How It All Started
The name, TASIA Botanica, has two derivations: Τασία (Tasia) was my Yiayia’s nickname, and since I am her namesake, it only felt apt to pay tribute to her. A Botanica is small shop that sells herbal and other traditional remedies, originating from the Greek, βοτανικός (Botanikos) which means, “of plants/herbs”.
Two events in my childhood inadvertently paved the way for what was to become my homage to all things botanical. The first was a trip to my Oupa and Ouma’s farm, nestled in a one-road town called Pearston, in the Eastern Karoo. Oupa had taken me for a walkabout to explore the farm and pointed to a feathery leafed plant with umbels of yellow flowers. He broke off two pieces, popped one in his mouth and handed the other to me – I quickly followed suit and began chewing. I was amazed, the flavour of liquorice filled my mouth. How was it possible that this plant, fennel, could taste just like the sweet that so oft stained my lips and gums? The epiphanies did not end there, our next stop was a bush that grew behind the farmhouse. Laden with the strangest looking fruit; crimson red, leathery orbs with little crowns protruding from the bottom.
Oupa told me that each of them was like a treasure chest, containing hundreds of little jewels. He cut one open and out of it spilled tiny, glistening rubies, the sheer wonderment of that moment is difficult to describe. The tart sweetness of the pomegranate coupled with the crunch of the seeds, is forever etched in my mind. It was as though I had been inducted into a special club, where only a select few of us where privy to the secret delights that plants held.
The second was a holiday to the village that is my Dad’s ancestral home, Kandyla in the province of Arkadia, Greece; to visit my Yiayia. Crop fields resembling linear paintings, a profusion of wild herbs growing along the footpaths; dandelion greens, thistles, and stinging nettles tumbling out of cracks and crevices. Our family home had a garden that was a cornucopia: an orange tree growing outside the kitchen window, plum trees in the orchard, beans trellising in every direction, rose bushes that looked like skyscraper
My favourite was the walnut tree that grew adjacent to the garden shed. I would climb onto the shed’s roof, lean against its trunk and gaze out at paradise. As far as the eye could see, fruit and nut trees, vegetables, and herbs, seemed to be exploding with growth. Biting into a fig for the first time was like tasting summer, fingers sticky from its milky latex. And the teas, oh goodness, the teas… from citrus-like Louiza (lemon verbena); to apple and honey flavoured Xamomili (chamomile); to earthy, floral mountain tea (Sideritis). The untamed abundance of nature was everywhere, the veritable embodiment of organic.
So my love for all things efflorescent and verdant began. Rather predictably, I forged a career in the complementary therapies and wellness industry. Having spent numerous years lecturing and training students at various South African educational institutes, as well as running a private practice. Unsurprisingly, my favourite modalities to teach were aromatherapy and phytotherapy. My botanical fascination and personal education continued, with my research investigating the effects of an indigenous essential oil, Salvia Stenophylla, on acne.
At the beginning of 2020, after fifteen years of doing what I loved, the enjoyment had gone out of it. I had reached a stage where I was tired and felt that it was time for a change – so I quit my job, quite unsure of what to do and where to go. Then the pandemic hit, and life changed irrevocably for all of us. And somehow, out of the calamity, TASIA Botanica came to be. It was as if the Muses had whispered into my ear. Drawing on my childhood memories, heritage, and life experiences, the formulations started flowing. Hybridisations of the incredible botanicals endemic to South Africa and Greece, quite literally, the best of both worlds made manifest in the form of a range of all natural self-care products.
With Love
