Yandina Community Gardens

41 Farrell street, Yandina

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Saturday, 17 November 2018 – The first aid garden with Heidi Merika

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We are now Fully Booked.  Join medical herbalist Heidi Merika for a hands-on walk around Yandina Community Gardens as she shares her knowledge of how common wild and cultivated garden plants can be used for a huge array of common ailments.

Heidi has extensive practical experience in using plants as medicine and can share not only what to use them for but most importantly how to do so. We will finish by making a remedy from plants that we have gathered from the garden so you can experience how simple it can be to use your common garden plants as medicine. We are now Fully Booked.

Heidi is an experienced naturopath and medical herbalist with a passion for wild medicinal and nutritionalfirst-aid-garden plants.  She has lectured in nutrition at RMIT University (VIC), regularly runs workshops on herbal medicine preparation and has spoken at conferences and seminars. She was involved in the menopause program at The Women’s Hospital (VIC) was a guest speaker at the 2007 College of Lactation Consultants Victoria international conference and has participated in original research into the effects of herbal medicine on breast milk.

From 2012 until 2017 she was a lecturer and clinical supervisor at Endeavour College of Natural Health (Brisbane). In 2018 she founded The Community Herb School to bring Earth-based herbalism and nature re-connection to the general public. She is currently a guest lecturer in Nutrition at the University of the Sunshine Coast.  She sees patients from her clinic in Eumundi and from Andrea Bicket Wellness Acupuncture in Twin Waters

This project has been proudly supported by Sunshine Coast Council’s grants program.

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Turmeric (Curcuma longa)

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Hardy clumping perennial from the ginger family.

Other Names: Indian Saffron, Yellow Ginger

Origin: SE Asia, India

Size: 1m high, 1m spread

Growing conditions: full sun

Propagation: Replant rhizomes in spring after autumn harvest.

Growing tips: Dig rhizomes up when the tops have died down. Can be left in ground during winter dry season or lifted and stored in dry sawdust or sand.

Use: Like ginger and galangal, turmeric is a spice and can be added to any cooked vegetable dish. Grate turmeric with some onions and saute in hot oil. Raw, it has a pungent bite and can lift a salad. Used to colour rice and curry dishes and curry powder.  Makes a great ‘turmeric, galangal and chilli paste’.

Availability in shop: late spring to summer

Paw Paw

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Paw Paw (aka papaya)

Pawpaw (Web)Carica papaya

Origin: Highlands – wet, cool

Plant: Sept – March

Harvest: Anytime except for Jan – April.

Paw paw take approx. 18 months from planting the seed to fruit production, so a nutrient rich soil is necessary for fast growth. Plant several seeds then select the strongest female plant to grow on. Only one male tree is necessary to pollinate the female trees, however, if you grow the red paw paw, you will not need to grow a male tree as the red is a hermaphrodite, meaning it has both male and female flowers to enable propagation.

Fruit is ripe when there is no green on the fruit. Eating ripe and green paw paw is most beneficial as an aid to digestion. Green paw paw can be grated for salads, used as a cooked vegetable in stews and is also nice stuffed and baked in an oven.

Medicinal Value: the dried seed of the ripe paw paw can be put through a food processor and ground to a powder. Sprinkled onto our food (and for livestock) it can be used to expel worms from the intestinal tract.

 

Aloe Vera

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Aloe Vera (aka Medicine Plant, Burn Plant, Living First-Aid Plant)

Aloe Vera (Web)Aloe vera barbadensis

Origin: North Africa

Plant: Spring and Summer,

Harvest:  all year round for medicinal use

Propagate: whenever pups or suckers need thinning out at base of plant.

The thick, succulent leaves can grow from 30-80cm long and 2-10cm wide at the base.

This perennial plant grows to approximately 60cm.  It has narrow, upwardly curving succulent leaves which are a green to grey-green colour with small spikes along their edges (leaf margins). Aloe vera can be planted in full sun in the garden or grown as a pot or hanging basket specimen. Aloe vera love the heat and hate cold, wet and frosts.   Flowers are bright yellow at maturity – (A. perryi’s flowers are an orange/apricot shade).

Aloe vera is a succulent which has many medicinal uses, as well as being used in skin care products. The soothing aloe gel contained in the leaves is ideal for taking the sting out of sunburn, stopping the itch from mosquito bites and for moisturising the skin.

 

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Elizabeth Fekonia - Permaculture Real Food
Anne Gibson - The Micro Gardener
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Acknowledgement of country

Yandina Community Gardens acknowledges and pays respect to the Traditional Owners of the land, the Gubbi Gubbi (Kabi Kabi) people, past and present and emerging. We recognise and wish to learn from their spiritual and cultural connection to the land.