Wand Classes-Distillation-pictures

Another awesome day in Hood River! Mucho sun, great temperatures and relaxing around lots of lavender. If you have ever wanted to learn how to make a lavender wand, Diane will be teaching informal classes this weekend on the patio. Sometimes referred as "lavender bottles", this is a very old way of preserving lavender and creating a Victorian self-enclosed sachet. Cost is only $7.00, and that includes all the material.

We will be distilling Buena Vista English lavender again today and on Sunday. Always a lot of fun with an aromatic burst of lavender if you are on the farm. Any time after noon on both days would be a good time to take in some 'sensory-overload'.

This picture above was sent to us from one of our visitors last weekend. Looks like a lot of fun, eh? Bundles of our certified organic U-PICK lavender are only $5/bundle, and there are plenty of English Lavender available. This is the sweetest of all the lavender, and your car will smell heavenly as you leave the farm. Thank you for the picture Natali!

The farm is still open daily 10-5pm. Come on out and visit us!

Buena Vista Distillation on Saturday

The first day of Autumn had the feel of a new season setting in, colder & showers. But it was just a tease. Sun is out today, no clouds in the sky, and the forcast calls for more sun. It is a good thing, I'm not ready to give up on Summer yet.

This weekend, at least on Saturday, we will be distilling one of my favorite angustifolia (English) lavenders. Buena Vista is a real jewel. Good bloomer with a very unique and delightful aroma. Buena Vista is an essential oil that always sells out early.Come on out and visit us and take in the beauty of this flower.

We also have some new items in the Gift Shop. We have the Queen Diva of sachets, a large lavender fuzzy plush bag that holds over 1 & 1/2 cups of our certified organic lavender, and ties off with large fluffy & fuzzy balls. Also, a new Victorian Shoe Sachet that is literally a pretty Victorian shoe stuffed with our lavender. Both of these are really cute. Also more embroidered shachets in pretty white linen. I don't have these on our website yet, but will within a few days.
Get out and enjoy the weekend, if you are up our way stop by and say 'Hi', and have a Happy Day!

Website now in Spanish & French

We just launched our website with the ability to change the language to Spanish & French! With the addition of World Lingo one can simply select Spanish or French and our website is translated into that language. Pretty cool, eh?

Also, for those of you who have not yet heard, there is a new Search Engine company out there in the infant stage. Not a low-impact company, this is Amazon.com's attempt at what Google is doing. Already they have millions of customers, offer amazing tracking info on everyone that is on the web, who viewed your site, links, site info, and more. The best thing is that they are giving away Free Top Key Words! No catches, really is FREE. What this means is that when anyone searches for you keyword, your banner/website is on the Top of the list. Truly is free, nothing to lose, and you can link to your blog. Check it out here

Sadie-the Lavender Farm Greeter

Here is a picture of the one whom everyone comes to visit at our farm (or at least that's what she thinks). This is Sadie- our beloved greeter on the lavender farm. This pic was taken by one of our visitors last weekend. Sadie is always willing to fetch a ball, pear, stick, or anything else you can wing for her. She loves people, kids especially, and she is, of course, our baby.

Distillation of Lavender Today

Well, we were not able to distill yesterday (Sat.) due to wind & rain. Today however, is gorgeous! I harvested enough English Lavender last night to run 2 distillation batches today. If your out and about drop by and awaken your senses.

Mt. Hood looks like it received a lot of new snow in the past few days. Such a magnificent mountain, always looks so much more so with clean white snow on it.

Diane has a new batch of lavender shortbread (YUMMY!) in the oven for samples today, and some lavender lemon-aide to go with it.

Hope the weekend is going well for everyone. The sun is out, sky is blue, and no wind here. Looks like I get to wear my shorts again today.

Porch Talk & Pear Celebration In Hood River Sept. 16 & 17

Thursday the 14th, at 5:30pm we will be presenting a Porch Talk at The Oak Street Hotel. Come by and say Hi.

The Hood River Fruit Loop is presenting Pear Celebration. In honor of the event we are once again having the wonderful Massage Therapist Debra Harkness available on Saturday to pamper our visitors with a soothing massage in the Lavender Field. I don't think it gets much better than that! Diane is going to be making some wonderful Lavender Goodies with our culinary lavender. Be sure to stop by and pick some fresh English Lavender that is currently in its Prime 2nd Bloom right now. We will be distilling English Lavender again this weekend as well. If you live in the city, this is the other side of the spectrum. Fun, laidback, and delicious this time of year. Good escape from the asphalt jungle.

End of an Awesome Week with yet a Bigger Week ahead!

Last weekend was a Blast! We distilled some absolutely Beautiful English Lavender on Saturday. Many times there was a crowd around the distiller "huffin" some precious lavender aroma. The response when our visitors catch the view of our distiller is widely diverse. If it is someone from the South or Midwest the common response is: "Does the Revenuers know you are doin that?" The corn in the garden kinda helps them come to that thought. I have even been asked if I was "brewin' coffee?" Seems Starbucks has caused us in the NW to be labeled. Heck of a large coffee pot.

Sunday was a real kick in the pants. First we cut 20 of my Artemesia Plants (pictured on the left) and hauled them over to the big distiller. What is hard to see is our dog "Sadie" laying in the middle of the Artemesia as I cut them. (Seems dogs like the happy effects of this plant too) Lucky for me I found a volunteer customer who was as happy as me to fire up the distiller. Somehow we crammed all 20 plants into the still and waited anxiously for some output flow. The aroma was incredible! I recruited as many folks as I could to dip their finger in the oil and describe the aroma. The responses were anything from "minty" to "heady" to "cinnamon" to "sage" to "what the heck is this stuff doing to my head?" We put the essential oil from the Artemesia away to rest for a bit, gain our head clear, and then I will send some off to get chemical analysis.

Had a great visit from Dr. Madora and his students from University of Montana, school of Pharmacy on Saturday. Dr. Madora was telling me the medical uses of certain Artemesia for Malaria treatment and intestinal worms. Seems to be a great use in 3rd World Countries. He, nor any of his students (me included) had any idea what chemicals were in the variety that I distilled. The seeds were sold to me as: 'Crammer's Edge Artemesia'. Would love to know if anyone has ever distilled & analyzed this variety.

Distillation of Lavender & Artemesia

This weekend, Sept. 9th & 10th we will be distilling for essential oil once again on our U-PICK Lavender Farm.

The past 2 weeks have been very busy here on the farm with many visitors from all over the globe, and also with the 2nd harvest of many of our English Lavenders coming on strong. Our lavender honey is sold out (already!) until the next extraction occurs sometime in late September. We still have lots of Yummy 'Apple/Lavender Jelly' thanks to our friends at Apple Valley Country Store. Stop by and try a sample of this lovely jelly, and perhaps some of Diane's scrumptious Lavender Shortbread. As always we have organic culinary lavender for you to take home and enjoy this wonderful herb in your favorite recipe.

We are pleased to have Rus Medora and his students from the University of Montana, School of Pharmacy, once again this year. Rus and his students make an annual visit to some of the largest herb farms every year, and we are pleased to be included in their visit again this year. Its always a pleasure for us to visit with Rus, and the students are a great inspiration for us with their interest in our farm and distillation methods.

We are planning on distilling some of our most favorite English Lavenders on Saturday starting around 1:oo. On Sunday we plan to distill some of our own organically grown Artemesia again at 1:00. If you are a lover of the finest English Lavender you will surely want to be here as the aroma permeates the air. Sunday's distillation of Artemesia is a real treat. Known for its use in the spirit Absynthe, Artemesia essential oil has a knack for putting a smile on one's face. The miracle of essential oil in God's creation of plants, and the beauty of distillation to concentrate and seperate the essential oil from the plant is a wonderful thing, and my passion.