MedicineCrow Blog

I woke in a cloud of lavender fragrance. The birds of Aurel, unlike the nocturnal festival-goers of Lyon, had been up since the first light in the sky, leaving their homes in the tiled roofs of ancient stone houses to soar on the winds streaming up the valley and play in the huge trees. They were more or less the owners of this tiny village, with its mere thirty inhabitants and handful of seasonal visitors.

The aroma of lavender that greeted my emergence from euphoric sleep was not from the fields below, as it was still too early in the season for flowers; it was instead what remained of an essential oil that I had put on our pillows the night before. This oil had been distilled on a farm a few kilometers down the road, from organically grown plants of the variety known as "fine" or "fine population." We had purchased this oil, along with several other species, from a gentleman by the name of Guillame Liardet, the owner of the farm and distillery.

Dear friends:

It is the end of the fourth day of our Mediterranean aromatic tour, and evening has settled over the lavender fields in the rolling hills of Vaucluse. Last night in Lyon it was the crowds of people dining and drinking at the outdoor cafes on cobblestone streets that did not want to go to sleep, tonight it was the birds in the ancient rows of trees along the narrow lanes of Aurel.

Today was the first day that could be considered the real adventure of seeking out the plants, farms and distillers, but there have been many other adventurous stories that came before this one.

This journey was months in the making. Sara did most of the work, spending countless hours organizing the complex itinerary with flights, car rentals, ferries, hotels and meetings with distillers. She was able to successfully make advance preparations for many of the important necessities, but many things simply could not be done until we arrived here.

Dear friends:

A new adventure is about to begin.

Next week, Sara and I will fly to Paris, rent a car, and make a month long journey through the south of France, Corsica and Sardinia, in search of aromatic treasures.

Our itinerary will begin in Provence, where we will spend several days meeting distillers, learning about their farms and essential oil production methods, and purchase new oils for Floracopeia.

Dear friends:

It has been a little over one month since Sara and I returned from our adventures in Ecuador. The trip made a deep impression on us, especially our time with Dante Bolcato, his family, his distillery and the Palo Santo trees.

Now I am driving back to Guayaquil with Eric and Don Perfecto, into an approaching dusk with the ocean on our right. The afternoon had ended abruptly, but it had to be that way as Eric was a man with many responsibilities, and just taking a full day to bring me to Puerto Lopez was a minor miracle and an expression of immense generosity. But enough had happened already to set many future events into motion, events that I was starting to sense were based on some kind of intelligence that manifested itself as meaningful coincidence, a synchronicity that seemed to emanate from a tree of great power.

Now I am in Ecuador. Nine months have passed since our gathering on the beach. I am here at the invitation of Eric Horstman, a man who has committed himself to the formidable task of protecting one of the country's largest remaining tropical dry forests and its disappearing flora and fauna from the encroachment of Guayaquil, a city of millions of humans needing food and fuel every day.

Dear friends:
Many of you are familiar with the stories I have told about my first journey to Ecuador six years ago, and the many synchronistic events that led to my meeting the man who distills the Palo Santo oil for Floracopeia; many of you are familiar with the oil itself, but perhaps have not heard these stories yet.

Flower Essence Making on the

Islands

On this tiny island out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for the Feast of Nectars with the moon illuminating the immense night sky with its venerable champagne beams, inspired by the immense lush beauty and abounding ojas spilling out of every nook and cranny, David and I decided to explore yet another nectar for the soul.