A Lavender Post
Fall Lavender Plant Care And Existential Musings
This year my farm's lavender plants became teenagers! I planted them the same year my daughter was born, thirteen trips around the sun ago. Yesterday, as I was out in the north field doing plant maintenance, I ruminated a bit over the lavender's journey with us over the years.
When we placed the little Munstead plugs into the freshly tilled earth over thirteen years ago, I was not much more than a child myself. My baby girl was with me throughout the entire planting, and I still smile as I think about how she sat cooing contentedly from her car seat in the stroller as my husband and I plunked plug after plug into the ground.
Over the next couple of years the lavender was a bit intensive to deal with, just like my little sweet. Both needed extra feeding and watering, but don't worry, I didn't apply prodigious amounts of dolomite lime to my baby girl, she got homemade baby food and farm fresh goat milk instead, as did my sweet little nugget of a son who came into the fray the next year.
For the last decade or so, my labors have been of the formative kind. So busy have I been raising my babies and building the farm up from scratch that, aside from a few experimental forays into the retail world, I have neglected to market my lavender crop the way it should be. Instead of feeling frustrated about this fact, I feel proud instead. I had to grow up, raise my kiddos, and during it all I nurtured and took care of the lavender field too.
My kids are reaching the stage of their lives where they are delving off and exploring where their place in this world is to be. We have raised them to be independent, competent, and compassionate. They are also normal human beings and can be incredibly irritating at times, as evidenced by the lesson in conflict resolution that I had to teach them this morning. However, overall they amaze me at how incredible they are, a feeling that many a parent has felt I am sure. While they still need us, it is not in the intense way that young children need their parents, which in turn leads me to my labors in the lavender field.
There has always been a bit of an un-realized dream regarding the lavender in the back of my mind. I don't know if you all have noticed over the last couple of years, but I kind of like food, and I really like culinary lavender. It is so rewarding to finally step into the lavender field, and instead of seeing it just as a chore, albeit a sweet smelling one to deal with, to see it as a passion of mine that I finally get to develop and work on as I have always intended.
It seems as if the lavender and my kids aren't the only ones that have grown up.
And if you have any lavender plants and haven't cut them back yet, please do yourself a favor and hack them back! Lavender loves to be trimmed, and nothing is prettier than a properly coiffed plant! I always trim my plant back to where the green foliage is at least a couple of inches above the hardwood. That way your plant will keep a symmetrical growth habitat the following year. My grandma has this lavender plant that is the size of a Volkswagen Beatle because it was never trimmed, and while I love the thing, it's not exactly great for harvesting.
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They will grow soon , patience is the key :)
Ha ha! Where can I get some of that patience stuff, lol!
So great to hear from you, hope things are going well in NYC:)
So, you've got me curious. I enjoy the scent of lavender, but have only experienced the soapy flavor. Might have to explore this a bit now!
lol! A kitchen chemist is curious? Say it ain't so! LOL!
Lavender, when done right, imparts the most amazing floral flavor to food, but done wrong, BLECH! I hope to hear of your explorations soon:) It really goes awesome with lemon, cream, and lamb.
Hope you are having a marvelous weekend!
@generikat Hmmm... I haven't done much with lamb, either. Wildstyle can't tolerate cream yet, but coconut cream really subs well in most savory recipes, so we'll see about that.
We're busy stacking firewood and getting ready for winter! Also soccer season is starting up and with 3 kids playing, that means going to town daily for practices! Yikes! It's going to be a busy 6 weeks, but then we'll hunker down for winter and recharge. Ahhhh....
How's the weekend treating you?
Well, the weekend treated me like the vortex of a whirlwind, lol! I didn't even eat breakfast until 9pm last night, ha ha. Between football games, attending an auction to by a show steer, acapella practice, the birth of a new baby cousin, and a whole pile of other things, I just can't seem to stop and smell the pumpkin spice.
And for some strange reason, I kinda think you understand completely:) Looking forward to hibernating too, we finished our firewood last week, which is such a nice feeling. Hang in there!
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Of course I can smell it way over here!!! Kind of a reminder that time is indeed flying as well...I remember posts on last years crop like it was a week ago I think lol.
Of course you can, ha ha! I think I still smell it, and I have had at least two showers since then, lol!
Isn't amazing how fast time flies! I still can't believe my 2 year Steemiversary is just around the corner, but then again, I keep coming back, you know, cause the people;)!
Hope your Sunday rocked!
Hello Friend how are you? a post to reflect, our children grow up very big, we will always support them, my children have also raised them independently.
Your pets look happy, thanks for the tips and show me part of your environment
I like to know that you have a farm, you like cooking, you take care of your farm, your husband and your children are very versatile, please stop by my blog to publish a recipe for you
Hi! Thank you so much for posting the arepas recipe! I can't wait to try them:) And the pumpkin flan too, you are such an amazing cook!
The farm is a lot of work, but we all love it, and it is nice to grow a lot of our food.
Also, your blog is great, I really enjoy it:)
Friend a pleasure to say hello how are you? Since I am a new follower, I did not know that you have a farm that should be awakening spectacular surrounded by the noise and fresh air, you cook very well and take care of your family you are great, I have no children but if I have I will raise them independently.
You have an excellent camera with a lavender scent
Greetings from Venezuela!
Hello and Greetings from North Idaho!
Thank you so much for all the kind words. I hope you are doing well in that beautiful country of yours:) Our farm is very peaceful and quiet, we do enjoy it, and I am so happy that you chose to follow my blog, I enjoy yours too:)
Grateful with your words and your support!
I planted lavender 35 years ago, but it died after a couple years. I am Zone 4 with -25F winters. I tried growing it again this year. It didn't do very well, so I don't have hopes it will survive our winters. But it might surprise me...
Ahh, you are a zone colder than we are. Although, from time to time we do get that cold here. I have had the most luck with Augustifolia cultivars of lavender, most of my plants are Munstead. We also have some Grosso plants too, and all of them have survived -32F and more crazy weather than I would like to admit to, lol. I think what saves our plants is the heavy blanket of snow we get almost every year, it acts like a mulch barrier.
I so hope that your new plants make it, lavender is so nice to have around!
I know one of the plants is a Hidcote, can't remember what the ones I started are...
Ooh, I can smell it from here. First thought on picture number one, a bunch of short, well-coifed, fur-topped, aliens, on the march across the northern section of the Gem state, to take over the GK ranch. No doubt to create some sort of troublesome, Galactic gallywogging, in ways we can only imagine. Glad I was wrong on THAT one.
That is one impressive stand of Lavenders*. And a cool discussion about your children and the plants. Very creative and so true to the core. I'm also quite surprised to learn you have a penchant for consumption of foodstuffs. Who woulda thunked it, Wow O :
(*Is there a plural for Lavender, or is it more like a moose? (I have to stretch your B'Kat cranial reference desk legs now and then, just to keep you sharp.))
Ooh, some shrublians, lol lol! Ah dd, I have missed you. I hope all is well in your part of the realm?
And I see that you are still trying to keep my reference skills sharp, I have always referred to it like moose, but then again I see after some googling that throwing an s on the end might be the way to go. I am going to claim a shrublian invasion caused me to rebel and I am just going to say refer to the plants in plural however ye may desire to do so. CAUSE I CAN MUH HA HAHA HA!
And now I am off to run the 'brare, cause I am B'Kat and stuff;)
I really think 'BrareKat needs a cape...
Nice read. I leave an upvote for this article thumbsup