All posts by ilmontgo

A few months after planting

All the Goings On

Well it has been some time since I published a blog post here… A few years, lol. Blue Ridge Aromatics is still going strong but has been through some changes and challenges; all for the better. I’ll talk about it here.

The Royal “We”

I want to start by saying that I haven’t been entirely forward with you in terms of how I talk about the company. In the past, I have generally used “We” to talk about Blue Ridge Aromatics. The truth is, it is just me, Ian (and my sweet fat Tabby cat Tito). This always bothered me as I felt it was disingenuous to use “we.” In business school, we were taught the dominant language of business but a lot of it is just posturing and fluff. Having built this company with the core principles of transparency and authenticity, it feels like “we” is a misrepresentation of the scale and reach of Blue Ridge Aromatics. So, moving forward, I will dump that business speak and just be real.

Expansion

I started the process of applying for a grant in order to expand Blue Ridge Aromatics back in early 2019. After several months of writing, calculating and presenting business plans, a $10,000 grant was awarded by NC Idea! One of the reasons I haven’t posted here since late 2017 is that I was waiting to complete the expansion before my big happy announcement. Here it is more than 2 years later and I’m still working on that expansion!

You may ask, “what form of expansion are you doing and why haven’t you finished?” Great question! Since moving to the Forest Farm in 2016, I have been doing all of the distilling on my screened back porch. Getting into a dedicated workshop space was first priority; especially for those cold winter days. So with a portion of the grant funds I got a large shed and outfitted it with electricity and spring water.

Distillery Workshop
Distillery Workshop
Custom SInk

It’s still a work in progress but just last week I ran my first distillation in the new distillery building! All of the time and planning that went in to designing the space has really paid off with better efficiency, easier material handling, easier cleanup and just a cleaner, more consolidated workspace overall! It really needs insulation though because it’s quite hot on summer days (especially while distilling) and quite cold in the winter. Another benefit of having this dedicated distillery space (outside of my small home) is that I will be able to better host visitors wanting to learn about distilling essential oils.

With the remainder of the grant funds, I purchased a lot of raw stainless steel materials to fabricate additional stills. You can see some of them on the left side of one of the above pictures. This part of the expansion has not come into fruition just yet; mainly because I have had to work a day job during the slow sales season (Spring & Summer) and haven’t had a lot of time to get back into design/fabrication mode. Having at least one additional still will help immensely, especially in late Summer/early Fall when crops need to be harvested and processed all around the same time. My goal is to finish the next still before then.

Still Upgrades

If you have been following for a while, you may notice a few changes to the original still. In February 2021 the still broke down due to some really wet lemon peels that raised the boiler water level to the point that some of the lemon peels were submerged. This caused the peels to dissolve and drop through the screen into the boiler below. The electric heating element got coated with the lemon mush and fried itself! Since I had to repair the still, I decided it was time to make a few upgrades I had been putting off. The first and most important was a water level gauge so I can see if it gets too high or low. It will also act as a pressure/water release if anything gets out of hand. The second was a slightly more powerful heating element combined with an electronic power controller. Lastly, I used one of the components I had purchased for a new still to upgrade this still’s condenser.

In simpler terms, these upgrades mean better heat control (oil quality and yield), better cooling control (much less water use, improved oil yield) and more reliability. It also means I can apply the lessons learned to the next still before it’s finished.

Crops

In a continuous effort to expand Blue Ridge Aromatics’ product offerings, I have embarked on growing additional herbs for distillation. This year (2021) I am growing: African Blue Basil, Lemon Balm, Vana Tulsi, Pineapple Sage, Hemp and a small test plot of English Lavender.

Building Additional Rows
Hundreds of Plant Starts
A few weeks after planting
A few months after planting
A few months after planting

Except for African Blue Basil, Hemp and Lemon Balm, these are all pilot level crops for which I am unsure about the potential essential oil yields. I’m personally in love with African Blue Basil; it grows really well in this Southern Appalachian climate, yields a good amount of oil, attracts copious pollinators throughout the growing season and has a very interesting chemistry/aroma that is like mixing Lavender, Basil and Camphor.

As usual, these crops are drip-irrigated with gravity-fed spring water and without the use of any pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or even fertilizers. I do add compost (from spent distillation material) and organic soil amendments to the rows once per year when I plant. It’s really amazing (and fortunate) that these strong aromatic herbs have very few natural pests. In fact, the local deer help weed in and around the rows rather than eat the herbs! Below is a photo of “Sweetie,” a friendly Doe that’s been hanging around the last few years. This summer she has a shy little Fawn with her! Sweetie is particularly curious when I’m pulling weeds, cautiously approaching just a few feet away and checking out all the plants I toss!

Sweetie, the ever curious and brave resident Doe.

Running an Artisan Essential Oil Distillery During a Global Pandemic

Covid-19 has affected all of us and I feel deeply for those among us who have suffered loss and/or illness. I am very grateful that my family, friends and I have remained healthy and also that Blue Ridge Aromatics has survived.

As soon as the first news of Covid’s spread hit, all of Blue Ridge Aromatics’ retail store accounts stopped ordering. That represents about 30% of all revenue. I completely understand though; no customers = no re-stocking. Fortunately, website sales simultaneously increased. The additional website sales didn’t fully replace the retail store accounts but they facilitated the survival of the company. For this… for you, my customers, I am so grateful! I love working with these amazing aromatic plants and you are the reason I can keep doing it!

I have innate reservations about marketing; some of you may have surmised that by my lack of marketing for Blue Ridge Aromatics (or even social posting). When Covid-19 hit I became even more reluctant to market. Even though I make and sell natural health/body products, my reluctance stems from the sheer volume of misinformation around essential oils combined with not wanting to seek profit off of people’s suffering or vulnerability. So I have stayed away from social posting since March 2020. I’m not saying this was/is the right decision, maybe not; it’s just the decision I made based on my own sensibilities and perhaps, insecurities.

Now that I’ve gotten the “Royal We” thing out of the way, I feel more comfortable posting. But that isn’t the only way I’m changing the way I’m interacting with Blue Ridge Aromatics’ followers. Expect much more personal and story-like posts than in the past where I pretty much just said what was in stock or if there was a sale/promotion.

Looking Forward

We don’t know when (or if) this whole pandemic thing will end. However, it’s clear this is the new normal. What that means for Blue Ridge Aromatics: my energies will be focused on my website customers. That means keeping more of Blue Ridge Aromatics’ staple essential oils in stock, offering an increasing variety of essential oils and keeping quality, transparency and authenticity in the highest priority.

Blue Ridge Aromatics has some loyal but limited bulk customers that have been very supportive over the years. You know who you are and I can’t thank you enough for choosing to support artisan distillers! I will try to meet your needs moving forward, balanced with a need to increase the inventory/batches available for growing website sales.

I’ve also been thinking about the possibility of buying and reselling Curated Collection essential oils from a growing community of other artisan distillers in the US and abroad. This is a tough decision since part of Blue Ridge Aromatics’ value proposition is “We only sell what we distill.” That is mainly a means to ensure purity and quality (buying directly from the distiller). However, it would mean being able to stock ultra high-quality essential oils from popular species that I can’t cultivate or produce at this time. It also supports the artisan essential oil distiller community. Lastly, it could be the difference between having to work a seasonal job and putting 100% of my focus on Blue Ridge Aromatics. Eventually, I could see the Curated Collection spinning off into a distillers cooperative or non-profit. If you have an opinion about this (or interest) I really want to know it, so contact me or let me know in the comments below.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for your purchases and support! Take Care! Love, – Ian

The Year in Review – 2017

2017 was most certainly a dynamic year. Some have called it a Year of [Natural] Disasterwhile others have focused more on culture and politics with suggestions like:

For Blue Ridge Aromatics, 2017 was a year of Solidification. We focused on: distilling more species, larger batches, creative and sustainable sourcing and engaging more directly with you, our community of artisan essential oil aficionados, fellow natural product businesses, plant lovers and growers!

Community Engagement

We jumped on an opportunity to sell our oils at the West Asheville Tailgate Market, which is a wonderful community of local growers and craftspeople!

This was a fantastic learning experience, allowing us to listen more closely to your preferences for a growing essential oil distillery.  As a result, we began offering 2ml sample-size bottles which brought our oils into the $5 range and also allowed us to break out some of our previous batches that were too small to sell in 5ml bottles. We also made valuable connections for sourcing fresh plants to turn into beautiful essential oils!

In late summer, we hosted our first public distillation workshop at Flat Creek Farm in Black Mountain, NC. Then in the fall, we held a distillation workshop in Montreat, NC at From Harvest to the Shelf: an Appalachian Beginning Forest Farmer Coalition 2-Day Training Program. Expect more workshops in 2018!

More Species, Larger Batches

One thing we often talk about is the large amount of fresh plant material that is required for essential oil production. How do you source large amounts and a variety of plant material affordably while also being environmentally sustainable? This is the largest challenge we face from a business perspective. The solution requires creative sourcing and small-business/public partnerships!

Fraser Fir Christmas Trees

We nearly doubled our Fraser Fir Christmas Tree oil batch over the 2016 batch. This was due to a very fortunate opportunity offered by the NC Audubon Society and the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy. In a project to extend a wildlife corridor and establish a nesting habitat for the Golden-Winged Warbler, the organizations purchased and cleared a Roan Mountain, TN Christmas Tree farm. They offered us the trees and we donated 15% of our website sales for the batch. The quality of this batch was higher than 2016 due to the trees not being sprayed for at least three years prior to harvest.

Demand soared for this oil in 2017 and we sold out shortly before Christmas. You can bet we will make a larger batch in 2018! In fact, we are planning to offer two choices of Fraser Fir oil; one low-price batch from discarded Christmas Trees, and a second batch from trees from “abandoned” Fraser Fir farms that haven’t been sprayed/managed in 15+ years!

Organic Herb Batches

We also partnered with several organic farms for specialty herb batches. Given the high value of fresh and dried organic herbs, it is usually not economically feasible for us to purchase large amounts of them for our batches. However, 2017 was a year of exploratory partnerships:

We sold out of the Spearmint and Tagetes batches but will be offering dilutions of the Tulsi and Lemon Balm batches early in 2018 as well as an African Blue Basil batch we grew. Speaking of growing herbs, we installed a spring-fed drip irrigation system on the Forest Farm!

Layout Plan for 500′ of drip-fed rows

Tilled into rows with added soil

The Mule loaded with food-grade water storage and drip parts

Spring catchment in place

The field is a 50′ elevation drop so we get around 20 psi of pressure for the drip system

Propagating cuttings for cultivation

African Blue Basil from our first harvest, ready for the still

We got a late start planting so weren’t able to grow as much as we aimed to but are already propagating plants for 2018!

Sustainable Wild-Crafting

As usual, sustainability is a pre-requisite for our batches. 2017 presented many chances to practice sustainable wild-crafting.

Tamarack

The remnants of Hurricane Harvey gave us a rare (in The South) Tamarack/Larch tree to distill

Eastern Hemlock

Power line maintenance crews left us Eastern Hemlock branches to distill

A wet spring meant some very prolific nearby Mountain Mint populations that we sustainably harvested from; leaving at least one stalk of flowers on each plant to ensure pollination and genetic diversity.

2018

We’re excited and optimistic about the future! We’re going to improve across the board and promise:

  • Wider species and product selection, including
    • Pre-diluted dropper and roll-on blends
    • Expert-crafted aromatherapy blends
    • Oils that include diffusers
    • Multi-species sample/gift boxes
    • An “Oil of the Month” subscription
  • Larger and more frequent batches
  • Retail displays
  • More workshops/demonstrations
  • More batches with 3rd-party GC/MS analyses
  • Dedication to making beautiful, carefully-crafted, unique and rare artisan essential oils!

Thank you for your continued support and we hope you have a great start to the New Year!

Ginger Essential Oil Collection – When the Magic Happens

The most magical time of an essential oil distillation is right when the oil and hydrosol (distillate) begin to drip and collect in the essencier (oil/water separator)! Here is a time-lapse video of the first 10.5 minutes of oil collection, condensed to 2.5 minutes! This was our last Fresh Organic Ginger distillation with juiced whole Ginger root pulp from Buchi Kombucha; juiced and distilled on the same day.

Summer Distilling, Farm Projects and Winter on its Way

We’ve had a busy 6 months since moving to our forest farm! The summer was beautiful in this wild paradise and each week presented new delightful plant species. We found wild strawberries, blackberries, wineberries and native purple raspberries to name just a few edibles. We also had fun experimenting with distilling a variety of native aromatic plants such as Carolina Sweetshrub, Spice Bush, Sweet Birch and Goldenrod as well as Chinese Bitter Orange!

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We will soon be offering limited quantities of some of these special essential oils here on our website!

Documentary
We had the honor of having a White Pine distillation documented by Priya Jaishankar from the Appalachian Beginning Forest Farmer Coalition. They produced two beautiful documentary videos that we couldn’t be more proud of:

In the second video we delve into more detail about harvesting and sustainability:

Forest Road Work
In August, we helped our farm’s owner repair the property’s degraded old logging road; incorporating erosion control measures in cooperation with the USDA and USFS. For a week we smoothed out the road with an excavator, moved soil to build water deflection bars (dips/humps), lined water outlets with coconut-fiber turf mat, seeded with regionally-appropriate grasses and applied hay. In total, we built or improved 24 water bars in about 1 linear mile with a 400′ elevation change. The erosion improvement was immediately effective at preventing the flash flood of muddy water that used to rush down the mountain after a downpour.

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Spring Source Development
We also had the opportunity to learn about spring water development. The first half of the summer was rather wet and it caused the source of our spring water to partially collapse.

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After repairing the collapse and enlarging the collection area, the rain stopped. The second half of the summer was extremely dry, causing significant drought across the region. Once again, the spring water ran out and we found ourselves digging up the source. This time, following a hunch about a shiny piece of metal in a small deep hole, we dug up hill just a bit and slowly uncovered an old concrete spring collection box buried under 3′ of clay.

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It felt like an archaeological dig!

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Apparently, this spring head got covered (and collapsed) when loggers built the road above it 20+ years ago. Fortune smiled on us because the spring was still overflowing the collection box at 20 gallons per hour in the height of a drought! We had been collecting just a tiny portion of this overflow. So we got this box cleaned up and reinforced a bit and now the storage reservoir stays full of pristine mountain spring water!

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Running out of water was a significant setback in terms of our ability to distill many batches this summer but in the long run we can be happy in the assurance of sustainable pure, high-elevation spring water for drinking, distillation and drip irrigation.

Wild-Fires
The widespread drought has also caused numerous large wildfires across the region burning more than 49,000 acres in North Carolina alone as of this writing. Firefighters from all over the country and beyond have come to help out but continued drought, high winds and large amounts of dry leaf litter are making their work very difficult. Areas around the town of Lake Lure (famous as the filming location of Dirty Dancing) have been evacuated as a fire (one of the first to start) burns into its second month.

We are fortunate that there are no fires near our farm but we have experienced many days of heavy smoke. This is usually a dry time of year and wildfires are a natural and healthy occurrence but this year is clearly exceptional. Please thank a firefighter when you see one and do a little rain dance for us! And if you smoke, be conscious of your butts!

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Winter
We’re not really sure what to expect from this winter. Local word is that since the Forest Farm is located on the northwest side of a particular ridge line it’s in a micro-climate that consistently stays colder and gets more snow than Asheville. Expect photos! The farm has transformed from a lush green paradise with deep-dark forest canopies to a sprawling majesty of panoramic views and the beautiful contrast of granite and dark green pines, rhododendron and laurel against red, brown and yellow leaf carpeting. Yet, year-round the distant mountains have that same Blue Ridge hue. And the stars. No humidity (or smoke) or proximity to large light sources is a beautiful thing at night!

We’ll be distilling a bunch of conifers this winter (and Ginger) and replenishing inventory of Eastern Red Cedar (Juniper Leaf), Eastern Hemlock, White Pine, Leyland Cypress, discarded Fraser Fir Christmas Trees and hopefully Red Spruce. We’ll also be working on another spring development and irrigation system for the agricultural terraces with an eye toward organic cultivation for essential oils in 2017.

Thank You
2016 has been a crazy year for a lot of people, as it has for Blue Ridge Aromatics. Our sales and reach have grown significantly since the beginning of the year when we weren’t quite sure that this business would make it. You, our supporters and customers, with your enthusiasm for our vision and artisan essential oils, have encouraged and propelled Blue Ridge Aromatics to a happy place! Our essential oils are now in stores in North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and California! They are also in people’s homes in soaps, salt scrubs, natural perfumes and aromatherapy blends from artisanal crafters around the country!

So thank you! We’re going to honor your trust and confidence in us by remaining true to our core values of quality, sustainability and value, as well as a long-term mission to grow local economic cooperation and opportunity.

Our New Forest Farm

We’ve been hinting at a big announcement and here it is! On May 1st we moved onto a 45 acre farm in Madison County, NC!

IMG_0742This remote farm is the top of a quiet cove off the Big Laurel River, ranging from 2400′ to 3300′ in elevation. It is mostly forested with a couple cultivatable terraced acres facing southwest. There are three mossy creeks and several year-round springs on the property and all of our future distillations will use this filtered pure mountain spring water!

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We haven’t had a chance to explore the whole property yet but the biodiversity is incredible! Already we have found dozens of species growing wild that are of interest for essential oils, including:

IMG_0757Carolina Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus): This bush has large amounts of camphor in it’s leaves and bark and the blossoms smell heavenly; perhaps like a sweet burgundy wine!

IMG_0755Golden Ragwort (Packera aurea): It smells like daisies but has powerful indigenous medicinal history.

We’ve also discovered: Bloodroot, Reishi mushrooms, American Ginseng, Bee Balm (Monarda), Lemon Balm (Melissa), White Pine, Sweet Birch, Eastern Hemlock, Mayapple, Solomon’s Seal, Purple Coneflower (Echinacea) and Wineberries!

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We’ll have a chance to experiment with many of these and will soon begin planting mints and basils in the field for late summer/fall distillations, as well as lavender and other Mediterranean perennials for next year!

Part of our job here at the farm will be to help support a forest conservation plan which includes controlling drainage and invasive species. Many invasives are actually used in Chinese Medicine, including Kudzu. We are particularly interested in Multiflora Rose as it is plentiful here, we must control it, and we may be able to steam-distill it’s flowers and rose hips.

So the short of the long is that as this year progresses, we will be adding ever more variety to our essential oil offerings, thanks to this beautifully diverse forest farm! We’ll update you with more pictures and cultivation progress as we go. Thanks for reading and be sure to check out our website store if you haven’t been in awhile, we’ve added a few new oils.

Also, here is a 7′ Black Snake in some Stinging Nettles and Virginia Creeper for your viewing pleasure:IMG_0751

 

New Lower Pricing, New Essential Oils

We’ve made a few changes to our online shop. We’ve taken shipping costs out of our product prices so they are now lower! Shipping is a flat $4 per order and free for website orders over $50.

We have also added two new species to our offerings, Eastern Hemlock and Eastern Red Cedar.

Tsuga_canadensis_foliageconesEastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) Harvested from storm-damaged, wild-crafted trees. Distilled from the needles, cones and twigs. Woodsy, pine, earthy, masculine. Also called Canadian Hemlock, this oil is grounding and promotes balance.

 

Juniperus_virginianaEastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) This complex needle oil has bright citrus and pine top notes with a tapestry of other earthy elements subtly noticeable on the exhale. Juniper species’ leaf oils are commonly used in meditation practices and detox routines. Wild-harvested to protect a no-spray apple orchard from cedar rust.

 

Something Else

We won’t say much right now but in the next few weeks Blue Ridge Aromatics will announce an exciting new opportunity that will mean an expanded variety of native and desirable exotic species to distill!

Thank you for reading this and enjoy the turning of the season!

Winter Distillations and into Spring

Much has happened in Blue Ridge Aromatics land over the last several months! Two extremely fortunate circumstances have helped propel the company to the next level: Christmas trees and Kombucha!

Christmas Trees

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Ever wonder what is done with Christmas trees after they are discarded? Some sellers just burn the trimmings they generate from selling trees. When the trash company picks up a discarded tree, it is usually mulched and incorporated with all the other plant material the city collects. This mulch is then sold to consumers or used in city projects and landscapes. Not a terrible use of these discarded Christmas trees.

But we’re partial to distilling, so you can guess what happened next… we collected 24 discarded Fraser Fir Christmas trees from North Asheville neighborhoods and began the process of turning them into essential oil.

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Not only did they produce an exceedingly beautiful-smelling oil, unavailable on the market, they produced a lot of it! In all, we processed 475+ lbs of recycled Fraser Firs and produced more than 3 liters of amazing essential oil!

Kombucha

Buchi

We have the wonderful pleasure of working with Jeanine and Sarah, the founders of Buchi Kombucha, to source two other incredible essential oil feedstocks; Organic Ginger and Organic Turmeric roots. Buchi regularly juices Ginger, and occasionally Turmeric, for use in their all-natural probiotic Kombucha teas. We now have an arrangement with Buchi to convert their “waste” juiced pulp into essential oils!

Whole Peruvian Organic Ginger or Turmeric root is juiced in a commercial juicer by Buchi and then on the same day we purchase the “waste” pulp and steam-distill it. In the true sense of Cradle-to-Cradle design, one process’s waste stream becomes the source material for another process. The result is incredible fresh root essential oils produced for a much lower cost than if we were to buy whole fresh Organic roots. Despite being juiced, Buchi’s Ginger and Turmeric pulps still produce significant essential oil.

If you have never compared essential oils of fresh vs dried Ginger or Turmeric, you are in for a huge surprise! Essential oils from the dried roots of these species have a completely different aroma than the fresh roots; darker, muskier, smelling of brown. However, essential oils made from the fresh roots smell almost exactly like you just sliced open a fresh root. The ginger has a strong citrus top-note followed by that warming spicy aroma you might expect.  The Turmeric smells bright, green, and has a hint of fresh cucumber. Both are delicious when 1 drop is added to a beverage! Stock of the Turmeric oil is extremely limited so we have not yet added it to our website products.

GC/MS Testing

GC Snip

As you may have read in our last update, we have finally begun having our essential oils analyzed by a 3rd party laboratory. This is not inexpensive so we had to make some sales before we could have any of our oils analyzed. The first ones we sent off for analysis were our Fraser Fir and Ginger essential oils because they were what we had the most of and were also the oils that many of our customers had questions about.

Mostly, questions about the Fraser Fir oil centered on the fact that growing practices for the Christmas trees are unknown. While we can say with some confidence that the trees were likely grown in NC (the species is native to western NC only and NC is the largest producer of this species), we can not identify which tree came from which farm and therefore cannot know what growing practices were used. We had concerns about pesticide and synthetic fertilizer usage.

Fortunately, the analysis shows no signs that pesticides or synthetic chemicals made it into the final product! A summary of the major chemical constituents of our Fraser Fir oil can be found here.

One of our customers wondered whether our Ginger oil is perhaps missing some chemical constituents when compared to fresh ginger oil from whole roots (rather than juiced). The analysis shows that the ratios of constituents are within +/- 2% of Ginger oil comparables, but Buchi Ginger has a slightly higher ratio of Curcumin. Those who are familiar with essential oil chemistry may recognize Curcumin as the major chemical component of Turmeric oil. This is the chemical that is being researched for its apparent capacity to selectively destroy certain cancer cells. It is also a powerful anti-inflammatory. We are still unsure whether the higher level of Curcumin is a result of the juicing process or due to the root’s Peruvian origin.

Indiegogo Perks

We have (finally) shipped all of our Indiegogo perks and it feels wonderful! We are eternally grateful to our pilot supporters and received overwhelmingly enthusiastic responses about our oils! As an extended thank you to our original supporters, we’re sending you an email with a coupon code for 15% off your next order!

Distilling the Spring

In addition to Ginger and Turmeric, so far this year we have had the pleasure of adding Eastern Red Cedar leaf and Eastern Hemlock essential oil to our stock! These oils are still aging and should be available for purchase by the middle of April. The Hemlock was knocked down in a storm, otherwise we do not harvest this species since it is threatened by the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid.

Looking forward, Blue Ridge Aromatics is excited about 2016! We can’t wait for our next Red Spruce distillation as it is such a special essential oil and we only get access to it once or twice per year. There are many other things in the works for this year and we look forward to sharing these with you as they progress!

Thank you again to all of our supporters and we wish you a fantastic 2016!

Christmas Tree in a Bottle

We are now offering pure Fraser Fir (Abies fraseri) essential oil, just in time for the holidays! Have a plastic tree? Add the beautiful, familiar scent of a real tree with our Fraser Fir essential oil! This is 100% pure essential oil distilled from “waste” trimmings of Christmas trees grown in Western North Carolina. These trees were not grown organically so we caution against using this essential oil therapeutically, however it makes an amazing fragrance oil! You can purchase this essential oil in our online shop right now (with shipping included)! As of this writing, we have not been able to find any other suppliers of Fraser Fir essential oil.

For those interested in the therapeutic uses of Fraser Fir essential oil, please be patient and check back soon as we are currently seeking relationships with organic growers.