“Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower.”
Hans Christian Andersen
Welcome to my Escape to the Farmacy & Studio blog where I share information on the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual benefits of botanically inspired escapes, experiences, recipes, art and decor; ‘for your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual ails’.
CREATIVE ‘FLORAL THERAPY’ WORKSHOPS
Just seeing and then taking in the fragrance of beautiful flowers, always evokes such a joyful response within me. I am sure there is a flood of endorphins exploding within me when it happens, basically leaving me ‘addictively immersed in botanicals’, a natural body, mind and spirit support. That would explain the uplifting feelings associated with seeing and receiving beautiful flowers. It may also be due to the association that flowers have healing vibrational energies.
I am a firm and ‘tried and true’ believer, in the healing power of plants, including herbs and flowers; bountiful gifts from God’s ‘farmacy’. You can read about my health recovery from multiple health challenges, aided by the use of herbs and other plant materials on my website, blog and in my book. The links can be found at the end of this post.
As the bounty of beautiful flowers from spring to fall fades, and the long cold winter months arrive, at least in Ontario, we lose that ‘floral endorphin fix’ opportunity from our gardens. House plants fill in some of the ‘need a botanical fix’ gap, and of course, bouquets from your local florist. Another way to savour those ‘floral endorphin’ images, is to preserve the flowers and frame them for floral appreciation all through your flower gardens ‘off season’. Adding inspirational or favourite quotes, further adds to the endorphin fix of floral therapy.
Pressed flower arrangements, created in various configurations, can carry you through the long cold ‘gardenless’ winters, providing you with joy, and reminding you that spring blooms are just a few months away.
I sell prints of my original pressed flower designs, which you can view on my instagram pages @escape_to_the_farmacy and purchase by messaging me. Many people would prefer the real dried flowers so I have decided to provide opportunities for people to create their own at my workshops.
If you would like to learn more, and create your own pressed flower arrangement, check out the tentative pressed flower workshop dates below and message me if you are interested.
FLORAL HEART WORKSHOPS (sample
) 
Saturday, July 12, 1:00 – 4:00
Saturday, August 9, 1:00 – 4:00
Saturday, September 13, 1:00 – 4:00
Saturday, September 27, 1:00 – 4:00
Cost: $75 CAD (all materials included for an 8×10” project, except frame)
Cost: $100 CAD (all materials included for an 11X14” or 12×12”” project, except frame)
A variety of dried flower materials will be available from my supply of dried flowers from my gardens, and may be different from those shown in the images, your opportunity to make your creation unique. Your design can be made on white or black background.
FLORAL BOUQUET or FLOWER MARKET WORKSHOP (sample)
Saturday, July 26, 1:00 – 4:00
Saturday, August 23, 1:00 – 4:00
Saturday, September 27, 1:00 – 4:00
Cost: $100 CAD (all materials included for an 11X14” or 12×12”” project, except frame)
A variety of dried flower materials will be available from my supply of dried flowers from my gardens, and may be different from those shown in the images, your opportunity to make your creation unique. Your design can be made on a white or black background or on a Flower Market pre-printed blank page in either white, yellow or black filled background.
Location: Dorchester (Thames Centre), Ontario
For more pressed flower design inspiration, check out my other designs, below.
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Escaping to, immersing in, being inspired by, and eating from nature brings so many body, mind and spirit benefits! The botanically inspired home decor above was created from my collection of cedar branches, pressed to preserve, from my own urban oasis. Enhanced by a few line from the quote –
“Advice from a tree: Stand tall and proud, Go out on a limb, Remember your roots, Drink plenty of water, Be content with your natural beauty, Enjoy the view”
lovely addition to any home! Prints of my design are now available now. A 11×14 print on 100lb cardstock is $30 CAN. Order any three prints (see others below, for $75 CAN. Frames are not included. Shipping is extra. Message me through instagram for details.
Botanically inspired escapes, even temporarily, by distraction, from your own reality, brings so many body, mind and spirit benefits.
Watch my Wildflower and Sunflower Escape videos by clicking on the images below.
In my many Escape to the Farmacy & Studo posts I share my many escapes and where available, the science behind the many easily acquired benefits gained from escapes to nature, plants, herbs, green, other ‘distractions’, and botanically inspired decor and activities like art. I have always been drawn to trails in the woods, and retreat there as often as possible. Living in Southwestern Ontario, the many deciduous trees drop their leaves in the fall, leaving the trails more open to the much sought after winter, life giving sunlight. When the weather is too uninviting to coax me outdoors, I retreat to the many botanically inspired escapes, art and décor projects, ‘body, mind and spirt therapy’, providing me with the embrace of nature that I so desperately desire and thrive in.
Join me as I share my botanically driven ‘escapes to the farmacy’ and resulting artworks from growing, collecting, preserving and creating with the many botanicals available along the way. The cedar aroma from working with even the dried cedar leaves, was uplifting, calming and invigorating.
An enviable dispensing of body, mind and spirit benefits is available to all through the body, mind and spirit therapy provided by nature and botanicals!
The botanically inspired home decor above was created from my collection of cedar branches, pressed to preserve, from my own urban oasis. A lovely addition to any home! Prints of my design are available now. A 11×14 print on 100lb cardstock is $30 CAN. Order any three prints (see others below, for $75 CAN. Frames are not included. Shipping is extra. Message me through instagram for details.
Follow my botanically inspired Escape to the Farmacy & Studio posts on my Instagram page: You will find my latest collection of available prints from my dried flower art creations like the ones below. I will be posting my latest prints from my creations on my instagram page and facebook page over the next few weeks. Message me through instagram for details.
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FOR MORE ON MY NATURE & ART & HEALTH INSPIRED QUESTS:
The ‘escaping to the farmacy’ journey takes us back to the teachings of Abbé Kneipp, a Bavarian priest and renowned European herbalist. Father Kneipp’s teachings based on the pillars of water, plants, exercise, nutrition and inner balance live on.
“There is a plant for every illness” Abbé Kneipp
“Care for your garden that was planted by the gift of God, and be on your guard that its herbs do not wither.” Hildegard von Bingen[1]
The garden picture is the Hildegard medicinal herb garden of the Hildegard Forum of the Sisters of the Cross on the Bingen Rochusberg. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was a mystic, scholar, prophet, composer, moralist, herbalist and scientist. She tended the gardens at Rupertsberg monastery and studied herbs extensively, understanding their medicinal healing properties.
The three basics of Hildegard’s practice as an herbalist were detoxification, nutrition and natural remedies. In her book Causae et curae, viriditas[2], the healing power of green is a key concept, encapsulating the divine force of nature. After her death Hildegard was sainted and called a Doctor of the Church.
MariaTreben was an amazing master herbalist. She was a pioneer of the renewed interest in natural remedies and traditional medicine at the end of the 20th century. Maria used traditional German/Eastern European remedies handed down by previous generations. These consisted of using only local herbs and diet to successfully treat a wide range of conditions. My study as a holistic nutritional consultant focused on the writings of Maria Treben.
Detoxification to purge the body of toxins, resupply the body with nutrients and treat specific disorders with herbs or other remedies found in nature were Hildegard and Maria’s key principles of healing. I have taken the approach further and developed my Botanical Spa Therapy herbal detoxification and rejuvenating bath recipes and schedule that help the body to eliminate toxins through the skin, the body’s largest organ. Clients have had great results with symptom elimination using these baths, including one woman who was freed of a 50+ years debilitating caterpillar phobia.
Hildegard stressed harmony between body mind and spirit and believed that God was the true healer. I incorporated the whole person well-being, body, mind and spirit concept to create my book logo years ago. It feels as if I was somehow guided by her philosophies although I had never heard of Hildegard until recently when researching for possible alternative cures that might have been used in past pandemics. Surprisingly I found research on herbs used successfully during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.[3]
Both Hildegarde and Maria mentored others to learn about the medicinal properties of herbs and other natural methods of healing. I have incorporated my collection of healing recommendations in my book The Whole Person Well-being Equation, a how to guide that incorporates all of the strategies that I used to promote my body to heal from body pollution, toxicant induced loss of tolerance (TILT), multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS), environmental illness (EI), chronic fatigue (CF), sciatica and spasmodic dysphonia.[4],[5],[6]
Inspiration comes in many forms. I started out in nursing and my studies of human anatomy, physiology and biology were successful but my heart and mind could not come to terms with caring for diseased, suffering people. I ended my nursing career basically before it started and focused my attention on health prevention and protection. Hildegard and Treben were strong women who imprinted history with their work and have inspired me to share health promoting strategies and medicinal plants with others. The picture below is another strong inspirational woman, my dear friend Anne tending her beautiful garden, a physical, mental and emotional health promoting task.
“Everyone has a doctor in him or her; we just have to help it in its work.
The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well.”
Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, Greek Physician (460BC-377BC)
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Escaping to, immersing in, eating and creating from, and being inspired by nature’s farmacy dispenses many ‘body, mind and spirit’ benefits! Whether its a hike in the woods, preparing a meal using vegetables and herbs from your garden or searching for and surrounding your self with botanical inspired decorative accents in your home; you will be provided with a literal ‘escape to the farmacy’ experience that dispenses many physical, mental, emotional and spiritual benefits.
My farmacy garden plots and apothecary are a working, educational culmination of ideas, expertise, botanical inspired living, vegetable and medicinal plants, and healing therapies borrowed from many ‘God’s Farmacy’ advocates of the past. My inspiration comes from many nature advocates, gardeners, herbalists, artists and musicians like Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) who was a mystic, scholar, prophet, composer, moralist, herbalist and scientist, declared a saint and Doctor of the Church and master herbalist Maria Treben (1907-1991), author of Health through God’s Pharmacy. Hildegarde is credited with the Greening of Medieval Medicine through her ‘viriditas’ key concept, the healing power of green, encapsulating the divine force of nature.
As a holistic wellness practitioner, nutritional consultant, mother and grandmother I have become able to tailor my recipes, which usually start out as vegan and are then modified to accommodate food allergies and sensitivities, gluten intolerances, food aversions, eosinophilic esophagitis (EOE) and other dietary challenges. These will be shared with participants of workshops and botanically inspired escapes.
Follow my botanically inspired Escape to the Farmacy & Studio posts on my Instagram page:
Wishing you ongoing body, mind and spirit ‘farmacy’ experiences for greater health!
Elisabeth Hines, C.N.C., C.B.P., Holistic Wellness Practitioner, Health by Design, http://www.mybodycanhealitself.ca/, elisabethlhines@gmail.com
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[1] Hildegard of Bingen and the Greening of Medieval Medicine, Dr. Victoria Sweet, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/4342
[2] Hildegard Forum, https://www.hildegard-forum.de/en/kraeutergarten.html
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