1043/here-on-earth&template=southernMaryland
2012 Press Release on Mother Earth News
http://www.motherearthnews.com/biz-bulletins/centro-ashe-announces-group-trips-to-costa-rica.aspx
Other Press Featuring Molly Meehan:
2012 - Understanding the Intersection of Social Justice and the Food System - Prince George's Suite Magazine
http://www.pgsuite.com/?post_id=228
2012 - Organic Foods Take Root As a Lifestyle and a Lifesaver - The Sentinel
http://www.thesentinel.com/pgs/organic-foods-growth
2012 Mark Steiner Show Soundbites - Delmarva Episode 31
http://www.ondelmarva.org/?p=640
2012 Mark Steiner Show Soundbites - Delmarva Episode 32
http://www.ondelmarva.org/?p=656
Beyond Local Food - Re-Localizing Our Medicine - 2014
http://naturalawakeningsdc.com/global/beyond-local-food-and-re-localizing-our-folk-medicine/
Medicinal Mushroom Class Blog
http://hibouladybaby.blogspot.com/2014/04/edumucation-centro-ashe-medicinal.html
Chesapeake Herb Gathering Blog Plus Elderberry Sumac Syrup~ Witchin in the Kitchen
http://www.witchininthekitchen.com/2013/10/chesapeake-herbal-conference/
2012 Women Innovators in Art & Agriculture Panel - Younity Women's Art Collective
http://theyounity.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/women-innovators-in-art-agriculture-panel-re-cap/
2012 Here On Earth ~ Southern Maryland Independent
http://www.somdnews.com/article/20120530/NEWS/705259927/1043/here-on-earth&template=southernMaryland
2012 Press Release on Mother Earth News
http://www.motherearthnews.com/biz-bulletins/centro-ashe-announces-group-trips-to-costa-rica.aspx
Other Press Featuring Molly Meehan:
2012 - Understanding the Intersection of Social Justice and the Food System - Prince George's Suite Magazine
http://www.pgsuite.com/?post_id=228
2012 - Organic Foods Take Root As a Lifestyle and a Lifesaver - The Sentinel
http://www.thesentinel.com/pgs/organic-foods-growth
2012 Mark Steiner Show Soundbites - Delmarva Episode 31
http://www.ondelmarva.org/?p=640
2012 Mark Steiner Show Soundbites - Delmarva Episode 32
http://www.ondelmarva.org/?p=656