The fields of the southern Anatolian province of Isparta blossom each summer with the fragrant scent of Rosa x damascena. This rose, known widely as the Damascus Rose, Otto Rose in Bulgaria and Mohammadi Rose in Iran, is one of the two types of roses prized for their highly covetable essential oil. The oil is extracted by steam distillation requiring nearly ten thousand roses to produce just five milliliters of oil, making it one of the most expensive essential oils available.

Esengül Artisoy is a rose harvester living in the village of Senir near the city of Isparta in Turkey. Esengül, whose name means “roses in the wind”, was born into a family of rose farmers. Her family no longer cultivates their own roses, but the rose harvest, starting in May of each year, is her favorite time of the year. The season is short and the blooms are plucked before the sun dries the precious oil contained within rosa x damascena - one of the two types of roses in the world which produce the oil. The Turkish farmers and harvesters are responsible for some sixty percent of the world’s annual rose harvest.