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| Lesa Hertel explaining distillation. |
Our field trip to the lavender farm was rescheduled from June 4th to today, because it was raining at the beginning of June. Here it is, the middle of July, and the temperatures are so moderate that the farm is not able to distill any essential oils yet. Lesa Hertel, one of the owners, explained to us that the plants need to be stressed by some sustained heat to begin producing the oils. She gave us an informative talk about lavender and showed us her little copper still. Then we went out into the fields for a short tour, after which, we grabbed scissors, baskets, hats, and sunscreen, and went out to chop the lavender bunches for our wreaths.
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| Lavender Maillette |
Because of the wet winter, many plants had visible root rot, which Lesa explained had to be cut away. Instead of lush fields with lavender everywhere, there were large gaps in the rows where plants had died or were struggling. Apparently, fungus is one of the worst threats to lavender. The Hertels chose to plant acres of lavender originally because the deer won't eat it and most pests leave it alone. It doesn't require much watering and is almost drought-tolerant after the first year. It seems that is is better to under-water than over-water. Although their fields are on a slope, which probably saved them from a worse loss, the plants were still not happy with the rainy Spring. If you go back to look at my pictures of last year's field trip, you will see a big difference between the row of Maillette that I photographed this year, and the rows of beautiful foliage from last year.
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| Donna making her bunches. |
There was still plenty of lavender and lavandin for us to cut to make our wreaths, with a lot left out in the fields for the bees and the wreath-makers to come. Here are some examples of our handy work:
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| Joan in her sunhat, making her wreath. |
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| Me, my wreath, and I. |
As I sit here typing at my computer, the scent of lavender fills my office. The wreath I made, mostly from the Maillette, is hanging around the corner in the dining room. Waves of lavender aroma waft through the door periodically to remind me of the fun day we shared. Hopefully, this winter will be a little drier and the Hertel's farm will bounce back to its former lushness. We'll plan on field trip number 3 for June 2012.
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| Bekkah and Bellah hearing about lavender. |
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A small amount of distilled oil, Herbs de Provence,
and lavender spray. |
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| Everyone listens intently. |
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