The Herb Farm
Welcome to the Herb Farm
Workshop and cafe
Gardens
Techlink would like to thank Lynn Kirkland and Rose Comber for their contributions to this case study.
Introduction
In 1991 Lynn Kirkland got a business development investigation grant to find out whether it was feasible to have an herb-focussed business in the Manawatu. Lynn and her family sold their home to set up the business and 11 years later the Herb Farm is expanding to include teaching space and a purpose-built manufacturing room.
It was dissatisfaction with the orthodox treatment of her children's health that led Lynn to find out more about natural remedies and in particular herbal remedies.
"My son had a lot of chesty bronchial illnesses the winter he was 5 and he was given three antibiotics. To me that was horrifying and I thought there has to be another way. This was a turning point, I wasn't prepared to keep pumping antibiotics into my children – I believe they're there for emergencies. I started studying naturopathy which gave me an overview of natural remedies and then herbs because I love gardening. I knew, for me, herbs were the way to go and then I started studying for an herbal diploma."
Lynn firmly believed in the healing properties of herbs but her husband Bill, was sceptical. "Bill really wanted to see herbs work and wanted to understand the science behind it." Lynn explains the circumstances that persuaded Bill to take herbs seriously.
"Bill was playing soccer and he ripped his calf muscle really badly. His calf was swollen to twice its normal size. His team mates carted him off to the hospital where he waited and was given a prescription for an anti-inflammatory. He was told it would be at least six weeks before the swelling went down; then he could start some gentle training. That night I suggested we try some herbs to reduce the swelling. I went out into the garden with a torch and got some comfrey leaves. I put arnica oil on his leg because that's anti-inflammatory and pain-killing, and then wrapped comfrey leaves around it. Comfrey has natural refrigerant properties so it cools down inflammation and in a way we were doing an herbal first aid – ice, compression, elevation.""Bill complained a bit about the itchiness and I told him I thought it was probably part of the healing process. If you can put up with it, the irritation probably helps the blood flow but it was a good lesson for me because I've since learned that you need to dip comfrey leaves in boiling water to soften them. We left the leaves on until the morning though we learned later that can be a little bit long. His leg was really cold – the refrigerant properties of comfrey are amazing. The swelling had gone down a lot. We repeated the process over the next few days and that's all we did. Bill was running in two weeks."
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