Oil Harvest

Today, the distillery became fully operational. Only two days after the 1200 mile round-trip journey to bring the distillery home, it had found itself in it's new temporary location on Lavender Hill. After a few dry runs yesterday evening, I awoke bright and early to begin the first live runs. After so much time and care in raising this year's buds, it is important that everything go smoothly so that their struggle to bloom and flourish under the hot Tassajara Sun is not wasted in vain.

But first things first. After firing up the boiler, I went out to the field to begin to harvest the fresh buds to become this year's golden oil. I do my harvest by hand, cutting the lavender stalks from the plants with a scythe and placing the freshly cut buds in the harvest tub.

The bounty was splendid. Beautiful purple buds with such a wonderful scent. I was very anxious to find out what kind of oil content this year's crop yields.

The bees seemed anxious to know as well. The curious worker bee would occasion by to sniff the buds. Care must be taken when handling the flowers not to accidentally grab more than just lavender. As I was preparing the distillery, one playful little bee landed for a moment on my shoulder. I fancied her a small fuzzy parrot. Of course, nothing to find she soon set aloft one again.

Once I had harvested enough lavender for a run, the flowers were placed into the boiler.

How it Works

The distillation process is a fairly simple physical process of steam distillation. The basic concept is to put the lavender together with pure water from our well 700 feet into the Tassajara Earth into a big pot. The furnace under the pot generates steam which is passed through the lavender. Then the steam is condensed back into a liquid. The liquid contains the essense of the flower including the oil, as well as other constituents which remain dissolved in the water. The water is now called hydrosol. The oil and the hydrosol are separated. Of course the usual monotony of details including temperature, water levels, etc. all must be monitored and adjusted. But the result is pure vibrant essential oil and hydrosol.

Success! Today we had two successful runs. Tomorrow the process continues bright and early!