The start of Finca Botanical Farm and Distillery
Building the Finca Botanica Farm and its state-of-the-art distillery started as one of Young Living Founder D. Gary Young’s passion projects. Gary visited Ecuador in 2005 to give a presentation about essential oils at a university. While there, he found himself inspired by the lush landscape and started looking for land where he could start a farm. He loved the variety of aromatic plants Ecuador had to offer and that its warm climate would allow for harvesting all year long. After researching, he settled on around 2,000 acres in Chongon, where he founded the Finca Botanica Farm and Distillery.
Today, Chongon’s tropical climate helps nurture year-round growing seasons and lush plant life, which includes an abundance of palo santo trees, a vast plantation of ylang ylang trees, and a wide array of local plants and herbs, including dorado azul, mastrante, Ecuadorian oregano, and Incan melissa.
Today, Chongon’s tropical climate helps nurture year-round growing seasons and lush plant life, which includes an abundance of palo santo trees, a vast plantation of ylang ylang trees, and a wide array of local plants and herbs, including dorado azul, mastrante, Ecuadorian oregano, and Incan melissa.
Seed to Seal® quality commitment
Workers at Finca Botanica use gas chromatography to analyze every batch of oil the farm produces, as well as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to analyze new Young Living-exclusive essential oils. With lab records going all the way back to when the laboratory was established in 2010, the crew can monitor even the subtlest change in constituents from season to season.
The Finca Botanica Farm and Distillery has continued Gary Young’s work of discovering and distilling new aromatic plants throughout one of the most biodiverse regions of the world.
The Finca Botanica Farm and Distillery has continued Gary Young’s work of discovering and distilling new aromatic plants throughout one of the most biodiverse regions of the world.
Oil highlights
Called “blue gum,” the eucalyptus blue tree has been crossbred for more than 250 years in the wilds of the Andean mountains in Ecuador and is a cross between Eucalyptus citriodora and Eucalyptus globulus.
Ylang ylang trees grown at Finca Botanica can grow more than 15 meters (nearly 50 feet) tall. Farm workers prune the trees to make the harvest easier and to channel the plant’s energy to produce the fragrant flowers used to obtain Ylang Ylang essential oil.
Ylang ylang trees grown at Finca Botanica can grow more than 15 meters (nearly 50 feet) tall. Farm workers prune the trees to make the harvest easier and to channel the plant’s energy to produce the fragrant flowers used to obtain Ylang Ylang essential oil.
"On Thanksgiving Day 2006, Gary purchased the land at the edge of Chongon, Ecuador, that would be transformed into the beautiful farm we now call Finca Botanica. The lush fields of crops we see today tell of a remarkable time and project that probably no other man in the world would have undertaken; but the dream was vivid, his determination unstoppable, and the constant discovery of new plants filled Gary's head with unending ideas."
–Mary Young, Young Living Co-Founder and CEO
Did you know?
Big trees called ceibos intersperse the crops on the farm. Gary found them there while he was working at the farm and respectfully decided to keep them, understanding his role in the conservation of the natural vegetation.
At the entrance to this farm, Gary found palo santo trees, which he transplanted to the area that would later become the palo santo forest. He, Mary, and their children used to visit the forest to reflect on the feeling of peace they found in the surroundings.
Our focus on conservation
When translated from Spanish, palo santo means “holy wood” in English. The palo santo tree has a lifespan of approximately 70 years. After a tree dies, it is left for a couple of years, and then the wood is gathered for commercial use. Young Living usually waits three to five years before extracting the essential oil from the dead wood to produce the highest quality oil. When Gary was clearing the ground for crops and came across palo santo trees, he would carefully transplant them to the palo santo forest on the farm. We are growing more than 2,000 palo santo seedlings in our Finca Botanica greenhouse and will transfer them to the forest near Loja, Ecuador, in May 2023.
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