- (eolian sound)
When people come to our farm
they spend hours here just taking hundreds of pictures
just trying to capture that iconic view
with Mount Hood in the background
and the lavender in the foreground.
- I didn't bring my ladder.
- You ready to pose a little bit? Stay
- That one shot.
That's going to be a lifelong memory for them.
- (narrator)
For Francisco Ojeda. This lavender farm
near Parkdale is part home, part business,
and part growing tourist mecca.
- Oregon is really becoming known
as a lavender destination,
the Oregon Lavender Association,
they've created a map for tourists. So lavender
in Oregon is actually a really growing population.
- Lavender tourism?
- You're not going to see the little barn though.
- Yes, lavender tourism.
And if you want a lavender vacation,
you can use the map
and just travel all around Oregon
and the Pacific Northwest.
- In fact, Oregon ranks in the top three
domestic producers of the fragrant flower.
The use of lavender oil has been documented
for over 2,500 years.
Cleopatra is said to have used
its scent to seduce Marc Antony.
And hanging it above your door
could keep away evil spirits.
Today, Lavender has found its way into all kinds of products.
- There's so many ways, different ways to use it
from cleaners to air fresheners, to cooking.
And the medical industry is really starting to,
really embrace it as a way to relax the mind.
- By late summer, the purple glory
of these mature lavender shrubs is at its height.
- The plant actually sends out a little flower.
which is a beautiful little highlight of purple
on top of the already brilliant low light of the bud.
And right after it flowers,
is the time that we harvest it.
(engine roaring)
- Pruning and harvesting lavender
at the same time is not easy.
And if it's not done right,
has dire consequences for the plant.
Fortunately, Geronimo Hurtado is a master.
- Geronimo Is very adept at,
we call it, giving it the haircut.
(engine roaring)
He's really mastered the art of pruning it
and shaping it.
The trick is you have to wanna leave a little bit
of the new growth.
Experts say to leave about 30% of the new growth.
And it's unlike any other shrubs
where you can kind of cut them back hard.
Lavender isn't as forgiving.
(engine roaring)
- Once the lavender is harvested,
it's loaded into a big metal steam box
and stomped on.
- Yeah, we say this is the Lucille Ball portion
of the program where we stomp the grapes.
But in our case, it's lavender.
We get our essential oils
by an organic steam distillation process.
As the steam travels up,
we don't want any big air pockets
that would allow the steam to break through
in just one area.
We want it to rise evenly throughout the whole box.
- While the whole lavender plant
contains trace amounts of oil,
this process has a particular target.
- The main oil generator are these buds here
because that's where all the oil molecules are stored
inside of the buds of the plant.
Semillas, we call them the seeds.
(Spanish) Are you going to close the top?
- Once all the lavender is pressed into the box
it's ready for distilling.
Francisco connects it up to the distiller
and the steam line.
Now it's time to fire up the boiler.
In a few minutes, hot water from the boiler
starts to travel up through the box.
- So you can actually feel that heat.
As it rises up through the box
and travels through the lavender.
It's steaming open the buds,
which is releasing the oils.
The oil molecules are attaching themselves
onto the water molecules
which will make their way up through the hose,
and then across into our circulator cooling system.
- As the vapors work their way through the box
Francisco hooks up a couple more, very important hoses.
One for the oil,
and another for a lavender infused water
known as hydrosol.
- The temperature is rising a little bit.
There was the breakthrough.
I don't know if you heard that pop.
So that is the steam breaking through the box
- As the steam vapors descend and cool the oil
and the hydrosol separate
This lavender infused water is a kind of wonder product
- This hydrosol is outstanding this year.
- And it's used for everything
from window cleaning to soothing insect bites
and sunburns.
- It's fantastic.
- But for all the wondrous qualities
that hydrosol claims the real treasure is in that oil.
- This is Melissa oil. This is so delicate a flower
that it doesn't produce very much oil at all.
75 plants will give us about a half a gallon
but what it gives us is just pure gold
- This liquid gold ages for a year
then it's filtered and formulated
into body oils and balms, scented soaps
and essential oils so precious,
they're measured by the droplet.
The lavender hydrosol is also bottled into linen sprays
cleaners and air fresheners.
Back outside the purple fields offer a feast for the eyes
and the bees.
- The bees absolutely love, love the lavender.
So we have the best lavender honey
that they give us as a reward
- Add in a daily sunset show of lavender and alpenglow,
and you get one of the most idyllic views in Oregon.
But for Francisco and the folks at Lavender Valley
this special spot offers one more gift. "She loves the way they smell."
- When we see people coming onto the farm
and their, their hustle, their energy is, you know
they've just been driving, traveling and stressed
and they completely decompress
and you see them relax
and just breathe in the atmosphere
and really reconnect with nature.
And that's a magical moment for us.