ABC is proud to announce the proposed purchase of the Case Mill Homestead to create a new headquarters and herbal education and research center. Located minutes from downtown Austin, Texas, the site offers country tranquillity in an urban environment. ABC envisions the Case Mill Homestead as a dynamic international focal point for botanical education and research, a resource center to enhance the public's knowledge of and appreciation for herbs and medicinal plants, a neighborhood preservation project benefiting its East Austin neighborhood, and a lovingly preserved historic Austin landmark attractive both to residents and to out-of-town visitors.

The Herbal Education and Research Center will include:

- ABC's administrative offices

- An information center open to the public featuring a conference room, lecture auditorium, multi-media resource center, bookstore, and gift shop

- Extensive herb gardens

- Shipping and receiving building

The new site is imperative because ABC is about to move to yet a higher level of activity. In the coming year it will be publishing the long-awaited and much-needed translation of the German government's Commission E Monographs (in which Commission E, the German equivalent of the FDA, assesses and gives therapeutic guidelines for hundreds of herbs). It will also publish the Proceedings of the Office of Alternative Medicine's "Botanicals: A Role in U.S. Healthcare?" conference held in Washington in December 1994, as well as the results of the Ginseng Evaluation Program. These projects will create increased visibility in the national and international media for the projects and roles of ABC, and take it to the forefront of herbal advocacy.

At its inception eight years ago, ABC's five employees could not have dreamed of the agency's current level of success and growth in herb research, education, and advocacy -- and it is evident from the explosion of interest in herbs and phytomedicines among healthcare professionals and consumers that ABC's work has just begun.

The current staff of 21 has outgrown ABC's current location. The beautiful and historic Case Mill Homestead in East Austin, a 125-year-old three-story Colonial Revival house, is surrounded by 2.5 acres of established herb gardens and well-maintained grounds.

"We are very excited about this new home," says Mark Blumenthal, ABC's founder and Executive Director. "We must raise $100,000 in the next three months in order to close the deal and begin renovations prior to our summer 1997 move-in date." The project acquisition, renovation, and second phase of expansion will total an estimated $1,000,000.

Article copyright American Botanical Council.