Yesterday is but a Memory but May 1, 2 and 3 are Tomorrow's Promises of More Good Things To Come

Central Oregon Master Gardeners Association... Gene and I thank COMGA for the excellent Spring Seminar they sponsored at the Deschutes Country Fairgrounds on April 18, 2015.   We were met at the door with several smiling and welcoming helpers who carried our products with gusto (I might add) to the ample space provided for our business as well as helped us in the set up.  We were constantly met with encouragement and assistance at every turn of the set-up and participation in the Spring Seminar.  The luncheon was delicious!  So much food; I ate more than I should (seems to be something I say too often).  Following are some of the photos taken at our booth.

Seminar classes are in session and Gene is talking with a lady he worked with years ago.  They were talking "old times". This photo is taken from the right of our booth looking left.  This is the front of the spacious area provided for us.  Plants, purses, wynesacs, pillows, moth repellents, sachets, lavender wands, lavender buds and lip balm are on the tables in front of Gene.  In the background is the rack holding (our son) Mike's beautiful scarves and the two styles--three pocket adjustable and harvest--aprons.  

Photo taken from the right of our booth looking to the left.  The green beer bucket holds lavender.  We provided a bucket and dark lavender organza bags for people who wanted to scoop their own lavender.  The shelf holds foodstuffs:  chocolate sauce (lavender, orange and peppermint), lavender syrup, marionberry preserves with lavender and organic honey infused with lavender.  

Underneath the bucket of 'Grosso' lavender were bags (4 ounces) of 'Grosso' lavender for people to purchase.  There are very few of these bags left as many were sold to customers making their own sachets.    A lady at the last Oregon Lavender Association meeting gave me this suggestion.  I learn so much from so many people and (if I have not thanked you before) thank you for all your suggestions and advice.

A couple of the printed linen (lined with muslin) pillows I made especially for sale at the Central Oregon Master Gardener Association Spring Seminar.

This is one of my favorite sayings.  William Morris was an English textile and wallcovering designer.  He is best known as the founder of the Arts and Crafts movement which began in England in the late 1800s.

I am working on this saying of only
having useful and/or beautiful things in my home.  I think it is one of those lifelong works-in-progress as far as it relates to me.  Also what my husband considers beautiful and what I consider beautiful are sometimes at odds with one another.  For instance, when he asked if he could put a dead elk head on my wall...

Kristi, my daughter, makes this wonderful lip balm.  (I have some of it on my lips right now.)  It is wonderfully soothing and quite reasonably priced.

As quickly as the COMGA Spring Seminar began, it ended.  COMGA members came up to us, helped us load the products into the car and pickup, dismantled the tables and waved good-bye as we drove off.  We made many good memories of this Seminar and look forward to next year.  But... in just a few weeks, 

Still Waters Lavender will be attending the 2015 Central Oregon Builders Association Spring Home and Garden Show, May 1, 2, and 3, 2015 also being held at the Deschutes County Fair and Expo Center in Redmond, Oregon.  

We attended this show last year and, it was such a good show, we signed up for another three-day event.  We hope to see you there and, should you come, please come by our booth and let us know you saw this on our web site.

We make you kindly welcome.

http://www.connectiondepot.com/oregon/bend-redmond-sunriver/coba-spring-home-and-garden-show/

"A Gift For You" (Women's Expo in Bend April 11, 2015)

On April 11, 2015, 7 a.m., Gene and I loaded our truck and our car and drove into the Riverhouse Convention Center in Bend, Oregon.  We were helped at the door to unload our products, we were provided sustenance and our spot was ready for our arrival.  The ladies who put on this event were made sure we were happy with our location and asked many times during the day if there was any way they could help or anything we needed.  Our next door neighbors were some energetic exercise ladies and a t-shirt vendor.  The exercise ladies had way too much energy but helped in making for a fun day.  The t-shirt vendor had quality merchandise and it was nice to be placed between these two vendors.  I think we complimented one another quite well.

It was suggest we have either a raffle or some kind of gift to give to people who visited our booth.  We printed instructions on how to make a lavender sachet and included a packet with a square piece of muslin, lavender buds and a ribbon.  Moms would come with their children and we would give one to the mom and one to the child, hoping that this would be a great project for them to work on together.  We suggested they buy lavender buds and wrap lavender in something that belonged to a loved one and give as a remembrance.  One woman said she had her father's hankies and tears came to our eyes as she talked about making a keepsake for her children and grandchildren.   We had friends who were excited about making a sachet together.  We have a lot of quilters in the area and we suggested that they could make sachets from scraps of material.  Everyone liked that the "no sewing" involved. 

The "stress reliever" idea came from Tracy Ketts, Blue Willow Lavender Farm in Gig Harbor, Washington.  She said that people love  to come and run their fingers through her "stress reliever" on her lavender farm.  The instructions were:  "Run your fingers through the lavender bud and leave your worries in the tub."  I was going to add "Please no feet" but thought that might be a bit too much.  If you ever get to Gig Harbor, you might want to look up Tracy and visit her lavender farm.  She has a website and you will want to visit it and see what her hours are.

The middle table with Ashdene "I Love Lavender" bone china, wine bags, moth repellents, lavender hydrosol, lavender essential oil, and sachets.

Aprons on side (harvest aprons designed after a 1947 pattern and adjustable aprons with three big pockets),  and sample bar with marionberry preserves with lavender, Monin lavender syrup, organic honey with lavender, and three chocolate sauces (lavender, orange and peppermint).  

  

We did not have any of the chocolate sauces to sell; however, we wanted people to try them and give us feedback on what they thought of them... thank you for stopping by our booth and giving such great feedback!  Our products are made by farmers in the Willamette Valley who contract with the Oregon Lavender Association.  We picked up several cases of chocolate sauce during the Oregon Lavender Association meeting the next day.

A wedding in your future?  --lavender is an excellent idea to use in decorating as well as food.

People ask "What can you do with lavender?"  This list is a few of the ways lavender can be used in your everyday life..  Wonderful recipes are available on the internet.  I have one for lavender fudge  and one for bbq chicken--YUM!  

Hardanger (Norwegian embroidery).  It  delights the heart when people recognize what this is.  Gene and I have heard so many wonderful stories from people who have had an aunt or a grandma who did hardanger.  I also shared with two young ladies what hardanger was/is, both were Norwegian and both started telling their history.  I love lavender and the bond it creates with people!  Without the lavender farm, I would not be making these pillows and meeting such wonderful people.

These are the hand dyed 100% silk scarves Mike (our son) makes.  Each one is beautiful and each one is different.  I want them all but am told that's being greedy. Not everything Mike makes is for me, his mom, who gave him birth.  He has to make some money in order to afford the scarves he makes for me.

 All in all, we had a pretty exciting and rewarding day.  Gene already told the lady to save us a spot for next year.

On Sunday (the next day), we were off to the Oregon Lavender Association meeting.  I hate the travel over the hill--this time we went over Government Pass--but wouldn't miss visiting and learning from the knowledgeable--dare I say wise--members.  What an extraordinary group of people.  We were home around 9 p.m.  I thought we would be dead tired but both days were so different and downright exhilarating!  Next Saturday, April 18, is the Central Oregon Master Gardeners show.  They are such a good group:  I can hardly wait!

Gone to the Birds...

There are herons in the pond,

Kildeer crying in the air;

Hummingbirds at the feeding station

And songbirds everywhere...

And I say to myself, "What a beautiful, most wonderful world."

I have been watching spring work her magic... a leaf here, a bud there... oh!  and over there the tulips and daffodils are in full bloom bringing their colors to a cold and austere-looking land.  I was wondering for a while whether they would make it out of the cold, cold ground but they were just little things one day and the next day, it seemed, they were up and showing their beauty and the promise that another spring had arrived on the high desert.  We who were weary of the wait just needed to have a bit more patience.  

We--my husband and I--are weeding the lavender and trimming back some of the varieties.  Weeds, like time, wait for no man (or woman for that matter).  While outside, on my hands and knees, the trill of a meadowlark caught my ear.  I sat back on my knees and listened to the sounds of the morning:  the quail were in my neighbor's yard across the way and the ravens gave their cacophonous sounds as they flew over the next door neighbor's pasture.  High up in the heavens were two hawks, facing one another flying with their wings outstretched, their talons together crying their high pitched battle cry as they flew almost upside down. As I walked to the house, I saw a kildeer by the pond.  Coming closer than I should, it scurried forward and gave its high-pitched call and scurried some more.  A couple weeks ago, three kildeer were flying over the lavender calling to one another and, perhaps, summoning the remaining two (for a total of five kildeer) who we had last year.  I believe they are making another nest in the lavender but I haven't found it yet.  I suppose that a nest of baby kildeer is good enough reason to leave a patch of weeds in the lavender.

The other morning, I had a blue heron in the pond, standing so still that I would have missed him if he had not turned his head when I opened the door.  I ran for the camera and  tried to take a photograph but scared it away.   In the willow tree near by the pond, songbirds--mostly sparrows--sang their sweet, sweet melody.  They come down to the creek, along with the robins, to take a drink and a bath.  I spend many quality minutes watching them as they frolic in the water.  A friend of mine told me hummingbirds stayed all winter in her neck of the woods and she leaves a feeder out all year, bringing it in only at night when it freezes.  I decided to try that this year.  Usually, I put the hummingbird feeders out on April 15--tax day.  There's just something satisfying in putting those feeders up on that day:  my way of turning the page from a past necessity to a present liberty for another year.  I was wonderfully rewarded a few days ago at seeing a scraggly little hummingbird come to the feeder and stay for the longest time.  I wondered how far he must have flown to look so rough and I was glad the food was ready for him.  He has not been back, to my knowledge, but I think of him every now and then and wonder where he is now.

A glimpse of a bluebird flying over the dry lot caught my eye a couple days ago.  They are such pretty little birds.   And, today, a friend heard a meadowlark off in the distance, singing its pretty refrain as we were getting into the car.  "What is that" she asked.  I answered.  We listened, my friend and I.  And in the distance, the pretty little bird identifiable by its yellow breast and "V" breastplate sang as it welcomed spring.

Spring has indeed worked her magic: in the budding of the trees, in the kaleidoscope of color and bounty of flowers and in the beautiful songs of the birds.  And I say to myself, "What a beautiful, most wonderful world."

Shows and Expos in April

Still Waters Lavender is happy to announce they will be attending the following shows:

On Saturday, April 11, we will be a vendor at the Cascade Women's Expo, located in the Riverhouse Convention Center, Bend, Oregon.  Doors open to the public at 10a and close at 4p.  This one day FREE event will be the largest gathering of women in Bend and will offer services and products of interest that match the needs of women as well as their budget.  So grab your girlfriend, your mom, your daughter and come have some fun with us!  Visit the Cascade Women's Exp website at http://www.facebook.com/cascadewomensexpo.


On Saturday, April 18, Still Waters Lavender is happy to be repeating its appearance at the Central Oregon Master Gardeners Spring Seminar at the Deschutes County Fair and Expo Center in Redmond, Oregon.  The seminar hours are from 8a-4:30p; the Garden Market opens from 9:30a-4:30p.  This is a great time to meet locals with helpful seminars as well as gardening items, especially good healthy plants.  As an organization, the Central Oregon Master Gardeners Association promotes and supports local crafts and businesses.  Visit the Central Oregon Master Gardeners Association website for more information (http://www.gocomga.com/)

Gene and I are excited to meet new friends as well as see old friends.