Fir essential oil

[JellybeanCorncob]

I live in the mountains of Northern California. Surrounded by Redwood and Douglass Fur trees. Periodically we need to trim or remove these large trees for safety. These trees can be over 100feet tall some over 200feet. I woke up to a chainsaw running down the street. I walked out in the back yard and saw this:

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These tree guys have my utmost respect. The term I would use to describe them is “Mas Macho”.
The opportunist in me kicked in. I grabbed my recycle bin and walked over to gather a bunch of fur needles. Yes they thought I was nuts. .
When I got home I dumped the small branches on the lawn and sprayed them down to clean off any dirt that may have been on them. I crammed my new e-oil still full with sprigs of fur. About 10lbs worth and fired up the still. I collected for about 80 minutes. The potential oil take for Douglas Fur oil is only .7- 1%. I got a little over 4mil. The problem was that I had not washed off all the dirt from the needles.

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The oil should be a bit cloudy and off white. I saved it anyway. This morning I looked at my take and it was clear of dirt. It had settled to the bottom. The oil smell is fantastic. Now I have Christmas in a bottle. I’ll save this for my new defuser. I’ll definitely do Douglas Fur again. But I’ll soak the needles first then wash. Better yet. Collect after a good rain.
JBC