Flower
I met a flower early this morning
A hasty meeting in the garden
She looked at me with both eyes
I nodded to her and hesitated for a long time
And slowly I grew inside into a flower
A blue sky crept over my sentences
My hands became chalices
My mouth became round, my body long and slender
I bowed down in the surprised grass
And felt the morning wind on my hair
Leo Herberghs, This is a translation from the original poem which is in Dutch
Rose Harvest in Turkey, May - June
It's half past four in the morning when a warm glow fills the lush fields. A rose colour brightens up the Isparta and Burdur area in Turkey and the birds are singing. Roses with morning dew on their petals welcome a new day.
The surrounding villages slowly come to life, people get ready for another day of picking roses that will be turned into fragrant rose oil and hydrosol later that day. Every year I'm again excited to experience this heart warming process in the months of May and June.
If you want to join, than its in your reach. We created unique studytours, to experience the rose harvest, production process and final product on site. These studytours are acreditated by the IFA- International Federation of Aromatherapists.
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It all started with İsmail Efendi Mustafa. An elderly Turkish innovative trader from Isparta and worked in Bulgaria. Once a day in 1888 he returned to his birthplace. Because of his experience with Roses in Bulgaria, he realized that this rose could also do well in his own country. Because the region of Isparta also has a mountain climate. He saw an opportunity in harvesting, producing and selling of the rose oil in his hometown. So he took a piece of the rose plant and put them in in his wooden walking stick.
This piece of the rose he planted in Istanbul, but it turned out that the rose did not like the climate there. So he brought rose cuttings to the Isparta region. This is a green and fertile area of Turkey with a mountain climate. It took the rose a few years to acclimatize and to create the beautiful colorful and fragrant flowers. After some setbacks because of the weather and wind, he was finally able to harvest some roses and produce some rose oil after three years.
He and the farmers of the Isparta area became enthusiastic and saw possibilities. Fields were laid out by farmers, distilleries were set up and after five years it was a huge success. Several Arab countries were delighted by the Turkish Rose Oil and purchased the Gold of Isparta. The Rose production in Turkey had become a fact and until this day, Turkey is the country of production of high quality Rose Oil.
The Rose
Beauty and gratification for the soul
Love and strength, live from the heart
has been a source of inspiration
for centuries.
Somewhere in the fields or the factory you'll find Joanne. Sometimes by herself and sometimes together with colleagues, groups or journalists. Other aroma therapists from all over the world visit her as well to join her masterclasses. It's Joanne's passion to share this place, the people that live and work here and the rose's enchanting story with anyone. No wonder that's exactly what she's been doing for more than 20 years.
This is within your reach, because since 1999 AromaWise and the Sebat distilling company in Western Turkey have been collaborating. Together they’ve created unique studytours, to experience the rose harvest, production process and final product on site. These studytours are acreditated by the IFA- International Federation of Aromatherapists. These programs are available in May and June.
Click email and get inspired
Rose Trivia
- You need seventy velvety flowers to distill just one drop of rose oil
- To create one kilogram of essential rose oil you need a truck load of up to four thousand kilograms of roses
- This rose oil is also called the Gold of Isparta
- Mustafa Ismail Efendi, a Turkish innovative trader, brought the Rosa Damascena, or the Turkish Damast rose, to Isparta in 1888
- Even Cleopatra herself would only use rose enriched bath water
