We recently had an experience that helped us to further future-proof our farm. It is a good story to share to help others understand how we take a “pain point” (which may jeopardize our business continuity) and apply a small solution to solve a future problem during the creation of our hydrosol product.
We utilized the Permaculture principle of “use small and slow solutions.” It is about consciously making better use of local resources to produce more sustainable outcomes. It helps us to think about smaller, practical solutions which won’t put us into debt or compromise our values.
Hydrosol is the distillation of fresh flowers, fruits, leaves and other parts of a plant to produce a product that carries the healing & calming benefits of the essential oil in a subtle & gentle way. This process typically makes hydrosols safe for all ages, including those with sensitive skin and pets. This is why we use hydrosol in part of our product range.
When we were thinking about distilling our elderflowers, I began researching and decided to buy a 30ltr copper alembic still. To qualify my decision I “called an expert” and did a course with Tuesday Browell from Australian Wildcrafted Oils in Echuca, who has become a great friend and mentor. The course enabled me to better understand how to create quality hydrosol and ascertain if the still I had in mind was going to be fit for our purpose.
I soon realized that I would outgrow this size of still rather quickly and questioned if it was still a viable option. Given we only distill at a certain time of year and Echuca is a 3-hour drive away, I decided to support a local business with Tuesday distilling our larger batches or alternatively using her 100ltr still to process ourselves. This worked really well for the first few years as I could do more product creation and learning while I was there. Back at our farm I would create our products with the hydrosol.
When COVID lockdowns came along we had to get creative and find a way to courier the fresh flowers to Echuca so that I did not lose the season’s produce. During this time, we often spoke about future-proofing and how it was good that Echuca was fairly local, however, in the long term it would be good to get our own 100ltr still which would also reduce our “food miles”.
Then the floods of 2022 hit!
The Australian Wildcrafted Oils property was under water for 6 weeks, followed by the massive clean-up of both home and business. What that meant for elderglen, was our opportunity to distill while our flowers were in bloom was diminishing as the weeks passed. Luckily, we were able to process our flowers while still at their peak. It was at this time we had to reassess our needs and put a plan into place to ensure the continuation of our product so that we didn’t let our customers down.
As a result, elderglen is now the proud owner of a beautiful little 40ltr copper alembic still.
We still plan to distill large batches over in Echuca until it is viable for us to purchase our larger still but that is a conversation for another day. Now we have the ability to do smaller batches and work on other product ideas any time we want. If our distribution line is cut off again we can quickly revert to doing multiple smaller batches which future-proofs our business and our ability to continue to provide quality products.
I encourage you to find some small and slow solutions to support you in future-proofing your own family, business or community as it may save you a whole lot of pain and heartache down the track.
If you’d like to know more about future-proofing or how we can help you further check out our Future Proofing page.