Ahh the sweet smell of Lavender. My house has the most amazing aroma floating through it today. We have been busy, busy, busy. Soap experimenting is happening. Lavender bath crystals packaged up. The most amazing french Lavender essential oil that we brought in is incredible. Wonder absolutely wonderful.
Our weather has definitely changed. Cool rain, thunder ,dark skies. AS dark and gray as it is when you go to work outside you have to take your layers off. Lets hope this rain is giving those baby Lavender plants good strong roots.

Weed barrier is laid in the new garden that was determined to grow into a hay field. A few more plants were planted and that will put us at six hundred and eighty eight. I still have quite a few Lavender plants in pots that really should go in the ground before winter. All three lavender gardens were weeded so we are managing to keep up. It will be spring time when it will test us.
The web site is moving along. Funny thing a web site you type and type all day think and think some more to be clever. Then when you check back it is not even a paragraph.
I also notice everything has a price tag every step adds more money onto the web site.
This morning it was hardly 4 above way too cold. Tonight I was weeding in a hail storm and moving hay in a rain storm. Crazy weather
We have been seeing bears around now. Tonight the animals were acting pretty spooked.

This is also one of the pictures I am using on our new web site. This picture was taken on my door step with the lavender in a flower pot.
I have been spending the last few evenings working on the web site. There is quite a lot of things to do and try to make it sound right. Way more work than one thinks.
It is a gamble will I sell anything? Should I go through all the steps? Am I just scared?

This is one of the pictures I will be using for our new web site. A very pretty picture that was taken by my friend Nickie. It looks a lot like a painting doesn't it.

Today was used up by the usual chores. I did however make quite a bit of soap and I tried a different way so lets hope it works. I also harvested my herbs, washed and ready to dry. Then I will blend it into a wonderful Herbs De Provence Mix. I did not have to do any watering as it was still quite wet from all our rain yesterday. I have been working on a write up for my web site. Hard to get it just right.

This morning I was awake before four am and so could not sleep. So I was checking the Internet on ideas for my web site. I really would like to purchase a Distiller with in the next year. I have been researching them and I think I have found one I like. One that would do the job for us and that I could afford. I had Miss Hyacinth count our Lavender plants and we are at six hundred and seventy six but I do know we have a few more but we didn't count them. I still have some I need to put in the ground I just have run out of room. However in these gardens if we have winter kill this year I won't replace them as some of them are too close together. I did not plant them to spread out as I have to do all the work by myself and by hand. I now need to work on my Dad for a small chunk of hay field. However he does not come home from his holiday I have been eyeing up his garden it would be perfect. :)

Fountain in front of The Little Lavender House

Inside the little Lavender house. It is very hard to get a good picture.

Up and running again. Now time to show you the some of the seven hundred photos that were taken while the computer was getting serviced.
Yes I think we have a bit of a photo problem!!
We have enjoyed working the Lavender, visiting Lavender farms and planning our web site over the last few months. We hope to have the web site up by October but I will be honest with myself the dead line will be December. I just know the next few months will be very hectic.
Our Lavender is just in the baby steps. When I search around there are some amazing Lavender farms. Some so big I can not even imagine. My friends daughter traveled back to Quebec and went to the most magnificent Lavender Farm. Huge! "Lavand Blu" that is is I have it right . Go ahead and correct me Nickie on that Nickie.

Plans, ideas and creative moments every where here. If only I could get past the weeds in the new Lavender garden. Our weather has been wonderful and hot past 50 degrees yesterday they do tell us it is to get cooler. Not to cool I hope. Cool weather means hockey season :(
I have high hopes for our young Lavender plants I do hope they make the winter.'
I am still waiting on my computer so no photo's just yet.
Over  the last couple of years I have met some very nice people while traveling to Lavender gardens. It is so much fun to visit and talk with people that have the same passion as I do. It gives my poor husband a break.
Make sure if you get a moment check some of my favorite places. The few Lavender Farms I have on the sidebar have wonderful web sites. Go check it out and if you can not visit the farms make order you won't regret it.

I am thinking of making a web site. To tell you the truth I have wanted to put one together for a few years and I have had a lot of trouble finding any help. However my goal is in the next three to six months have a web site up and running. I would like to have Lavender products and fibre to start with. Items produced mainly on the farm or from within the farm. Still in the very early thought process.
A lot of thought must go into the web page and the only thing stopping me is fear :)
Still no computer so any pictures will have to wait, sometime this week I am told.
We have had a wonderful weekend, it has been beautiful and warm. We made a very fun road trip to the zoo near Vancouver. We loved every minute of it.

The little Lavender house is winning it is so cute, cute in a rough way but oh so perfect. Last night we spent over three hours of raking, digging, moving rocks, weeding and removing a bee's nest. I only have a few sunflowers but they are doing great. I planted five plants of Russian Sage and two plants of lemon grass. I am not too sure about how the plants will do here. I do not know there zone so later today I will goggle them. Do I cut them down at the end of the season? etc.
Weeds and grass oh my goodness the new garden is going to be a lot of work

This farm has two distillers. Here they were distilling English Lavender. The oil coming out was very clear. Quite amazing how it all works.

Here is the distiller at the Okanagan Lavender Farm

This is the basket I made at the Okanagan Lavender Farm Last weekend.

And, this is the square wreath I made. It was so much for day out. I was dropped off at eleven am and picked up at three pm. An amazing amount of people went through the farm that day.

This is the distiller that they use at the Naramata Lavender Farm. It looks really cool. I am hoping to see how the Okanagan Lavender farm distills tomorrow.

Me in the newly planted Lavender gardens. First garden went in last fall.

My husband is not quite into the Lavender as I am "he just doesn't get it" but he is very patient and takes me and waits. He was reading the signs, checking things out and on snake duty. Umm he did call me a Lavender stalker. I was even on my best behavior I hardly asked any questions. Now I need to go back and ask away...but it is to far for me to get back there.

The owner of the farm gave me a wonderful glass of Lavender Lemonade. The table cloth in the back ground was one of the imports from France.

SIGH.......I so wanted to take all that Lavender home with. My job was to admire my husbands was to keep on the look out for snakes. He told me it was a great spot for snakes???!!!

This Lavender farm had a wonderful little gift store. So full of colour. Many great Lavender products from sachets, spices, umbrellas, imported table clothes from France, bundles of Lavender and to paintings. I bought my Mom a wonderful Christmas gift here. I can not tell you what it is as she reads my blogs but it is wonderful!!

This Lavender at the Naramata farm is waiting to be distilled. I so wish I could have stayed to watch that. They had an amazing amount of Lavender, I can only dream of that much. My little Lavender house is so much fun i do wish you could see it. I guess you would not be as excited as me because I know what it looked like before. Just take my word for it. IT IS SO MUCH FUN!!!!

We are having a busy summer here at the farm. We try to do something on Saturdays and a few of our Saturdays I have been able to talk my husband on a couple of road trips. One has been to the Kelowna Lavender farm and one has been to Naramata Lavender farm. What a fun experience. I will write more about them but for now I have to run as we are on another road trip to Kamloops and Bridge Lake to pick up our kids.

A beautiful fountain that Miss Lulu does think it is for her benefit only. She likes to climb in with all four feet and stand and cool off.

A Lavender floor. At the moment it is sprinkled with little Lavender buds that have floated to the floor from the drying Lavender

Lavender ocean theme soap. Very tiny but very special.

Finished floor. It did not turn out as nice as I wanted but it is done. I think the grout was way too dark for what I wanted. The colour of the grout was something to do with wheat and summer it was all I could find in bulk.

Front side of the Little Lavender House. This little house is full of good smells right now.