Hydrosols and herbal manufacturing
One of my biggest passions and something that brings me so much joy and fulfilment is gardening and growing the most nutrient-dense food and medicinal herbs.
I have a passion for organics, biodynamics, regenerative and subtle energy in agriculture and landscape, and I grow everything using these principles. As I firmly believe in healthy soil, healthy plants, healthy animals, healthy people and healthy ecosystems. On our 45 acres, we grow beef, lamb, goats, pigs, ducks, chickens, vegetables, medicinal herbs and fruit in which we are 100% self-sufficient. Our aim is to create a healthy, thriving and abundant ecosystem on our farm and leave it in better condition than when we started.
I have been so fortunate to have really good friends that have let me use their stills to distil my medicinal herbs for the last 3 years however, I am extremely lucky and blessed that my husband Jeremy bought me my own still for Christmas 6 months ago. I can now grow my medicinal plants on the farm, harvest them here and distil them on the same farm where they were grown and make them into creams, balms, lotions etc.
For the last three years I have been distilling;
Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus),
Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia),
Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile & Matricaria chamomilla)
Clary Sage (Salvia sclarea)
Recently I have been supplying friends and a few clients with the hydrosols from the herbs I have been distilling.
Some of the uses of hydrosols are that they can be incorporated into lotions and creams as the water phase or used in the bath the same as you would add essential oils to a bath. Some people believe and state that hydrosol is more medicinally beneficial than essential oils as they potentially contain more active plant constituents than essentials oil which is only the volatile oils of a plant. I am not sure as to state if one is more medicinally beneficial than the other however, I believe if we use both then we will be getting the full spectrum of the plants medicinal qualities and also honouring the plant by using it to its fullest potential rather than having a waste product from distilling our essential oils.
For instance, to get 10mls of Clary Sage essential oil and 5 Litres of hydrosol it took 25kg of plant material. All plants vary in their yield of essential oils and it also depends on the time of the season that the plant was harvested and distilled.
One client reports that she has had extremely painful periods all her life, since she started menstruating at the age of 12, and was later diagnosed with endometriosis and PCOS, she has never had a pain-free period. After 3 craniosacral sessions, on the 3rd session, I gave her a 500mL bottle of Clary Sage hydrosol and she took it home with the advice to add it to her bath with some magnesium flakes. However, she decided to put some in a spray bottle and sprayed it over her uterus (womb) whenever she felt intuitivley to do it whilst she was bleeding, so on her next period after the 3rd treatment. She has now been pain free since she rang me to tell me how excited she was that she is now bleeding pain free every month and it has changed her life. Previously she was taking regular non-steroidal anti-inflammatories and Panadol regularly for days and unable to go out or do anything for the first 2-3 days of her period due to pain and heavy flow. Now she is pain-free and her flow has also reduced to a “normal” flow rather than gushing with large clots.
Another friend recently asked me for some Clary Sage and Lavender hydrosols to use during her upcoming birth. I am yet to hear about her labour and delivery. However, I used Clary Sage essential oil during my waterbirth with Jack years ago and I certainly think it contributed to the ease of my labour and delivery. There are many textbooks and other written resources supporting the use of Clary Sage essential oil during labour and delivery however it is not to be used in the early stages of pregnancy.
If you would like to know more about hydrosols, essential oils and medicinal herbal products that I manufacture with medicinal herbs grown here on the farm by me, with intention, love and gratitude please get in touch.