Anita Cramm ’88 spent more than 20 years working with animals, first at the Sedgwick County Zoo, then Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo and the Phoenix Zoo. All the while, the interests of this biological science graduate included flora as well as fauna.
After recently leaving zookeeping, Cramm, who is an avid student and practitioner of Western herbalism and ethnobotany, took up botany full-time and now produces herbal emollients under the name Fly in the Ointment.
Her salves and lotions are completely handmade. She picks herbs from her yard, dries the leaves and infuses them with olive oil, finally mixing in jojoba oil (to moisturize) and beeswax (to emulsify). She uses herbs such as creosote, an ancient medicinal plant used to treat everything from dysentery to sunburn, and brittlebush, which is good for “all kinds of muscle and joint complaints,” she says.
A resident of Eugene, Ore., Cramm also teaches classes on making salves and therapeutic teas, and is interested in all aspects of wellness. To learn more about herbalism, contact her at accramm@msn.com.
— Anna Perleberg
