Yesterday morning as the dawn was shining on my face, I was in mourning. I knew this harvest, this day would come to an end until next summer. And yet the greed in a corner of my foraging heart wanted it to continue longer. The heat wave we endured during the second week of September traumatized both my body and the trees but this is when pink lotus flourished. I filled bags of flowers almost daily after fully negotiating with the bees. It was agreed: some for me, most for them and I was not only good with that, I was mindful and whole with this exchange. I’ve been dedicated to this harvest since mid July, arriving every second day before the sun and my work day to harvest a flowers I feel so called to work with. I have distilled most of my many harvests and have frozen several bags for additional distillations. Lotus has become so special to me because no matter how muddy I became, scratched from rose bushes or sweaty from the physicality of harvesting, I always felt flawless and beautiful when I picked these pink flowers.
As the temperatures returned to seasonal normalcy, lotus began their retreat and dissent into winter hibernation. I knew they would not see the fall solstice. I hope I’ve done right by the bees and by our aromatic family or at the very least, captures the absolute adoration I have for a flower I’ve decided is part of my soul.
Some of our hydrosols such as pink lotus, blue lotus or lily have never been distilled by anyone before and are a first in the hydrosol world. I worked very hard to control all the aspects of the distillations such as heat, cooling and even down to packing the still effectively. It took a lot of experimentation to figure out how to extract a beautiful scent that is true to the plant or flower, one I would consider worthy of our apothecary. Prices vary according to the amount of foraging I have to do which involves any one of the following: climb tall mountains, swing from trees, walk softly and stealthy around delicate flowers, drive many miles, trek in hot sun for hours or fly to another state. Some of these hydrosols are very seasonal so please be aware that this offering will ebb and flow as do the plants, flowers, resins, barks and leaves that make it into my still. This is my work, my history, my expertise and my wild card heart for trying to distill everything under the sun even when other distillers said it wouldn’t work.
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