It's Lavender Harvest Time!
An Inside Look At The Process
Oh wow! Do I ever wish we had Smell-o-vision here on Steemit, for right now my house smells like the inside of a Provence, France lavender farm drying shed. Or Martha Stewart's bathroom. heh. The smell of lavender is permeating my kitchen, dining room, and school room, its soothing, clean scent is bathing my smell receptors with niceties and calmness. My fingers smell so much like the plant that every time I tap the keyboard I get a blast of the scent. I must admit I am pretty chill at the moment.
That said, I have over 250 mature lavender plants here on the farm, and like all other crops, they all decided to be ready for harvest all at once, so for the last three days I have been getting up at an unholy hour and cutting flowers. Honestly, there are worse jobs, and I have to say that I smell right nice when I finish my day's harvesting labors. It's not all purple smell good flowers and rainbows though. Lavender buds have to be harvested before ten AM in the morning, as after that time frame the oil in the buds dissipates for the day, only to return in the evening. You also want to cut lavender for dried lavender buds at the right stage of bloom, which is when just a couple of flowers open on an entire plant. This of course means that the bud harvest window is rather narrow, thus my lack of sleeping in over the past few days. I may smell good, but I am feeling rather unglamorous at the moment, let me tell you.
Then, after you cut the day's buds, you have to come back to the house and bundle the flowers for drying. Today, I got smart and bundled the flowers as I cut them from the plant, rubber banding the lavender flowers in smart little bundles for drying. Until today though I just did a trimmed Earth policy and went a whacking through the field, filling my trays with tons of flowers that needed to be later rubber banded into bundles. It's much better to handle the flowers only once in the field rather than cut them, bundle, and then hang them. Sometimes it takes a bit for the smart to kick in on this Kat, just saying.
After bundlin time it's hangin time. Oooh, that sounds like an old western movie doesn't it? And I am reasonably sure that if the lavender was sentient it would feel a little like it had been arrested and dispatched, for the last part of harvest is to hang the bundles to dry. I have a high ceiling school room that never gets any direct sunlight. The room also has a window that opens and lets the prevailing breeze wander through. It's important to dry herbs and flowers out of direct sunlight, and I do so since occasionally I listen to things I read and am told about important stuff like plant harvesting and drying.
After tomorrow, the flower cutting part of my lavender harvest shall be complete. After a couple of weeks of drying the last phase will commence, all of the buds have to be stripped from the stems and the buds themselves will be sifted and packaged for sale.
This year's harvest is special to me as my plants were put into ground the year my daughter was born. I just cannot believe that event was thirteen years ago! I remember having her out in the field with me in her stroller, and eighteen months later her brother joined her during lavender harvest time.:) This year I am giving the entire profit from the crop to my kids to help them pay for their 4-H equipment. They both have been so very helpful over the years, always quick to dive in and lend a hand on the farm. Now don't get me wrong, they totally helped earn this bit of money, as harvesting, drying, and packaging lavender is kind of a tedious job. It just has to be one of the best smelling tedious jobs that I have ever done!
In a couple of weeks I hope to share a report of just how successful this endeavor has been. Or a story of how the cat got caught in the lavender drying ropes and went helter skelter through the school room on a lavender destruction campaign of the likes that a Kaiju couldn't wreak. Either way there will be a story for sure!
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Sounds like tough work, indeed. But there must be a real sense of accomplishment when it is all said and done.
If it makes you feel any better, I was hard at it today too. W and I went out to the forest to pick salal berries which are just starting to come in. They are a pretty easy pick; you can look for whole stems that are ripe and pick that but the processing later at home is tedious. I watched some Netflix cooking show while I worked away. I currently have a dehydrator full of berries and I also stumbled onto some bramble berries and they are baking away with some cookies:):):)
Your photos were beautiful. I loved the blues you captured along with the purples:)
Ooh, Pryde, your salal harvesting makes me think fond thoughts of growing up to the northwest of you in the Southeast Alaska panhandle. I miss foraging for salmon berries and the like each year. Of course we have huckleberries to gather every year and my zucchini is almost ready, but there is just something magical about coastal forests. Thanks for sharing my friend:)
:):):)
Thank God you don't have smell-o-vision, lavender makes my allergies go nuts. My mom has tortured me with her lavender bush for years. She used to hang it up all over the restaurant every summer. She's lucky I love her, I passed that damn bush many times with the weedwacker in my hands and evil thoughts in my brain.
Good luck with your lavender, make sure it stays on your side of the country.
Wow, I have this sudden, strange urge to mail lavender to the East Coast...hmmm... LOL!
That was right nice of you to refrain from lavender massacre, I always figured you were a bit of a crusty marshmallow:D
And as your interwebs friend, I will now express my heartfelt sympathy that you have plant allergies, that actually does suck. My poor uncle suffered from hay fever and every year when we put in hay he looked like a blob fish. Of course we were all amused by his misery, but I did feel bad for him, sorta.
Hope you're staying cool and watching loads of baseball and stuff:)
I shouldn't complain about my allergies too much. They are annoying but my dad had it much worse. He couldn't even go to the farm when they started cutting hay.
Loads of baseball yes, staying cool no. Brutally hot and humid lately. The only benefit is my yard is starting to turn a lovely shade of brown, which means less mowing and sneezing.
How are you?
I imagine for a moment the smell of lavender is a smell that permeates the place where you are
The truth is that I have never had a ceerca recently cut I have always had cleaning products and have your flower should be a wonder I imagine the smell of your hands and the whole place
I am great, hope you are well?:)
Lavender scented cleaning products are everywhere, but I hope that someday you get to smell the stuff fresh off the bush, it is an experience!
That's such a familiar sight, at the moment! We built a labyrinth in our back yard a few years back, and it is circled with what is now 100+ mature lavender plants... and we're in full harvest time, right now. EVERYthing smells like lavender... the house, the cars, our clothes... we even sell the fresh bundles at our shop!
Fun that you have a "fundraising" goal, of sorts! Hope it works out!
A Labyrinth! That is AWESOME!
As a fellow person whose entire existence smells of the purple flowers, I totally understand that whole statement about the cars, house, clothes, etc...We finished up our harvest this morning, now just gotta wait for it all to dry before we strip the stems, sift, and dry the buds. I love that you sell yours at your shop, what kind of shop? Curious Kat and all, lol!
Thanks for stopping by:)
I had never seen a lavender crop, imagine the fresh smell. Congratulations for so much harvest.
The smell is completely glorious, and thank you so much for the congrats:)
As I would love for that Smell-o-vision option to exist here there are many things that I would surely like to smell like good food and this lavender comes from someone who does not like the smell of lavender
Spread the progress and see how this goes
Ha ha! I know a few folks that do not like the smell of lavender, isn't it wild how different our senses of smell and likes of scents are?:)
I hear ya though, being able to smell good food while reading about it would be fantastic!!!
Thirteen years is a long waiting time... So they deserve to enjoy all the money.
Oh, we only had to wait about three years for a mature harvest, I was just amazed that it has been that long since we put the plants in:) Thank you so much for the nice reply!
I assume teenage lavender plants are somewhat less moody than teenage daughters.
Most definitely.
I believe I CAN smell it all the way over here!
Ha ha ha! It's permeating the Web from my keyboard! LOL LOL! Did you make it home? I better go check your blog:)
Yes Ma'am. I made it back for Monochrome Monday :)
I saw that! I am swear I get so woefully behind sometimes, but I am now all caught up in upvote-land on your blog:) Glad you made it home safe and sound.
Awww you are too kind! I always always appreciate the support. I suppose I should say it more often. Steem on Kat!
very beautiful photo
Great article thank you for the wonderful information, my friend