Eleni Christoforatou
I am a herbalist living for more than 20 years on the island of Corfu in Greece. The beauty of the island’s nature shaped my path and created for me a life close to the plant communities of the area. For more than ten years, I give classes on herbal medicine, lead herbal walks, harvest plants and make salves, syrups, tinctures and all kind of herbal preparations with natural ingredients.
I have studied with many well-known American herbalists and I graduated from Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine after completing the “Herbal Medicine Making” and “Herbal Immersion Course”. I continued my studies in David Winston Center for Herbal Studies where I got my certificate from the 2 year Clinical Herbalist Training Program and the one year Grad Program.
I have been the creator and co-coordinator of the Herbalist without Borders Chapter in Corfu which has offered plenty of free workshops and other events in order to educate people on how to incorporate plants in their daily routine for better health and quality of life. The Corfu Chapter has implemented a successful refugee herbal training program working with women living in the mainland refugee camps.
I have dedicated a significant part of my work to the effort to keep alive the traditional herbal medicine in Corfu. You can find my research work in the site “Herb and People on the island of Corfu: An Ongoing Relationship”: www.corfuherbs.com/en/home.
I collaborate with the Mushroom Club of Corfu, the Educational Cultural Association of Sinies and the Public Central Historical Library of Corfu to create a unique collection of books on mushrooms and plants under the name “The Nature’s Library” accessible to all residents and visitors of the island.
Next step on my path is the effort to create an Eco-museum dedicated to the traditional herbal healing in Corfu with a herbal collection of the plants used for food, medicine and other daily life necessities on the island, as well as live workshops and herbal walks to get in touch with the local plant and mushroom communities and their connection to the local people.
