Lavender Harvest

I invited my mother over this weekend to harvest some of our lavender. We have over 100 plants. I absolutely love the scent as I walk around the garden. It has been so alive over the last couple of weeks with the buzzing hum of hundreds of bumble bees busy at work. I sat on our lawn at the edge of the lavender watching a bee sip nectar from the tiny little blossoms. It was absolutely amazing. My mom took a wheel barrel full but there is much more. I am on a quest to find some really good uses for it this year. Last year I let it go unused. I'm thinking dryer sachets to add lavender scent to my linens. Anyone have any particular suggestions on how to use 3 more wheel barrels (at least) of dried lavender? If so please share :)

Gourds A Plenty

Last summer we grew Apple and Birdhouse Gourds in the garden for the first time. Their powerful twisty vines quickly covered the fence line and climbed up the nearby trees and shrubs as well. At the end of the season, I harvested piles of gourds to dry for craft projects. It's funny that the ones I carefully stacked on racks in my greenhouse are still not dry while the ones I left out in the weather are. I moved a few of the ones from the greenhouse to my garden table to speed the process. I can't wait to turn these into birdhouses for the yard.

Weekend Work

It was pouring down rain most of the weekend so I decided to do some crafting. Last year I had issues with my vegetable markers disappearing under the plants mid way through the growing season. I wanted to make some new markers that would last for many years. Mark and I went down to the hardware store and picked up some plywood. He cut it into 6" x 12 " pieces and I painted away on Sunday. They took a bit longer to do than I expected. The goal is to attach them to 3ft high garden stakes so they are easy to spot.

Fourth of July Sewing

Mark and I had an awesome 4th..We hung out and relaxed. I did some long overdue sewing using an awesome book I recently purchased. I made myself 3 new skirts and I am inspired to make a few more this weekend. The book is called "Sew What Skirts". The way it works is you just take your measurements and follow the directions to make your own simple pattern. The best part is that you make your skirt exactly to your size and whatever length you want. Plus I would say that this book has the best instructions for putting in a zipper I've ever seen. Made it super easy....