Canola Field in Asheville North Carolina

Here we are at magic hour on the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina. George Vanderbilt was quite the environmentalist, and to continue his legacy, the Biltmore is producing biodiesel fuel from canola grown on their 8,000 acres.

The name ‘canola’ is a combination of the words ‘Canadian’ and ‘ola’ (which translates to oil). Ola is also understood as an acronym for oil low acid. Canola is a cultivar of rapeseed and part of the same plant family as mustard, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower.

At full bloom, a canola plant stands three to five feet tall with vivid yellow flowers and small seed pods. The blackish-brown seeds within are tiny—about the size of poppy seeds—but are made up of 45% oil.

The high oil content of canola seeds and the crop’s ability to thrive throughout southeast winters make it ideal.