June 21st, 2021

Hi everyone! I just realized it's been since March since I blogged.  How time flies!  We have hit the ground running this spring and haven't stopped sincce.  I am  in the thick of harvesting angustifolia, English Lavender.  It's our first to bloom.  Its a rain day today.  There were thunderstorm all night and the lavender is wet.  It's a no-no to harvest wet lavender, did you know?  It can lose color and also is prone to molding.  

I started harvesting over a week ago but the on and off rain have made it challenging to get the harvest in.  Saturday hubby and I got three tall baskets in and hung over 150 bundles. I am hopeful to get the last of the English lavender in tomorrow and Wednesday since no rain is predicted. 

We also explanded our raised beds by double.  We have have four 8x4s raised beds and my husband took the task on of killing grass around them and laying mulch down and enclosing those beds with deer fencing.  We have strawberries in one bed and the deer were munching on the leaves before they bore fruit this spring. We got a bumper crop of strawberries this month.  I also started planting blueberries as well.  

The two giant raised beds we purchased last fall are now filled and we used a hügelkultur technique.  The beds are about 16 feet long and one is 2 feet wide and the other 3 feet wide.  My granddaughter and I planted these.  We have melons - cantaloupe and watermelon, pumpkins, squash, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, eggplant.  I have been getting more into homesteading and growing our own produce.  The family has been been really enjoying it.  

I also moved the herb garden up close to the house and we are using an elevated raised bed for herbs.  Now they are just outside the kitchen window on our patio so I can grab fresh herbs while I am cooking.  We have oregano, marjoram, basil, parsley, dill, chamomile, cilantro, and rosemary. 

I am missing the wildflowers this year.  After three years, it was times to reseed the field.  We had our tractor man, Mitch, come out and re-till the field.  After planting the seeds, we now have little seedlings all over the field, but it won't get going good until next year. I started  planting part of pollinator fields with perennials.  I planted quite a bit of yarrow last fall and harvested it.   I got into contact with a lady locally through a wildflower/butterfly page on Facebook who brought me out some milkweed and butterfly weed. I really appreciated it!  I also planted some Salvia/Sage.  

Enjoy the slide show of the going-ons this spring!  English lavender is up on our store front on website and our Etsy page.  We have some already dried and ready to go while others on the racks in the process of drying and still move in the fields.