Welcome to our little slice of heaven...

Henry oversees out first planting of Grosso lavender

Sweet Lavender getting bigger

Grosso lavender

It all started a year ago after a visit to Keys Creek Lavender Farm in North San Diego County.  I had been thinking about maybe possibly adding to the few lavender plants we had because I had always loved the plant and was trying to figure out what to do with a large part of our property.  But after walking through the lavender field at Keys Creek, watching the distilling process, sampling their lavender lemonade and lavender shortbread, I was hooked.  As we were leaving, Mark and I noticed flats of Grosso lavender for sale and decided right then that this was what we wanted to do and bought a flat.  For the next 3 months we added a row at a time, purchasing the rest of our lavender, both Grosso and Sweet Lavender (Lavandula Heterophylla) from Pearson’s Gardens in Vista, CA.  

Since then I have worked on educating myself about Lavender and its uses -- and there's a lot to learn. Thankfully there are some wonderful websites out there:  Mountain Valley Growers,
Millbrook Lavender Farm and Lavender Lake Farms to name a few.  We've had several harvests so far, one unattractive pruning (those poor Grosso plants have looked like a dog with a bad haircut for the last few months), tried soap-making, wreath-making, and sachet-making.  And I have given lavender bunches to friends, family, neighbors...anyone really. (Everyone knows what they're getting this year for Christmas.) I've also researched essential oil distraction and hope to try this out over the summer as well.  The next planting will include more culinary lavender varieties because that opens up a whole other obsession.