Who is In Control? Not Me!

 Mother Nature is such a whimsical dame.  Little did we know that she had a lavender farmer's worse nightmare up her sleeves which was about to whistle down from her armpits, guided through her hands and directed to cover  the land, affecting everyone who came into contact with her.  She was showing mere humanity that she was nothing to be trifled with!

This winter started mild for Central Oregon.  We enjoyed the crispness in the air and the cold nights.  The lavender seemed fine, nothing the Test Block and Block A hadn't experienced in the past.  Even the young plants planted in Blocks C and D that year were withstanding our weather change.  One thing was different, though, and that was the wind.  We have wind but this year it was stronger.  It hurt the ears and dried up the nose, making it difficult to breathe.  We woke up to the beautiful "sush" of falling snow one morning.  That was o.k.  It covered the plants and put a "hush" over the land that calms the soul.  Then more snow fell.  That was o.k., too.  Cross country skiing, for me, requires at least six inches of snow to cover the gravel roads around the area and onto BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land where I could go to Idaho (and beyond) should I choose.  Then, after a few days, the snow melted off the plants, but the wind kept blowing and the temperature started plummeting.  For several weeks, we watched in horror as the uncovered plants endured minus temperatures.  Then came the -32 degree nights.  A sickening feeling hit my husband and I in the pits of our stomachs:  this definitely was not good!  There was nothing we could do but sit and watch and wonder whether we would have any lavender left after this winter punch.

Come spring, we read the reports from back East and the Midwest.  Our hearts cried for those who had endured so many freezing storms and lost most, if not all, of their lavender.  Then came the reports of tornadoes which destroyed homes and barns in the Midwest.  My husband and I felt like "little mouth frogs"...we did not have any right to complain after hearing of the devastation some of these families experienced.  We kept saying to each other, "Wait until June 15; wait until then to see if there's any life in the lavender."  And, lo and behold, life was there, close to the Earth and under the dead stems.  We would walk the fields and shout to one another as we found new growth coming.  We did lose almost all of three varieties:  'Gros Blue', Provence' and 'Silver Leaf'. I was surprised with the first two but the 'Silver Needle' was zone 6 and I planted it because I saw it in the valley (Willamette Valley) and was so impressed with it I planted it against my better judgment.  I moved all the 'Provence' that was left in Block A to my Test Block and planted 'Phenomenal' in its place.  Another interesting observance was that the cold negatively affected my big, established plants more than the little plants.  On a positive note, we had almost 100% survival rate in the plants planted in 2013 (Blocks C and D).

I haven't put together the statistics yet of the survival rate of our plants.  We have been pretty busy weeding and getting the place ready for our first lavender festival.  Mother Nature has given us an unusually hot summer.  To date, we have broken the record for temperatures in the 90's for July.  Normally, we get this hot weather in August.

I remember reading a long time ago that the hurricanes that come up in the Mediterranean bring much needed water to the land of Mexico.  While some may consider the hurricanes bad as they sweep over the land and wreak havoc, others see the storms as good and welcome the life-giving rain that nourishes the soil.  I don't know why we had such an extreme winter nor why the the summer is breaking heat records, I only know that I am leaving that to the One who created all things.  Jean Louis Agassiz stated "The study of Nature is intercourse with the Highest mind.  You should never trifle with Nature." Perhaps the extreme cold of last winter is bringing the extreme heat of this summer and is bringing something much needed to another part of the world.  That Mother Nature... perhaps we should just leave her alone and let her do her thing!

Culinary Lavender for Sale

We currently have two varieties of culinary lavender for sale:  L. ang. 'Folgate' (blue)

and L. ang. 'Miss Katherine' (pink).

 U-pick is $5/bunch; I-pick is $8/bunch.  A bunch is approximately 125 stems.  Still Waters Lavender is located at 3990 NE 33rd; Redmond, Oregon  97756.  If you need to contact us, please do so with an email (from this blog) or telephone 541-788-0605.

I put ground 'Folgate' in my melon salad.  It is refreshing and puts a unique flavor to the melon.  The amount is up to you but start with a small amount and taste before adding more.  'Miss Katherine' is sweet.  Come and taste the difference in the two varieties now blooming.   We are open from 10a-6p, Wednesday-Saturday.  The gate is close to keep our sweeties (dogs) in; not to keep you out.

"The Lavender Lover's Handbook", written by Sarah Bader, has a wonderful recipe for shortbread (pgs. 150-151) that I often use.  Sarah gave me permission to share this recipe.  I hope you enjoy it as much as my family, friends and I do.

Lavender Shortbread Cookies with Lemon Butter Cream Frosting

(makes about 2 dozen cookies)

1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

2 tsp. dried culinary lavender buds, chopped (I use 'Miss Katherine', ground)

2-1/3 cups flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

Frosting:  

1/3 cup softened butter

1/2 tsp lemon zest

3 cups powered sugar, sifted

2 tbsp lemon juice

(I add some whole 'Folgate' lavender to the top after icing the cookies)

1.  Preheat the oven to 325 F.  Cover two baking sheets with parchment or brown paper.

2.  In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream together the butter, sugar and lavender until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).  Add the flour, cornstarch and salt.  Beat until combined.
3.  Divide the dough in half.  Flatten it into squares and wrap it in plastic.  Chill in the refrigerator until firm (approximately 1 hour).
4.  On a floured board, roll or pat out each square to a thickness of 3/8 inch.  Cut the dough into 1-1/2 rounds or into a shape of your choice with a cookie cutter (I use a heart).
5.  Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies about 1 inch apart.  Prick each cookie several times with the tines of a fork.  Bake 20-25 minutes until pale golden (do not brown).  Cool slightly, then transfer to a rack.  Allow the cookies to cool.
6.  To make the frosting, cream together the softened butter and the lemon zest.  Begin adding small amounts of the sugar and the lemon juice, mixing well before adding more.
7.  Use a knife to spread the frosting on the cooled cookies.  Before the frosting hardens, sprinkle lavender buds on top of each cookie.

Where, Oh Where, Have the Killdeer Gone?

Oh where, oh where, have the killdeer gone?

Oh where, oh where can they be?

Four little eggs

Grown into eight skeeter legs.

Oh where, oh where can they be?

Block C, row 5, 20 feet in:  after my husband's discovery of the killdeer nest, he and I decided we would stay away from rows 4 through 6 so the killdeer family would remain undisturbed.  This meant no weeding, no tilling,  no activity of any kind in that section of the field!  We were holding a lavender festival in a couple weeks and questioned whether we should explain to visitors about the home in the lavender or remain silent:  we decided to let our visitors know that they were welcome to walk among the lavender EXCEPT in Block C.  Gene and I weeded the lavender away from that area and when mother and father killdeer would come with their warnings or started their lamentations, we knew even that was too close and we left.  We knew that the weeds, no matter how big the plant and deep the root, would wait for us...

Gene came in one afternoon:  three of the eggs were gone; the fourth was still intact.  Even the shells of the three little brown mottled eggs were gone; only the fourth egg was as it had been from the first time we saw it.  Gene and I mulled over what could have happened; he went over to our daughter's place (next door) and talked over what possibly could have happened to those three precious eggs and why one was still remaining.  Ravens were at the top of our list of suspects; hawks, varmints... those evil carnivores would eat anything... they had no shame killing defenseless baby birds and gobbling them up like the vultures they are... then...

Early the next morning, my husband started cultivating our daughter's field.  Out among her lavender field and much to the surprise of my husband, the mother and father killdeer started with their dance, running towards then away from the tractor.  Rather than being on our place, they now were in the fence line between our daughter and us.  They sang their song of pain and spread their wings as if broken.  My husband looked to the right of the tractor and there, with little skeeter legs, were three miniature replicas of their parents running away.  Into the house my husband came, all out of breath!  Three babies!  He saw three babies!  He got the four-wheeler out of the garage, I bailed on, and we drove to our daughter's lavender.  No babies!  No mother!  No father!  No killdeer anywhere!  We wondered about the fourth egg, whether it was still in the nest unhatched.  Out to our field on the four-wheeler we went and, lo and behold, the fourth one had hatched.  Rejoice!  Rejoice!  We were so excited!  We came to the house, got something cold to drink and went out into the backyard to rejoice some more!  A couple days later, we saw the parents and three babies in our lavender field and the fourth little one--isn't there always a "Wrong Way Corrigan" in every family--in our daughter's field, running as fast as those little legs could carry them--three babies going south and one heading north.  We rejoiced that the family was whole.  Then, we apologized to the ravens, the hawks... I personally refuse to apologize to the varmints...

I am perplexed about the shells, though.  They disappeared, not a trace of an egg shell to be found.  Someone suggested that, perhaps, the mother ate the shells for mineral content and someone else suggested that they could have disposed of the shells so a predator would not find the nest.  I did think I saw one of the killdeer deposit something resembling a piece of a shell in the pond.   However, I do not know if either of these suggestions have any merit nor if what I saw in its beak was a shell; perhaps it was something it "fished" out of the pond.  I will say that both suggestions  sound reasonable to me.  

When you visit my lavender field, I will persist you stay away from portions of Block C.  I know where a precious, young family of killdeer can be...

LEARN HOW TO MAKE A CROCHET LAVENDER LADY AT THE JULY 12-13 ONE-OF-A-KIND STILL WATERS LAVENDER FESTIVAL

A friend is coming over from the Willamette Valley and we are going to show people how to make these crochet lavender lady ornaments.  There is a cost which will include instructions, dried lavender, the dolls' parts and glue.  How much fun can we have!  We are excited to have you come and we'll just glue away, grin and giggle and the end result will be a fun time had by all!  Fun starts at 10 a.m.

2014 Still Waters Lavender Grand Opening Festival Announcement

Still Waters Lavender

Presents

its

 

VERY FIRST, ONE-OF-A-KIND,

UNIQUELY RELAXING DAY

 

GRAND OPENING FESTIVAL

 

July 12-13, 2014

10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

 

• View 30 different types of lavender in varying stages of development.
  

  
   

• Visit the Mercantile Department where items may be purchased.
  

  
   

• Learn the many uses for lavender.
  

  
   

• Check out the website to learn more at www.stillwaterslavender.com
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE SECRET

We have a secret, just we three,
The robin, and I, and the sweet cherry tree;
The bird told the tree, and the tree told me,
And nobody knows it but just us three.

But of course the robin knows it best,

Because he built the--I shan't tell the rest;

And laid the four little--something in it--

I'm afraid I shall tell it every minute.

But if the tree and the robin don't peep,

I'll try my best the secret to keep;

Though I know when the little birds fly about

Then the whole secret will be out.

--Author Unknown--

"Get on the bike and come with me," my husband said.  "I'm weeding," (as if that wasn't obvious), I replied.  Weeding has been my life's work for about two months and I am getting to know each weed by name--noxious and obnoxious!  "No, quick.  Don't argue with me; get on the bike."  I was tired of weeding anyway...it's not like weeds don't wait--and I took off my gloves, used the handle of the digging claw to get up and climbed onto the back of the four-wheeler.  Away we went, down to Block B.  "Get off the bike and walk down the row."  I got off the bike and walked down the row.  "Stop!  Now".  I stopped... sorta now!  "Don't move!  What do you see?"  I saw two killdeers with broken wings, running towards me, then running away; squatting and hiding behind a lavender plant as if they were wounded just to start the dance all over again--running towards me, running away; then squatting down with broken wings--crying the whole time their lamenting song..  And, then... I saw... as if by magic they appeared at my feet:  four perfectly oval eggs, lying on the ground, quietly waiting for just the right time to fulfill the completeness of life.   Aahhh!  New life at my feet and parents doing all they could to protect that new life.  I was an intruder and, now that I knew why the killdeer were singing their lamentation, my husband and I quietly (as quiet as you can on a four-wheeler) and quickly left their home.  I debated whether to go back the next morning and take photos to share.  I decided to go and, again, the parents doing all they could to lure me away from those four precious lives they held so dear.  I took the photo, backed away and tried to take photos of the mom and dad while on the bike, away from the nest, but they were staying within a certain perimeter of that nest, always on vigil, never losing focus of the reason for their being.  I marvelled at how God thought to instill in these small creatures such an inate nurturing for their young.  The thought instantly flashed through my mind that He must care of us, too, the creatures He made in His own image.  If He thought enough during creation to provide clothing for the lilies of the field (Matthew 6) or food for the ravens and giving value to the sparrows (Luke 12), of  how much more value must we be to Him.

We have a secret, just we three... the killdeer, and I... well, come to think of it... we have a secret but it's more than just we three...  I'm sure that if none of you don't peep, I'll do my best, too, the secret to keep.

2014 Rhubarb Festival

On June 13, 2014, Gene and I headed down to LaPine, Oregon for the 5th Annual Rhubarb Festival at L&S Nursery.  (If you have never been, check out their website as well as, next year, join us at the 6th Annual Rhubarb Festival.)  We loaded all our products, including our three "children"--Foxie, Molly and Toby--into the toy hauler and away we went...

We arrived on Friday the 13th with winds gusting and colder than everything to set up our booth.  My ears hurt from the wind, my nose was dried up from the wind, I was cold to the bone and I whined a lot!  We went to bed eventually, Toby hating Foxie and Foxie mad at Molly--Oh, I could see--this was not going to go well!

I was wrong!  We woke up to a beautiful day--not too hot, not too cold; in fact, it was just right!  People were busy finishing up setting up their booths.  A husband-and-wife from Sisters, Oregon had exquisite jewelry: there was a glass blower, woodcarvers, fancy vests and scarves, salsa, bird houses, books, raffles, jerky and, of course, rhubarb.  There were vendors from Arizona and California and, as can be expected, many from Oregon.  Gene and I took the dogs out for their morning constitutionals, we ate breakfast and headed over to the Festival (which started at 9a) around 7a.

We set up and people started arriving immediately.  People were brought over from the overload parking area on a wagon loaded with straw pulled by an old tractor.  We were right next to a band--Out of Hand Band--it was AWESOME!  So loud we couldn't hear people at our booth half the time and, after the show, our ears were ringing but the band was AWESOME!  They played for at least four hours and I remember seeing them taking only one break.  Some rock, some blues, some western--they had such a wide range of music: from the 40's to today.  Some I couldn't understand the words and some brought back wonderful memories!  There were line dancers--one little leather-skinned, crinkled lady line dancing right outside our booth--really energetic, having lots of fun!  One grandmother came by the booth who had been dancing with her granddaughter saying she was getting too old for this; the next thing you saw was she and her granddaughter going back to dance some more.  You saw couples dancing, dads with their babies--it was a time of great fun!  Beer contest (lots of breweries in Central Oregon), pie contest--59 pies tasted, said one judge who came by the booth!   There was even a rapper group--five ladies--rapping about rhubarb.

Gene is in his element talking to people.  I love watching the interaction as he answered questions and the person asking listened intently.

Gene talking to the people in the booth next door:
 they had books!

 LaPine is zone 3-4 so it is very difficult to find lavender that will grow there.  We took Lavandula angustifolia 'Munstead', which is suppose to be a zone 4 plant (in one book, it has it at zone 3 but I think that's if it's pretty well in a protected area).  We also took two Lavandula x intermedia 'Grosso' plants. We did that basically to show the difference between an angustifolia vs. intermedia.  Your angustifolias are generally hardier, smaller and their aroma is thought to be sweeter than the intermedias.  While the intermedias are showier, they usually don't take the cold as well as the angustifolias.  People were skeptical if lavender would grow and have had the disappointing experience with the difficult growing conditions in that area.  I believe that is why people have come to trust L&S Nursery:  they grow specifically for that zone (the owner said it wasn't so much the cold as it was the freezing winds they get).  Gene and I hope to build the same trust that L&S Nursery has with its customers:  that is one of the reasons we are leaning towards cold hardier varieties of lavender.  I cannot imagine everyone not having at least one lavender plant in their garden, no matter what the climate!

During the day, we would check on the three little ones in the toy hauler.  Toby couldn't stand Foxie to even look at him, Foxie picked on Molly--normal behavior of children on a vacation.  We took them on their walks, made sure there was plenty of water and food and told them to behave--normal parenting on a vacation with children.  About midday, I brought Molly to the booth with me.  She sat in the chair next to mine and listened to the band.  Only once did she leave her chair and that was when a couple brought their Cavalier English Spaniel--three months old--over to our booth.  I loved the people who came by the booth and talked to me about Molly and the cocker spaniels they had had as children.  "You don't see them very much any more."--I heard this quite frequently and that is true.  I don't know why because they are such a sweet-tempered, gentle little dog.

Going to these shows has enhanced our lives tremendously.  We meet such interesting people:  all walks of life stop by and we learn so very much from each one of them.  I love watching the children when they smell the lavender--most of them like its scent--but once in a while, you'll get that little one where the nose wrinkles up and they might as well be chucking down a bottle of castor oil.  Every once in a while, someone will walk by and immediately start sneezing because of allergies.  But everyone, to date, has been so positive in their response that, when Gene and I come home from these little forays tired to the bone, we feel encouraged and strengthened by those who stop by our booth.

The Festival ended at 4p and we packed up.  Coming home, we were signaled down by a pickup from Arizona:  we had a flat tire on the toy hauler.  In the long run, we think that's a good thing to know before Gene and Nick head out in August some time for the Steens Mountains before school starts.  At the time, it was a little nerve racking as we wondered if we'd make it the next five miles home.  We were grateful to the two young people in the pickup truck for letting us know:  Gene said he didn't feel anything in the steering wheel--no pull, nothing, from the flat tire.

All in all, learned a lot, met good people, got to eat out, came home tired and, according to Gene, successful trip!  What more could one ask for!