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| Livelihood with the scent of lavender |
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There is a legend saying that God gave useful herbs to make easier the life of Adam and Eve after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Herbs included rosemary for keeping the spirit and lavender – to please the soul.
Where lavender is concerned, Bulgaria ranks first worldwide in lavender oil yield producing in excess of 200 tonnes per year. Following Southern Bulgaria where lavender has been grown traditionally, in the recent years hundreds of hectares with lavender have been sown in the northeastern plain of Dobrudzha famed as this country’s granary.
The aromatic plant has provided livelihood to thousands, including the four-member family of Yıldız Fazlı from the village of Hadzhidimitrovo in the southern Bulgarian region of Kazanlak, Stara Zagora district. They have been growing lavender since 2003.
“We have 3 hectares with lavender and 1 hectare of rose plantations. Of them we mostly obtain cuttings from the lavender and shoots from the roses for planting. This year the weather conditions were poor, so our yield was smaller – only 86 kg of lavender oil. For the sake of comparison last year’s yield came to 182 kg. There was plenty of rain and fewer sunny days that prevented the plant from yielding more essential oil,”Yıldız Fazlı told Radio Bulgaria a few days after harvesting lavender.
“Lavender fields are harvested when the weather is hot, dry and windless. This usually happens in July – then lavender is already overblown. When bees gathering nectar no longer stop at the blossoms, this means that the plant is ready for harvesting. The essential oil itself is stored in the plant’s root and in hot and clear weather, at 30C, the oil begins to climb along the stem. The hotter the weather, the more oil in the stem until harvesting.” |
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Source:
bnr.bg
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| Wednesday, Aug 08, 2018 |
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| » RENTALS |
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| House |
€ 410 |
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| Location: |
Veliko Tarnovo |
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