Healing power of hedgerows

Tag : edible wild herb


While she doesn't dismiss conventional medicine, Julie, who treatseverything from skin disorders and burns to irritable bowelsyndrome and menopausal symptoms, sees evidence in her patientsthat drugs can do more harm than good.

"I believe that, in many cases, it's preferable to stabilise healthproblems using conventional medicine, and then introduce naturalalternatives wherever possible," she says.

As someone who can reduce even the healthiest plants to potpourri,I'm relieved to hear that making your own medicine only requires abasket, scissors, jam jars and an inquisitive nature. "We're solucky to have access to so much that's growing wild along publicfootpaths and in our gardens," says Julie, who counts a surgeonamong her regular clients. "Even in the city, there are more wildplants and herbs than you'd imagine. It's a case of familiarisingyourself with the different plants and their 'virtues'," sheexplains, as we ramble down a lane hedged with hawthorn, hops,nettles, dandelions and other assorted weeds. The pink-tingedhawthorn is good for the heart, circulation and blood pressure,Julie tells me, pulling off a leaf to chew. She declares it a bittough, but I nibble on a leaf or two for good measure, as well assome of the tangy, lemony sorrell nearby.

It's been so long since I've been this close to wild plants, Iwonder if there is any danger in an amateur like me dabbling withhedgerow remedies? "Not really," Matthew assures me. "Unlike fungi,there aren't many poisonous 'lookalikes' in the hedgerows. One ofthe only dangerous plants you may come across is hemlock, but ithas red spots all the way up the stem, so it's difficult tomisidentify."

Hayfever threatens to obliterate my enthusiasm for wildlife, so weget down to our real mission: gathering the blooming elder flowers,"a potent antihistamine" when combined with plantain, and a fluremedy when taken with dog rose petals.

Back in their wonderful garden, overgrown with mallow, chickweedand majestic teasel, Julie shows me how to make a medicinalpreparation - or glycerite - with rose and elder, by layering theflowers in a jar and pouring in a solution of vegetable glycerine.This I must leave on a windowsill until the flowers fade before Ican test it on colds and sore throats, but I taste a batch ofJulie's: it's delicate and scrumptious - as are her sour bilberryand lycium (goji) berries in brandy, a remedy which "strengthensthe capillaries".

Julie fixes an infusion of elder and plantain leaves and while Idrink it she cooks some of the plantain leaves in olive oil,binding them with beeswax, and drains the amber coloured mixtureinto jars to cool. This will be my new bruise ointment.

Then, it's time for an "electuary", a blend of powdered, driedginger, aniseed and pepper combined with local honey. It's strong,pleasantly scratchy and yet soothing to my itching throat. Within15 minutes, the sneezing and weepy eyes have stopped. And while theeffect lasts just a couple of hours, I feel none of the drowsinessof my usual antihistamine. But did it work because I wanted it to?

"I'm sure it helps if you believe in it," Julie says. "But the factthat it works on children who have no expectations of it meansthere's much more to it than that."