Essential Oils
9 years ago
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- 9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
- 9 years ago
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distilling essential oils.
Comments (50)The reason this subject is so mysterious is that distilling essential oil is probably one of the most frustrating, fruitless activities a person can pursue. I have been distilling oil in my home for a while now and luckily I am not relying on the oil I make to help me make a living. Yo truly need to actually grow fields/ trees/ huge bushes of the plant you're trying to distill in order to get a reasonable amount of oil. That said, if you are passionate (and/ or obsessed)with essential oils and aromatherapy, it will be totally worth the frustration. I tried for years to be craftly and cheap and to make a still myself, using all the old moonshiner methods. Nothing worked. I was being foiled at very turn! So, I stopped being such a scrooge and I saved up the money and bought me a real essential oil still which has proven to be much better quality than the ones I was making myself. Who knew? So let's say you have a still- either bought or of your own devising-and you have found a source for loads upon loads of plant material to make this oil distilling thing worth your while, there is another problem that you have- your oil doesn't smell like the oil you bought from the store. Why is this? My lavender oil just smells like burnt, wet plant matter! What's the deal? I think part of it is that the oil needs to sit uncovered for a while, just to air it out. That seems to help quite a bit. Also, I was fortunate enough to have a chance to make essential oil of lemon rind in an actual chemistry lab. For those who don't know,citrus zest probably produces the most oil of anything on the planet. It's the most rewarding distillation I've ever had. So int this lab we distilled the zest just like I would have done at home and came away with the same amount of oil. But then we did this extra step where they stuck the oil flask on this weird looking science fiction-y machine that spun the flask around for a couple of minutes very fast. I was told that it would evaporate all the extra water out of the oil, making it pure. WHAT??? I thought it WAS pure after the distillation- that's what distilation is supposed to do, right? Well not quite. So I got my oil back and low and behold, there was about 1/2 as much oil in there as there had been before the spinning. It smelled like lemons. Wow. I wish I had a weirdo-science spinner of my own. I don't have a spinner. So, I think all we simple people can do is, a few times a day for several days, put a lid on the oil, give it a good shake and then leave it opened to the air. This will give the little remaining water a chance to come to the surface and possibly evaporate. ANYWAYS, back to something most people will care about- heartmagic.com/essentialdistiller is where to go to find the still I bought. I have the glass one which is the cheapest ($400)but there are also copper ones and I think they even have a pelican for over a grand. Someday... Thanks for reading!...See MoreRosemary essential oil: pricing all over the map!
Comments (1)I ordered some essential oils from an online website one time that were about half price of other sites. I was hot when the oils arrived and labeling clearly stated it was not for internal use. The website was not so clear. I was assured I could use it for internal use when I called the company, just that they weren't licensed as such. Geeze! Anyway, you should be able to use such a product for horticulture....See MoreHAVE: Essential Oil for other Essentials
Comments (0)Happy New Year Y'all! Im cleaning out my things and have found some bottles of essential oils that I dont use. Would love to trade for more "fragrant" smelling oils for my lamp ring. I have: Sandalwood (by Sun's Eye) -1/2 fl oz - full bottle Ylang Ylang (by Earth Solutions) -10mL(.33 fl oz) - 3/4 full Organic Clary Sage (by Frontier) -10mL(.33 fl oz) - full Sugar Magnolia (by Earth Solutions) -10mL - 1/2 full Verbena (by Scentastics) - large vial - full Looking for: Chocolate scent (any) Vanilla combo scent (any) Lavender scent (any) Butterscotch (any) or any other yummy smelling scents. Thanks! Paula...See MoreEssential Oils for Fleas and Ticks on Dogs?
Comments (16)I just remembered that when we were at that park in Louisiana I got online to find something to use on Mia to help rid her of the fleas that were on her that was safe. I found mixing a portion of apple cider vinegar with water and a drop of detergent in a spray bottle was amazingly successful. We set her on a towel, I sprayed her to dripping wet with the spray and we watched the fleas just float up and we would just pick them off of her onto a paper towel every one was dead. I had no idea that would work. We reapplied a few more times with in the next day or so and each time less and less fleas. So you might want to try that, nothing in it that would harm the pet. In fact I add apple cider vinegar to Mia's food daily as directed by her vet for her reflux. We were really amazed. Luckily I had everything right there in the rv to use on her immediately. Poor baby was just scratching like crazy, we did not let her back outside in that area....See More- 9 years ago
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