By Binka Le Breton | International Relations
Dear donors and supporters,
What could be more gratifying than to share a Saturday with a group of women from the local communities, trading tips on uses of medicinal plants and learning about essential oils and how we can use them to improve health and wellbeing and yes, even to set up microenterprises through distilling and seeling them in the local organic market?
So buckle up, dear readers, and let's have a whistlestop tour of essential oils and aromatherapy! First and foremost, essential oils are chemical substances produced by plants to defend against predators, attract pollinators and protect themselves. They evaporate quickly and release specific scents. They can be found in different parts of the plant: roots rhizomes, stems, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. And, as you probably already know, they are expensive!
That's because each plant only produces an infinitesimal amount - one hectare of lavender, for example, produces only 14 kilos of essential oil!
We can use them directly on the skin or through inhalation - remember inhaling eucalpytus oil when you were a child and had blocked sinuses? And it's important to use the correct percentage of essential oil to the carrier mechanism - whether carrier oil, cream, or direct application of the essential oil.
Of course we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a hike along the medicinal plants trail and check out some of the medicinal plants that grow in the forest.
After harvesting the plants and distilling the essential oils, we discussed their uses, talked about participants' relationships with specific plants (bearing in mind that many of them were raised with a strong tradition of using teas for everyday illnesses,) and then asked each person to take a blind test to choose their favorite scents. We discussed the fact that some essential oils have a strong scent which evaporates quickly. These are described as high notes. Medium notes are the scents that we notice a little later, that last longer. And low notes are the ones that last the longest. When combining essential oils we often us a combination of high, medium and low notes and our choice of scents is dictated by our nose!
After discussing the process of producing essential oils and adding vaue through creating products, we the potential of working together to create and market essential oils, taking advantage of the weekly organic market that is organized by the local farm cooperative, and the women left in high spirits, looking forward to learning more and maybe even becoming microentrepreneurs. The more we can value our medicinal plants, and particularly the native medicinals, the more we understand the value of protecting the environment that nurtures them. And hard working farmers and farm wives are increasingly valuing their ancestral knowledge, their newly acquired expertise in how to use them, the potential for improving their livelihoods, and most importantly, the plants themselves.
So thank you, friends for your support, and we'll tell you more in our next letter from the field!
rainforest love,
Carla and the Iracambi team
By Juliana Mendes | Comunication Coordinator
By Juliana Mendes | Comunication Coordinator
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