This book is about a dream and making the dream a reality. Elisabeth moved to a small mountain community. A place rich in natural beauty but with fierce weather. A microclimate conducive to growing herbs and to destruction by natural forces. Becoming a gardener in this place is an uphill battle. The readers follow the early steps, - and failures, of the new gardener’s attempts to make things grow. Slowly she gets the hang of it and within a few years she opens the doors to a plant nursery.

In this process, we the readers, also learn a lot about plants. Did you know that lovage (Levisticum officinale) was used against snake bites and also a love-potion?

It is a story about life and people. We get to meet the aging mother who moved in when her mind started living a life of its own. Then there’s the intern, a cautious young woman who has experienced a little too much in her life and keeps a distance to other folks. Yet, the two become friends.

The year the Chernobyl nuclear plant spewed radioactivity over all of Europe was a dark one. Vegetables and herbs were left to rot on the fields. Livestock was put down.

The reader gets treated to trips into the mountains to pick lingonberries, cloud berries, and seeds from mountain arnica. Delicious recipes are scattered throughout the book. We learn to make alcohol infusion with St. John’s Wort, a fine taste and a ruby red color, sure to lift your spirits!