Harvest rewards patience
Some things cannot be rushed into being. This oil is one of them.
Every bottle, a single season’s vintage.™
True lavender, Lavandula angustifolia, the soft, sweet English kind, gives very little of itself, and only once a year. A whole season's bloom, gathered by hand at first light while the field is still cool, surrenders a small bottling. Cut later in the day and the heat has already taken part of it. When it is spoken for, that is the year.
And when the still's work is done, the oil's is not quite finished: it rests. In the quiet months after distillation, the sharper edges soften and the essential oil settles into itself, the way anything true settles, given time.
For twenty years this lavender has grown from mother stock we have kept true to type, received hand to hand, one lavender family to another, on our organic estate on California's Central Coast, cut by hand, distilled slowly in a copper still. Nothing hurried. Nothing outsourced.
This is the softer, sweeter of our two lavenders. Floral and gentle, with the quiet depth only rest can give. It is also the beginning of nearly everything we make: the elemental signature behind every jar, mist, and balm on our shelves.
The last hour of the day belongs to it. A drop at the pillow's edge. The bath after the garden. The slow unclenching of an evening at home. These small rituals ask little, and give the day somewhere soft to land. Ritual begins with one drop.
Living with it
Before bed, warm one or two drops between the palms, or rest a drop at the edge of the pillow.
For the body, blend a few drops into a spoonful of carrier oil for a calming massage, or add to a warm bath (mixed into carrier first).
For the home, a few drops in the diffuser, or into unscented linen and room sprays.
The making
Grown on our organic estate, hand harvested, and steam distilled in a copper alembic pot still on our family estate. No fillers, nothing synthetic, no additives, a complete, unadulterated essential oil, rested until it is at its best before it reaches you. Lavandula angustifolia, flower buds only, Paso Robles, California.
For aromatic and topical use only; never for internal use. If pregnant, nursing, or under medical care, consult a qualified practitioner before use. Keep out of reach of children. Offered for the senses and for ritual, not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any condition.
The softer of the two lavenders, gathered by hand and rested until it was ready.
