NOTICE: Our essential oils workshop is suspended indefinitely.
You are welcome to join us and live the experience of capturing the therapeutic power of Ikarian nature. We offer an experience of around 4 hours during which we collect and distill the herb of the season, while learning everything about the process and even more!
In detail, the workshop’s programme is as follows:
We meet at Ag. Dimitrios, Ikaria and we walk a short path of 1.3km down to our distillery. Along the way we spend some time identifying the herbs in their natural environment and discuss their properties. We also observe and explain how Ikaria’s bio-system functions.
Upon reaching our distillery you’ll be welcomed with some herbal tea from our garden and some snacks. We then go deep into explaining how to collect herbs in a sustainable way, as a renewable resource. After that it’s hands on! We pick up the scythes and hike to a nearby area where the herb of the season is in optimum condition to be picked. Following the rules of sustainability and quality we discussed previously, everyone gets to immerse themselves in this meditative experience. Picking usually lasts about half an hour and hats, long trousers and closed shoes are recommended.
We then return to the laboratory and start the process of distillation. Everyone helps to load the distiller the proper way, with the herbs that we picked. We then fire it up! While waiting for the distillation process to start going we move to the area of our second distiller and explain in detail how the process works and all details involved in capturing high quality essential oils.
After that it’s time for tea and snacks again while sampling the full range of the essential oils and hydrosols we produce. For each one of them we talk extensively about its properties and the ways it can be used. During this time, we will start to see the magic happening as the distillation we put on will have started producing essential oil and hydrosol. We explain the proper ways to receive, filter and store the products of the distillation.
Then it is chill out time, when everyone can explore our distillery, our products and ask away any curiosity they may have. We continue our discussion while walking up the path to the original meeting point before parting ways.
Our season starts at the end of March and continues until the beginning of October. Depending on the conditions, in March, April and May we distill Lavender, Sage, Rosemary, Rose Geranium. In June it’s Savory, Helicrysum, Oregano, Eucalyptus. In July there’s Thyme and Peppermint. August has Wild Carrot, Vitex and Mytrle. September and October is time for Rock Samphire and Fennel.
Contact us to learn how you can book our workshop. You can also check out our page on TripAdvisor.
- Sam H
Such an enjoyable trip, very relaxing and a beautiful view. I was so glad to have gone and Theo and Tara were amazi 
01/07/2021 - AJ_on_a_scooter Learned a lot about the herbs that grow on Ikaria (and elsewhere) and their medicinal uses. We next collected and distilled them with Theo who showed us all the steps... read more of how to do it as we were treated to an amazing little lunch (hummus)...More
26/06/2019 - dtriantis This is one of the most unique activities I've ever had the opportunity to do while traveling. Theo, Tara, and Iris welcomed us to thier home where we were educated... read more on the local herbs, thier unique medicinal qualities, tips and tricks on harvesting, the distillation process and
01/10/2019 - Stormy I can still smell the delicious fragrance of lavender even though it's been months since the extraordinary day spent at Theo and Tara's herb farm. Theo showed us the way... read more to collect lavender out in his fields, after which we brought the aromatic filled sacks back to his distillery.We watched and took part in this amazing process of turning herbs into oil. Theo educated us on all of the aspects of this process with such loving respect for the land and and life of plants while Tara served us home cooked food and wine...we then were introduced to all the various oils that he makes and their uses, which are many.This experience was unique and so beautiful...anyone visiting Ikaria should have this on the top of their to do list! Thank you Theo and Tara! …
01/07/2019 - takemenature We came to Ikaria out of season and were so lucky to cach one of the last possibilities of the essential oils workshop. We spent a wonderful, calm and relaxed... read more time with unhurried discussions and Theo's short introduction into indigenous aromatic herbs of Ikaria and the process of essencial oils distillation. Then all togeter we went to pick the herb of the season. I felt like in my childhood, when my granny was taking me with her to pick herbs. Patiently we picked our plant and went to Theo's place, where Tara with little Irice welcomed us with Ikarian herbal tea and natural honey. Delicious! Theo introduced us his distillation tools and described the whole process with small important details. Also we had a possibility to try essential oils and hydrosols from Ikarian Nature.
We spent an amazing time with Theo, Tara and little Iris, joyful, relaxed at one hand and inspiring and expanding our knowledge in natural healing. Thank you, dear Ikarian Nature family. You are in our hearts and we hope to see you soon.
03/01/2020
