“My recently passed Mum was a real earth-woman and a wonderful home-maker, so thanks to her I have a love of gardening, flowers and the power of natural ingredients,” Debbie told the gathered crowd.

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Debbie first took an active interest in herbalism some decades ago.

When she became a mother she led her kids on a low-sugar diet, ever-conscious of what they put into their bodies.

“Peppermint for tummies, vitamin C and aged garlic, echinacea for colds, and the benefits of herbal tea are quite amazing,” Debbie said.

“Trying to decrease my family’s reliance upon pharmaceutical products, I would seek my own remedies.”

Thirty years later, the internet brought a wellspring of inspiration with websites and YouTube videos, and Debbie hunted herbalist books in second-hand shops.

“Herbalism is not a left-field thing at all for me,” she said.

“I’m new to it, but it’s also a continuation of stuff I’ve done all my life.”

A recent retirement facilitated more time to focus on her passion.

Although her veggie garden proved hard work, the herbs were growing, including some useful companion plants her sister had planted when they moved into Bundabah.

“I negotiated a corner of the shed, found a work table at the tip shop, recycled jars galore, and built the beginnings of an apothecary.

“I had to get creative with my tools, sanitise the tins, recycle jars, and even got lucky with a few finds at Vinnies, like the press and pot that let me extract as much as is possible from the herbs.”

By Thomas O’KEEFE