“Perhaps Leopold Mozart used the same plants as we do nowadays.”
How was it back then with the travel pharmacy of Leopold Mozart?
Herbal science is booming. The fact that knowledge about the effect of herbs was not invented just yesterday, is proven by the travel pharmacy of Mozart’s father Leopold. On their long journeys, he supposedly took along all kinds of powder and plants, which were useful for himself and his family. We visited the herb expert Karin Buchart in the TEH Centre in Unken and asked her what Leopold Mozart would probably have in his travel pharmacy nowadays.
“One could assume that Leopold Mozart had a pitch salve at that time or perhaps some Bloodroot. Today, us herbalists would also have the same with us”, says Karin Buchart. The girl from Pinzgau grew up in Unken and Lofer and discovered the herbal science for herself after a successful athletic career.
With Karin Buchart, one thing led to another. In the course of her studies in Nutritional Science, she began to deal with the effects of plants. Her curiosity became a passion. This led to her book “The 13 Plagues of the Alps”, in which Buchart describes the most important medicinal plants and their application. This passion also resulted in the creation of the TEH Association for Traditional European Herbal Medicine.
The association was founded in 2007 and has developed into a training centre for those interested in herbs. Numerous events are offered to allow interested people to immerse themselves in the herbal world or to deepen their knowledge.
What do you learn in the TEH Training? For example, all about the valuable effects of dandelion. “Dandelion is actually a weed that everyone knows. We call it ‘Pig Flower’,” laughs Buchart. The effects of the ‘Pig Flower’, on the other hand, are not at all ridiculous. Its bitter substances get everything moving – our digestion and the body. And even, it is said, our thoughts.
Those interested in the effects of domestic plants are in just the right place with Karin Buchart. In the TEH Centre in Unken there are numerous events, lectures, workshops and of course the TEH Training, in which not only the Pinzgau herbs are closely examined. Fun fact: If you successfully complete the TEH Training, you will get a Giant Broom to take home with you as a symbol of your knowledge. Just like a real herb witch.
TEH Association, TEH Academy, Natural Factory Unken
Niederland 112
5091 Unken