Two Karamea farmers have developeda sideline in organic oil production.
TEXT: TERRY MOORE PHOTOGRAPHS: JULIET NICHOLAS
Published in the July 2004 Issue of New Zealand Gardener
Fate was smiling upon Margaret Macbeth back in 1996 when she was desperately seeking seeds of Melaleuca alternifolia (Australian tea tree) with which to start a small oil business.
Seeds were proving hard to obtain from Australia and no-one in New Zealand was growing the plant.
While visiting Christchurch she ran into a school friend whom she hadn’t seen in 20 years. The friend had some melaleuca seeds and was looking for someone to grow them!
This happy coincidence has allowed Margaret and her husband Hamish, after much hard work, to fill a niche market for organic melaleuca oil.The couple had been working their farm in Karamea for 10 years when they discovered melaleuca while looking for an oil-producing crop that was suited to their high rainfall and temperate climate. “We chose melaleuca over manuka as our local manuka is not active in terms of its antibacterial properties,” says Margaret.
Hamish and Margaret tending the distiller.
GOOD OIL
Margaret has this advice for people considering growing an oil-producing crop:
– Oil is a bit like wine: the oil will carry characteristics of the place where the plants are grown.
– Aspects such as soil, shelter, the lie of the land, heat, rainfall, time of harvest and how closely the plants are grown together will all influence the quality of the oil produced.
– Ensure the plant variety you grow produces a known oil type, eg, rosemary grown here
produces an oil that is nothing like the European one.
– To keep maintenance down, choose a crop that is naturally suited to your climatic conditions.
Melaleuca alternifolia is an evergreen, half-hardy tree with small, lance-shaped, deep green leaves and white flowers in terminal heads from spring to summer. It is grown as an ornamental as well as for tea tree oil in its native Australia. Requires full sun and well drained but moist soil. Propagate by seed or semi-ripe cuttings in summer.
Harvesting by hand is made more pleasurable, Margaret says, because the leaves are fragrant, “in a pungent, antiseptic kind of way”. The harvest is taken to a barn where the material is hand-stripped from the main trunks into lengths that can be fitted into the distillation unit.
Distilled oil and water – the oil is
separated off in the final stage.
Distillation was initially done by a friend using a wood-fired boiler, but by 2000 the couple had their own woodfired distillation unit – a boiler made in Westport and a stainless steel distiller commissioned from a Nelson company.
The essential oil is sold under the True Blue Organics label and is also added to a small range of products such as soap and cream.
“As the only organic grower of melaleuca in New Zealand, we have filled an important gap in the market and there is exciting potential for growth,” says Margaret.
The essential Tea Tree Oil is added to a range of products.