Not only is it beautiful, but it has hundreds of uses.
It is a fragrant aromatic, a relaxing herb, and it can be used in baking, lotion making, gourmet cooking, tea making, tinctures and much more.
Lavender has been thought for centuries to enflame passions as an aphrodisiac, and is still one of the most recognized scents in the world. The German Commission E commended lavender for treating insomnia, nervous stomach, and anxiety. The British Herbal Pharmacopoeia lists lavender as a treatment for flatulence, colic, and depressive headaches, and many modern herbal practitioners use the herb to treat migraines in menopause. In Spain, lavender is added to teas to treat diabetes and insulin resistance.
Lavender has the following properties: Antidepressant, Analgesic, Antiseptic, Cicatrizant, Expectorant, Nervine, Vulnerary...
One can use lavender often, in many different forms:
Especially beneficial to the respiratory tract in particular coughs, colds, influenza...
Certainly eases breathing when lungs and sinuses are choked with phlegm...
Defends system against airborne viruses...
As a dried herb to make a relaxing herbal tea by steeping in hot (not boiling water) for a few minutes and adding honey...
Lavender has been named as one of the most useful of the essences for the relief of anxiety and stress...
Adding the dried herb to homemade buckwheat pillows or sleep masks to help promote relaxing sleep...
To sooth sunburns or other burns, I add a few drops of the essential oil to a bottle of cool water and spray on burns to offer relief. The dried herb can also be brewed in to a strong tea and sprayed on instead...
A strong lavender tea can be cooled and used as a scalp rinse to help prevent dandruff...
Adding a few drops of lavender essential oil or a cup of strong brewed lavender tea and a cup of epsom salts to a bath helps relax sore muscles...
Good for aches and pains and muscle stiffness and may also help with rheumatic discomfort and joint stiffness...
You san make or buy some dried lavender flowers in small satchels and use them in place of dryer sheets in the dryer...
For headaches, smelling lavender and peppermint oils or rubbing lavender oil into the temples often helps...
Infuse lavender into vinegars for use in cooking or as a skin toner (diluted)...
The essential oil or lavender infused oil in homemade lotion bars, lotions, whipped body butter and more...
Lavender essential oil can be used topically to help with acne or skin irritations...
Simmering dried lavender herb in a pot of water with some citrus peels for a natural air freshener...
June is the month when the purple color covers slopes of the Island of Brač.
After harvesting which last for 10 days, lavender flowers are distilled to obtain oil.
During distillation, lavender smell spreads for hundreds meters around and that something special is happening definitely will be notice by all those who pass through the villages- really quite unique experience!
The tradition of growing lavender is an important part of the islanders lifestyle and major source of income.
That sweet smelling purple flower was for sure nurtured many of the inhabitants of the island, educated many professors, lawyers, doctors ...in past.
But in present day something is changed.
Although no longer in quantities that are produced before, still is an important part of the island's agricultural production.
What was changed in past decades are types of products made of lavender.
Lavender growers used to produce only oil and export it to mainland or abroad as base for cosmetics production.
In present days they produce more and more souvenirs made of lavender beside just oil, which you can find in every souvenir shops on the island of Brač or in open market.
So when you are on the Island of Brač, take some of the lavender products whit you home or just try sweet made of Lavender it will irresistible remind you of one of the most beautiful islands in the world until you come again!
Author of this article:
Apartments Sunny Vacation Getaway, Supetar