Naše kulturno bogastvo - Razvojni center Srca Slovenije

HerbalismHerbalism is the practice, knowledgeand skill of harvesting, cultivating andusing various plants and their extractsfor medicinal purposes. In the areaof Ivančna Gorica, vast knowledgefrom the past has been developed andpreserved to this day on the basis ofthe knowledge and operation of theCistercian monastery located in thevillage of Stična.The tradition is based on the practices ofthe renowned friar Simon Ašič (1906–1992)who obtained his herbalism-related knowledgeby studying and supplemented it byhis own experience. Since 2000, productsper friar Ašič’s formulas have been producedin the monastery and sold undertheir own brand. It is to the expert JožeKukman, who used to work with friar Ašič,that the merit for this can be ascribed. Theinfluence of the friar was strong over thelocal inhabitants who were aware of theimportance of the plants for medicinalpurposes. Consequently, many of themhave focused on this activity in their freetime, some of them even so seriously thatthey perform the activity professionally.Andrej Majes works and lives with his familyat the ecological farm called Bioplavicain Zagradec; he makes herbal tea mixturesunder the brand Plavica (cornflower; translator’snote). They grow many medicinalherbs; the work is mainly done by handand in a manner that was known by ourgrand-mothers and grand-fathers. Amongother things Andrej is a renowned therapistof Maharishi ayurveda. Andrej was madeenthusiastic for the work by his father JožeMajes who had obtained a lot of theoreticalknowledge in the Stična Monastery. Inaddition, he designed the herb farm Plavicawith about 450 species of medicinal plantsin the surroundings of Dolenjske Toplice.In Šentvid near Stična, Meta Maček createsand transfers knowledge in the workshopson her home farm with a permaculturalgarden. The motto of her operationis the preservation of nature and heritagethrough biological cultivation and processingof medicinal plants and herbs. She hasbeen involved plants since she was a child.She says that “some people have a talentfor music, I have a talent for working withplants”. At the beginning she did not needtraining, but later, when she decided shewas going to transfer her knowledge, shehad to reinforce her practical experiencewith theory. She calls attention to the factthat in herbalism there is a very thin linebetween a medicinal effect and poisoning.She has many plants in her garden, sheonly harvests in nature what is surplus sincewe have to preserve nature the way it is.In the surroundings of Ivančna Gorica,Otilija Grad Barle cultivates and harvestsmedicinal herbs in the village of Temenica.The speciality of her farm is a forest gardenaccording to the principles of permaculture.She has vast knowledge on farmingwithout chemical agents. She sows andseeds together the plants which tolerateeach other and are useful to each other.Thus the plants do not get affected bydiseases and also pests are fewer. In theecological market in Ljubljana she offersstrong herbal liquors, dried herbs, ointments,herbal vinegar, pillows filled withgrain husks…In the municipality of Ivančna Gorica, JasnaZajc from Zagradec, retired, and is engagedin herb-related activities on her farm; locatedat the bottom of a nearby sinkholeshe has created a field with vegetablesand herbs. She lets her plants in symbiosis,she neither kills weeds nor uses chemicalfertilisers. She keeps her medicinal plantson the fringes of the sinkhole and amongfruit trees; she harvests many of them in thenearby forest. In addition to the mixtures ofteas she makes marmalades, spreads andherbal rolls. Her main crops are peppermint(Mentha x piperita), lemon balm (Melissaofficinalis ) and scarlet monarda (Monardadydima). When she was a child her fathermade her enthusiastic about plants: hetook her on trips in the countryside andshowed her medicinal flowers.The knowledge and experience of thepeople who are engaged in herbs are intertwinedwith the tradition of their ancestors,the heritage of fair Simon Ašič and his ownexperience in this field. The knowledgepreserved through workshops is superblytransferred to the older and the youngergeneration. Linking actively herbalismwithin the framework of tourism and entrepreneurshipas a good practice deservesto be emphasized.47