So, I did indeed plunge into rose water makings yesterday. Twice in fact, with lots of lessons learned, which I have come back to report to you.
I put May on my label, since it is just days away.
My first try consisted of coral roses, and following this gal's exact steps, which I shared yesterday.
It was a gorgeous day.
Breezy and so Arizona spring.
I put on one of Mister's Lovee's fave albums, Gato Barbieri on vinyl, which I adore as well.
I am so glad we have a record player attached to our big stereo.
The songs on this album...
I dunno...
Make me feel like I am on vacation on some Latin island.
You might find the whole thing rather cheesy, but I quite like it.
Especially because, my beloved introduced me to it, so it reminds me of him.
Love.
Love does such silly things to us doesn't it?
Good.
But silly too, sometimes.
Anyhoooooooow.....
I put a brick in the center of my pot, then my rose petals around the brick, and filled the pot with water up to the brick.
I got the roses boiling at high - med heat, turned the the heat down a tinge as soon as boiling began, and put ice cubes on the lid.
Then I watched the magic happen...
You don't get a "ton" of rose water.
You get about 8 ounces worth with each batch, if you are lucky.
But, that's good enough for me.
To be totally honest, my first attempt smelled like -
Well...
Artichokes, with a tiny smattering of roses.
Eau de Artichoke.
Or should I say, Eau de artichauts?
Hmmm.
I decided to try again later in the day.
Mister Lovee suggested I use the more fragrant roses.
We have some crazy fragrant lavender color roses.
So, I went out and stole some from our two rose bushes.
I also grabbed some very fragrant yellow/orange tea roses.
The one thing to note is that, I took many young buds as well.
This seemed to make a HUGE difference.
I also did everything at lower temperatures the second time around.
I brought the roses to a boil at medium heat.
Oh, and I swapped my brick with holes, for a shorter brick without holes.
I also put in a little bit more water, to right above the brick.
When I heard the pot begin to boil, I turned the temp down to medium/low.
Then I put my ice cubes on top of the inverted lid.
I put on some pot holders and lifted the lid every so often to make sure I still smelled roses strongly.
The moment I thought I smelled artichokes, I pulled out my pot of collected rose water.
So, less heat and more fragrant roses = better rose water.
I am so pleased with the results.
The second try smells exactly like rose water.
I am sort of sad I let so many roses get away, as we are close to the end of rose season.
Next, I am making rose oil.
You all have such incredible ideas for all sorts of flower and plant treats to concoct.
Keep them coming, as you have inspired me to keep testing.
I so recommend trying the rose water.
It was so wonderful to get some real rose smelling water in the end.
Mister Lovee and I sipped a tiny bit, eyes wide at the intense rose flavor.
Fun fun!
I labeled it as made in May, since May is so close - and then I tucked it in my perfume case.
I am a happy camper.
I have gobs of calendula officionalis. I must look into what I can do with it.
I also have a lot of lavender and tons of rosemary.
This is all so exciting, and actually, much easier to do than I could have imagined.
It seems that the more things I try, the easier I find that they are.
Why don't we try more things like this in life?
I don't know.
Time mainly, right?
But, we should all try more making of such things.
It is fun, easy and fulfilling.
I am really going to make an effort to try more of this sort of thing.
With that...
I have to go put my rose oil in the sun.
Actually, it's totally addicting!
;)
Love, V
ps: I forgot to share that my brother Adam did in fact make his scary movie (you can see snippets on the Lost Weekend site) a couple of weekends ago. He came in from L.A., hired actors in Tucson, had to find an old station wagon, notify the county he was filming in (2 hours away), including border patrols. Get tons of equipment squared away, and travel into the hills to film. I hear he had some awesome intense nights of filming. I think they had a taco truck cater? And everyone was happy.
I am sooo excited to see the end result.
The crew was up for days and days without sleeping. And, since this was the first time my parents got to see my brother filming as such, my dad went without sleep for nearly 48 hours, just to be a part of it. He was exhausted in the end, but loved being out there in the action, and wouldn't have missed it.
One of the nights, they were tucked way back in the hills at the southern most point of Arizona really. In a very dark scary place. My mom said it was soooo scary, she didn't even want to get out of the car.
A scary movie in a scary place. Fun! Wish I had been there.
Anyhow, I am not sure when the movie will be audience viewing ready, because Adam had to go to Mexico city and Guanajuato (an incredible place) to film a documentary last week. He just got back to his place (in Los Angeles). So hopefully, we will get to see the scary short film soon :)
Yay!
