Because I think you are all such nice people, and I would really hate to hear of you getting sick, I urge you to make your elderberry potions now before you get hit by the nasties.
I have blogged about this before. You can find my recipe for homemade Berry Well here, as well as links to sources to buy the ready made stuff. I looked for elderberries this summer, which is when they bloom like this:
(for wallpaper dot com)
I actually found some at my father-in-law’s place when we visited them this fall, but the birds were ahead of me, and every ripe berry was carefully picked off. So I bought my freeze dried berries online at Sunburst again. However, my sister’s sister-in-law was kind enough to tell me of a source that is really, incredibly, much cheaper. (Thanks, Beth.)
You can’t find their website since the Amish don’t have them, but this is such a delightful herbal supply store in Ohio. If you can wait for a mail order catalog, and then wait for them to process your order, the prices are well worth the time. If you live close by, you can step inside to rows and rows of aromatic herbs in gallon jars with the prices painstakinglymarked on the lids, and watch the fresh faced young girl carefully measure out your stuff into a little paper bag. I would haunt a store like that if we had one locally. 🙂 Ask for a catalog at:
Backyard Herbs and Flowers
8128 Maurer Rd, Apple Creek, Oh 44606
Now, for those of you still unconvinced that this stuff works, a story…
When we left for our extended trip this fall, I packed our usual first aid kit of stuff we would likely need, including Vitamin C, Vicks, and Elderberry Syrup. The children played outside in slightly damp weather for about 3 days, and I watched them closely, because every one of them is prone to croup in those conditions. Sure enough, they started sniffling and wheezing and running out of the noses. I dosed everyone with about a tablespoon of elderberry syrup three times a day, and it all cleared up, just like that. In two days, we didn’t even need tissues anymore. It isn’t just a flu fighter, but colds as well.
We have a child with a compromised immune system, a condition that we were warned would probably end up in emergency room visits every winter if the flu hits her. By the grace of God and, I am convinced, the immunity builders in elderberry, she has not been in the ER once in six years.
Try it! It is the one potion I wouldn’t want to live without in flu season. Dose up as soon as the very first little itty bitty germ manifests itself. See what happens. 🙂 You can thank me later.
*Dorcas steps delicately off her slightly rickety soap box.*
wocket in my pocket 
Now I’m remembering that I really need to pull my bag of frozen berries out of the freezer and cook them up. Those frozen berries that my Michigan sis-in-law worked to harvest for me.