I Need Some Coffee!

I really had to laugh the other day when I woke up and found my Kitchen Coffee Soap in this great treasury by Florida artist, Maria Soto Robbins.  The title of the the treasury is "I Need Some Coffee."  Well, my sentiments exactly, but I'm not going to get any for quite some time I suppose.  Silly me, I thought I could have a cup of coffee or two on occasion.  However, a not so happy, not so napping breast-fed baby recently convinced me otherwise.  So I have a brand new bag of a yummy chicory-coffee blend that is stashed in the refrigerator now.  I will have to be satisfied with my coffee soaps or maybe I can try decaf or just admire these wonderful Etsy Treasury East Selections.

And look what I found when I woke up this morning! Another awesome coffee colored treasury! This one is by Deirdre of Blackbird Photography.  Click to check out all the items.

Keep Cool in the Summer with Flax Seeds!

As an herbalist living in Florida I can tell you keeping cool is a high priority.  It's quite simplistic, but the herb that I use the most often for beating the summer heat is flax.  Flax is also known as Linum usitatissimum or linseed. Organic flax seed can be found at your local health food store in bulk.  I sew up neck and eye pillows  in various shapes and fill them with flax, sometimes together with organic lavender buds and store these pillows in the freezer.  I have about 5 in the freezer right now!  My daughter loves them too.  You can store them in plastic bags to protect the fabric if you like.  When you get home from doing errands or come in from working in the garden, they feel great draped around your neck.   They are great to use on new bumps and bruises for children also.  Of course I had to go get one out of the fridge also for writing this post!  It feels great on tension from overwork with the mouse on photo editing, etc.  If you don't like sewing and or you are on a budget you can tie up flax in a long sock to use.  Please feel welcome to visit my online store for neck and eye pillows.  Take a peek and let me know which one is your favorite.

This blog post is a part of a blog party being hosted by Kristine Brown. Please visit her blog to find out all about what other herbalists are doing to keep cool during the summer. 

Flax photograph by D. Gordon E. Robertson.  Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this photo under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

July Classes in Ormond Beach: Lip Balm and Herbal Salve Making

I am pleased to announce that I have a new venue for classes and workshops in Ormond Beach.  Debra Brooks is the owner of the brand new Craftbugg's Cottage in Ormond Beach off Granada Blvd.  She and I have worked out a few classes for her July schedule.  She will have a calender of available classes available on a monthly basis.  Debra's grand opening is June 25th, so check it out if you are local and have the opportunity.


We are starting out simple with Lip Balm and Salve making classes and we will go from there.  You have your choice of 2 different dates for the lip balm making class.

Saturday July 17 4:30-7:30 Natural Lip Balms making with Essential oils and Herb-infused oils
Learn to make all natural lip balms with natural herbal infused vegetable oils and essential oils for flavoring. You will learn to make lip balms with beeswax and vegan candelilla wax. Fee $30. Call to register 386.299.4273

Thursday July 22 1:30- 4:30 Natural Lip Balms making with Essential oils and Herb-infused oils
Learn to make all natural lip balms with natural herbal infused vegetable oils and essential oils for flavoring. You will learn to make lip balms with beeswax and vegan candelilla wax. Fee $30. Call to register 386.299.4273

Sunday July 25 2:30-5:30 Herbal Salve and Balm Making
Learn to make your infused herbal oils, salves and balms. We will use organically grown herbs for making two types of a salves including a clay drawing salve. Learn about oil bases appropriate for balm and salve making and a variety of herbs that can be used in salves and infused oils. Fee $35. Call to register 386.299.4273

I also have updated my Fall events schedule with classes in St. Augustine and events where I will be vending.  You can check in at that page any time for current happenings.

Woodland Wonders & Birds of a Feather

I hope you will enjoy these two lovely treasuries that my items were featured in recently. The first is a woodland treasury. My Evergreen Woodland soap with Black Spruce, Fir and Pine essential oils is featured. This soap has gotten great feedback recently. My friend who is currently stationed in Afganistan had me ship more of it to him. He said he likes to sleep with next to it to enjoy the smell :-). More feed back on this soap came from Laura of LaurasCreativeWhimsy: "WOOHOO! Fantastic soaps! Lovely scents, too! my husband is thrilled with the ones I bought him too (Grrrr!!) These are WONDERFUL!!"  You can visit the Woodland Treasury with all the featured items here.

The next treasury was curated by KarieSueCreations and features items from the Florida Etsy Street team. The theme is Birds of a Feather, and my Oat Milk soap looks like a nice big egg amongst the other bird items.

Daytona Locals, stay tuned. I will be posting soon about upcoming classes in Ormond Beach that I will be teaching for salve and lip balm making.

Mandala Books Going Out of Business Sale

For those of you who are in Daytona Beach, don't miss your chance to pick out some great books before Victor closes the store.  The land lord lost the building to the bank, so Victor will stay open until the bank gives them notice to leave.  I'm passing along his message to you here: 

Mandala books remains open at our regular hours 7 days a week!

We feel like we are on death row, our endpoint undetermined. But, It seems that we will be here at least two weeks after we are told to vacate.  There are still great selections in Literature, Sci Fi, Mysteries, Cooking, Photography, Art and History.  Please tell others about this sale; if each of you could tell one other book lover it would help.

Prices are 50% off up to $50, then 70% off till $200 then 80% 0ff exceeding that.

Buy next years Birthday presents... or Christmas gifts for the next five years.
If anyone knows of worthy educational institutes or charities I would be happy to listen and donate books.

Thanks in advance, Best regards
Victor Newman