Natural medicines in Nicaragua

The bottles pictured here are Project Bona Fide’s first batch of Andrographis Tinctures. While the land below continues to be planted and cared for, our Natural Medicine Intern, Lynda Lawrence, has been working hard to process medicines from our farm’s bounty. On site at Project Bona Fide, we have always put an emphasis on, and held workshops and courses in natural medicine. With the initiation of the Farm-to-Clinic project we’ve begun to trial more fresh-from-the-farm potions and give bi-weekly workshops in natural medicine to educate our on-site community about the power and uses of the herbs all around us.

The workshops include an overview of natural medicine and results in the making of one’s own tincture.  Tinctures are liquid extracts that are taken orally by mouth. They are most often extracted by alcohol. Alcoholic tinctures are a combination of plant matter and alcohol  with an ethanol percentage of at least 25-60%. In our first batch of medical-grade tinctures, we’ve sourced our alcohol from a local source located just outside of Managua. The tinctures are sealed in an air-tight container and allowed to sit for at least one month so that the medicinal properties can be extracted into the alcohol. The tincture’s dosage normally entails a few drops beneath the toungue 2-3 times per day.

Lynda, Project Bona Fide’s first natural medicine intern, has also been working in Natural Medicine International (NDI)’s Integrative Health Care clinic in Los Angeles, Ometepe once a week  to observe their needs and where Project Bona Fide can continue to plug in as the project expands.  We are looking forward to continuing to collaborate with the clinic, trial our own farm-made medicines, and educate individuals on the power of plants!