Healing Hidden Under Grandma’s Pear Tree
Magazine 8 Post
Written by Mariya Ruseva, photos by Dobrin Kashavelov
The winds of fate always carry us to where our soul and calling lie. In some cases, a gentle breeze turns into a hurricane that devastates our old self and sweeps us to a golden, new, blessed place. Such is the tale of Anna Stefanova, who abandoned her draining engineering career and… put her hands in the soil. From it, a remedy sprouted. For Anna and for others.
From a “burned-out” telecommunications engineer, Anna Stefanova becomes a certified herbalist with soil beneath her feet and remedies that have saved the health of many.
Days before June 24, the team from Magazine 8 sets off to the village of Galabovtsi to hear a true herbal tale firsthand. One of those where someone is called by the forces of the Earth to fulfill what the heavens have destined as their sacred task. And for which they have been prepared, almost incidentally, quietly, and with much love by their ancestors.
Anna Stefanova is a third-generation telecommunications engineer. For years, she was part of impressive international projects. After a decade at one of the largest companies in the field, she was so burned out from work that she couldn’t even notice what was wrong. For solace on weekends, she wandered the meadows near her grandparents’ village—Galabovtsi, Slivnitsa Municipality. Carrying a five-kilogram backpack with photography gear, she captured the fields, gazing with a heavy heart at her grandmother’s lands.
Her mother’s parents had already passed away by then, and Anna didn’t dare visit their abandoned house, unsure of what she might find. Or perhaps because she wasn’t yet ready to hear the call that would carry her into her entirely new life. But before that, Anna quit her job after reaching complete exhaustion. She lost her appetite, shed 15 kilograms, and everyone around her worried about what was happening. When she spoke about it, she said:
In fact, back then, I simply let go of my burden, and suddenly I gained such vitality that I had to channel it into something good and different from everything before.
During her walks, Anna realized she wasn’t returning home with photos but with bags of herbs. The beautiful bouquets whispered to her, and she began studying them—what each herb could heal. She sought a way to help her daughter, who suffered from pollen allergies. Thus, a spark for knowledge was ignited.
„To Return“
Her grandmother’s abandoned house greeted her like a dream. Where tomatoes once grew, apples shone, and the women of the neighborhood exchanged seeds and secrets, there was now a weed-covered wasteland. But the earth remembers
The roof was starting to cave in. But I wasn’t interested in the house—it was the meadow in front. I decided to give it life, the way a true engineer does—with thought and respect.
– she shares with a slight wink, showing us the hexagonal beds—a geometric model inspired by nature and allelopathy. More on that later.
She started with growing yarrow—the kind under the old pear tree, which her grandmother revered as a women’s savior, drinking it and sharing it with others of all ages. Valerian, plantain, red clover, and oregano followed. A garden without foreigners—only local, wild, and loyal plants.
„Whatever grows around you is exactly what your body needs.“
—Anna breaks the silence as we lovingly gaze at and touch the herb rabbit’s ear. The herbalist explains that we are always near the right herbs. And the time when they grow is the best time to consume them. This thought lingers in our minds and souls for a few minutes—not only do trees and herbs grow together. People grow with them too. Never mind that we rush toward concrete. We are also part of the perfect world. Thank goodness there are still people who remind us of this.
Science and Dedication
But let’s return to the trees and herbs that not only grow together but also help each other. This knowledge comes to Anna from allelopathy, which becomes one of her strongest pillars. A concept barely known to most farmers, allelopathy is the art of growing plants so they support each other through the substances they release. Some plants protect others from pests. Others nourish the soil. When combined correctly, they care for one another—just like people in good relationships.
Following allelopathy’s principles, Anna decides to plant a bed of cabbage next to lavender. At that moment, a neighbor enters the yard and scolds her: “Cabbage doesn’t grow here, what are you doing?”
Indeed, as the cabbages grow, a swarm of insects appears, crashing into the vegetables and burrowing into them like drills. In response to the attack, however, the lavender begins to emit a strong fragrance, attracting the pests to itself. After a while, the little critters fly away—leaving the cabbage healthy and the lavender fragrant!
The chamomile Anna sowed under the old apple tree, also due to allelopathy, is now a meter and a half tall?! Our eyes fill with beauty, and our souls with the gentle scent of the flowers.
Anna’s knowledge of medicinal plants is impressively deep. It turns out that, following her passion, she completed a second master’s degree—this time in medicinal plants at the University of Plovdiv.
“I felt like I was at a wizarding school. Each colleague came with a clear goal and their own ‘pain,’ and there they found solutions.”
—Anna recounts with fervor. Her studies opened new doors.
She began sending every batch of herbs for laboratory analysis. Working with an expert professor, she confirmed that her plants contain two to three times higher levels of medicinal substances compared to reference values, including the chamomile and lavender we mentioned.
Her work is driven by living knowledge, deep observation, and constant verification. That’s why she chooses to make herbal extracts with an alcohol base—they capture both water-soluble and alcohol-soluble substances.
“What tea cannot do, a tincture can. It works on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels—holistically healing the whole body, not just a symptom.”
—Anna is convinced.
To stay updated with the latest scientific discoveries in herbal healing, she is a member of the American Herbalists Guild, which practices plant-based medicine, and follows scientific publications and forums on the topic. Her herbal extracts now travel to Italy, America, and Greece. Just weeks ago, her company was selected and invited to an international seminar in China.
The Breath of the Earth
Everything in Anna’s garden follows the natural rhythm.
“I plant according to the lunar calendar. Every plant has its moment.”
—she explains that the zodiac sign the Moon is in can either hinder or aid a plant’s growth. That’s why it’s crucial to know when to sow. This is another secret to her success in growing herbs.
Creating the right herbal combinations that amplify healing effects is another passion of the herbalist. Anna is the authoress of eighteen proprietary formulas, developed with scientific precision to relieve the most common ailments.
Thus, tinctures are born, like one for allergies with sage, plantain, and acacia, or the remarkable one supporting joint health with red clover, celery, sage, and more, named “Naydobriski.”
An herb she rediscovered is purslane, which, with its dozens of beneficial substances, supports metabolism and good eye function—
“People think it’s a weed, but it’s gold.”
—Anna tells us. Then she glances at the opposite hill and describes a swirling motion with her finger:
“Here, the air changes sixteen times a day. That also makes the herbs stronger.”
“I Forgot It Hurt”
People’s stories are her greatest guide. A man named Dobri, suffering from chronic joint pain, shared that after starting her joint tincture, he stopped needing expensive injections—not because he decided to, but because “it slipped his mind.” He no longer needed them. He continued with the extract alone and even asked to stock up, “so it doesn’t run out.” Inspired by his story, Anna named the joint tincture after him—“Naydobriski.”
Another man, struggling with gut issues for years, found relief with a tincture containing oregano and plantain. An elderly woman with swollen knees shared that, after a course of Anna’s extract, she climbed stairs on her own for the first time in years. Pain-free.
These stories confirm she’s on the right path. And because of them, she maintains the high medicinal quality of her products—using only the first harvest of each herb, when the plant is at its strongest. Everything after that—second and third growth waves—she discards:
“After the first bloom, the medicinal properties drop drastically. I have no right to give something without strength. This isn’t business. It’s trust.”
Word of Mouth
Initially, Anna made extracts only for friends and acquaintances. But one day, an elderly woman called her:
“She said, ‘Please send me some of that for the knees. Penka brought it to me, and I no longer have pain.’ I give half-liter bottles because I believe a full course is needed for it to work. Someone drinks it, it helps them, and they pass it on. That’s the living chain.”
Then Anna realized things were getting serious, and she needed to take the next step. Seeing her tinctures travel from hand to hand and heart to heart, she created the Ani`seed brand to bring everything into legal compliance. She speaks with gratitude about the Food Agency, which diligently and responsively supported her on this path.
She registered a workshop. Created a website. Built a purification station. Gave new life to the old house. Now everything is in order—not just the space but also her inner world.
“Every sprig is checked, every formula thought through. This is my final and best engineering—to assemble a remedy from chaos.”
—Anna declares. She believes herbs are beings with their own will, that they find you, and when you’re ready, they simply appear beside you. You just have to notice them.
From an engineer of communication systems, she became a mediator between the human and plant worlds. Every bottle, every plant, every word on her website carries a piece of this long journey of rebirth. Now, when the Moon is in Sagittarius and the mountain air changes direction sixteen times a day, she is there—in the garden, where every sprig has a name, purpose, and spirit. Hers is not just herbalism. It’s a return home, to the lineage, not just to relatives, but to that fragrant great lineage that encompasses all the creatures of the bountiful Mother Earth—destined to live together and help each other, blooming.
As we were leaving, I asked Anna if she dreams of her grandmother—the herbalist. She replied softly:
“Sometimes I even see her in the yard.”
And we all gazed at the breeze by the old pear tree—that was there before her grandmother and will remain, as long as God wills, to remind the young of the mandates they cannot do without and to comfort the departed that what they said has been done.