Though I'm trying not to notice, seems alot of people are already talking about Winter. And in my circle, that means elderberry syrup!

Herbal syrups are easy to make, and make a healthful addition to your medicine cabinet. Most recipes call for honey, but maple syrup makes a perfect substitute with fewer calories and a higher concentration of minerals.

In this great how-to video, the recipe used is:

• 1/2 cup (4 oz.) dried elderberries
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 5 cloves
• 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup honey

Use maple syrup in the same amount as the honey. You can also add 1 Tbsp brandy, whiskey or vodka to help lengthen the shelf life, but the syrup still needs to be kept in the fridge!

In an earlier post, I explained why I don't use palm oil in my bodycare or soaps, and a recent article in The Atlantic sums it up nicely:

"Growing oil palms is now the largest cause of deforestation in Indonesia, contributing to global warming and destroying crucial habitat for the country's endangered orangutan population, which has fallen by half since the onset of the palm-oil boom."

Greenwashing by agribusiness giants like Cargill, Inc., the leading U.S. importer of palm oil (who sells the oil to large food companies like General Mills, Nestle, and Kraft), would have you believe that the continuing expansion of palm plantations is lifting Indonesian farmers out of poverty. But it doesn't take a genius to figure out that destroying forest in favor of monocropping isn't helping man any more than orangutan.

To add to the pressure, palm oil is also hot in the bio-fuels market despite biodiesel's failure to deliver on its environmental and sustainable promises.

Okay, so besides soaping and affection for trees and animals, what does all this have to do with me? Well, I choose to avoid palm oil, but unfortunately it's not as easy as just choosing.

Barbara Sitomer of Gone Pie Vegan Bakery pointed out on her blog that the most popular, palatable and healthy options to dairy products available in stores contain palm oil. She is calling on manufacturers like Earth Balance who make products targeted to vegans but use palm oil to "step up" and truly respect vegan values which go beyond not eating animal products.

Vegans respect all life, and that naturally leads to a lifestyle which reduces our impact on the environment. It is only right that we call to account those who market to us with claims of "environmentally-friendly" and "cruelty-free" products when those claims don't hold up in the light of day.

For myself, I would like to call on all soap and bodycare makers who think of their products as cruelty-free to deeply examine their use of palm oil. We are trying to raise the bar in our industry, are we not? Please (please!) think about the big picture here and relentlessly investigate your suppliers' claims of organic or sustainable palm oil. Just because the oil is coming from Brazil and not Indonesia doesn't mean it's clean.

Have you heard about the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 (H.R. 5786)? It's been introduced to Congress with media fanfare and much-ado, even including a celebrity spokesmodel.

Have you heard that I'm opposing it? Ostensibly written to protect us, this legislation would burden small business with no real benefit to the consumer. It would force small businesses making safe, natural bodycare to close their doors. Small businesses just like mine -- and it frightens me to think I'll have to try to find another job in today's economy!

There are many problems with H.R. 5786 as currently written, but let's look at just one: Anne-Marie Faiola, Soap Queen blogger and Brambleberry.com soap making supplies founder, wrote a great blog post illustrating how the proposed "trace elements" labeling requirement would look on a lotion bar made with Cocoa Butter, Olive Oil and Lavender Oil:

Ingredients: Olive Oil (Tri-Glycerides of Palmitic, Di-Glycerides of Palmitic, Palmitoleic, Stearic, Oleic, Linoleic, Arachidic Acid, Linolenic Acid, Squalene, Beta Carotene, Campesterol, Methylenecholesterol, Stigmasterol, Sitosterol, Fucosterol, 28-Isofucosterol, Stigmadienol, Brassicasterol, 7-Cholestenol,Ergostadienol, Avenasterol, Triterpene Alcohols, Tirucallol, Taraxerol, Dammaradienol Beta-Amyrin Germanicol, Butyrospermol, Parkeol, Cycloartenol, Tirucalladienol, 24-Methlene 24-Dihydroparkeol, 24-Methlenecycloartanol, Cyclobranol, 4-Methyl Sterols, Esters of Tyrosol, Esters of Hydroxytyrosol), Vitamin E (Tocopherols), Carotenoids, Oleuropein), Cocoa Butter (Tri and Diglycerides of Stearic Acid, Palmitic Acid, Lead, Oleic Acid, Linoleic Acid, Isoleic Acid, Beta Carotene, p-Hydroxybenzoic Acid, Vanillic Acid, Ferulic Acid, Syringic Acid, Phenylehtylamine, Theophylline, Aliphatic Esters, Aromatic Carbonyls, Caffeine, Theobromine, Diketopiperazines and Alkylpryazines), Lavender Essential Oil (Cineole Octanol, Octanone, Alpha Bisabolol, Alpha Cadinol, Alpha Humelene, Alpha Phellandrene, Apha Pinene, Alpha Terpinene, Alpha Terpineol, Alpha Terpinyl Acetate, Alpha Thujene, Alpha Thujone, Beta Bisabolol, Beta Pinene, Beta Thujone, Borneol, Bornyl Acetate, Camphene Camphor, Cineolealpha Terpineol, Carvone, Caryophyllene, Carophyllene Oxide, CIS Alpha Terpineol, CIS Alpha Bisabolene, CIS Carveol, CIA Linalol Epoxide, CIS Ocimene, Citronellal, Citronellol, Coumarine, Cuminaldehyde, Eugenol, Furfural, Geraniol, Geranyl Acetate, Geranyl Butyrate, Hexanol, Hexyl Tiglate, Isoborneol, Lavandulol, Lavandulyl Acetate, Limonene, Linanlol, Linalyl Acetate, Methyl Heptenone, Myrcene, Nerol, Neryl Acetate, Oleanolic Acid, P Cymene, Rosemarinic Acid, Sabinen, Terpinenol, Terpinolene, Trans Carveol, Trans Epoxy Linalyl Acetate, Trans Linanol Epoxide, Trans Ocimene, Ursolic Acid)

from http://soap-queen.blogspot.com/2010/08/report-from-dc-education-matters.html

Does this labeling for natural ingredients make sense? Unfortunately, we live in a polluted world, so you'll find all manner of trace contaminants in everything. (Take your drinking water, for example. If I had "water" as an ingredient in something I made, I would have to list lead, copper, MTBE, chlorine, etc. Never mind that I'm not able to access to a team of chemists who can test my products and supply me with this information!)

Now you guys know I'm all about safe cosmetics. That's what got me started making bodycare in the first place! When I couldn't find products that had only the ingredients I wanted and contained none of what I wanted to avoid, I started making my own using the herbs I grew for medicine in my garden.

Why doesn't our government get off their collective asses (or should I say out-from-under-industry's-thumb?) and write some legislation that will actually do something to protect people in a meaningful way? You know, like setting real limits on air pollution, ending waste dumping in rivers and oceans, or stringent and *enforced* food safety standards?

Please help me and other small, natural bodycare makers by following developments on this legislation at OpposeSCA.com, writing your Representative, signing the petition, and voting your opposition to this bill. If you're on Twitter, you can search the #OpposeSCA tag. Thank you!