Preserving our Rose Petals

We have a beautiful rose bush at the front of our home that blooms every few weeks during the summer and produces hundreds of roses at a time.  These flowers are a beautiful deep dark pink and have a nice light fragrance.  We are preserving the rose petals in order to use them in our homemade soaps for our Christmas Baskets that we give as gifts.  We will start making the soaps when the cooler weather starts and have them ready in time for the holidays.  We will be eager to share our soap recipe in the coming months.

My lovely 3 year old daughter Ava was eager to get her hands on the flowers to help me pull off the petals and set them in pans to dry in the sun.  Harvesting rose petals was fun work for her and kept those little hands busy! 

After Ava tired, I took over the task.  I cannot tell you how relaxing it is to gently pull of the rose petals and scatter them in our pans.  The silky feel of the petals and the soft sweet smell of the flower's essence.  I understand why this is the flower of romance; I was in love!  In love with nature and the beginning of the bounty that will be harvested over the coming months.