There was a time when we didn't gather knowledge to possess it,
but to survive –
and to know how.
The knowledge of herbs and plants.
They were far more than just food.
They were protection, healing, orientation.
They were symbolism, experience, everyday companions.
We observed them.
Drew conclusions from what we saw.
Smelled them, because their scent conveyed more than mere pleasure.
We tasted them and, with their help, put ourselves into different states.
What helped was passed on.
What harmed was avoided. Or passed on to someone you didn't like.
Botany was not a specialized field.
It was part of our old, everyday life.
Origin: Knowledge from Closeness
The first forms of plant knowledge did not arise from theory,
but from closeness to nature.
People lived with the tides, knew the properties of roots, leaves, and blossoms. Not everything was explainable, but much was experiential.
This knowledge was quiet, practical, and deeply rooted in everyday life.
It often wasn't about optimization.
It was about balance.
Antiquity & Middle Ages: Preserving and Organizing
With the early high cultures, plants began to be viewed more systematically.
In antiquity, observations were collected, preserved in monasteries, and passed on by healers.
Pharmacies emerged not as places of sale, but as places of knowledge.
Plants were dried, mixed, stored – with care and respect.
Still, botany was not a promise, but a companion.
An attempt to understand the human being as a whole.
The Modern Era: Precision and Progress
With the development of modern science, the perspective changed.
Active ingredients were isolated, chemically recreated, standardized.
This was – and is – an enormous achievement.
Modern medicine has saved countless lives and alleviated suffering.
But with precision also came a separation:
between body and mind, function and sensation, cause and everyday life.
Plants did not lose their place – they merely retreated quietly into the background.
Why Plants Never Disappeared
Despite all progress, plant knowledge persisted.
In regions, families, traditions.
In kitchens, teas, rituals.
Not as a counter-movement to science,
but as a silent continuum.
Plants continued to accompany humans – unobtrusively, naturally.
The Return: Not a Step Back, But a Remembrance
Today we are experiencing a new approach.
Not from a rejection of progress, but from a growing need.
Our daily lives have become faster, more complex, denser.
Stimuli, demands, decisions – all at once.
In this world, the desire for balance grows.
For things that do not accelerate, but organize.
Do not promise, but accompany.
The plant does not return as a miracle cure,
but as a familiar counterpart.
Our Approach
For us, botany is not a replacement.
And not a romantic look back.
It is a conscious addition –
driven by knowledge, care, and measure.
We don't believe in simple solutions.
But in quiet companions.
In compositions that do not interfere, but balance.
In rituals that create space, instead of pressure.
Back to the Roots – Inward
Back to the roots does not mean going backward.
It means remembering.
What has always accompanied humanity:
Nature, observation, time.
Plants were never loud.
But they were always there.
And perhaps that is their greatest value.
Michael
