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| Lot Natalie in the early morning. |
The bees always alert us to the timing first! When they arrive, it means the calyxes are beginning to open, and we need to harvest lavender for the dried product pronto! We want to get it just after the opening of two or three calyxes so the flowers do not shatter after drying.
We began on Tuesday morning early, a “flower” day, or a day the moon was in an air sign (Libra), ideal for aromatics. In distilling that we get more oil on these days, and it is often sweeter. We harvested from Lot Natalie, named after our first little goat who endeared everyone with her strong, sturdy, if reclusive nature. In Jungian language, she was an introvert, and she loved those close to her, two and four legged! This lavender too is close to our living area, far from the more public areas of our ranch. The energy of that is in the bouquets: family loving, close to heart, spirited.
The bouquets will hang in the drying shed for three weeks and then will be made into small and large bouquets as well as cleaned off for culinary use. I always think of the lavender (and the other aromatics) as being so full of that lively goat energy that celebrates life!