Etsy Twitter Spotlight MindyG's Jewelry Boutique

MindiG's Jewelry Boutique is the featured shop from the Etsy Twitter Street Team this week. Check out the Etsy Twitter blog to find out more about her and her beautiful jewelry creations. Mindi works with a variety of lovely natural gemstones as you can see. I am particularly fond of the Kyanite earrings.

Thyme Cough Syrup Recipe

Thyme can be used as a primary ingredient in cough syrup. Thyme likes well drained soil and can be killed easily from being inundated by daily rain storms that here occur here in Central Florida July through September. Thyme is an expectorant herb which relieves bronchial spasms to stop coughs. You can use Thyme to calm the cough and throat in cases of Bronchitis, sore throat, inflamed mucus membranes, whooping cough (Purtussis), and gas and bloating.

Mint is another helpful ingredient for cough. It can calm inflammation in the head, throat and eyes. It needs to be added towards the end of the recipe and brewed only for a short time to prevent the fragile aromatic essential oils from dissipating.

Thyme Cough Syrup Recipe:
1 oz dried thyme
1 oz dried mint
4 cups water
sugar or honey

Boil dried Thyme down to about 2.5 cups of water, then strain. Add Mint and let boil for 5-10 minutes. Strain the decoction and add it back to the pot noting the final volume. Add 2 times the volume of the strained decoction in sugar or honey. If using sugar, dissolve it into the decoction.

The suggested amount of syrup to take is 1 tablespoon up to 5 times a day for adults. For children 4-10 years the dosage is 1.5 - 2 tsp up to 5 times day depending on weight.

Local Plein Air Artist Ruth Vines

I am very pleased to introduce you to plein air artist Ruth Vines. Ruth and I have been showing together during the last few First Friday Art Walk events in downtown Daytona Beach with the Volusia County Art Consortium. The Volusia County Art Consortium is a group of artists and fine crafters who work together to promote and support each other in our creative endeavors. It is a real pleasure to watch Ruth paint. "In my paintings I try to capture the light and its effects on the subject. I love painting local scenes in the plein air tradition. I used to work from photos, but discovered that there are so many more colors and details to be seen when on location.
I don’t have to travel very far, there is beauty around us, every step we take. The local marinas, old houses and the tropical scenery provide possible paintings every minute of the day, and I feel lucky to live here.­"


For those who are not familiar with plein air painting, Ruth has a wonderful explanation:
Plein air is a term derived from the French phrase en plein air, which literally means ‘in the open air’. It’s a familiar concept today, but in the late 1800s when the Impressionists ventured out of their studios into nature to investigate and capture the effects of sunlight and different times of days on a subject, it was quite revolutionary. Plein air painting used to be just a means to an end, with the artist painting small studies on location, to use the information gathered about color, shadow effects, etc. for a larger, elaborate painting that was going to be executed in the studio. Nowadays, however, it is a stand-alone art form and is used to produce finished paintings. It is quite an experience to be outside in nature, feeling the heat, the wind, hearing the birds and encountering wildlife, while trying to capture a scene on canvas. With the sun shifting - and thus changing the shadows and light effects - you only have a window of about 2-3 hours at most before the scene changes completely due to the natural course of the sun. So in addition to enduring heat or cold, wind, bugs, curious wildlife and/or tourists, you have a limited time frame to put down your artistic statement.

Ruth has painted at one my favorite places to visit in Volusia County, the Sugar Mill Gardens. Here is one of her beautiful paintings from the site.



Ruth is now accepting commissions. Imagine your neighborhood or local scenery, your home, your boat, or a favorite vacation spot as an original oil painting. Ruth prefers to paint on site, but can also work from photos and sketches. Ruth Vines 386-451-6857 krautgraphics @ gmail.com

Daytona! Plan Ahead for Hallowgreen on Oct. 31st at City Island Farmer's Market

Green Halloween and the Fair Share Garden are Hosting a Hallowgreen party Saturday October 31st from 8 am -2 pm at the City Island farmers market. We will have green prizes and activities for kids, free workshops and an Eco friendly costume contest. There will be arts and crafts vendors and raffle prizes including baskets of farmer's market goodies. Be sure to be there at 10 a.m. when I will be giving a free herbal workshop. I will also have my soaps and body products for sale. This is a fundraising even to benefit the Fair Share Garden. If you would like to be a sponsor for the event, purchase raffle tickets or if you would like an application to participate as a vendor, then please contact me for more details at aquarianbath @ gmail.com.

Use of Florida Elderberry in the Treatment of a Confirmed Case of H1N1

Many thanks to Paul Bergner for his promotion of Elderberry as well as other herbs in this video as a suggested treatment for Swine Flu/ H1N1 Virus. As mentioned by Paul, Elder Flower and Elderberry have been in use in Europe and North America traditionally for use with colds and flu. An Isreali scientific study also found that influenza patients taking Elderberry syrup fared better than those in the control group. There are various types of Elder. The more well known is Sambucus nigra. Another commonly used Elder is Sambucus canadensis. In Florida we have Florida Elder or Sambucus simpsonii, which is what I gather and use in my medicinal preparations. Florida elder blooms most heavily during May, followed by berry production at the end of June. You can find most often near damp wooded areas. On occasion you will find Florida elder blooming or fruiting outside of this time period. For example I found a small flowering patch near the Halifax river two weeks ago. I have also found the odd shrub flowering mid-winter in sunny residential areas. Since the primary harvest time for the berry is during the most humid part of the year and I do not yet have a solar herb dryer nor humidity control, I generally tincture the fresh berry in high proof alcohol. This extract has given me good results especially with babies and children who have fever or fever with rashes.

Last week I was approached by a friend whose teen aged child received an official diagnosis of H1N1/Swine Flu infection. I was happy to be able to send her home with some Florida elderberry extract made with a 1:1 glycerin: Everclear (151) solution. Most recipes for Elderberry extract or syrup call for dried berries, which allow for a more concentrated solution. Typical dosage for such a tincture (made with dried berries) for an adult is 2 droppers full 3-5 times a day. We started with this dosage on day one with not much change in the high fever. In then doubling
this dosage we saw good results in reduction of the fever, (which made a lot of sense considering fresh berries were used). Also note worthy, the two other teens from this household who also became sick recovered well using this herb. It was rather encouraging to me also that my friend who is quite healthy and strong did not get sick. Despite the impression from the popular media regarding the epidemic nature of the illness, it seems that proper self care is a strong defense against infection.

Elderberry is a very popular herb. Consider having some on hand in case you need it during this
cold and flu season. Check with your local herbalist or health food shop for preparations.

This blog post is a part of the October Herbal Blog party celebrating Bioregional Herbs for Cold and Flu Season and hosted by Rosalee de la Foret.