Thursday, June 23, 2011

LAVENDER AND SUNSHINE

 Are you ready for a perfumed post?  Hope you love lavender, and don't pass out from spending an hour or so in 95 degrees, while I show you the beautiful items made from this favorite plant.


Weekend before last I was invited to attend the Lavender Harvest Celebration at Sunshine Lavender Farm in Orange County, North Carolina, just an hour's drive past brilliant green cornfields and pastures filled with gentle grass-chewing cows.

Lavender picked that week was already drying in the barn, and inside I watched how the dried flowers are removed by hand from the stems...........the perfume was intoxicating.


Out in the lavender field, many plants were still producing long stems with plenty of flowers.  Several types of lavender are grown here in the area including Provence, Grosso, and Hidcote.  Oyster shells are used as mulch and to reflect sunlight, interesting.


Plenty of lavender plants for sale.  I purchased three Hidcote (English) to add to other lavender plants I have on a small raised area in my garden.  They seem to do well there and within a couple of years perhaps I'll be filling sachets with my own lavender flowers.


Always nice to have growing advice given...............hopefully I'm meeting the criteria for raising healthy plants.


The delightful Annie who owns Sunshine Lavender Farm, and her staff, had been busy making great products.  She is off to visit lavender farms in Provence next month - I told her she'll love every minute.








All the above items were for sale during the celebration................it was a lovely way to spend a Saturday in the country.



Later DH and I sat here in the shade for a little break from the sweltering sun.  Enjoyed a scoop of amazing lavender vanilla ice cream - from that same farm I told you about recently, Maple View Dairy, check it out if you're in the area.  I hear that sitting on their front porch in the rocking chairs, enjoying a cone or dish of freshly churned ice cream, while watching the sun set over the cornfields, is a delightful way to spend a Summer evening.  It's on my 'to do' list.


Do you like to leave town and take a country drive?  
Or are you one of the lucky ones who already live down on the farm?

24 comments:

  1. What a delightful place and all of their products so deliciously presented. Wish I lived closer. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. what a wonderful post!!
    I felt as tho i were there with you..
    enjoying the fragrance..
    seeing the delightful finished products!
    thanks for inviting me to tag along..
    and wasn't that Lavender vanilla ice cream just delicious!
    what a perfect ending to such a fun day!!
    warmest dandy hugs..
    Loui♥

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  3. Oh, Mary, what a wonderful experience!! Your pictures are entrancing!!

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  4. I love lavender too but I think our climate up here is a little too cool, we rarely get those hot, heady days when the air is full of the scent of lavender, so I really enjoyed your taste of the beautiful flower and its by products.

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  5. Ahhhhh, what a wonderful day you must have had! I love lavender and would really enjoy the place your visited.

    Hugs,
    Penny

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  6. I have been wanting to grow some lavender. Thanks for inclucing the types they grow in your post. My climate has to be much like theirs and I have been wondering what to try here in NC. What a lovely trip. I need to go there myself. Carla

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  7. i looove lavender! what a wonderful place to visit Mary. thank you also for adding how to plant lavenders, i have never been successful for growing them. lavenders has been on my wish list for the garden, but have not been able to find one yet, maybe it is too early for them in Finland.

    D.

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  8. What a lovely way to spend a day Mary, and the scent - just heavenly! I'm about to move my new pot of lavender into full sun - thanks for the tips :o)
    Best wishes
    Rose H

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  9. Oh Mary, what a heavenly post! I would so love to visit a lavender farm!!!! I love all of the products that they offer too....I bet that's the best smelling barn ever! I hope you are doing wonderful and staying cool sweet friend, hugs and love, Dawn

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  10. What a wonderful place to visit on a Saturday! I love your pictures. I'm not sure if we have the right climate for growing lavender, but it is so pretty dried and used in sachets. Penny from Comforts Of Home gifted me with a pillow she made filled with lavender. I treasure it!

    XO,
    Jane

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  11. I could smell the lavender while I read the post! I would love to go to that Farm some day!! Are they open all the time?

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  12. What a marvelous perfume you have sent our way... Mmmmm, lavender vanilla ice cream! I'm glad I can't feel the heat, but I know that made the lavender scent even more powerful.

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  13. Just reading this post gave me a moment to meander with you to the lovely lavender farm. How beautiful and I loved seeing all the products they made. This is one of my favorite things to do. Last year we planted 20 lavender plants along our front walk. They are beautiful this year and I am loving them so much. Many lavender festivals coming very soon to the northwest region.

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  14. I am a lucky one and live down on the farm!! The Canadian prairies are a wonderful place. I am your newest follower...please stop by the country sometime. Love,,,love ,..love you lavender post!! What beautiful pictures. Who wouldn't love a barn door with lavender hanging from it!! Your packaging is great too!!

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  15. Oh, this looks like a wonderful place, thanks for sharing it with us. I can never have enough lavender.

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  16. Oh, please share more! I would love to "find" this place. Ice cream on the porch, watching the sun set, sounds like heaven too. What a fun time, thank you. hugs, Mary Ann

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  17. That rivals anything I saw in Provence except maybe the huge fields of lavender. I planted a lot of it in my yard when I lived there. Once it was established it grew like crazy. Didn't even have to water it.

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  18. What a lovely day that must have been. Our lavender is starting to bloom, but will be at it's peak in about two weeks - delightful!

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  19. Such a long time since I have posted. Sounds like you had a great time. I cannot imagine how wonderful that place must have smelled! Looks like they had so many wonderful things to purchase. We really must make an effort to get together again. Where does time go? Hugs, Donna C.

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  20. What a fabulous place this looks! I'd love to visit there, lavender is one of my favourite scents and there are so many pretty things to buy in the shop - just as well I live too far away to go there!

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  21. I will be in Provence in about 4 weeks and I plan to buy plenty of lavander....

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  22. Love my lavender, but I always smile when I see advice like "prune in February". What about we folk whose gardens are under two feet of snow?

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  23. It was a small oaisis away from home shared by me and my 2 sisters. Thanks for the chance to make more fun memories with them..just blissful...

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  24. How I would love to go there! If I close my eyes and take a deep breath perhaps I could pretend to be in Provence!
    Take Care,
    Ulrike

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