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Lavande aromatiques Lavender Farm is situated in sunny Narrandera in the beautiful Australian N.S.W Riverina Australian Worldwide suppliers for Dried Lavender - Essential Lavender Oil and Hydrosols- Exquisitely Hand Crafted Lavender Skin Care Products and Gift items. Based in the heart of the New South Wales Riverina Australia, we ship dried lavender and our own special blend of pot pourri in bulk and in sachets, lavender essential oil, luscious skin care products, specially blended lavender teas and tisanes, lavender cologne and a range of ceramics and carefully selected books. Lavande Lavender Farm began on this small acreage in Bells Estate, Narrandera just over three years ago. Ironically, the idea to grow Lavender arose from not wanting to spend weekends mowing the lawn. Now instead of lawn there is an established Lavender farm (Lavandula x intermedia and Lavandula angustifolia) with the majority of plants being distilled for oil. The Lavender farm at Clydebank has just entered stage three of its four-stage operation. Another 1200 Lavender plants were planted last year in addition to plants planted in the previous years, focusing on the intermedia varieties particularly Grosso and Super for their high distillation production values. This year we have also planted out different varieties including angustifolia, dentata and stoechas Lavenders. These varieties flower at different times of the year so that hopefully at any given time, there will be Lavender in bloom at Lavande. Last years harvest was cut by hand in December and January and the flower heads distilled. The 2003 harvest has been dominated by some extreme weather conditions. Low rainfall, extreme high temperatures and dust storms have played havoc with the flower heads particularly during December and January. Lavender is described as a drought tolerant plant when established, but it really does better with a drink of water. Flower heads shrivelled on the plant when pummelled by high winds and dust making the blooms unsuitable for dried product but fortunately the desiccation did not seem to affect oil yield when distilled later in the month. The Ochiai mechanical harvesting unit (see harvesting section) has made the job of hand harvesting the flower heads more cost and time effective. Designed and manufactured in Japan for harvesting green tea, the unit is perfect for harvesting Lavender for oil distillation under Australian conditions. The curved blade of the unit catches the Lavender as it cuts and air jets propel the flower heads into the collection bag attached to the rear of the unit as the harvester moves along the rows of plants. The collection bag is then emptied into the still, minimising time delays in the field and reducing volatile oil loss to the open air. What used to take hours to harvest by hand with the traditional sickle now takes a matter of minutes. Distillation takes around one and a half hours using the gentle steam method. Fired by gas, the water is brought to the boil and the steam rises through the tightly packed Lavender flowers exploding the oil capsules. The steam then attaches itself to the exploded oil capsules and makes its way through the condenser. A constant cold water supply returns the steam to a liquid state. The resulting liquid (now known as Hydrosol a mixture of oil and water) drips into the awaiting separator. The separator is a two-piece unit consisting of a funnel and a tube. The tube has two outlets. The lower outlet has a tap that can be turned on or off. Normally the tap is in the on position to allow the Hydrosol to drain away. When ready, the tapis turned off, the Hydrosol level rises and the oil is siphoned off, filtered, bottled and left to mature in cool conditions for some months until ready for use<a href="../store/index.html" >Click here to visit our eStore</a> Australian Worldwide suppliers for Dried Lavender - Essential Lavender Oil and Hydrosols- Exquisitely Hand Crafted Lavender Skin Care Products and Gift items. Based in the heart of the New South Wales Riverina Australia, we ship dried lavender and our own special blend of pot pourri in bulk and in sachets, lavender essential oil, luscious skin care products, specially blended lavender teas and tisanes, lavender cologne and a range of ceramics and carefully selected books. Lavande Lavender Farm began on this small acreage in Bells Estate, Narrandera just over three years ago. Ironically, the idea to grow Lavender arose from not wanting to spend weekends mowing the lawn. Now instead of lawn there is an established Lavender farm (Lavandula x intermedia and Lavandula angustifolia) with the majority of plants being distilled for oil. The Lavender farm at Clydebank has just entered stage three of its four-stage operation. Another 1200 Lavender plants were planted last year in addition to plants planted in the previous years, focusing on the intermedia varieties particularly Grosso and Super for their high distillation production values. This year we have also planted out different varieties including angustifolia, dentata and stoechas Lavenders. These varieties flower at different times of the year so that hopefully at any given time, there will be Lavender in bloom at Lavande. Last years harvest was cut by hand in December and January and the flower heads distilled. The 2003 harvest has been dominated by some extreme weather conditions. Low rainfall, extreme high temperatures and dust storms have played havoc with the flower heads particularly during December and January. Lavender is described as a drought tolerant plant when established, but it really does better with a drink of water. Flower heads shrivelled on the plant when pummelled by high winds and dust making the blooms unsuitable for dried product but fortunately the desiccation did not seem to affect oil yield when distilled later in the month. The Ochiai mechanical harvesting unit (see harvesting section) has made the job of hand harvesting the flower heads more cost and time effective. Designed and manufactured in Japan for harvesting green tea, the unit is perfect for harvesting Lavender for oil distillation under Australian conditions. The curved blade of the unit catches the Lavender as it cuts and air jets propel the flower heads into the collection bag attached to the rear of the unit as the harvester moves along the rows of plants. The collection bag is then emptied into the still, minimising time delays in the field and reducing volatile oil loss to the open air. What used to take hours to harvest by hand with the traditional sickle now takes a matter of minutes. Distillation takes around one and a half hours using the gentle steam method. Fired by gas, the water is brought to the boil and the steam rises through the tightly packed Lavender flowers exploding the oil capsules. The steam then attaches itself to the exploded oil capsules and makes its way through the condenser. A constant cold water supply returns the steam to a liquid state. The resulting liquid (now known as Hydrosol a mixture of oil and water) drips into the awaiting separator. The separator is a two-piece unit consisting of a funnel and a tube. The tube has two outlets. The lower outlet has a tap that can be turned on or off. Normally the tap is in the on position to allow the Hydrosol to drain away. When ready, the tapis turned off, the Hydrosol level rises and the oil is siphoned off, filtered, bottled and left to mature in cool conditions for some months until ready for use |
