Its no secret, I love fall!  It's my favorite time of the year.  As a lifelong Michigander, I have always loved the change of season.  Yes, even winter, although around late February to March it can get a bit old! I am a cold weather person.  I have been told I thrive in the cold weather. 

We have purchased an old log cabin built in 1876 in Northern Michigan. It's just under 900 square feet.  We just LOVE it.  The previous owners were such nice people and left us most of the furnishings. Of course, I have started to do my some of my own decorating and adding my own personal touch.  I have found some great finds in antique stores around the area. We also would like to fix things up a bit to make it possible for full time living, such as adding a washer/dryer (which is lacks currently) and new metal roof and new flooring.  The cabin is heated by propane and a wood stove and it gets toasty in there once it gets going!  The cabin is surrounded by National Forest for miles! It's beautiful all the time, but I love the fall and winter up there best!

LABOR DAY SALE:   Look out for it Labor Day weekend.  We will have 15% off everything in our shop when you spend $35.00. Currently, we have 10% off select items.  Both our e-commerce store on this website and our Etsy shop carry these sales!

NEW PRODUCTS:  In the spirit of fall, I have introduced some scented putka pods (mini pumpkins).  I am smelling them right now in my home. The scent of cinnamon is filling the air.  My college aged son even took a bowl up to his bedroom!

The scents I have available are cinnamon stick, autumn apple orchard, and orange spice. The color of the pods are burgundy and orange mixed. Each package come 4 cups to a bag and are  tied with a decorative ribbon.  Use them for Harvest/Halloween decor or parties or just place them in a bowl like I have and smell the wonderful scent in your home.  They also make a great gift!

NEW CANDLES:   I will have the same scents as listed for the putka pods - that is autumn apple orchard, cinnamon stick, and orange spice. I will be listing these very soon!  Coming soon also are Peppermint candles and Peppermint soap!   Look for those as winter approaches.

IN THE GARDEN:   Lots and lots of tomatoes and peppers.  Perfect for making salsa and so that's what I have done.  I usually make fresh salsa and it's eaten up pretty quickly.  It's so much better than store bought using fresh from the vine tomatoes.  I also would really like to do some canning of jellies and jams.  Love blackberry jam!!  I have also make lavender blackberry and lavender strawberry.  I just have not found the time to do it yet this summer!.  Because of food laws, I cannot sell my jellies and  jams online.  However, if and when I get them ready, I probably will place an announcement online and use Facebook Marketplace as well.  Face-to-face sales are required.  So local peeps can come out to the farm or we can arrange to meet.  Will post soon! 

I have a raised bed growing Ever-bearing strawberries this year.  Next, season I am hopeful for a bumper crop of strawberries.  I hope to add a blackberry and raspberry patch next year as well.  I love berrries!  

FLORAL DESIGN:   As I am finishing up the floral design orders I took before I decided to take a break from wedding party design,  I have not gotten to rest my hands as much as I should.  Still I am wearing braces to sleep in and the flare up is getting better. Hoping to have a return to a full line of floral design in the new year.  A few bouquets are listed.  They are mostly lavender bundles or mixed with a few simple flowers. 

We still have our line of home decor floral designs up - bud bases, mason jar vases, farmhouse grater arrangement, milk jug/church arrangements, wreath etc.  Our Sunflower and Lavender Grater Arrangement is NEW for fall!  

That's it for now. THINK FALL!!  Sorry summer lovers!  I am just tickled that it's almost time for my favorite time of the year with a cool down (hopeful) soon. 

Want to see some photos of the outside of our cabin?  Check out our Gallery below. All photos are copyrighted Lavender Rose Farms, LLC.  There is also some photos of our new scented putka pods, our sunflower and lavender farmhouse grater!

​

  I have carpal tunnel syndrome.  I have spoken to my doctor, and I am having a bad flare since I did our lavender harvest and bundling this year.  I am in wrist splints and on steroids to calm it down.  However, I most likely will be having a consultation with a hand/wrist specialist and possible surgery if not controlled by other treatment.   I do,  however, need to rest my rest my wrists for the immediate future.  So I am scaling back on floral designs. 

For now, I have taken down our wedding bouquets except simple lavender and lavender and baby's breath bouquets - as those sell out I will also be removing those listings.  Our more detailed wedding bouquets are no longer listed on our store website or Etsy.  I will be finishing any orders for weddings I have already taken.  So be assured if I have taken an order already, I will complete it. 

My hope is to reintroduce the floral design after the holidays at the latest for spring weddings 2021, as I hope to have resolution to the wrist issue (surgery or not) by then.

 Our shop will still provide lavender products, natural gifts and some new offerings as well.  I will be expanding our floral/botanical candles with some new autum themed scents!

I can make bulk candles, lotions, and other products and have them last for quite awhile so it's easier to stock up and not be constantly remaking products weekly.  Floral designs are bit more difficult.  I have left up our container type arrangements (bud vases, mason jars, grater arrangements etc).  Having the container is easier on my wrists to do designs.  Also, usually these orders are for 1 or 2 at time while wedding parties are often much larger and more work (and more strain on my wrists).  

I will revisit the floral bouquets again for next spring pending on my outcome with Carpal tunnel.  

Thank you! 

​Elaine 

New Product - Lavender hand salve.  Gardener's Salve.  Lavender Balm!! 

This Lavender Salve is made using Michigan grown, cut, and hand dried lavender at our lavender farm and then combined with Organic Lavender Essential Oil and Pure, Raw Beeswax, coconut oil, and jojoba oil. This salve is sweetly fragrant and smells like fresh cut Lavender.

This is a great salve for year round use. Uplifting and soothing in the dark winter months and helps to heal dry, cracked winter skin. Wonderful for gardener, farmers or anyone working with their hands who suffers from dry, cracked skin.

Can also be used as migraine/headache relief or relaxation purposes by simply dabbing on your temples.

There are a  few changes to our shop and our web page. I am no longer doing consultation for lavender growi.  There has not been a high demand plus there are some free resources, which I myself have used.   I might just post a separate blog about that topic coming up soon.   

Our floral designs are seeing major changes.  I have removed all but our most popular bouquets.  For those designs, I am ONLY offering bridal sizes for the more elaborate bouquets.  One some of the bouquets I am still offering medium and large size. I am a one-person operation for the floral designs.  The larger wedding parties are becoming a bit much for me to handle alone additionally  the designs are very time intensive. I will no longer to do any custom designs either.  The bouquets that I have listed is what I will provide in the size listed  A simple change out of flower color or ribbon is fine.  Extensive customization is no longer available
I have removed our Save-the-Date page due to the fact I do not intend to do large wedding parties any longer.   

I also have been seeing an increase in the flare of my carpal tunnel syndrome.  I was a medical transcriptionist for 18 plus years and now with the fine work of wedding parties I am seeing a lot of increase of symptoms and pain. 

I have decided to take the shop more in a direction of home decor type of floral dried arrangements and increasing our line of natural gifts, candles and other items.  I have been inspired by time at our cabin to start increasing our primitive and rustic designs. 

Also as another notice or reminder.  We are a non-traditional lavender farm. We do not have public hours.  I get a lot of inquiries about that. There are multiple reasons for this.  One is we are still working on our fields still.   We had some losses of plants the winter before last and just replanted this season.  Another is we have neighbors as we in a semi-rural area right on the outskirt of Monroe.  We technically are in Frenchtown, but use a Monroe address/postal code.  We decided we do not want the liability of public visits, but we are open doing some events that are scheduled for specific weekends including garden tours, selling of our products on sight, and plant sales. These would begin hopefully next season (summer 2021).  I will post updates. 

Thank you~ Hope everyone is  having a great summer so far!  Here are some pictures of some of our home decor type arrangements and some of our new products. 

The last of the French lavender harvest is in and boy did we get a bumper crop this year.  The plants are at maturity and really produced!  I have hundreds of lavender bundles available and they are up and listed on our shop currently! 

You may purchase online for nationwide shipping or we are  doing LOCAL PICKUP at our farm in Monroe Mi of both English and French bundles and other products.  Place an order from our eCommerce store and select PICKUP option.  If ordering via Etsy please message me so I can create a listing minus shipping OR simply send me am message here via our contact page, Facebook page, or elaine@lavenderrosefarms.com and you can pay cash when  you pickup, which is the easiet option!  

We also can invoice via Venmo or Paypal.  

I am at our cabin in Northern Michigan right now, but will be back on Monday the 27th for pickup and shipping options. 

We also have English Lavender Bundles - please see previous blog on the English lavender harvest and pictures. 

I have included a gallery below of some harvest pictures! 

PUBLIC FARM HOURS UPDATES: We do not have public hours currently.  However, if you contact me, I can arrange a pick up time for all our products. Pickup is by appointment only. We are working on possible garden tours next season.  Since I am a one-woman operation keeping up with orders, the fields, and other business aspects is more than a full-time job.  My hubby works a regular full-time job and helps with heavier lifting for the outside work, as do my sons when they are off work.  So, therefore, it has taken a bit longer than planned to have any kind of public visitation to our place.  We have decided garden tours with our property set up will be the best avenue rather than regular business hours onsite.  We are on just the outskirts of Monroe in Frenchtown Township.  We are closer to town than many people think.  We live near Munson Park and are about 5-7 minutes drive to Downtown Monroe! We really have the best of both worlds having a little farm right on the outskirts of town.  Also, it makes it really it easy for local people to do a pick up of products and save the shipping.  We look forward to some scheduled tours to come visit the fields, see the wildflower gardens, and purchase products. We hope to have a PLANT sale next summer.  We have several different varieties of both French and English Lavender.  Join our newsletter for updates on the Contact US page. 

 Harvest 2020 is is on!  I have already harvested and dried our Hidocote English lavender.  Yesterday, I harvested our Melissa English lavender.  Hidcote is a bit shorter and a deep purple color. Melissa has sturdier less delicate stems and are a light lavender color.  I love the two mixed together in a bouquet as it makes a unique two-toned lavender bouquet.  We also have a few Munstead plants which are a deep purple.  Grosso and Phenomenal are our intermediate varieties.  They are longer stemmed than English lavender and have a more French lavender look.  I will often use these in our more elaborate flower design bouquets, as they length of stem and bud stands out.  However, more and more, I am starting to incorporate move English lavender into designs as I love the deep color. Our English lavender and baby's breath bouquets are very popular.  We also use our English lavender buds for culinary lavender for teas and recipes.

The veggie garden/raised beds area is coming along.  Our new strawberry raised bed is starting to produce greenery and flowering after a few short weeks of being planted (bare-root plants).  Shout out to Indiana Berry, where I purchased plants online.  I have been pinching off the flowers as instructed for the first year to not allow berries to go to fruit this year.  Apparently, waiting until the second year to allow fruit produces stronger plants and more fruit the second year.  We have some lettuce and peppers forming.  Tomato plants are getting larger.  The rest of garden looks great. 

We also harvested our rose petals in June!  We got a bumper crop this year and they have already been air dried and are up for sale on our website e-commerce and Etsy stores.  They smell so sweet!   We use rose petals here in our sachets and also in our lavender-rose botanical soy candles.  

Our wildflower garden is growing well.  I have planted a new larger section of direct sowing.  It's up in the air right now how well it took.  We will just have to wait a bit further into summer to see if it succeeded.  The part of the bed in it's third year is growing well and full of daisies and  other wildflowers. It appears that deer have taken to bedding down in the middle of the field at night.  It look a bit "squashed" in the center, but the garden is meeting it's intention which is to provide habitat for wildlife and a naturalized area in the garden.  It is full of bees, butterflies (including Monarchs) and also rabbit and deer enjoy hiding in the garden.   Another critter named Murphy (our beagle mix) loves the field.  He makes a bee-line straight for it smell and walk among the flowers.  I do believe we have a hedgehog that is quite large.  I have seen him once or twice by the veggie garden and it appears he uprooted a few strawberry plants. We will have to plaace some Repel All, which is a repellent for rabbit and such critters.  We sprinkle it around the perimeter of the garden and the smells deters them away.  

My Granddaughter and I have put our Fairy Garden/ homes.  This is a wonderful activity to do with the child in your life (or even for adults).  I really enjoy doing it and our granddaughter loves it too.  We purchased the little wooden doors and windows for our trees through another Etsy seller based in Novia Scotia last year.  He does wonderful hand-crafted work.  Emma and I designs our Fairy homes a small grove of two Eastern White Pine trees.  We used gravel from our driveway to create a walking path and a solar powered garden lamp for lighting.  We used marigolds and pine cones for shrubs and flowers.  We also have a fairy home at our log cabin in Northern Michigan. Great project to do with children!  

We packed a lot activity into May and June!  My blog has turned into more of a monthly or quarterly newsletter of sort.  I find I just don't have time to blog weekly.  I have begun sign up on our contact page for a newsletter.  My plan is to send this content via email list and other updates.  I will still also post it on our blog.  However, some people do prefer to just have updates to their inbox, which I can appreciate.  Take Care!

Slide show of our 2020 Harvest and grounds. 

Business Updates.  

VACATION NOTICE:  July 3rd-6th.  No orders will be shipped during this time. 

HARVEST 2020 NEWS:  First batch of English Lavender 2020 Harvest is dried and we are still harvesting more! Grosso, long-stemmed, will be a ready later in July.  

IMPORTANT NOTICE - SHIPPING DELAYS/MATERIAL DELAYS:   Due to COVID-19 and increased demand for certain products/materials and increased online ordering shipping for ALL CARRIERS are delayed.  Please allow extra time when ordering.  I send most items USPS Priority mail 1-4 days.  However, the carriers are NOT always keeping to these timeline. We will send a tracking number so you can watch the progress of the item in transit.   On our end, creation of products is also being delayed due to supply chain issues.  Many items such as spray bottle, hand soap bottles, and other items are just out of stock due to the increased demand.  

BOUQUET SIZING:
Large approximately 16 length x 10-12 wide.
Medium bouquet approximately 12-14 length x 7.5-8 wide
Small/flower girl is about 10 inches and 4-6 wide
- These are approximates. Cottage Garden bouquet is slightly larger than other designs

Currently we are out of ammobium - small daisy like white and yellow flower used in  our flower designs.  This is on order with a supplier (our zone is too cold to grow this variety).  I should have shipment in Mid-July to End-of-July.  I am also out of Nigella pods.  Again, not in bloom quite yet.  I have been subbing these flowers for others.  
​

Finally! Finally!  Our replacement plants have arrived!  We lost about 70 plants last year with our polar vortex winter/super wet spring.  I really wanted to switch those Phenomenal plants - by far they were the largest variety to die - with more English lavender.  While I love intermediate because of the long stems for floral design, my true love is for the English lavender, which are shorter stemmed but they are generally more vibrant in color.  I  will post some pictures of English vs. Intermediate Lavender at the end of the post. 

We still have quite a few Grosso plants (intermediate) which I do like.  It's odd because I have always been told Phenomenal is hardy to zone 3 and handles winter better than most intermediates.   I found the opposite to be true last year.  I salvaged most of the Grosso and some of the Phenomenal.  I decided to not replace the Phenomenal plants and replace with English lavender instead.  Almost all of our English lavender survived the poor weather last year.  

I do usually purchase plants in state or locally if possible.  However, I wanted a very particular type of lavender - Royal Velvet- that I have had difficulty finding around here.  Some other lavender farms have it in Michigan, but because of the number of plants I needed to purchase I wanted a wholesale price. Back in the fall 2019 I pre-ordered plants from Victor's lavender. If ordering frin Victor's, it does usually require advance ordering for larger wholesale orders. If you want plants for fall planting, you should order now.  If you want plants for next spring order in early fall.  Plants were shipped and they arrived in wonderful condition.  I am already so impressed with the look of Royal Velvet!  I have always had a good experience ordering from Victor's in the past. 

There is a new perennial greenhouse in Carleton, Michigan called Perennial Beginnings.  They have a lot of Munstead (English lavender) they recently posted for sale.  I believe my first lavender plant was a Munstead and they are VERY hardy and great culinary lavender too. I purchased some yarrow and some other perennials from Perennial Beginnings.  They are very responsive on their business page and the plants are nice. 

Another options for larger orders for those looking is Telly's in Shelby Township.  When we started our lavender field at our new house in Frenchtown Twp in 2017, we ordered over 300 plants from Telly's and picked them up.  They were very good quality and price.  

Last shout out was to Diaz Greenhouse on Exeter Road in Carleton.  This year was my first time shopping with them.  I went out to pick up curbside online orders from them a few weeks ago.  They sell most annuals, baskets, flats, and also veggies.  I ordered all my annual needs from baskets, to flats to our vegetable plants for our rasied beds this year through them.  Excellent service.  Check out  Diaz Greenhouse.  It was a great experience and honestly preferred it to hitting the larger, more crowded garden centers at big box or larger greenhouses.  

There a lot of other greenhouses here in Monroe County.  We have also used Parrans in Monroe and Ida locations.  They have a great mix of perennials, annual, baskets, and veggies.  I got all my vegetables from them last year and they were great plants.  We also have showed Schwartz greenhouse in the past, which always has good quality and a mix of perennial, annual, roses, veggies etc.  I have gotten Lavender also from both Parrans and Schwartz. 

I am drinking coffee and then getting ready to start planting these guys.  Have a great day! 

The shop has been bustling!  Things have been really picking  up and I have been working 7 days to keep up with Mother's Day Orders!  Just a few quick announcement and reminders.  

Mother's Day Shipping: Last day to ship for Mother's day is early morning of Wednesday, May 6th. I will be out of town May 6th through May 10th. 

SHIPPING DELAYS DUE COVID-19 -  Shipping carriers such as USPS, UPS, and FedEx are experiencing delays. This can affect shipping times from our end as well as delay supplies reaching us. Please allow additional time for your order to arrive.

I may be shutting down the shop on Monday to get caught up on orders before going out of town. I will see how caught up I am after the  weekend and go from there. 

Farm News:  It's been fairly quiet.  Our weather has been back and forth and not really suitable for planting yet.  We passed our last frost date on April 30th.  I have some Sweet Annie plants to get into the ground and some Bee Balm.  I  am getting our Royal Velvet lavender replacement plants later this month.  We have over 70 plants coming.  The rest of the lavender looks good this year.  It's greening up.  I should be planting seed soon for our cutting garden and getting our raised beds prepped.  May is a great month for planting here in Michigan. 

I am hoping to get some other flowers planted for the cutting garden this year and continue with our veggies and lavender!  Beyond that, I have put on hold any other expansion plans as I have my plate full where we are! 

Still praying for all those fighting COVID-19.  We have been hit hard here in Michigan.  We have been practicing social distancing and honestly I have been so busy filing orders here at the farm/home that I have not ventured out very much.  We have been doing mail pick ups rather than taking anything to the postal carriers.  I usually have every other day pick ups so that is usually  3-4 times a week. .  Please stay safe and hopefully we will be on the other side soon.  

Here are some products and designs I have been working on this month. Enjoy! 

Due to the Coronavirus epidemic we have some special announcements and changes.  We will not be offering pick up at our farm location for the time being.  Shipping only.  Please be aware shipping carriers such as USPS, UPS, and FedEx are experiencing delays.  This can affect shipping times from our end as well as delay supplies reaching us.  Please be patient.  We will get your items as quickly as possible.

SALE!  10% off through end of March! 

VACATION NOTICE:  Our Etsy shop will be closed April 2-April 8th. When you go to our Etsy shop you will not be able to place orders until we reopen.  Our online store via our website will be able to take orders; however,  no orders will be shipped during this time.  Any orders taken during our vacation time will be filled upon return.  Please understand it will take me a few days upon return to create and ship orders.  

​Thank you for your understanding and please stay safe, wash your hands, and try to stay at home!  

The Cottage Garden Bouquet is one of our most popular!  I have been adding a sunflower due to being unable to get a another flower that was used previously.  I think it adds a nice touch.  Here are several that went out this week!  Also bud vases have been popular - here are two - Cottage Garden and Mountain Meadow

A beautiful picture sent by one of our customers with a lovely review! Thank you ! These little heart soaps shown have poppy seeds!  We also can add rose petals, lavender, lavender and rose petals and YES you can just get the soaps plain white or lavender color with no buds. They are great for wedding and baby shower favors or just for everyday as guest soaps. Each little heart is about 2 inches. 

"LOVE THESE SOAPS! I ordered these as favors for my sister’s bridal shower. They are exactly as pictured in the listing. Seller was very responsive when answering my questions. Highly recommend!" - Whitmonroe

Spring is almost here and we are excited about our next growing season.  I plan to replace all the lavender we lost last year.  We were waiting for a particular cultivar that I was looking for.  We are going with Royal Velvet which is a  beautiful deep purple English lavender. It looks wonderful in bouquets and can also be used for culinary/cooking purposes.  It has much showier stems and are longer than Hidcote lavender, which is better for floral designs.  

I am partial to English lavender and we are moving towards growing more of it than other types.  We still several rows of Grosso plants that made it through last winter/wet spring of last year.  

New info regarding our Website store.  It's fully functional and we have been taking orders!  I really like the features the webstore offers and I can save you MONEY $$$ too.  I do not have to pay fees that are associated with Marketplaces such as Etsy.  Also, the shop online is 100% run by me !  I highly encourage you #shopsmall and check out our webstore on this website. 

While we will still have our Etsy store I strongly encourage you to shop our standalone website at www.lavenderrosefarms.com. 

​IMPORTANT:  Starting in April if you see an Etsy add pop up with my products please look carefully to see if it's sponsored by Etsy before clicking.  Etsy is enforcing a MANDATORY seller participation in their offsite ad campaign and they will take 12% of that sale for advertising .  While I do understand advertising costs money, I am not given the choice whether to participate or not.  If a seller has a certain number of yearly sales they are being forced to participate in offsite ads.  We meet that criteria on our Etsy shop so we cannot opt out of these ads.  If you click on that ad and then purchase my product through the redirect of that click ETSY gets 12% of that sale -  So not all the money is going to the small business owner!   Further anything you purchase from me for the next MONTH Etsy takes at 12% cut.  Again, if shop owners had chosen to participate that is a legitimate  choice to partner with Etsy for advertising.  As it is, choice is not offered to larger sellers and they are being forced to participate and hand over 12% of their sales. 

I hope by making you all aware of this information you will start to shop my website here. My website offers check out through PayPal, credit card, and Square. My website is powered by Weebly which is a subsidiary of Square. You can still send me messages, work with me on custom orders, and I am continuing to add products to the store. I can offer you savings and coupons I cannot on Etsy as well.  We offer free shipping on orders 50.00 and above. 

Please don't confuse my social media posts on Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram as a Etsy sponsored ad.  Only I directly posts to my social media sites.  However, if you see a sidebar or pop ad with my product it will probably say sponsored by Etsy. 

Etsy was the place we started out and we enjoy the traffic that the site offers.  However, the changes they have been making over the last several years has had some negative impact on sellers.  Fees are climbing and being added on a regular basis.  Forced participation in free shipping which some shop owners find difficult to do and now the forced participation for larger sellers in marketing/ads with Etsy taking a cut.  Again, paying for marketing is not an issue.  You certainly can hire people to do that for you.  However, it should be the shop owners choice to do so in my humble opinion. 

Learn more about Etsy changes here. 

On a happier note.  I have some photos of some of the wedding parties and products I have done recently.  Some of you may have seen them on Social media. We have a lot of new lavender bouquets, wildflower bouquets, wreaths, wedding and shower favors and soy candles and more. 

Please remember Easter and Mother's Day are coming.  Our Gift Baskets are VERY popular.  If you can order early I can offer you a 10% discount right now through the month of March.  Also I can guarantee your basket will arrive before Mother's Day.  I can also include a gift card and the baskets can be mailed directly to you or the person you are purchasing the products for.  We also send any one of our bouquets for gifts as well as other products.  Just write me a note saying you need the items for Easter or Mother's Day and I will make sure it's noted and shipped on time!