hydrolate

We manage our agroforestry alleys (where we have our growing rockrose), where we coppice the rockrose. After 2-3 years we come back to the same alley. During this time we promote the growth and coppice in other alleys. In summary not only we harvest rockrose, but we also promote its extension. Furthermore we are testing the benefits of turning back to soil the post-distillation material, i.e. not only the management promotes the growth by coppicing, and expansion of the shrub (increasing carbon storage), but we also promote the incorporation of organic matter in the soil.

In a word or two is not possible, but we can try to summarise.
Soil is different than dirt. Dirt is inert and soil complies much more than the soil textural triangle we learn at school/university. There is a wide range of macro and micronutrients that interact with biological activity. And this activity occurs below and above ground, with nano, micro meso and macro biota, such as bacteria, fungi spores, mycorrhizae, paramecia, earthworms, ants, snakes, plants, birds, insects and mammals… When soil is tilled, almost all the relationships, occurring since the last disruption, are broken and a) soil becomes exposed to variables and radiation, b) galleries and soil structure is broken, c) becoming homogeneous and impermeable, d) promoting run-off depleting top nutrients, e) carbon is released by decomposition of plant material. Soil f) becomes exposed to water erosion, especially in more “drastic event” driven rain patterns, and g) also exposed to wind erosion, an understated depletion that specialises on top soil nutrients, where they are more needed. Then, some more depletion processes start to build up. When vegetation is removed, wind speed increases and more radiation is reaching the soil. These two together, cause higher vapour pressure deficit (so called evaporative demand), that “pulls” water into the atmosphere (check the Penman-Monteith equation, on one of the best FAO report ever made!), h) depleting even more the current scarce water resource. And we haven’t mentioned all the biological activity impact that a) to h) have. But we don’t want to deplete your patience on all these physical impacts on micro-meso-macro biodiversity (actually very little is known or understood!). But be assured that every “small” living being can have an impact on all relationships and trophic chain balances, under and above-ground.

We don’t really know for sure (yet). Aboveground, we make sure we harvest after the flowering period, allowing the pollinators to have their feast, boosting all other sorts of insectivores (e.g. birds, bats, spiders). By harvesting rockrose on a rotational system, we end up with different heights and structural niches allowing a mosaic heterogeneity that is closely linked to higher biodiversity levels. Furthermore we do not harvest rockrose in the line of the trees in the agroforestry system, being a heaven for spiders with their beautiful webs. Furthermore, by having standing rockrose, even after harvest by coppicing, we maintain a protective layer for small mammals to thrive, ultimately to support the hunting of our beloved Iberian Lynx, that we were lucky to see twice in the last 3 years (sorry we can’t prove it… you have to believe us on this one!).
Belowground we are definitely sure that we are doing better that the regional business as usual where soil is turned over to kill rockrose for land to be eligible for Common Agricultural Policy, i.e. land having rockrose as a shrub is not considered to be in “Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions” – the so called GAEC). Soil depletion processes are well known when turning the soil over, not only erosion and nutrient loss, but also biological activity (fungi, bacteria, mycorrhizae, etc) that gets hammered by oxidation and radiation, reducing the regulation function of soil biological control against unbalanced biota that may become a pest. We use a well-known proxy to assess our soil biodiversity levels: Organic matter content. By managing rockrose like we are managing we are transforming a landscape from a frequent 0.5% of soil organic matter (common in surrounding agricultural areas) towards higher levels. We are currently undergoing research where we took about 40 soil samples and we are finding organic matter levels increased by up to 10 fold (OM samples between 1 to 6%). We haven’t assessed directly the species inventory of different taxa, but we know from research that thy OM levels are a great proxy that indicate a regeneration of the soil we are aiming at.

Besides the wonderful characteristics of hydrolate and essential oil of rockrose, when you buy from MyRockrose you are contributing to 1) the existence of a carbon negative agricultural system, 2) regenerating soils towards a transition to regenerative agriculture, 3) sustaining a rural and local livelihood full of traditions and wisdom, 4) a demonstration and sharing a business model that we envision other to uptake, 5) support research MVARC activities, that help the transition towards a more resilient and regenerative agriculture, capable to adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? We are also responsible consumers and we also hate greenwashing! And we are very satisfied to deliver a carbon negative product. How? It’s relatively simple: 1) we control all the processes that are sources of carbon and 2) we manage the agroforestry system that sequesters the carbon. In other words we do not outsource the “carbon offsetting” of our activities to be carbon neutral, but we make our own management that sequesters carbon and we make the respective calculations, and be transparent about it. Our background, also from past and ongoing projects, in agroforestry research, allows us to be confident enough of our calculations and show them to you. In practice we manage 160ha of agroforestry, and we know how much the 50 000 trees grow every year by using published growth models from scientific literature. Storing carbon in their biomass know how much our trees in the agroforestry stand

MVARC stands for Moinhos de Vento Agroecology Research Centre and is the company that harbours the MyRockrose enterprise. MVARC has several ongoing projects, research oriented, dedicated to sustainable, regenerative, resilient and adaptive agriculture, with particular emphasis to agroforestry – mixing woody perennials (trees/shrubs) with crop or pastural livestock systems. We are the same people (yes… researchers can also be tractor drivers!), that see in the MyRockrose project an escape to bring research into practice at different levels. From soil microbial sampling, to modelling agroforestry resource use efficiency, to policy challenges, we look forward to meet interesting agents for the transition needed to sustain rural livelihoods, cultural heritage, and regenerative agroecosystems.

Yes! Rockrose is amazing! Its super resilient, well adapted to frosts in winter (not many though) and above all, heat and drought resistant during summer. It’s amazing to see a plant to be so resistant to the heat. In our area, in the last 10 years, rain has dropped below 300mm and we have several weeks above 30 degrees, some heatwaves above 45 degrees under shade. Under the sun, these plants are exposed to 50-60 degrees (we measured with our laser thermometer! ).

Yes… and no… Although we do harvest plants that grow naturally, without seeding or planting or fertilizing, we do manage the plants. In the agroforestry system we manage, we first coppice old stands of rockrose to a height that promotes a leaf growth, then we wait 2-3 years to go back to the same plant to coppice again, while promoting the natural regeneration too. We know which alleys of the agroforestry system have been harvested, so we can make our harvest plant every year.

To produce 30-50ml of essential oil we need to produce 100 liters of hydrolate. This hydrolate has amazing properties too (check hydrolate properties section), and should not be wasted, especially in an area where water scarcity is a problem. For the project to be sustainable, both environmental and financially, the hydrolate needs to be sold. We offer innovative packaging (oxygen-free Bag-in-Box) to keep a good quality of the hydrolate. Not only allows a long shelving life, but also keeps quality after usage (for your projects of self-consumption)

Rockrose is one of the lowest yielding aromatic plants (that is why it is also more expensive relatively to other oils). It also depends on the In the aromatic plant peak, somewhere in summer, our yield is about 0.03-0.1% which means that for each 100Kg we extract 30g to 100g per 100kg of leaves. Hydrolate is roughly 100L for each 100Kg.

To produce 1 litre of hydrolate we need 1 litre of water. To produce 1 litre of essential oil we need about 2000 litres litres of water. This water is not waste. It’s actually water we use to produce steam to pass through the rockrose leaves, dragging the essential oil and other components, becoming the so called hydrolate! Hydrolate only becomes more environmentally friendly when is sold and is used, otherwise is wasted! What a pity for such a lovely product full of wonderful characteristics (see here). We store our hydrolate immediately after distillation in Bag-in-Box containers that allow oxygen-free hydrolate storage for long lasting shelving live and refill-as-you-go without oxidizing the hydrolate in the package.

A carbon-negative product is one that not only reduces or offsets its own carbon footprint but goes beyond that by removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it emits during its production. This typically involves implementing practices or technologies that actively sequester or capture carbon, contributing to a net reduction in atmospheric carbon dioxide. In our context we manage an agroforestry system as a super technology!

Hydrodistillation is a traditional approach where plant material is immersed in water and heated. The vapor, containing essential oil, is condensed to separate oil from water (hydrolate). While it preserves certain plant aromas better, it’s considered less efficient than steam distillation. Choice depends on factors like plant type and desired oil properties.

Steam distillation involves passing steam through aromatic plants, carrying volatile compounds that condense into water (hydrolate) and oil. This efficient method preserves oil and hydrolate quality without causing thermal degradation. This is how we distil our rockrose

Essential oils are highly concentrated compounds extracted from plants, while hydrosols are byproducts obtained during the steam distillation process of essential oils. Hydrosols have milder properties and can be used in skincare and hair care.

Hydrolate is extracted from rockrose with the steam distillation process. The leaves are harvested and added into a recipient. A wood fuelled boiler, produces vapor, that is directed to pass through the leaves. The hot vapour dragging essential oil and other aromatic compounds is directed to a water cooler and condenses into a recipient. Essential oil is lighter than hydrolate so we can collect both nicely separated by a gentle physical process. This process takes about 2 to 3 hours, where we collect the hydrolate continuously until the distillation is stopped, when we immediately store it in oxygen-free bag-in-box containers, preserving for long time.

Essential oil is extracted from rockrose with the steam distillation process. The leaves are harvested and added into a recipient. A wood fuelled boiler, produces vapor, that is directed to pass through the leaves. The hot vapour dragging essential oil and other aromatic compounds is directed to a water cooler and condenses into a recipient. Oil is lighter than water and starts to accumulate on top. The process takes about 2 to 3 hours, after which the the oil is collect.