Dear Royal Red Hats of Windsor:
For those of you who attended the Rose Garden Tour up in Healdsburg on April 16th,you will know what I mean when I say this was such a"treat" for anyone who has ever enjoyed the beauty of a rose. What a splendid morning this was and I want to thank Sylvia "Ruby Tuesday" Allensworth for her wonderful event and planning.
The morning tour among the roses in the sunshine and all of the information in regard to the roses we were seeing and smelling was so informative and interesting. Mike, the tour guide and owner, sure does know his roses. We were all given a straw basket and at the end of the rose garden tour, we were asked to pick roses for the pressing to make rose water and oil. We were taught the special way to pick a rose for this purpose and that was to "snap" the rose off of its stem right below the head of the bloom in a forward motion. There were 12 of us picking roses and we picked 9 1/2 pounds of roses which we brought back to the barn for the process of making rose water and oil.
But first, there was hot tea and sweets awaitng us. By this time, clouds started to appear above us and it started to get chilly. But the hot tea was a comfort to us as we all sat down for the second lecture part of the tour. Mike explained the history of rose water/oil making. With the 9 1/2 pounds of roses that we picked, he proceeded to fill a huge can with them along with some water and set it on a butane stove much like the old moonshine stills of long ago. As he lectured and showed photographs, the still was heating up and steam started to appear and before you know it, rose water was dripping down into a glass below the still. He said we were lucky to get 2-3 drops of rose oil from the 9 1/2 pounds of roses we picked.
We all got to sample some "crude" rose oil for ourselves with a small finger dab of the oil on our skin. It was fun to smell how different the same rose oil smelled on different peoples skins. By this time, it was pouring rain outside and you could hear the rain on the tin metal roof. This was a great old rustic barn we were in. The Sun Gods and the Rain Gods cooperated with us that day!
Judy, Queen Bee 2004 |
