Now all the lavender has been harvested and distilled, our attention has returned to the Chamomile fields.

 

What most people who visit us at Inglenook Farm assume, is that we are only a Lavender Farm, when the reality is more than 3/4 of our land is dedicated to Chamomile.  Our Roman (or English) Chamomile certified organic, as the lavender.  Its pretty, delicate daisy like flower blankets the fields and so is not as noticeable or visually stunning as the Lavender.

 

Non the less, it is a brilliant, fragrant flower which produces an essential oil as versatile, aromatic and useful as the lavender.  

 

                          

 

We have been observing it closely, lovingly checking each field daily, waiting for it all to fully open.  As with the lavender, it is a very fine window to the flowers all being open and at their peak, and catching that window to harvest.  This rain over the last two days is helping, and we should be harvesting in earnest next week.

 

A small patch was brought in and distilled to check the condition and yield, and we will leave you with this picture of the first official batch of this years vivid blue oil

 

It's been a busy week, but we have finally harvested the lavender , and the distillation unit is steaming the fresh crop as we speak. 

 

The cut Lavender heads, are sorted and spread in the big barn, and loaded batch by batch into the steam distillation unit. The steam is passed through the lavender to draw out the essential oil.  As the steam condenses the oil seperates from the water, leaving us a beautiful golden oil ready for filtering.  There's a handy little diagram of the process here

 

The oil will be seperated off and filtered, and after a maturation period, bottled. But that's all to follow! For now we are enjoying the scent of the steamed lavender as it fills the farm air, and marvelling at the magic of the oil being produced as if it is the first time we have seen it!  If you are on the farm, please feel free to stop by the distillery and witness it all as it happens, we love to answer your questions.

 

It’s that time of year again, when our lavender is finally ready to be harvested. 

Lavender comes into full bloom, typically in late June/early July, but it varies each season as the harmony and balance between sunshine, rain, soil and nature shift.  It must be harvested at its peak, to early and the oil is not at its best, too late and the flower begins to wilt.  It must be harvested on a dry day, as wet flowers are harder to distil.  As you can imagine, the marriage of the above elements, is a tricky one, and knowing just when to harvest requires a keen eye and close observation, plus a lot of luck when it comes to Mother Nature!

This harvest has stopped and started as we navigated rain showers and late blooming rows, but finally it is all in.  Happy volunteers leant a helping hand, as they enjoyed the scents (and the café customers too as the glorious wafted over the sunny garden).  The first batches will be distilling as we speak, so keep posted as the first oil of the season is made.

Each year we are joined on the farm by Shropshire Sheep.  The Shropshires make them selves busy munching on the weeds in our lavender fields, and their helps means we can make sure our lavender is grown truly organically!  This clever breed of sheep feed only on the weeds between the plants, and not on the woody stalks of lavender.  Tried and tested in fruit plantations & vineyards, they are widely used to maintain the fields.

 

This week the Shropshires gave us an unexpected surprise when two of the girls gave birth to healthy little lambs!  It's truly a gorgeous sight seeing them scampering up and down the lavender rows.  We just wish we could keep them all year round.  Who knows, perhaps they will be back next summer, grown up and ready to lend us a hand

 

           

Hello, and welcome to our brand new blog here at Essencia Oils!  We will aim to keep you updated on our growing & harvesting seasons, and to give you snippets of the distillation process and the stunning essential oils it produces.   There will be sneaky peeks into life at Inglenook Farm, all our animals, crops & other goings on.

 

This week seems as good a week as any to kick things off, as we are preparing to harvest the lavender. The field is in full bloom now and looking absolutely stunning.  It always seems a shame to have to cut it, but cut it we must! 

 

We are now on the lookout for volunteers to help hand pick the lavender, should you be interested......