You see the fields. The little bottles. The finished products lined up on the shelves.
This is the part you don't usually see.
Welcome to Behind the Lavender — a new series where we show you what actually happens here between the harvest and the shelf.
We're starting with Darian and our decidedly unglamorous essential oil operation.
How we make lavender essential oil
After harvest, we steam-distill our lavender right here on site — a few steps from where it was cut.
The process itself is simple, and very interesting:
1. The lavender goes into the still. Cut buds, packed in, sealed up.
2. Steam does the work. As it rises through the lavender, it pulls the aromatic oils out with it.
3. Everything condenses back into liquid — a mixture of lavender hydrosol and lavender essential oil.
Then we separate the two. That's the funnel in these photos, and the reason we are standing over it watching very closely.
Look closely
Take another look at one of these photos. See that thin golden line floating at the top?
That's the essential oil.
That's it. It still surprises us every single time how much lavender, how much time, and how much work goes into producing such a small amount.
The hydrosol underneath it doesn't go to waste, either. It's the base of our hydrosol spray, and it carries the same scent in a softer, gentler form and also is a disinfectant.
Why we're showing you this
There are certainly prettier ways to photograph all of this. A little morning light, a linen tablecloth, a sprig of lavender laid just so.
That's not really the point of this series.
We want to show you the real stuff. The experiments. The mistakes. The people who show up to help. The things we're still learning. The dirty jobs, the late nights, and occasionally the things that work exactly as planned.
Because there's a whole lot happening behind those purple rows.
Watch us distilling lavender here!
Welcome to Behind the Lavender.
Lake James Lavender Company — Where Love Grows.