Welcome to Season 4, Episode 11 of A Friend for the Long Haul - A Long Covid Podcast! For Week 3 of Camp Long Haul, we're exploring The Great Accessible Outdoors and this conversation changed the way I look at the plants growing outside my front door. In this episode, I got connected with April Thompson, who has had ME(/CFS - I'm adding it because a lot of people search for it when looking for help) for most of her adult life, an urban forager, artist, and founder of the Chronic Market, where you can buy "beautiful, one-of-a-kind items and unique services offered by artists, artisans
and entrepeneurs around the world suffering from ME/CFS, a debilitating chronic illness.

Living with ME/CFS for over 20 years, April has found a way to stay connected to nature, curiosity, and creativity by being curious what's growing around her. After a series of technology mishaps (including a waterlogged phone and a last-minute change of plans), April gives us an impromptu tour of the edible and medicinal plants she can find just steps from her home in Washington, DC. This was a really sweet introduction to urban foraging.

We talk about:

Urban foraging for beginners

Accessible ways to connect with nature while living with chronic illness

ME, pacing, and finding meaningful hobbies within your spoons

Dandelions, plantain, lamb's quarters, mugwort, wood sorrel, amaranth, mallow, and more

The nutritional benefits of wild foods

About Camp Long Haul:

Camp Long Haul is a low-key virtual summer camp experience for people living with Long COVID, ME/CFS, dysautonomia, chronic illness, disability, neurodivergence, and anyone whose life doesn't fit the traditional summer adventure story. Every activity is optional, asynchronous-friendly, and designed with pacing in mind.

Connect with April:

Instagram: @chronicmarketplace

Instagram: @prillytee

https://aprilwrites.com/

Connect with Beth on Instagram @afriendforthelonghaulpodcast

Get Camp Long Haul Merch on my Bonfire shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/a-friend-for-the-long-haul/

Support this podcast by sharing, liking, and subscribing! If you're so inclined, I also have a summer wishlist on Amazon for our super queer, neurodivergent family.

#LongCOVID #MECFS #ChronicIllness #DisabilityCommunity #UrbanForaging #Foraging #AccessibleOutdoors #NatureConnection #Pacing #Dysautonomia #MCAS #ChronicIllnessLife #DisabilityAwareness #CampLongHaul #AFriendForTheLongHaul #SpoonieLife #Gardening #CommunityCare #AccessibleAdventure #ChronicMarket

Welcome to S04E10 of A Friend for the Long Haul - A Long Covid Podcast! I accidentally invented a virtual summer camp for Spoonies after having a small existential crisis in my Instagram stories.

In this episode, I talk about why summer can feel surprisingly painful for chronically ill and neurodivergent people, especially parents, caregivers, and anyone grieving the life they thought they’d have. Between Long COVID, autism, ADHD, sensory overwhelm, heat intolerance, and the logistical nightmare of trying to “summer normally,” I realized what I actually need is community, ritual, silliness, softness, and something to look forward to.

Enter: Camp Long Haul.

A fully optional, low-pressure, asynchronous virtual camp for spoonie folks featuring themed weeks, crafts, scavenger hunts, campfire chats, hydration flotillas, ghost stories, pacing tips, and absolutely zero requirement to keep up or explain your absence.

Lurkers welcome, goblin mode accepted, no assholes. Grab your flotilla and let's camp!

Key topics

• Why summer can feel isolating and emotionally difficult for chronically ill and disabled people
• Parenting in a fully neurodivergent household while managing chronic illness
• Creating accessible community spaces for Spoonies and Long Haulers
• The structure and philosophy behind Camp Long Haul
• Low-pressure participation and asynchronous community building
• Themed weeks, campfire chats, scavenger hunts, crafts, and low-spoon activities
• Pacing, overstimulation, burnout, and adapting expectations
• Friendship, belonging, ritual, and chosen family in disability communities
• Community rules around respect, consent, and psychological safety
• Reclaiming fun, softness, and creativity after trauma and illness

resources

• Whose Land — Whose Land
• Instagram account for Ray and Stormi (pet enrichment & disability-friendly dog training): Ray and Stormi Instagram and TikTok: Ray and Stormi TikTok
• Embracing Enchantment — Embracing Enchantment Podcast

Support this Podcast

I'm a disabled lady doing this whole podcast on my own. If you would like to support the podcast, please subscribe and follow, engage with my posts, comment, and share episodes that resonate with you! Those are the biggest ways you can support me and my work.

If you'd like to get some of my merch, check out my Bonfire shop! All proceeds are funneled back into the podcast for tech or used for community care and mutual aid. I don't keep the proceeds.

I do have an Amazon gift registry that I update for the summer each year. We are a blended family of 6 and all of us have disabilities. Some of our kids have complex medical issues as well as intellectual and physical disabilities, and we're increasingly neurodivergent. Summers get emotional, kids get boring, and the parents work from home without a "village" or the luxury of childcare. This summer gift registry keeps us afloat.

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If you'd like to be a guest on the show or suggest a guest, please use this form! https://forms.gle/q9wiV6mQ4G3SMBu99

Thank you for listening to and supporting A Friend for the Long Haul!

Keywords

Long COVID, Spoonie community, chronic illness podcast, neurodivergent adults, autism, ADHD, virtual summer camp, disability community, accessible community, chronic illness support, CPTSD, pacing, burnout, neurodivergent parenting, accessible joy, online community, disability advocacy, mental health, summer loneliness, chronic illness isolation, low spoon activities, asynchronous community, virtual support group, EDS, chronic fatigue, inclusive spaces

Welcome to S04E09 of A Friend for the Long Haul - A Long Covid Podcast. This episode is part two of my catch-up chat with Megan Wages, my second-ever podcast guest, first wave Covid long hauler, co-owner of Fancy Free Nursery in Tampa, Florida, and the guest of last week's S04E08, Running a Small Business as a Covid Long Hauler with Megan Wages. In this episode, we talk about plants! I've become a plant lady in the last 6 years, and I've noticed that my plants tend to tell me a lot about how I'm feeling. First I noticed that the downstairs ones were fine. The upstairs ones were so sad. Turns out there's a reason for that. In Part 2 of this two-part episode, we get into the actual plant content. Specifically: what should a spoonie with limited energy, unpredictable symptoms, and a complicated relationship with energy actually grow?

The answer is: more than you think. Megan walks through her spoonie-approved plant list, propagation tips, why your Calathea's attitude is not your fault, and the thing fluoride in tap water does to your spider plant. She also answers listener questions live, talks about soils, orchids in wine decanters, and the surprisingly emotional experience of a plant that keeps coming back no matter how badly you've neglected it.

There's also a spider plant baby giveaway. Alysia won. She lives in a basement apartment and this is probably the perfect plant. I wish I had the spoons to get to the post office and send it to her. One day, my love!!! I promise!

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Snake plants and ZZ plants: the spoonie ride-or-dies
• ZZ Raven: the black plant for the goth baddies
• Pothos propagation and the hormone tip nobody talks about
• Why I am a self-described prop lifter
• The "teats" moment (you'll know it when you hear it)
• Ripsalis: if spaghetti became a plant
• Spider plants and the fluoride problem
• Burgundy rubber tree, Tineke, and the fiddle leaf fig blue sky tip
• Orchids in wine decanters: the lab aesthetic
• Alocasia: pretty, finicky, spider mite magnets
• Why Walmart plants are a gamble (the fish department story)
• LECA: the water-to-soil bridge method
• Your plant's health as a mirror for your mental health
• Listener questions answered
• Spider plant baby giveaway 🌱

LISTENER QUESTIONS ANSWERED:

• Tara's 20-year fiddle leaf fig: how to help her thrive
• Monstera propagating in water: when and how to move to soil
• Can you bring an orchid back to life?
• Best plants for a low-light basement apartment

You can find Megan

Fancy Free on Insta

Megan on TikTok

A Friend for the Long Haul

• A Friend for the Long Haul on Insta and TikTok

• Substack: https://f4lh.substack.com/

• The podcast playlist on Spotify

Support this Podcast

I'm a disabled lady doing this whole podcast on my own. If you would like to support the podcast, please subscribe and follow, engage with my posts, comment, and share episodes that resonate with you! Those are the biggest ways you can support me and my work.

If you'd like to get some of my merch, check out my Bonfire shop! All proceeds are funneled back into the podcast for tech or used for community care and mutual aid. I don't keep the proceeds.

I do have an Amazon gift registry that update for the summer each year. We are a blended family of 6 and all of us have disabilities. Some of our kids have complex medical issues as well as intellectual and physical disabilities, and we're increasingly neurodivergent. Summers get emotional, kids get boring, and the parents work from home without a "village" or the luxury of childcare. This summer gift registry keeps us afloat.

---

If you'd like to be a guest on the show or suggest a guest, please use this form! https://forms.gle/q9wiV6mQ4G3SMBu99

Thank you for listening to and supporting A Friend for the Long Haul!