Italy’s All-Natural Antibiotic
Not just a pizza topping or an ingredient in red sauce, oregano — in the form of an oil — is an advanced multispectrum cure for infection, including zits, earaches, worms, parasites, and the flu.
It appears in the Book of Exodus as “hyssop,” and is named as an essential ingredient in purification rituals.
Dioscorides, the Greek physician, pharmacologist, and botanist who traveled as a surgeon with Nero’s army, was also a fan.
Fifteen years ago, when I first moved to Montana, I made friends with a woman named Trish, a talented collage artist who owned a boutique across the street from the building where I lived with my then-boyfriend, now-husband. Trish was in her early fifties at the time, but her tiny shop was a haunt for women of all ages, especially for female artists. I spent many afternoons in that meticulously curated jewel-box, exploring all the beautiful objects she’d lovingly assembled — little cups and saucers in bright hues, French hand creams in floral tubes, silver necklaces and earrings, paintings by local artists — but mostly I sat chatting with her and the other interesting women who gathered there. We’d talk about books and art, the vicissitudes of female hormones, and the capricious weather conditions on the mountain pass out of town. We’d share local gossip and hash over our relationships. From Trish, I learned where to find the prime hiking trails and hot springs, how to wrap a present …
