Ice Hits Peaceful Acres

As the entire Midwest experiences serious winter weather, Peaceful Acres asks all of our supporters and friends to send warm, positive energy to our lavender fields! Lavender is not adverse to cold and snow, but ice poses a definite danger to the life of lavender plants. Lavender is a very woody plant, and the weight of the ice coupled with high winds can cause plants to split and break off.

We found our lavender plants covered in ice on Tuesday and were worried that severe wind we were to receive overnight (gusts over 40 mph) and freezing rain may cause us to lose some plants. Thankfully, however, the lavender stood strong overnight, and we didn’t receive any more ice today. At this point, we have not lost any plants and the lavender is currently holding no ice.

Peaceful Acres is committed to research on lavender care and protection. We plan to plant an additional acre of lavender this growing season and would like to experiment with low hoop housing to provide more protection for our plants during Ohio’s harsh winters. To protect your own lavender at home, Kym suggests placing a bed sheet, plastic or any other covering over your plants.

Warm yourself up this winter by visualizing yourself attending our third annual Summer Solstice Lavender Festival June 18 and 19! This will be our biggest and best event yet, and we can’t wait to share it with you! Pick your own lavender bundles, yoga in the fields, nature trails, lavender food, music, vendors, Reiki, reflexology, lavender gift shop, adult and children lavender workshops, and many more activities planned! Mark your calendars now and spread the word to friends and family!

Glistening Winter Snow....

Here we are, at the extremely fast start of another new year, winter snow glistening in the warm sun like glitter sprinkled all over the ground. The reflection of it keeps bringing my mind through the rotation of the seasons, the growth of so many things in the stillness of the earth in its frozen state.
It seems as though a few days ago we were climbing in and out of the creek bed back in the warm woods, watching the bright yellow, orange and red leaves dance to the ground. We found a lot of good treasures again this year, even into the winter. Pottery pieces, arrowheads, tools.. Makes me wonder if time seemed to swirl by just as fast when the ones before us were living in these woods, in this field where the lavender mounds now stand.
The winter has been kind to our lavender babies this year so far. Although the first field will be reaching its fourth year in the ground, just like the kids they are still babies, which take love and attention to truly flourish in this life. The snow coating gives them a nice insulation from the cold chill of the wind. We are keeping our intentions out that if ice has to make its presence this year that at least mother nature will make a nice coat of snow first.
I definitely got behind in the fall keeping the weeds out of the holes in the field. We had more of them because of missing or damaged plants from the previous ice winters. It actually became very calming and peaceful to me when I gave into making the weeds less of a priority in life. Seeing the beauty of the wild weeds in lovely harmony with the lavender buds, painted a beautiful picture all by themselves.
As fast as this year has truly gone, I am amazed at how long ago and how different life was a year ago. The universe, god, has really decided that I needed to grow, and to learn, and I needed to do it fast. Lessons in life can be extremely hard, they can be very trying, and they can change us as people. The question is, do we let them change us for the worse, or do we let them seep deep inside, and truly listen to the whispers they have for our souls, the lessons they have to teach, and the growth they can offer to build us into the person we are asked to become.
Listening, is a very different thing than thinking. I have thought myself into knots for much of my life.I was always trying to figure it all out, trying to have an answer to everything, when the excitement of life is not always having the answers, just feeling and knowing you are exactly where you need to be at this moment in time. I was blessed over and over again this past year by amazing teachers, and guides for me to help keep my head in the right direction and to help keep my lessons from knocking me into a hole in the earth. I know that this past year was a major crossroad for so many people.. my hope is that they decided to follow their faith, their heart and their feelings down a path that brings only more light. If you have gone down one that does not feel this way, I know this new year has many chances of amazing growth, so do not forget to feel your direction and you can't go wrong.
This year is definitely a new year. A lot of listening for both Mike and I has been knowing there are things we need to let go of in order to truly enjoy this precious life that was given to us. We still do not know for sure what exactly that means or what this new existence has in store for our journey, but we are not meant to know all of those answers right now.
This past year brought about our first half acre of produce, which I was ready to throw my white flag in after lettuce (first crop of our year), Many new lavender creations, our official OEFFA organic certification, our first annual field day event (which was wonderful), so many new wonderful people in our lives, and a lot of new trials for us to meet.
I do know my work with Reflexology is only the beginning of what I am meant to do for people, and I have an extreme passion and excitement for being able to add any type of light and comfort into peoples lives. I also know that growing involves letting go of things that no longer serve our purpose, and this can be in so many forms. I am ready for this change, and truly excited about the journeys to come.
I miss my kids while they are at school a lot, and am happy for my hiking buddy, Moon (the big white dog) who is always there with wide loving eyes, and for my wonderful husband who has been in full swing using his mind creating websites for other people and making ours wonderful :) If you need a website, by the way, check out www.lunacraze.com!

For now, while the repair business I run is in full swing, I make as many products as I can, talk to many people about their broken down fitness equipment, do a lot of paperwork, and watch the beautiful red-tailed hawk that now follows me around and lives in our woods at the farm. It's reassurance is always there flying above letting anyone who sees him know that you are on this journey in life to grow into your full potential. May your journey be wonderful!!

The Return of the Bird Song in the Field

I was taking my daily walk out to the fields today, It was a little cooler today than it has been. The sky pretty overcast, letting us know that at any moment it could pour down and delay some of this planting we had set on for today. I love to close my eyes as I am walking and just listen. The birds here are amazing. There are so many sweet songs that go on further than my hearing will allow me to take in. We have quite a collection of so many kinds of birds, and the melody change walking from the woods to out in the fields is like changing the channel on the radio. The fields are so full of killdeers and red-winged blackbirds right now. The song of these two alone would satisfy me fully. The red-winged black bird males love our nature field, all of the nice tall slender left over stalks from last years wildflowers make excellent standing grounds for them to perch their amazing bodies and blast out their impressive song to all of the ladies around.

The killdeer have become quite fond of our mounded lavender rows. Their little legs seem to get much more running and exercise than most birds. If you have never seen a mother bird put on the most extravagant display of distraction, you have not been close to a killdeer nest! Last year was the first time I experienced this. It was early spring and I was checking out the winter ice damage in the rows. After hearing several displays of a racket coming from a nearby bird, I was so alarmed to see that this one seemed to be severely injured. It flapped around horribly on the ground, one wing spread out and curved. “Aw! poor bird” I was already thinking of placed I could call that surely would know how to save this birds wing. I turned towards it, changed my direction and up up and away it went. Good as new. That mamma sure did distract me from the direction I was heading....straight towards its nest it had decided to make in the middle of a half dead lavender plant. That is a smart bird! Also one of my favorite to listen to may I add. Their tweeting repetitive sound, their white ringed necks, and there little slender legs make you feel like you are on the sandy ocean shore listening to a bird that would be nested in a rocky outcrop by the edge of the ocean water.

As I walked down the driveway this year I saw the same marvelous display, although I was not being tricked this time. The Earthship has now become a wonderful nesting community for them, and I am very happy to open up an apartment community for these beautiful creatures anytime.

The barn swallows have not yet returned this year. I reluctantly decided removing the mud packed nests in the barn from last year was the only direction I could go with them. Not much further in the season in 2007 they had chased out all of the red-winged black birds, killdeer, mourning doves, and any other flying creature around. Although I have a childlike passion for birds, these mean little bullies are no longer welcome on this harmonious farm. Even if they do return I believe our killdeer population has definitely outnumbered what they used to be and maybe they could work something out.

My next objective here is to help the little traveling hummingbirds find the acre of lavender yummyness. They have returned like they do every year to the trusty feeders we have in the woods. Although lavender is said to be a favorite of hummingbirds, I have come to the conclusion that since we have no blooms early season when the scouts are around, they are missing what is there for them the rest of the year. I had wanted to get the feeders closer to the field for them, but may have missed my early season opportunity for that. Hopefully with the helpful watch of visitors to our farm this year we will see that they have discovered it on their own! I’m excited to see if we gain these tiny marvels to the fields as well.

The simplicity of the birds, and the way they bring so much joy into every day field work is such a simple blessing that could easily be overlooked if there was not so much work to do out there! No matter how much rush, or business, or list of things I am not sure how to accomplish before the next day is in my head, soaking in the sweet songs of the birds instantly melts it all away. So with the bucketful of nightcrawlers in the kitchen and the luminous moon peaking through the cloudy sky, Its time to get some rest, and look forward to what will come as the season moves on.

Blog by "Kym Prell"