Originally published June 9 2005
Wild plants and herbs attracting fans to Helsinki
by Mike Adams (see all articles by this author)
Helsinki attracts a vast number of people interested in herbs and wild flowers for their medicinal purposes, and those who are familiar with the hobby say the number is growing every year. Helsinki resident Henriette Kress, 42, is recognized as a world-renowned expert in the field, largely, she says, to her English-language website. Kress has been picking and studying herbs since she was five years old. Although many people discount the power of herbs as nonsense, herb collection has a long history, with documents of their cultivation and use in Finland dating back to the 15th century. Kress still recommends consulting a physician if serious ailments continue to reoccur.
- They will be here again soon, digging around in gardens and along roadsides, people collecting herbs.
- According to those who are familiar with the hobby, there are more and more of these people around every year - a veritable phenomenon.
- Helsinki resident Henriette Kress, 42, could serve as an example.
- For her, the hobby began in her native Germany at the tender age of five.
- Her childhood home was on an island where it was customary that the houses specialised in different medicinal herbs, and the people knew to seek help from a certain house", Kress recounts.
- Over the course of the coming summer, Henriette Kress will guide readers of Helsingin Sanomat into the secret world of natural and cultivated medicinal plants.
- Kress estimates that her website is the most comprehensive of its type in the world.
- Kress has taken all of the website's over 6,000 pictures herself.
- She has also published two books on plants, and her pictures of plants have been published in The Wall Street Journal, among others.
- The Kress family moved from Germany to Liljendal, a Swedish-speaking area of Eastern Uusimaa, in the 1970s.
- Henriette graduated from the Swedish School of Economics and worked for years as financial manager for a Finnish subsidiary of an international firm.
- After graduating, she has made her living from herbs.
- The collection of herbs has long traditions nonetheless, and herbal medicine is a part of cultural history.
- There are written documents on the use and cultivation of herbs in Finland that date back to the 15th century.
- "In self-care you either strengthen the functions of your body or help ease simple ailments.
- For example, if you have a headache, try this herb", Kress explains.
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