One Week Essential Oil Distillation Experience

Learn about the basics of essential oil distillation in this hands-on week long essential oil distillation experience!

Arriving on Sunday, you will have time to settle in to your cabin before the experience begins early on Monday morning. Shared accomodations and meals are included in the cost of the experience. If you need private accomodations, please book your cabin directly on the Blessings at Strawberry Fields website (this added cost depends on the cabin that you choose).  

Early on Monday morning, we will jump into the gathering of one local essential oil bearing plant. As we gather and process the plant, you will learn how to distinguish essential oil plants in the wild, and proper, sustainable harvesting and processing techniques.

While setting up the still and getting the distillation underway, you will learn about various ways to extract oils from plants and distillation equipment. You will take detailed distillation notes, including making a distillation chart that graphs the harvest.

During your week long experience, you will distill the leaves of at least one tree, one cultivated plant, one wild plant, one fruit or root, and one low yield plant or co-distillation, and will understand the medicinal benefit of each of them.

While we manage the daily distillations, we will discuss:

• how to adjust your technique and equipment to the type of plant,
• common distillation problems and solutions,
• essential oil chemistry and how that impacts your approach to distilling,
• hydrosol and its uses, 
• how to properly store your yield of oil and hydrosol,
• the local and global history of distillation,
• the particular chemistry of the specific plant that we are distilling and its medicinal benefits and limitations,
• value added products,
• and so much more.

Not only will we do a scent tour of our collection of local oils, but you will help to add to, manage and curate that collection.

From the very start, you will be hands on, playing every role and doing every job in the distillation process  

Every day, there will be time for you to take a swim at the Blessings at Strawberry Fields beach, and to experience and enjoy what our safe and welcoming village has to offer  

You will leave on Saturday with an understanding of oil distillation, a collection of important hand outs, and a sample of all of the oil and hydrosols you distilled, along with the value added products that you made.