Thursday 19 November 2009

A herb garden in Tenerife

Last week I stayed at the lovely Hacienda Cristoforo in Tenerife. Among its many wonders I discovered a medicinal herb garden. Only 10 months old, it was all growing up vigorously, enjoying all that fabulous sunshine! The herbs are used in various medicinal preparations, as well as for the sweat lodge, or temazcal, they have on site.


I was especially excited to meet Tulsi (pictured right), aka Holy Basil or Ocimum Sanctum, a herb that I've written about before. It really is a special herb, and a delicious tea (I have it dried at home). Apparently it can also be used in eczema creams.

Another herb I saw for the first time live and kicking was Stevia, aka Sweetleaf or Stevia Rebaudiana. I've (not very successfully) tried to use this in its dried form as a replacement for sugar in a cordial. Eating even a tiny piece of a leaf is enough to experience its intense sweetness. Apparently it is 300 times sweeter than sugar.

Towards the end of my stay I was made aware of the Eliant Campaign (European Alliance of Initiatives for Applied Anthroposophy - thank goodness they have an acronym). In brief, this campaign is aiming to collect 1 million signatures in support of protecting anthropop. in all of its applied forms - education, agriculture, medicine - especially in light of potential European legislation that could limit it's practice. I believe this is important so I've added my name to the list. And now a campaign for short, readable names for all things anthropoosooppoooop....! ;-)


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