Come With Me To The Sea
We scoot carefully down this embankment, watch our steps…look down. Now, finding our footing, we face the sea, close our eyes and simply breathe. Take a deep breath in, and sigh out a long breath. Breathe until you find yourself breathing with the rhythm of the sea. Synchronized with this timeless inhalation and exhalation, you enter this place at the pace of the natural world. Come along.
Drink in the legendary, breathtaking, undulating vision of the Aegean Sea. As far as our eyes travel, even beyond nearby Paros, there stretches that iconic ribbon of Marine Blue fading to Aegean Blue. Your eyes slide to gentle curls of water slapping the white sandy beaches that ring this island. Not solely a delight to the eyes, you hear the gentle motion of the water and the sounds that insects make in the bushes at your feet, you feel the breeze brushing along your skin, you smell curry and thyme. The “pleasure sensors” in your brain and emotions are pinging happily.
But FOCUS. We have come here to harvest Helichrysum. Luckily, there is a pleasant sea breeze blowing and it is the ideal time to harvest…after the sun has dried the dew from the plants and when the flower buds are formed but not yet open.
Over the past weeks I’ve kept tabs on various wild fields where we harvest.
Today, these bushes are ready. My harvesting partner this morning is my husband, Dimitri, who is the An in An:Theo and is hands-on in all manner of Estate An:Theo projects, including chief winemaker. I like to harvest in solitude so Dimitri takes a pail and his shears, adjusts his hat and wisely moves to work at a nearby patch. A collection basket at my feet, I take clean shears to hand and turn to face up the hillside.
As if by magic, clusters of bright yellow heads toss in the breeze just above me, so visible and abundant, simply there and available. I take a minute to be wowed, then plot my upward path. Helichrysum, a member of the Sunflower family, rotates on its stem throughout the day, always turning in the direction of the sun. Heli in Helichrysum acknowledges this relation, for Helios means sun. I move from bush to bush and cut quickly.
The scent of curry is powerful. It is this scent that initially led me to find and study Helichrysum. The aromatics released as I cut heads and move through the bushes now reach an intoxicating level. I can smell that these wild plants, thriving by the sea in all manner of conditions are strong survivors.
Wild herbs, forced to compete against other vegetation for nutrients and to sustain the harsh elements of their environment, are stronger and more potent than cultivated herbs. Not only is wildcrafting good for the people who will use these ingredients, it’s also beneficial to the environment because harvesting selectively from these plants encourages them to bloom, which invites more insects to pollinate them and so on.
As I cut, I brush against wild thyme, it’s purple blossoms buzzing with bees.
Wild thyme and wild Helichrysum appear to grow symbiotically for I inevitably find them alongside each other, thriving in similar conditions and terroir.
A wave of inner peace and well-being overtakes me. Also, it makes me hungry and thirsty. I take great gulps of water and move through the Helichrysum bushes quickly. Once the flower heads are cut, I want them out of the sun and air pronto.
We spend less than an hour and declare we are finished, primarily because of the state of our backs but also because when the sun is high and the air heats up, these plants belong to the ladybugs, dragonflies, bees, ants, wasps, butterflies, spiders and other pollinators.
We are motivated to efficiently process the harvest so we are free to go to the sea for our daily swim; before the heat overwhelms our motivation and before the tourists wake up. We have this down to a science.
Once home, I plunge the flower heads in an ice-cold water bath, then drain and scatter them on racks to air dry in the shade. This will take about 6 hours. They look amazing.
When the flower heads are moisture free, I pack them in sterilized glass liter jars and fill the jars with locally grown and pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil. With the lids firmly in place, the jars are nestled in a closet in the lab. Here they will remain for 4 to 6 weeks while cold infusion pulls the beneficial essential oils from the Helichrysum into the olive oil. This oil, when the flowers are strained off, becomes the primary ingredient of the Estate An:Theo Skin Healing Balm.
