Medicines in your own backyard

While most Hinterlanders curse the weeds, there’s one Maleny couple who plant, propagate and promote them! 

by Arcadia Love

Naturopath/Herbalist Trijntje (pronounced Train-cha) and Dr Fergus Reilly have been running a monthly ‘Medicinal Weed Walk and Talk’ on their weed-filled property of just over five acres for the past eleven years.

The Reillys, who have natural medicine and healing qualifications as long as your arm, moved to Maleny in 1992 and built a rammed earth ‘temple’ as their home and workspace. Witnessing the incredible healing powers of everyday ‘weeds’ they began transforming their cow paddock into what is quite possibly Australia’s best medicine garden.

“Nature has provided us with a whole medicine chest of edible weeds,” says Trijntje. “They are important herbs that give our bodies all the nutrients they need to become vital and survive diseases. The best part is they grow without much effort at all!”

The couple wanted to share their knowledge about these important ‘survival foods’ and so began the monthly ‘weed walks’. 

For four hours on a Saturday, the Reillys open their home and garden to a small group of people interested in learning the health benefits of medicinal weeds and how to identify, grow and use them. After wandering through the garden, there’s a shared lunch, incorporating some of the freshly picked weeds.

“Take Yellow Dock for example,” says Trijntje. “It’s such an all-round potent tonic and conditioner for the blood and circulatory system that it can have profound beneficial effects on a vast array of ailments.”

According to Trijntje and Fergus, these wild weeds, which are actually herbs, can replace expensive, processed vitamin and mineral supplements for virtually no cost and be easily incorporated into salads, smoothies, stir-fries, soups, teas, and used as vegetable greens. They are preventative medicine the way nature intended.

Trijntje shares that she also dries Yellow Dock to preserve it and uses the whole plant to create powerful tinctures. Fergus is quick to add “If ever we moved and could only take a few herbs with us – this would be one of them!”

Trijntje and Fergus have first-hand experience of the extraordinary healing properties of medicinal weeds as they’ve been using them extensively in their clinic for decades.

“There are thousands of plants, trees, flowers and weeds,” says Fergus, “that can be used as medicine and food. Not everyone can afford to go to a health professional or pay for expensive products. We believe all we need for our medicine and well-being is living around us in nature.

“One of my favourites is Narrowleaf Plantain which grows in abundance on the range. It’s a potent broad-spectrum healer that can be used to treat menopause, infections, inflammation, asthma, allergies and to detoxify the blood. 

“It’s a strong antioxidant and tonic. You can collect it, along with the equally powerful Broadleaf Plantain, on the side of the road. How’s that for free medicine?”

Trijntje and Fergus believe that in this generation, the ancient knowledge documented and passed down by our ancestors of using wild herbs for food and medicine is being lost to the general public. Trijntje is passionate about sharing this important information.

“With disease rampant, surely it is in our own best interest to gain the knowledge for ourselves and our future generations.”

Fergus has dedicated years to photographing, identifying and researching weeds and their countless uses. This information is available free on the couple’s website. One of the weeds that attracts a lot of curiosity are good old Cobblers Pegs, aka Farmer’s Friend, or their Latin name: Bidens Pilosa.

This prolific weed that people spend hours spraying, slashing, pulling (and cursing) is one of the world's greatest natural digestive tract healers and lymphatic and anti-allergy remedies.

“We’ve had clients with painful ulcers,” Trijntje recalls “who felt they would suffer for life or need to have major surgery. They’ve taken our Cobblers Pegs whole plant tea or tincture, and within six months their ulcers were completely healed. I’ve also had clients taking Cobblers Pegs who told me their allergies and sensitivities have greatly improved.“Cobblers Pegs have a potent effect on the lymphatic system, cleansing the body - especially the liver and kidneys - which reduces toxicity and consequently sensitivity to toxins - a major cause of allergies. 

“Traditionally, Bidens Pilosa has been used to treat wounds, flu, colds, fever, neuralgia, smallpox, snake bite, pain, anaemia, hepatitis, jaundice, colic, the list goes on.”

It's a bold claim, but the couple strongly believe that weeds, the survivors of the plant kingdom, hounded by mankind, these robust, vital and self-propagating plants, may well hold the key to mankind’s survival in the future.

To learn more about the medicine cabinet growing in your backyard or find out when Trijntje and Fergus are running their next Medicinal Weed Walk and Talk, visit their middlepath.au website.