Long Island Lavender

 One of the delights of a vacation for a curious (nosy) person such as myself is meeting people who have a passion.  Everyone is usually proud of 'their town', but passionate people are usually attached to and passionate about a very particular place or event.  On Sunday we ran into one of those people when we visited the Lavender Farm.  A woman about my age told me everything there was to know about lavender.

I learned their farm is in two parts:  A 17 acre parcel (see above), and a 31 acre parcel.  Even with all the lavender harvested, the scent was pervasive.  There was no doubt what kind of farm you were visiting.  At the farm store they were selling lavender plants (most of which were still blooming) in the size pot in which you would buy a geranium.  And, the bees were busy at work on those blooming plants.  They were also advertising their once a year lavender honey was now available.  In addition to lavender, the farm has its own bee hives.   

There's French Lavender and English Lavender.  Generally, French Lavender has one bloom per stalk while English Lavender usually has two blooms.  "F" (French) is for fragrance, and "E" (English) is for edible.  Thus, you would make a sachet out of French lavender and brew your tea with English lavender.  The lady I chitchatted with confided she drinks a cup of lavender tea every night right before bed as her sleep aid.

In July, harvest begins as the sounds of chainsaws rip through the air.  One man wielding a chainsaw can harvest one acre a day.  Prior to gas driven chainsaws, lavender was harvested using scythes.  It was a much slower harvest, and less noisy.  If you notice, the lavender plants look like domes.  That's the preferred method of harvest.  Apparently, you never harvest lavender close to the ground

19th century scythe

 The woman I talked to demonstrated how to harvest a geranium sized lavender plant you would buy at their Farm Store.  She thrust her hand into the plant about halfway between the tip end of the plant (where the bloom grows) and the soil.  Then she spread her fingers and mimed snipping the plant just above her fingers in an arc, so you would be left with a dome shaped plant.  To successfully grow lavender, you need six hours of direct sunlight and good drainage.

The store was chock full of an array of lavender products.  I was thrilled to find one of my favorite ointments for dry skin.  It is a bees wax/oil pressed with lavender oil, and I seek it out every chance I get.  I use it at night on my hands and feet since lavender is used to calm angry skin as well as promote sleep.  This store had sachets, neck wraps, bath salts, hand lotion, soap, plants, tea, honey, mugs, aprons, t-towels, and my personal favorite:  a purple t-shirt advertising the Lavender Farm.  I also bought harvested lavender in a four ounce pouch.

I plan to add that lavender to my own rose petals I brought to Brooklyn from my rose bushes in Arizona.  I'm going to be making some sachets out of the Korean silk Marilyn, my mother-in-law, gave me.  (She and Norm, Drake's Dad, spent two years on an American Air Force base in South Korea in the 1970's, and Norm's employees had full Korean ceremonial dress costumes made out of silk presented to both of them.)  Forty years later, I was the happy recipient of the silk.  Since the clothes were floor length and 'full', there was a lot of salvageable material. 

Once again, readers, you now know more about a subject than you ever realized you wanted to know.