Autumn on the farm is one of my favorite times. The trees and the vineyards all turn various shades of red and yellow and the lavender plants are looking spiffy with their new haircuts. And then once it starts raining, I will get to spend many happy hours in the greenhouse propagating lavender or processing the dried lavender from the barn. Every season brings its own joy, doesn't it?
This season also brings with it two wonderful developments here at the farm and shop.
First of all, I have hired my very first employee (!!!) -- the ray of sunshine that is Elise! She will be working at the shop on Saturdays to start, with more days to come as the season gets busier. So if you're local, come by and say hello to Elise and be prepared to have your day get a little brighter.
Secondly, Mark's company is sending him to France for a week at the end of October and I'm tagging along! I feel so incredibly lucky to have this opportunity and have been dredging the recesses of my brain for that high school French I learned so long ago! We will be in the Lyon region first and then heading south to Provence (once he's done with work) to visit lavender farms and a lavender museum! I'm hoping to find some cute Frenchy/lavendery things to add to our shop as well. So if you've been to that area, and have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them! Just drop me an email.
That being said, our online shop will be paused for a few weeks and our Newberg shop will have limited hours that fit with Elise's schedule (Saturdays for sure and possibly Sundays). So if you live out of the Newberg/Dundee area and know you're going to need anything lavender this month, be sure to visit our online store and get your orders in soon!
I can't wait to tell you all about our trip! The November newsletter will be full of all things France!!
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Lavender brooms decorating our shop | | |
If you have lavender growing in your yard that needs to be cut back or if you have old lavender bouquets that you need to replace, here's a fun use for the stems once you've debudded them (and saved the buds in a sachet!).
Materials
- 4-5 bunches of debudded dried lavender stems
- Twine
Instructions
1. Gather 3-4 of the debudded lavender stem bunches together and gently tamp down so that the ends are even. Create a space in the middle of the bunches to insert the last bunch so that the smooth end of the stems sticks out. This last bunch will be your broom handle.
2. Take a small piece of twine and tightly tie it all together.
3. Now with the rest of the twine, start about 1/4 of the way down the broom part and start wrapping the twine around the broom, criss-crossing tightly. Tie off tightly and cut the twine.
4. Starting at the top of the handle (where it sticks out of the broom part) start wrapping twine again as far down the handle as you want. Tie it off tightly.
5. Line up the ends of the broom where the handle comes out and trim if needed to give it a finished look.
(For decoration only)
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Apple lavender muffins right out of the oven! | | |
Ingredients
- 1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1⁄2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄2 cup milk
- 1.5 teaspoons ground culinary lavender buds
- 1⁄2 cup butter, melted
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 cup apple, peeled and diced
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1) Coat 12 muffin tins with cooking spray or line with muffin cups.
2) In a large bowl, sift together flour; sugar; baking powder and salt. Make a well in center.
3 )In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, lavender; butter and egg. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir by hand until the batter is just evenly moistened. Fold in the apples.
4) Fill the prepared muffin tins about three-quarters full. Bake until knife inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
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Here’s a little story about lavender and sleep. A few years back, I was driving to a farmer’s market in my car packed with lavender products. The windows were rolled up because it was warm outside and I had the AC on. About an hour into my trip, I found that I was having a difficult time keeping my eyes open, so I pulled over and got myself a cup of coffee. I was stumped! I’d had a good night’s sleep, I wasn’t tired, and I was excited for the farmers market. But it quickly dawned on me that I was inhaling a whole lot of lavender. That’s when I realized that there must be something to the claims of lavender helping with sleep. When I got home I thought I’d investigate a little, and I found multiple studies that supported my assumption.
The studies I found show that inhaling the scent of lavender or lavender essential oil is a natural way to reduce mild to moderate insomnia and improve sleep quality. Why? Lavender contains linalool, which calms the central nervous system and promotes slow-wave sleep, meaning that you fall asleep more quickly, sleep longer, and sleep more deeply. Participants in the studies I found also noted that they awoke feeling more refreshed. In addition, lavender improved restlessness, disturbed sleep, and other sleep complaints. All without any unwanted side effects!
Interestingly, researchers at Kagoshima University in Japan recently found evidence that the linalool reaches the brain through the nose, not through the lungs and into the bloodstream as is the current thought. They note that more research is needed, but how cool is that? It might be that the actual scent of lavender promotes sleep!
Here are a few of the studies I found, if you'd like to read more:
"Effect of Inhaled Lavender and Sleep Hygiene on Self-reported Sleep Issues: A Randomized Controlled Trial"
"Lavender and the Nervous System"
"Lavender Fragrance Essential Oil and the Quality of Sleep in Postpartum Women"
"Effects of Lavender Aroma on Sleep Quality in Healthy Japanese Students"
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Featured Products: Sleep Support | |
Here are just a few of our lavender products that might be helpful in supporting a good night's sleep:
Sleep pillows are placed under your own pillow and then as you move your head during sleep, the lavender aroma is released as the buds are compressed.
Lavender neck wraps are great right before bedtime. Place the wrap in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, shaking after one minute and then continuing to microwave in short intervals until the desired heat is reached. Place around your neck and relax as the tension melts away!
Lavender essential oil roll-on is great for day use as well as night use. Roll a bit on your wrists before you go to sleep so that the scent wafts around you. Our rollers are a combination of our own farm distilled lavender essential oil and grapeseed oil.
Lavender hydrosol is a great pillow mist (and a few moms have told me a great monster repellent as well:). Hydrosol has a milder scent than straight essential oil with many of the same benefits! Distilled right here at Little Lavender Farm!
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 My grandmother, Winifred King Reynolds |
The year was 2003. I was a young mother, thinking about parenthood and its challenges. And I needed to know that I could handle what lay ahead. So I headed to my grandma’s house. I needed her wisdom.
I walked into grandma’s apartment, sat on the floor next to the blue upholstered chair she was sitting in, and pressed “record” on the small tape recorder I’d brought And then she began telling the stories I’d heard many times before, starting with her earliest memory -- that of her father being prepared for burial on the kitchen table after dying from the 1918 flu and the impression his white socks made upon her. And then the story about the time she fell in quicksand when she was 6 years old and her brother pulled her out, grabbing her hand from an overhanging tree branch. And about her mother looking into a bare cupboard during the Great Depression, and then telling her three children to get down on their knees to pray -- not that food would arrive, but that the hunger pangs wouldn’t be too difficult to bear. And about how they would unscrew the one light bulb they had and move it from room to room. And she talked about how happy her childhood was.
Later she talked about meeting my grandfather, about the birth of her 5 children, with special stories attributed to each of them, about my Uncle Jimmy’s illness that left him with a mental capacity of a 3-year-old for the rest of his life, and about the difficult choices she faced in his care with four other children to raise. She talked about the blessings each child brought, both through the challenges and the triumphs.
Finally, she talked about my grandfather slowly slipping away from her due to Alzheimers, the few people he remembered, the one song he would respond to (“You Are My Sunshine”), and the long, slow goodbye to the love of her life. But she recognized, even in the pain of that goodbye, the gift of having such a love to share her life with.
Although my grandmother’s life wasn’t easy, she isn’t remembered by the tragic events in her life, but instead by the joy with which she lived it. When I think of my grandmother, I think of her laugh, her hugs, and her singing. She saw everyday as a gift -- both the good days for their sweetness and the bad days for their lessons learned.
The innocent days of young motherhood are gone for me, replaced with 3 grown children struggling to survive and make sense of an increasingly complex world. There have been times where I’ve struggled with what encouraging words I could say to them. But then I think back on my grandma’s life and how strong she was amidst her challenges, how much love she gave to everyone around her, and how much joy she exuded – and what I often end up saying is something along the lines of this:
You can do hard things. You come from strong people. You are loved. You are a gift. Keep laughing, keep loving, keep singing your song.
I think if grandma were still here, she might approve.
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I hope you've enjoyed our September newsletter! Feel free to forward our newsletter to any lavender-loving friends who you think might enjoy it! And follow us on Instagram for more pretty lavender pictures!
Pam
(Unless otherwise noted, all photos are taken by me!)
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