August: Lavender Pruning and Weeding

Pruning lavender mounds as goats weed. August: Lavender Pruning and Weeding This month we prune the lavender down into the even mounds it spends most of the year in. We then give the mounds a good watering, thank the lavender for a good year, and give it a couple of months to green up and… Read more »

Smoky Talks Book Review of Snakes, by Patricia Damery

Smoky Talks Book Review of Snakes, by Patricia Damery The following interview of Patricia Damery by Smoky Zeidel is a posting from Smoky Talks Authors. It was my pleasure to have the chance to talk with author Patricia Damery, whose novel, Snakes, is one of my favorite books of the year. (You can read my… Read more »

Using Biodynamic Organic Lavender Essential Oil and Hydrosol

Using Biodynamic Organic Lavender Essential Oil and Hydrosol Distilling lavender brings many gifts. When you distill, you get the essence of that plant’s healing properties: the constituents. For lavender, that includes constituents that balance the nervous system. If you need to relax and go to sleep, lavender helps. If you are lethargic, lavender acts as… Read more »

Story of the Labyrinth

The eastern range is but an outline against the golden glow of First Light. Soon Ramon will arrive to harvest the labyrinth lavender, trimming the flower heads and packing them in sheet bundles. It is a “flower” day, moon in aquarius, an air or “flower” sign. Whenever possible in Biodynamic farming, we time work with… Read more »

The Importance of Habitat

Native bumble bee sleeping overnight in lavender, awakening when sun warms them.               The Importance of Habitat The lavender fields sound like the inside of a beehive this week, full of all kinds of bees: honey bees and mason bees, bumble bees and carpenter bees. Honey bees get a… Read more »

Distillation Event Sale of Last Season Lavender

  Distillation Event Sale of Last Season Lavender If you are in the area Saturday, July 16, please consider dropping by between 8:30 am and 11:30 am as Donald is distilling lavender. You can see the process, and also benefit from end of season sales. Prices are good only as supplies last. Biodynamic Organic Large… Read more »

Distillation: Join Us Saturday Morning, July 16, 8:30 am to 11:30 am

Distillation: Join Us Saturday Morning, July 16, 8:30 am to 11:30 am We started distilling this morning. The bees are buzzing, the sun releasing fragrance, the still going almost full time from now until we have distilled most of our remaining lavender, which seems like forever! This is because our still is small— the good… Read more »

A Cool Drink for Hot Times!

Lavender partially harvested at goat barn. A Cool Drink for Hot Times! For the best limeade ever, try our recipe: Lavender Limeade Heat 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 2 cups of water, 1/4 cup of dried lavender flowers and the zest of a lime until the sugar has dissolved. Cool and strain. Use to sweeten… Read more »

Smoky Talks Book Review of Snakes, by Patricia Damery

JUNE 27, 2011 · 4:20 PM ↓ Jump to Comments Smoky Talks Book Review of Snakes, by Patricia Damery Snakes, by Patricia Damery Review by Smoky Zeidel, Author of Observations of an Earth Mage, The Cabin, and Redeeming Grace. Fisher King Press, 2011, $17.97 Someone who reads as much as I read obviously has a love affair… Read more »

Guest Blog: Part Three of Interview of Charlie Toledo, Executive Director of Suscol Intertribal Council, with Lisa Murgatroyd, Part Three

First Prototype of Suskol House, Native American Healing and Cultural Center in Chiles-Pope Valley. Photo by C. Toledo. Can we have effective stewardship of the land if we do not recognize its ancestral heritage —how it was tended before Western Europeans arrived, the ways it passed from generation to generation, the impact on all by… Read more »