Description

Ingredients

Saponified​ oils [locally pressed Helianthus annuus (sunflower) oil, locally pressed Brassica napus (canola) oil, Theobroma oil (cocoa butter), Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Ricinus communis (castor) oil]; water; homegrown and wild crafted herbs; essential oils; kaolin clay​.

Plant Spotlight:  Elderflower (Sambucus Nigra)

 

 

 

A wise friend taught that plants we return to year after year are more than plants. They are old friends, and we should treat them as such. We feel that way about our elder tree pictured here. It provides us with many gifts throughout the summer from blossoms to berries, and I am thankful for its bounty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elder fairy lore: Reverence for the elderberry dates back to the ancient Celts who believed that the elderberry bush housed the protective spirit of the Elder Mother, queen of fairies. For her protection, offerings were left under the trees planted outside the dwellings. In fact, cradles were even built from elder wood to protect infants sleeping peacefully within the branches, a practice reflected in the poem by Evelyn Casey:

 

Plant Poetry

Elderberry

by Evelyn Casey

Autumn morning dawns a light

of crimson haze upon her brow

The still mist of dampening morn

Stands sheltered by a radient glow

Hedges shadow tall and strife

bursting thorn of blackened cherry

Bleeding thumbs enriched with life’s

tainted skin of elderberry

Sweet dew rains a cloud of white

as blinding dawn entwines the land

Taste upon the tongue like wine’s

Pure solitude of nature’s hand

Wooded branches carved with care

Forms a perfect infant cradle

Witches hands and fairies fair

dance amid a silent fable