My apologies for the long delay posting here.
My intent was to deliver part 2 of “How to distill essential oils from spruce and pine sap” a long time ago.
But life doesn’t always unfold the way we plan it. Instead, I find myself in Israel with no pine sap and without my distilling equipment.
I am improvising with this unexpected scenario, and trying to catch up on many of the plans I had made for March and April.
It is the spring equinox, and a time for new beginnings. Sometimes chaos is the ideal material from which new endeavors rise. I hope this is the case.

I feel I haven’t caught my breath or found my ground in over 2 weeks.

Thanks to everyone for the great response to the last post. Especially the “Preppers” and “Doing The Stuff Network”. I would love to do a followup on the many practical uses for our native saps. Things everyone should know how to do.                                                                  If indeed we find ourselves at the end of the world, apocalypse upon us, I still expect everyone to treat nature with due reverence. We may not get a second chance to do things right. If we do, and we blow off Nature again, well, we probably deserve extinction. Of course we could change how we are doing things now, and avoid post apocalyptic anarchy completely,,, Time will tell.

I imagine I could write a “how to” on distilling Frankincense essential oil, a popular topic on search engines, and an oleoresin readily available here. The distillation process for both saps is close to identical,  so I could kill two birds with one stone. Of course barring the above mentioned apocalypse, thankfully,  I won’t have to physically bash in any bird skulls. Another reason to change our attitude towards Nature asap.
Let me ponder the idea of a post covering the distillation of both Frankincense and Pine oleoresins, and I will get back to you.
In the meantime, I will entertain you with photos of wild flowers blooming on desert mountains, in arid Wadi beds, and on beaches of southern Israel, eye candy from the Negev.

So. With the intent of finding a way to finish my post on distilling essential oils from tree saps, I will leave you, and promise to post again soon.

Wishing a happy and productive Spring to all.
Dan

Desert Wild flowers on the descent to the Dead Sea

Between Neot Hakikar and Ein Gedi along the shore of the Dead Sea

Desert Wild flowers on the descent to the Dead Sea

Desert Wild flowers on the descent to the Dead Sea

Desert Wild flowers on the descent to the Dead Sea

Desert Wild flowers on the descent to the Dead Sea

Desert Acacia in a “Wadi” between the Dead Sea and Eilat

Gorgeous Bouganvillia at Neot Hakikar in the Negev desert south of the Dead Sea

Gorgeous Bouganvillia at Neot Hakikar in the Negev desert south of the Dead Sea

Between Neot Hakikar and Ein Gedi along the shore of the Dead Sea

Between Neot Hakikar and Ein Gedi along the shore of the Dead Sea

Desert Wild flowers on the descent to the Dead Sea

Desert Wild flowers on the descent to the Dead Sea

Between Neot Hakikar and Ein Gedi along the shore of the Dead Sea

Gorgeous Bouganvillia at Neot Hakikar in the Negev desert south of the Dead Sea

Between Neot Hakikar and Ein Gedi along the shore of the Dead Sea

Desert Wild flowers on the descent to the Dead Sea

Between Neot Hakikar and Ein Gedi along the shore of the Dead Sea

Desert Wild flowers on the descent to the Dead Sea

Gorgeous Bouganvillia at Neot Hakikar in the Negev desert south of the Dead Sea

Between Neot Hakikar and Ein Gedi along the shore of the Dead Sea

Desert Wild flowers on the descent to the Dead Sea