Move-in Ready

Sometimes the place you thought was your place isn’t your place after all.  That "awesome barn" farm we fell in love with?  Well...it came with an equally cool log house -- but one which would have taken a LOT of time and a LOT of money to make it what we wanted. Which would have meant a lot less time and money for growing lavender. And that’s what I want to do.  

So we said goodbye to that place and grabbed onto a different, more realistic, equally exciting one. This new place also has land (though not as much), and a barn (though not a cool old wooden one)-- but it also has a house that has big windows to a big view, a perfectly sloped, open field for growing lavender, a greenhouse (!), a guest apartment, two goats, one chicken, and lots of fruit trees. A move-in ready farm! On top of that, it is surrounded by wineries and the beautiful red hills of Dundee.  And, most importantly, it was “Mom-approved.” So we close escrow in a few days and I can hardly wait to move in.

---

We’ve already been tractor-shopping (including a “test-drive”), I’ve got my Burpee catalog seed choices circled and ready to order, I’m learning about greenhouse gardening, and I’ve been reading up on goats -- but I still don’t quite know what varieties of lavender to plant. With over 450 different varieties to choose from, the decisions become a little tougher, so I nerded out earlier today and created a lavender chart, which actually really helped.  Now I’ve got my choices for 3 of our 4 fields narrowed down:  Grosso (long stems, great for sachets), Royal Velvet (good for culinary and cutting), Buena Vista (blooms continuously and good for culinary).  But I’m still working on that fourth choice: Sharon Roberts?  Purple Bouquet? Hidcote Giant? Should I throw some white or pink in there?  Do I want more culinary? So many things to consider and so many interesting varieties out there -- but I guess I could always incorporate a few into the herb garden and see how they do. So as soon as we close on this house, I am ordering my lavender plugs from Mountain Valley Growers and the lavender fun will begin. If I’m lucky, I will have at least a little lavender by the end of summer.

I am so ready!

---