Shipards Herb Farm

For those of you that have been faithfully following my increasingly sporadic blogging here, you'll know that Aaron has been having a lot of ulcers on his tongue. After many visits to the pediatricians and multiple blood tests, they still have no 'answer' for me. In fact, they are giving me the "some people are just that way" line. 


Well, we're not going to give up so easily. According to the 'schedule' that his ulcers seem to follow, Aaron should be getting them anytime this week. So last week, we took a drive to Nambour to visit Shipards Herb Farm. It looks messy but there were hundreds of herbs there. This photo shows the area for visiters to walk around. 

Here's a photo of the rest of the farm that was off limits to visitors. 

Isabell Shipard is supposedly Australia's most knowledgeable person on herbs and has been researching and working with herbs for the past 30 years. She certainly was very helpful and offered many suggestions for how we could try to help Aaron. 


I bought some Herb Robert tea and some Licorice. We also bought the Licorice plant and I've also gotten some seeds for the Herb Robert from my aunt so we've started growing them in our garden as well. 


The information on Herb Robert (and the other herbs on the website) was very interesting. Briefly, when used regularly, it enhances the immune system. The germanium it contains provides an "antibiotic, antiviral, antioxidant arsenal". Sounds good doesn't it?? If you have the time, have a browse through here.  


We got the Licorice to help make the Herb Robert more palatable for Aaron but it also has many medicinal properties. I've heard about Licorice before in Chinese herbal remedies  but I never bothered to read about it until now. There is a long, looong list of ailments that it is supposedly good for coughs, colds, wheezing, lung complaints, hoarseness, mucus congestion, tonsillitis, abdominal pain, nausea, poor appetite, fatigue, food poisoning, fevers, fluid retention, edema......and the list goes on and on. Check out the full details here. 


I'm not a total believer yet and I don't have high hopes that this will help Aaron avoid his ulcers this month but I think I believe that there will be long term benefits to taking these herbs regularly.