Convent sisters turn herbs into remedies and preserves

At the Leiden Christi convent in Jakobsbad, the eight remaining sisters make herbal products, preserves and liqueurs while maintaining a traditional garden, SRF reports.

Just a few steps from the bustle of the Kronberg railway, the quiet convent garden grows herbs, vegetables and flowers. The sisters have cared for it for generations and continue the tradition today.

Sister Rita, who has been responsible for the herb garden for two years, tends sage, lemon balm and peppermint. During a hot, dry summer, the sisters covered the beds with Chinese silver grass to retain moisture in the soil.

The garden also includes ducks, chickens and rabbits. Sister Rita says the animals are part of the community under the Franciscan rules, adding that Saint Francis was particularly fond of them.

Inside the historic building, Sister Dorothea has run the convent pharmacy for more than 40 years. The convent produces its own cough syrup, gargle solution and sweet angelica liqueur.

When a previously purchased cough syrup was no longer available, Sister Dorothea decided to make it herself. She developed the recipe with a pharmacist and insisted on keeping the herbal dose high. The syrup was intended to have an effect rather than be merely a water-based solution, she said.

Employees and volunteers work alongside the sisters. On the day of SRF’s visit, one helper was preparing strawberry and rose petal jelly while tea blends were being weighed on the floor above. Together, they make, bottle and prepare the products for sale in the convent shop and online store.

At the top of the building, the harvest dries on large wooden screens in a vast herb loft. A hatch offers a view across the greenery and the Appenzell region. Beneath the roof ridge, a wooden statue of Saint Joseph holding the infant Jesus looks down on the garden, the animals and the women who live there.