ESSENTIALLY
RAW
It is little wonder that Janet Roach,
founder of Raw Essentials has found
her bliss through immersing herself
in everything plant based and herbal.
Born and raised in Gympie 61
years ago Janet fondly recalls her
childhood, “my parents were both
raised on dairy farms and always
had a garden. We had a gorgeous
cottage garden full of flowers,
herbs and vegetables which fed
our whole family all year. Our house
was always full of fresh flowers,
my mother cooked whatever was
in season (obviously it was all
organic), she mixed the herbs with
the flowers, which smelt amazing
and used them in her cooking. She
would treat all our ailments from the
garden. I remember her making a
cough syrup with onions and sugar,
and it was so quick and effective. No
matter where we lived, my mother
always kept a garden.”
Janet’s appreciation of Mother Nature’s
pantry and pharmacy was further
expanded when as a young woman she
left what was then the sleepy town of
Gympie for the big smoke, Melbourne.
When a girlfriend told Janet about a
Chinese Herbalist in Bourke Street who’s
concoctions had helped her to lose
weight, she was keen to learn more.
“I went in with a cold one day and
the Chinese man mixed up a concoction
for my cold, it worked wonders. My
mother always used the garden as a
pharmacy, but this man was like my
mum on steroids. He had a whole wall
with shelves full of apothecary jars. I
was fascinated and asked him a million
questions. The only problem was that he
only knew the names of the herbs and
plants in Chinese and could not write in
English. I was hooked.
I spent hours in the library reading
8 Complete Health
everything I could about the properties
of herbs and plants, how to mix them,
and then how to grow them. There
was no Google or Siri then. I was single
and I rented a ground floor apartment.
I made anything I could into pots and
had the whole floor of the apartment
block covered in pots. All I did was work,
garden and research. I soon learnt to dry
the herbs and had my own glass jars
(only mine were old jam and vegemite
jars) filled every cupboard in my tiny
garage and kitchen, full of dried herbs. I
experimented mixing them and drinking
them as a tea. What I couldn’t grow I
bought from the health food store or the
herb section of the supermarket and
fruit shops. “
When I married and my mother-in-
law, a little Greek lady from a village
who grew up tending plants and herbs,
shared her vast knowledge with me and
together with the help of my father-in-
law we built an enormous garden.
“We treated my babies upset
tummies with mild peppermint tea
in their bottle. If they couldn’t sleep
we gave them chamomile tea, when
they were teething we mixed in
meadowsweet, an aspirin substitute.
I had two very healthy little boys, Paul
and Jake.
I believe there are many
micronutrients we haven’t even
discovered yet, and that for our bodies to
absorb the micronutrients they have to
be ingested in specific combinations, as
they come naturally. I don’t believe that
you can isolate a nutrient in a lab and it
can remain bio available to the body, the
natural combinations form the pathway
for the body to use it.
Eventually, I bought a little cottage on
10 acres on the Mornington Peninsula to
plant a truffle farm.
I built 18 raised organic garden beds,
with an automatic watering system
and a rotation plan. I was in heaven. I
spent all my weekends in the garden
and kitchen. My large farm shed was
bursting.”
My heaven soon turned to hell!
Every parent’s worst nightmare was
visited upon me when I answered an
early morning phone call from my son
Paul. “Mum Jake’s been burnt in a fire
in Deniliquin, he is being air lifted to the
Alfred Hospital, it’s pretty bad, come
quick”.
Hurtling down the freeway for the
hour drive to the hospital I arrived at
the hospital at the same time as the
helicopter carrying my precious son.
Jake was in an induced coma and they
allowed me to see him as they prepped
him for emergency surgery. Covered
from head to toe in one massive grey
blister I knew it was serious but was
shocked when the surgeons told her
Jake only had a 35% chance of survival.
Young, fit, I desperately hoped Jake
would survive.
It was worse than I had realized, 70
percent of Jake’s body had been burnt
and surgeons excised the burnt skin.
“That evening at midnight, when I
was allowed to go and see Jake I could
not believe my eyes. My knees buckled
with shock and I fell hard sideways
against the wall with utter shock. Jake
was enormous. His bandaged body