I walk the farm and I see many dreams Nigel had for the land. There are lots of projects he started but never had the opportunity to finish, or move forward far enough to realize it was not such a great idea. About 10 years back Nigel planted Artemisia Arborescens. It is in the wormwood family, and there had been some amazing research done on the essential oil. As things go in the aromatherapy world, great research does not often translate into great demand. Also, distilling the Artemisia is very problematic because the essential oil is so inky blue it is almost impossible to clean it out of the still and ends up costing a lot to produce. I look at the rows of massive bushes that just sit there, taking up space, providing excellent cover and habitat for the troublesome rabbits and ground squirrels and I ask myself, why am I keeping them? They are taking up precious land. I can hear Nigel’s voice, the excitement he had for this particular essential oil, the fact that the plants that we have, are the correct type, and they are hard to find. But I also know that some of our lavender needs replacing pretty soon, and that would be a great spot to put it. So decisions have to be made soon.