CRAZY BUSY!

I've been super busy since my last post. Tons going on with the farm, weather, preparing for a wedding celebration, etc. etc.

Last Sunday, we had an absolutely beautiful wedding here at our farm. There's a lot of work that goes into holding an event of this magnitude and we take it very seriously. We work very hard to make sure that the property is mowed & cleaned up as much as possible. And for a certified organic farm - this means cultivation/mowing, etc. The results look pretty spectacular.

Aubrey & Aaron are the darling couple who chose our farm for their big day. The weather ultimately cooperated and they had a stunning event. As a result of this beautiful wedding, I met some really talented & fun people! Two incredible photographers covered this celebration:

gene higa & ann hamilton! They've posted some fabulous photos on their own blogs of their coverage. Definitely worth checking out! http://www.genehiga.net/ and http://www.annhamilton.com/ We were also fortunate to have met another big talent ~ anton lorimer! http://www.lorimerworks.com/ He creates inspiring video works with the eye of a true cinematographer. And the woman responsible for making sure the bride was perfection for each photo.... Maria Chang! http://www.professionalmakeupartistry.com/ (PMA). Flawless work and a super-sweetie to boot!

The day was planned and orchestrated by Brandy Cabrahl of Bliss Event Productions http://www.blisseventproductions.com/ . It was the first time Brandy had coordinated a wedding at our farm and she did a brilliant job. She is a consummate professional and incredibly easy to work with. She did her best to make sure everything ran beautifully and smoothed over any problems that Mother Nature threw in our direction... rain? no rain. Strange weather this year...

Gorgeous flowers by http://www.lushfloral.com/ and another artfully presented and well executed menu by Rolando at http://www.alexscatering.com/ !

But what else is going on at the farm??? Well... we're transplanting some new lavender out in the field. This one is Lavandula angustifolia ‘Folgate’Lavender. Folgate is an evergreen perennial, Ht. 60 cm. Short spikes of mid purple blue flowers in summer. Grey, green, aromatic foliage. Compact habit. Medicinal and culinary, add flowers and leaves sparingly to stews, soups and salads. We will be harvesting this for the essential oil qualities as well.

Yesterday we began harvesting our Twickle Purple lavender! This is such a wonderfully aromatic lavender for essential oil, dry herb for cooking and, of course, crafts! I have quite a few friends that like to come out to help with harvesting. This is Kara - she is a huge help and a dear friend.

We hand harvest a lot of our lavender for drying bundles & fresh cut! If we're planning to harvest a particular variety for oil... we have a really cool implement that was designed to harvest green tea in Japan. we use it for lavender & have found it works brilliantly!

But... for the good old fashioned hand harvest technique... we use this little number. it's very sharp & very effective!