We made some hard candy the other day, and it turned out pretty well - if I do say so myself :-). I just used the typical horehound candy recipe, substituting concentrated elderberry juice (and some lemon and ginger) for the horehound tea. Yesterday I tried some other herbs in the recipe. Not *quite* as many as ricola, but close. That one is a little soft and more like a hard taffy. Dangerous to fillings, but oh-so-good!Of course I will continue to cut and dry the various mints and berries, the holy basil and the passionflower - but other than some burdock, echinacea, and dandelion roots - the big stuff is already tinctured or made into teas.
In fact, right now you will find on our site the following tinctures:
Blue Vervain, Boneset, Chamomile, Chickweed, Echinacea, Elderberry, Holy Basil, Lemon Balm, Mimosa, Motherwort, Oat Seed, Passionflower, St John's Wort, Stinging Nettles, Vitex, and Holy Basil/Albizzia BLEND.
For this week - through Saturday, Sept. 5 - orders placed that are over $30 will get an ounce of elderberry candy thrown in for free!
I will probably go looking for some goldenrod soon, but am thinking about making that into a candy - stay tuned for info on that - lol.
In just 2 short weeks we'll be working on another issue. It will bw the November/December issue, and we have a group article that addresses favorite remedies for colds and flus. If you are a blog reader and you'd like to contribute to the printed magazine, you can answer this question with your favorite remedy, the recipe for it, and your name and website.
Otherwise, it is a great issue to consider advertising your herbal wares!
Off to go play in the soap studio today with Maryanne. Seems like forever... but that's only because the shelves are getting so bare!
Each participant will make their own blend and take it along. Next, the bounty of elderberries in the backyard beckons, and we'll be making elderberry syrup to help ward off colds and flu this coming winter. 
We will also mix up eye pillows, and a lotion, the details of which we will probably come up with during the class - depending on what you all want to make. We'll end the day with an herbal supper.
I just adored this perky little posy with the deep pink buds opening to white flowers. No idea what it is, but as you'll see there are several of those. On the weed walk, Fred had identified and had information on well over 100 plants. No matter how many you know or how long you study there will always be new (to you) species waving hello. That's what makes it so exciting.
This magnificent fungus was about 20 feet up a tree. The trees were another source of amazement, as Fred pointed out 2 bee trees, where you could see the bees coming and going from their natural hives inside the trees. They were too distant for me to capture with the camera, though.
This candelabra tree had Maryanne (in orange) talking about the trees that were trained in that manner on the grounds of Mount Hope Estate. It made us wonder if at one time someone had attempted to sculpt this tree or if it was a natural occurance.
Another one that none of us could identify. There's something familiar about the leaves and the way they are situated on the stem, but I can't place it. Joe Pye-ish?
Finally at home the other day I spied this spiderweb in the early morning fog. They seem to be one of the clearest signs of the impending autumn to me. Soon they will cover the shrubs in the front of the house with shrouds that look like Halloween decorations. 
OH! I saw a baby fig on the tree the other day - I will have to watch that grow... and I just realized that this was Friday and there are no faves posted here. Perhaps there will be more later.
They were awfully busy, and didn't even notice me. 
Further along, I came to the Boneset patch. It is smaller than I'd hoped this year, so I left it alone. There should be plenty in Somerset this weekend, and it probably won't be in full bloom yet.
Our day took us to the hospital in Hershey. Right outside in the strip between parking lots this group of mushrooms were growing beautifully, unaware of being in a well traveled area.
On the way home, we came upon an area that is actually (as it turns out) the entrance to a State Game Area. In this picture, there is the purple Loosestrife right next to some ripe elderberries, and they both rest their feet in a tiny little creek that is full of blooming jewelweed. 
A butterfly drinks from the top of some Joe Pye blossoms.
Truly the Queen of the Meadow! 
I would say that this little sorrel is just completely confused by being right next to the road where heaven-only-knows what kind of stuff it gets sprayed with. It is about 5" across and looked for all the world like a hydrangea! 
Today's spectacular find!!! Blue Vervain. This has been a mystery to me for several year - but not enough for me to actually go out and look at it. This is a time of year that apparently hasn't ever been right for wandering, I guess, and this year is just perfect weatherwise and curiositywise. We used to carry it in our shop for magical purposes, but I wasn't aware of any great medicinal value. This evening Susan Hess told me about using the tincture for shoulder and neck issues. Gorgeous stuff. So pretty it can almost make you cry. 
Finally home again I wandered the yard briefly. The mallows are blooming, and there is something about the buds, so full of promise that is just exquisitely beautiful. 
The honey house was built on a vacant lot across from their home in the 50's. It is now a home, surrounded by other houses. The honey bear bottle that we've all come to recognize was Ralph Gamber's "baby", and Dutch Gold used it long before it became part of the PBJ of our collective childhoods.
They have grown to now be using a very large warehouse, and they supply several interesting honeys in their shop - blueberry, eucalptus, tupelo, wildflower, orange blossom, and buckwheat come to mind. They have 
Haagen-Daz ice cream has a website devoted to honey bees and their struggle against colony collapse, called 
Well, first let me tell you that I had a few days off this past week, and I bounced back home relaxed and ready to take on the world again. We went to Atlantic City, where the peaceful beauty of nature meets man-made brightly lit beauty. It is so easy to forget how much we really need to step outside of our routines from time to time to shake out the cobwebs. I had a ball :-).
˙looɔ s,ʇı ʞuıɥʇ ʇsnɾ ı ˙ʇɐɥʇ ǝʞıl ɟɟnʇs puɐ 'sǝɯɐu uǝǝɹɔs 'sʞuıl pɐoluʍop ʇdʎɹɔuǝ oʇ 'spɹoʍssɐd ƃuoɹʇs ɹoɟ ʇı ƃuısn ʇsǝƃƃns ʎǝɥʇ ʇnq 'pǝuɹǝɔuoɔ ɯ,ı sɐ ɹɐɟ sɐ unɟ ɹoɟ ʇsnɾ s,ʇı 
Now that I got that little giggle out of my system, we'll move on to 
Next up, the all-natural products from 
In the mood for a little more fun? Click on over to 
I may have mentioned that we wound up getting a fence built around the critter feeding statio...er.. I mean vegetable garden. 
I asked Jim from J&J Growers at market if he had any bedding plants left to plant around the outside, and that lovely man showed up with three incredible, wonderful, glowing FLATS of marigold and wax begonia. You know what that means, of course... I have to plant them. So we've been working weeding and planting into the morning and night routine around here.
I'm not even going to drink any! Everything around here is just begging to be jarred up and tinctured. Once we get a handle on that, we can get the still back up and running again. The freezer is stocked with ice, just waiting. Seriously, I stopped for liquor on my way home from a delightful visit with my long-time friend Karen, who - we realized while talking with her mother - was a cohort in the Cherub Choir when we were but we munchkins. Wow. Imagine.And then we continued as friends all through school, but lost touch upon graduation. FaceBook, you crazy fun thing.
More tinctures and some single teabag samplers needed to be readied for market, 
You can order them 
so that's done too. There is a soap order that needs to be ready - and then, and then....
