Friday, August 14, 2009

Blink your eyes and the season is so far...

I was just realizing that the last blog I posted was many months ago, and if anyone farms at all, you know why I have not had any time to catch anyone up on our happenings here!
The sounds as I woke up this morning and headed to the field were as beautiful as ever,the birds were loving the morning as well! The sun so warm and welcoming on my face, the breeze so cool and refreshing the butterflies all doing their dance. We all need to take time to open our eyes, and soak these moments into our roots so they are always there hidden somewhere when the beauty is not so present.

With all of that said, Market season has been in full swing! Wednesday I am in Wilmington which is new to me this year, has been pretty good (and so close), Thursdays is Lebanon, Saturday is West Chester. So far this week has been extremely slow at the markets. I am not sure where everyone has been but I hope we all pick up again. Our Lavender field day was so amazing, and we got to see so many wonderful people!!
I made the first round of Lavender harvesting in the whole acre, which lucky does not all happen at the exact same time! I have many almost ready for harvesting again, but this year has been much different than before. Still just waiting for the next big bloom to take over all of my being and all of my senses! Although, waiting is not a good word for it as we have added the half acre of produce this year! There is no waiting involved in that, it is constant harvesting going on with that. So many tomatillos, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes (which are a fun treasure hunt until you get down 30 foot of them, then it is just tiring!) Taking on the challenges of slow markets and a ton of produce has made my head spin and think of all possible canning creations, which I plan to take on in a few days! That will be a new adventure to me so I may update on how that goes.. We had a very scary discovery in our large tomatoes also, we had total destruction, something eating away the whole tomato! hollowed them out, every single ripe one of them. We were on a major solution search thinking it was a horn worm problem.. man we must have had a million of them! Long story short, smarty pants, our oldest chicken was leading an escape from the coop on a tomato feast!!! We normally let them free roam the whole farm, but looks like we can not allow that until after harvest season any more!!

I have added a few new products, a new ylang-ylang cinnamon lotion, and liquid soap. I have been working on many "dream enhancers" which are kind of a dream catcher concept but I want them to help you process the dream not catch it..
The amazing beauty in the field we let go wild is such a reassurance to me of how amazingly planned out our life is and how it all works the exact way it should. All season the wild flowers and the native plants create a colorful landscape that I could have never planned so perfectly. All of the birds and butterfly's really enjoy it too. I love watching them, I am such a kid some days though, and will really be focused on harvesting lavender or produce, and a beautiful bird or butterfly is caught in my eye..with camera always on hand I quickly take off after it, chasing them around a few rows, get distracted by something else, take more pictures...

Even the barn swallows I was so worried about early spring have become a love of mine, and I can see how beautiful they are. The other birds seem to be holding their own much better this year and Peaceful Acres seems very harmonious..Even the thistle make such a beautiful purple poof flower that is fun to put into the kids sachets they make here. So If you have not come to visit us yet we would love to have you come and share the amazing beauty with us. Keep an eye out for workshops and we always have free kids activity's. If you made it all the way to the end of this I appreciate you reading my thoughts, maybe if I can make myself take time I can make these thoughts not QUITE so long... :)Wishing you a beautiful day! ~Peace Love and Lavender~ Kym