July 15, 2023 – Early this morning on the top of the island, a Hvar lavender field enjoyed its tenth harvest. Idyllic Dalmatia away from the crowds.
It is exactly ten years since a famous Los Angeles-based Dalmatian celebrity photographer persuaded me to get up at 4am and accompany him to the top of the island of Hvar to witness his first-ever lavender harvest on a Hvar lavender field he had started to cultivate.
Accompanied by his trusty camera and a local lavender-picking expert who did all the work (not me), it was a delightful start to the day, and I became a regular visitor to those 300 lavender bushes in the ensuing years.
There were just the three of us on that first harvest, and the expert cutter made light of the tiny bushes. Over the years, however, as the lavender bushes grew, so did the volunteer help to assist Jadran in his passion.
I love it, a chance to really commune with nature and appreciate the Dalmatian life as it once was. Locals, tourists, and the occasional Hollywood celebrity that Jadran would persuade to holiday on the island would mingle and do battle with their scythes with the aromatic beauty of Dalmatia.
I think I have done 7 of the harvests in total, all wonderful occasions, and there has been one constant – I don’t think I have seen Jadran do a stroke of work in all those years, apart from playing magnificent host and capturing all with his camera. Although this shot, above, looks dangerously close to work…
The processing begins. First, trampling on the lavender to compress it. I did this barefoot at the lavender festival a few years ago – my feet smelled great for days.
The separation of the precious lavender oil. Every drop is precious for Jadran. He puts a drop on his pillow in L.A. before bedtime each night so that he can go to sleep dreaming of his beloved Dalmatia.
A very happy Jadran sent me a message earlier – after 10 years, a record haul of 4.7 litres of precious lavender oil.
The lavender was not the only thing cooking, and a very fine addition in recent years has been the excellent barbecue that Jadran treats the workers to.
Timeline, about 08:00, far too hot for lavender picking already, hence the early start.
A very happy man.
And if you are interested in a more visual look at this delightful Hvar lavender field at harvest time, check out the 2017 harvest above.
And if you are quick, you can still catch the end of this year’s Lavender Festival in Velo Grablje, which ends today.
And if you are at all curious how a boy from Split came to own a lavender field on the top of Hvar, it is quite a story – starting at the Kremlin back in 1982.
