PART 5: FINDING PURE ESSENTIAL OILS
EDITOR’S NOTE: Since Gary Young’s passing, we have been taking stock of the tremendous contributions he made to the world by revisiting his presentations such as this fascinating twenty-part blog post series that recounts Gary’s ongoing discoveries about pure essential oils, their properties, and their production. Here’s Part V.
About this same time, from 1992 until 1994, yet another door opened to me when I met Dr. Hervé Casabianca, the most reputable essential oil and plant molecular analytical chemist in the world. Dr. Casabianca started teaching me gas chromatography analysis. He also taught me what goes on in the world of oil adulteration and how to recognize it.
As I continued my search for knowledge, I was able to study at the Albert Vieille Laboratory in Vallauris, France, to further my chemistry education in gas chromatography. In 1995, while presenting at a UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) conference at the Anadolu University in Eskisehir, Turkey, I was invited by Professor Husnu Baser to attend classes in gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. I accepted the offer, and in 1997 I was enrolled in 120 class hours of practical training in essential oils, plant compounds, and analysis.
In 1989 I began my first farming project near Spokane, Washington, on a quarter acre of ground behind my office. In this little piece of ground, I planted various herbs and plants to see how they would grow.
In May of 1992, I bought 160 acres in St. Maries, Idaho, and moved all of the plants and herbs there, where I had the acreage to grow them and really start farming. This became my first Young Living Essential Oils farm.
Also in 1992 I leased my second farm in the central region of Provence, France. Here I was able to learn much more, as I was able to work with other lavender growers and visit their farms and distilleries, which helped me determine what I liked and felt was the best way to extract the oil and maintain the highest quality. It was here that many ideas came to me about how I wanted to grow and develop my own techniques for better distilling.
To be continued . . .
