Thank you to those who came on July 1, last Saturday, to our lavender farm. While the lavender is being harvested in the Willamette Valley, our lavender was not quite blooming but you were so fun to visit with and purchase some of our products (and the last of the lavender plants). Since then, I have taken an inventory of the various lavender varieties we have in our field. Much of 'Folgate' is harvested but there still is more blooming. The 'Miss Katherine' is going to be harvested within the next couple days. Gene hung the 'Folgate' in the drying shed. We are pretty excited about this year's harvest because it looks as if it might be a bountiful crop. And we have found that 'Folgate' and 'Miss Katherine' sometimes bloom all summer long.
I use both of these Angustifolias (English Lavenders) for cooking. 'Folgate' is a beautiful periwinkle color, mild and I use it on meat rubs and with vegetables and fruit.
'Miss Katherine' is a soft pink color and I use it with desserts--scones, shortbread cookies, anything chocolate. Lavender is from the mint family and so, lavender can be used in place of mint. Chocolate and lavender blended together are a nonviolent tango on the taste buds. The long-stemmed lavenders--'Grosso', 'Impress Purple' 'Gros Bleu', 'Edelweiss'--are just on the cusp of bursting into color. There are 26 varieties of lavender out in the field and everyone of them has its own stage of development. With this hot weather, Gene and I are hoping we will have color in the fields and be able to offer u-pick by the time of the Farm Tour. Just a word of caution: you will be sharing the field with bees and, while they are peaceful little creatures going about their daily chores, they sometimes can be a force to reckon with if you grab a handful of lavender and one of them is trapped in the maze of lavender stems. You're likely to hear a very angry "buzzzzz" and then we'll hear an "Ouucch". We love to go out into the field and hear the little buggers humming and see them busy at work. They are nature's way of saying to Gene and I that it's time to harvest.
We have the little bug books for the young lavender lover. I will say that I haven't seen too many lady bugs this year nor have I seen any preying mantis. There are butterflies, however. I wonder if the reason we have not seen any lady bugs or preying mantis is because we had so much snow and cold that they are just making sure that it's not going to freeze before they peek their heads out for the summer.
We have no plants for sale. Almost all of them were sold at the springs shows. However, in August, after the harvest, we will be propagating up a storm for next year.
The gift shop is being stocked with regular products--body cream, marionberry with lavender preserves, eye pillows and neck wraps--as well as with a few new products: beeswax candles with lavender in Mason jars, soy wax melts, door stoppers. We are in the process of putting insulation up but we hope you will overlook our construction and enjoy the products we have available.
The labyrinth is still a work in progress. My daughter created a mosiac walkway and it was such an inspiration that I am hoping to create a mosiac pathway on the labyrinth. I still walk it frequently and find it to be good for my psyche.
Well, I think I've covered it all: lavender field, lavender plants, u-pick, labyrinth, date and hours of Still Waters Lavender Farm Tour and the gift shop. We hope to see you and we make you kindly welcome.
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