Skip to content

Lavender weekend at Tree to Me

Tree to Me’s first “Celebration of Lavender is taking place this weekend.
25137keremeostreetome
Keremeos residents Val and Bob Terry listen as Tree to Me's Julie Ellison explains the lavender distillation process at Tree to Me's Celebration of Lavender weekend.

Tree to Me’s first “Celebration of Lavender is taking place this weekend.

Activities started  on Saturday, July 12 with a yoga session in the lavender patch, followed by a storytime session, courtesy of Keremeos librarian Debra Holley. A scavenger hunt and music by the Corner Turtles rounded out the morning activities.

Gift Shop Manager Julie Ellison said things were busy in the morning, but the afternoon’s soaring temperatures resulted in a slower afternoon. She finished the day’s events with a demonstration of lavender distilling, extracting essential lavender oil from Tree to Me’s lavender patch.

The lavender oil is used in soap, bath salts and sugar scrubs. Culinary lavender is used by Tree to Me to make cookies and slushies.

A fifteen gallon distilling unit was rendering approximately 90 millilitres of lavender oil late Saturday afternoon under Tree to Me’s recently built overhang, located in the parking lot.

“The lavender is harvested in the morning, left to dry for four hours, then distilled,” Ellison explained. Tree to Me harvests lavender from more than 1,000 plants located on the property.

Events happening tomorrow at Tree to Me include a guided meditation session in the lavender patch, a portrait drawing workshop, and a barbeque lunch. In the afternoon, there’s outdoor classical music with wine tasting by Eau Vivre, and high tea in the cafe.