July 2019 Harvest! Wyandotte Street Fair

Happy 4th of July! A day early that is!  We are closing down the shop tomorrow and will reopen on July 8th for some much needed rest and relaxation.  We have been SO busy the month of June!  After the crazy wet and cold spring , we’ve had massive clean up in the lavender fields (and major weeding, which is still ongoing).  I am happy to report we’ve had a GREAT harvest of our English lavender!.  Such a beautiful bounty!  Most of our English lavender survived the polar vortex this winter coupled with the massive rains of spring.  I believe we only lost 1-2 plants.  Sadly, I cannot say the same on the intermediate lavender.  We lost about 40-50 plants so far (Grosso and Pheonmenal)  which I use in our floral designs.  Intermediates don’t tend to have intense purple color of the English, but because they are very sturdy and long they work very well in our larger designs.  We may end up pulling more depending on they do now that we are finally getting some warm and dry weather. 

We have replacement plants coming this month.  It’s a set back, but such is the life of a farmer!  We can’t beat Mother Nature that’s for sure.  It has been a disappointing season so far, but we are moving ahead!  We are starting to go with more English lavender in the fields than ever before.  It’s just more hardy for our 6A growing climate and able to handle our winters.  I have placed a later order for plants that will be coming soon.  We will start incorporating our English lavender more and more into floral designs in the future. 

 We have completed our Raised Bed Gardens!  Woo-hoo!  My husband did such a great job building them.  They are 8’x4′.  So far there are three of them.  He is working on making the fourth.  We have planted some tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, squash, cucumbers, eggplant,  and cauliflower.  We also have a bed devoted to herbs.  We have basil, sage, lemon verbena, dill to name a few.  Due to weather we just completed planting last weekend so it’s a late start.  

We also finally got the tractor into the field and plowed another new field last weekend. Told you we have been busy!  This will be used to extended our lavender fields when new plants arrive and also be used to place all the milkweed, butterfly weed, and other plants to support our ever growing Monarch Waystation/Wildflower fields. 

RETAIL NEWS:  The Wyandotte Street Fair starts next week.  July 10th-13th . This is a big annual fair filled with artisans.  “Over 200,000 visitors, 200 fine artists, 25 restaurants, and a multitude of local merchants.” For more info check out this page

We are a vendor at the Vintage Market Home at 110 Sycamore Street.  We have supplied them with lots of new products.  They have both our English and Grosso Lavender in stock!  This is from our 2019 harvest! We have new bath bombs (lavender and lace) and also resupplied them with our bath and body products, candles, gift baskets and more.  Make sure you stop in at the street fair and at Vintage Market Home (right next to Stroh’s Ice Cream).

Honeycomb Creative at 415 N. Monroe Street in Monroe Michigan also received some lavender bundles from us! Again, these are super fresh and just harvest and dried a couple of weeks ago!  Smells amazing.  

The Etsy shop is hopping with orders – many for summer and fall weddings/floral design.  However, our birdseed favors, sachets, gift baskets, and botanical candles are also selling very well now too!  Right now we are running about a  MINIMUM 4-week time frame to complete wedding party/floral design orders and then ship out.  Please make sure you allow enough time!   Other products go out according to shipping time on the listings – usually between 1-3 days or 3-5 days depending on product. 

Everyone have a safe and happy holiday.  We will answer any emails when return on July 8th.  Enjoy the slideshow – Pictures of our English lavender harvest, bundles wrapped for retail sales, raised bed gardens, and new tilled field.