Harvest season is upon us. Like most dog owners wind up looking like their favorite pets, we are slowly looking more and more like the plants on our farm. We are starting to look withered and wrinkled in this sun and heat-drenched summer. Dried out, tanned skin, thirsty, and stressed out a little. And just like our plants, who, when properly cared for, actually get stronger, more flavorsome, and potent under this extra amount of summer stress, we got a little more creative. And we are not talking about our daily rain dance routine.
This week we started harvesting and distilling our Thymus Vulgaris, commonly called just thyme. In this way, we extract the essential oils from the plant to use in our delicious "Break Thyme" mints. It is a process similar to distilling Gin, but without the alcohol (like it or not). The byproduct of this process, thyme hydrolate, gave us a refreshing point of view. An invigorating wave of ideas from skin care products, flavor bombs for the kitchen, and revitalizing drinks washed over us. It feels like the refreshing rain after this long drought has finally arrived on our farm. But for our plant's sake, we'll keep up the dancing.