Winter on the Murray

July on the Murray River saw glorious rains for the first time since who knows when. The turtles came out to lay eggs, the rivers were topped up and the little plant known as Old Man Weed (Centipede Cunninhamii) perked up and stands taller on the edges of the water. Nearly time to harvest the plant and put it through the Alembic Still.

Old Man Weed is famous for its healing properties. Since the beginning, the Australian Aboriginal people used the plant for skin disorders. They boiled the plant with water and washed themselves and drank the tea. Later as the white man learnt of the plant it was used as snuff and became  known as sneezeweed.

Today science has verified that the plant contains essential oils that indeed do assist skin complaints. I have used it for many years in my balm recipe and have found it really helps the symptoms of many dry skin disorders, the floral waters are more aligned to moist skin problems.

Winter in the Riverlands of Australia are glorious. The mighty River Redgums glisten, the Wattle trees burst ito bright yellow song, wild mushrooms pop out of the earth and the Old Man Weed loves the rain. 





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