Last weekend of "summer": Lavender, roses, sunflowers, new soaps, and more

The kids and I have been back to school for a month now, but Labor Day weekend is the traditional "end of summer" here in the States.  It's been a lovely Labor Day Sunday.  It was made even better knowing I have tomorrow off, which is indescribably wonderful.  Chris had to work today (no fun), so this is how I spent my day:

I watered the Phenomenal lavender because it was looking pretty weak a couple of days ago.  We haven't had rain in a very long time and the temperatures have been in the 90's all week long.  We recently transplanted a whole bunch of lavender from our vegetable garden to the lavender field, something we should have done earlier or later, but the transplants needed watering all week.  There is a 60% chance of rain tomorrow and I am hoping beyond all hope that it will indeed rain and give my plants the water they need.

Here is what the field looks like now:

We will have to see how everything performs over the winter.  I have read somewhere that the Farmer's Almanac predicts a colder than normal winter, which is not ideal for lavender.  We will see...

More pics from the garden today:

We have six knockout rose bushes growing behind our white picket fence in the front yard.  They looked quite pretty this morning.

When I came back inside, I decided to make soap.  I made two types, Frankincense and Myrrh and Orange Clove & Cinnamon.  It smells positively delightful in our home.

Check back in a couple of days after the soaps are ready to be cut to see what they look like.  They will be available for purchase in our Etsy shop around October 6.  I may decide to sell my soaps and crocheted goods at a local craft show this fall.  We have a few scheduling conflicts this month, so I'm not sure when that will be, but I will let you know.

Thanks as always for reading.

Enjoy the rest of your Labor Day weekend.  If you're not American, cheerio and have a brilliant week.   ;)

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PEACE

                                                  LOVE

                                                                                                HANDMADE SOAPS




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Gardening Is Hard Work!

My muscles are aching.  My head is hurting.  My sunburned skin is sizzling. Yesterday, I spent around 6.5 hours outside in 90-95 Fahrenheit (30-32 Celsius) heat preparing beds and planting lavender.  My husband spent the same amount of time tilling soil and teaching me how to properly garden.  At the end of the day, I was exhausted, cranky, and I suppose a little bit proud of my hot day in the garden.  I have never appreciated farmers as much as I did last night!

Chris had already tilled three rows, and early on he tilled a couple more.  We have had an inordinate amount of rain lately, so the tilling was quite a task.  My job was to go through and turn the soil where we were planning on planting lavender.  I also needed to add lime to the soil because its pH was between 5 and 6.  Lavender likes more alkaline soil, with a pH of between 7 and 8.  Lime helps make the soil less acidic.  I hope it will help.

Chris ordered lots of lavender several weeks ago, but our rows weren't ready then.  So he planted them in our garden for the time being.  One of my other jobs yesterday was to transplant the lavender from our garden to the rows.  Chris had to show me how to do that because I wasn't saving enough dirt from the garden around the roots.

We planted three rows of Phenomenal lavender (Lavandula x intermedia).  It is a newer variety that promises to withstand extreme cold and extreme heat and humidity.  Both of those weather traits are common here in the Midwest.  We lost several lavender plants last year because of extremely cold temperatures in the winter of 2013-2014, and I would like to not repeat that if I can help it.

By the end of the day, shadows from our two maple trees were cast upon our lavender field.  Chris had managed to till eight rows and together, we managed to plant four of them.  The first three are Phenomenal.  The next three will be Grosso, and the three after that will be Provence.  Phenomal, Grosso, and Provence are hybrid lavenders, known as lavandins or x intermedias.  They are are cross between Lavandula angustifolia and Lavandula latifolia.  I plan on doing another blog post entry on lavender at a later date.  Check back for it!

All in all, yesterday was a very productive day.  Today, however, we are getting a slow start.  I guess it's my aching bones.  We are planning to make 20 rows total to accommodate all the types of lavenders we are planning to have.  The hotter it gets, the less likely we are to see 20 rows before the end of the summer.  Ideally, we would have done this in early Spring.  But who wants to be ideal anyway?  If we have to, we will wait until Fall to get everything planted.  That would  certainly be better than having a heat stroke now!

Have a great day.  Stay cool and think lavender thoughts...


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Paix.

                          Amour.

                                                    Lavande.

Who knows?  Maybe someday our fields will look like this!  :)

Taking a Trip Down Lavender Lane

Most people who know me know that I love the lovely plant called lavender, or Lavandula.  I dream of the day when I will have enough land to make a go of being a lavender farmer, but until then I will grow it in my suburban lot and go visit real lavender farms.  

My favorite place to visit lavender farms is Sequim, Washington, which is located on the Olympic Peninsula, and is a 2-hour drive from Seattle.  Every year Sequim holds a lavender festival and a farm faire in July.  Apparently, there are so many farms there that they veered off into two different groups and formed two different organizations.  My husband and I were lucky enough to go there in 2011 and I can't wait to go back some day.  I just looked it up and we live 1,950 miles from Sequim.  *sigh*

This year, the festival/faire is from July 17-19.  Click here  and here for more information.

During the festival/faire, you can visit several farms, attend a street fair, listening to live bands play, or participate in a cycling event called Tour de Lavande.  Of course, the area is home to breathtaking scenery and you can visit the beach, which is one of my very favorite things to do. The Juan de Fuca Strait is spectacular!  

Being from Kansas, I don't get to see the beach very often.  Nearby towns include Port Angeles and Port Townsend.  And you're not too far from Forks, if you still want to relive a little bit of Twilight nostalgia.  Sequim is also close to the Dungeness Spit, Olympic National Park, Cape Flattery, and the Hoh Rainforest.  There are so many places we would like to go back and visit.  It was a fabulous vacation. 

Why am I writing about it now?  Sentimentality, I guess.  But also because I realized I didn't have very many of my own pictures of lavender on my Lavender Pinterest board.  I am going to remedy that by linking this blog entry to that board.  

So, without further ado, here are a whole bunch of gratuitous photos of lavender from our marvelous trip to Sequim:

If you ever get a chance to go to this area of the world, I highly recommend it!  Going in July would be even better, but I am certain this place is gorgeous any time of the year.  

I love you, Olympic Peninsula! This Kansas girl really misses you!

Paix et lavande!

--J