The Importance of Habitat: Lavender fields sound like inside of a beehive this week, full of all kinds of bees: honey bees, mason bees, bumble & carpenter.
Lavender and Bees Lavender and bees go together! The following is an excerpt from Farming Soul: A Tale of Initiation and tells how the bees helped us get started marketing lavender. June 10 is generally the beginning of the lavender harvest for the flowers we dry. The work begins before sunrise, as we try to get… Read more »
Lavender Harvest: Distillation
Lavender Harvest: Distillation The moon is in Aquarius, an air (and flower) sign, and an ideal time to begin the lavender harvest for distillation. We will harvest and distill almost everyday over these next two to three weeks. The bees tell us the flowers are ready, the fields really abuzz!
Calyxes opened and sucked dry! When the bees stop visiting the lavender, we know it is time to prune it down into its mounds. We leave a certain percentage for the bees and other pollinators: now it is completely bloomed out. Starting today and over the next month, each plant will get a careful shaping… Read more »
Early morning harvest of Lot Natalie 12 for distillation. Once a fellow lavender grower told me that when people asked him if he would buy their lavender, he replied, Do you really want me to come and cut it back just when it is its most beautiful? Usually the answer was maybe not! But that… Read more »
The bees are letting us know it is time to distill! The calyxes are open and ready to go. Sitting in the lavender is like sitting in a hive (I think. Not that I have done it!) Listen and watch these busy ladies! (We always leave some unharvested so the bees get their fill.) View… Read more »
Photographer Lowell Downey of Art and Clarity photographing Clare Cooper Marcus.(You need to contact him to see the photo!) A number of photographers were present Saturday at the Open House. This is Lowell Downey of Art and Clarity, a local Napa photographer and land activist who actually helped us get started with our marketing ten… Read more »
On Easter afternoon we hike past the wild honeybee trees. The bees are busy, in and out, and our grandson Wesley is in awe! Hole in oak that leads to wild honey bee hive. Then, as we pass the spot where the road enters the forest (where the mission bells are just finishing bloom), we… Read more »
Besides plum trees, the black oaks are budding out with miniature red leaves. Baby Black Oak leaves Soon they will have tiny, pollen-filled flowers dangling from them like pearl earrings. Same Black Oak, six days later. The rosemary bushes are still favorites with the bees. The dry season has meant very few wildflowers, at least… Read more »
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 »
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