Lavender Season

Lavender season is in full swing at Havenhill. We had some unseasonably cool weather in June that slowed things down a bit, but as always temps heated up and pushed the lavender along.

Harvest started Saturday morning and went until early afternoon when we closed for a wedding. Back at it all day Sunday and it went well - we cleared more from the field in one day than ever before. The hay loft is full - a good thing as the weather's quite hot and we don't have much more time. We'll reach the 100's today, but the guys are willing to cut this evening so with any luck we'll finish the field tonight or tomorrow.

We cut the lavender by hand with a big curved blade called a bull hook (Italian machete). it's laid back across the plant to begin drying and then bundled with rubber bands. The hay loft is fitted with slats of wood with screw hooks where the lavender is hung, 2 bundles per hook, to dry for 10-14 days. Then its removed and carefully boxed with tissue between layers and stored in the dark until its ready to become product.

The lavender we pull from the field in the next few days will dry on flat mesh racks and is then sent to a local seed cleaner where it's stripped from the stems and cleaned for our culinary and loose lavender products. It's an expensive process, but our lavender is the cleanest I've ever seen and we're proud to be able to offer such high quality to our customers.

Summer is also berry season in the Pacific NW, so we gorge ourselves silly... raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc. There does come a point when you don't think you can eat another berry and then we freeze for the winter, but we're no where near that point yet. Eat on.

Hope you're enjoying the bounty of harvest in your area. If you don't check out your farmers market on a regular basis, I highly recommend it. Great, fresh-from-the -field produce and you're helping support agriculture in your area. Can't go wrong anyway you slice it.

Unexplainable Mishap

For once, I'm not responsible for a mishap around the farm. It was one of those things that's almost unexplainable. A client was moving her car in the parking lot when he foot slipped and hit the gas. The car went over a concrete parking block and somehow up over a retaining wall of railroad ties before it high centered on the wall and a few shrubs.

Thankfully no one was hurt. The women were rattled, but they handled it well. A couple of guys who were here helping me weed and a gentleman who was here with his wife spent a few hours jacking the car in three places and disassembling the retaining wall so that we could dislodge the car. And the women were on their way again. I'm sure they were exhausted by the event, but hopefully have recovered their sense of humor.

On a lavender note. The field is in full bloom. We were behind in weeding, but got it finished this weekend... while the yellow dandelions contrast the lavender nicely, it makes me cringe to see their yellow heads poking through. We'll start harvest next weekend and with any luck will have the hayloft full within a few days.