Friday, August 26, 2022

Postcards From the Lake: A Visit to Lavender Hill Farm

While Rick's mom was visiting, it was time for a field trip and on a beautiful August day we headed to Lavender Hill Farm, located outside Boyne City, Michigan.

We arrived at the farm and checked in at the gift shop to book our inexpensive golf cart tour. Within a few minutes, our guide, Emily (an elementary education student at Michigan State) drove up in a golf cart and off we went.


We missed the peak of color, which hits in July. But there was plenty to see and learn. Gardeners were busy harvesting the lavender from 29 varieties of pink, white and purple flowers.


They also focus on bee preservation as well and they were doing a grand job of it.


I'm not sure if you can see or even get a real idea of how many bees were flying around these blooms, but they were plentiful. Emily explained that they were, in large parts, Italian honey bees, which are noted for being less aggressive than some other strains. As close as I could get taking photos, they left me completely alone. They had other things on their minds!


The farm is built on a series of hills. Emily said that this is especially helpful with rains and watering, as the water flows downhill. (Although lavender doesn't require the vast amounts of water than some plants do.)


The strains of lavender grown at Lavender Hill are among the most cold-weather resistant of the more than 45 species and more than 450 varieties of lavender. 


From the hills, she took us to the drying area. It's a simple system. 


Small bunches of lavender are tied together with rubber bands and hung on dangling ropes, connected with a large paperclip.


We also saw how they clean the dried lavender, running it through hand sieves to separate the flowers from the stems. (There is also a machine that can be used in the process, but many use the sieves.) The flowers are used to make many of the products sold in the shop.


The dried lavender smelled fabulous!


From there we went to the distillery, where oils and water are extracted from the lavender buds. Emily showed us how about five or so baskets of buds are thrown into the silo area of this large copper still. 


The steam produces liquid and it goes through the tube at the top of the onion into a separator, much like the kind many cooks use when making gravy.


Five barrels of blossoms end up making about three pints of lavender oil. The water is used for lavender water and the dessicated buds are saved for lavender mulch.


And I learned another hint from Emily when I asked how they polished that beautiful copper boiler. They use catsup (which I never thought of!) or a lemon/salt mixture (which I did). I'm going to try the catsup on some copper at home!


(I have to add, this was a gorgeous still!)


Emily's sister, Elise, is the manager/director of Lavender Hill Farm and was key in starting a garden of non-lavender blooms on one of the hills and after leaving the still, took us up to this area as well.


It was loaded with daisies, zinnias and countless other blooms.

It was another haven for bees!

 

Soon, a sunflower garden will be in full bloom, and if it's anything like the rest of the garden, it will be spectacular!


All in all, our visit to Lavender Hill farm was a real joy and a beautiful place to visit. It was well worth the time and the tour was highly recommended.

 

 For more on the farm, check out their Facebook page or website


It was definitely a day to remember!

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59 comments:

Pamela said...

What a fabulous tour! Lavender is about my favorite smell.

DVArtist said...

Oh this is a wonderful post. How fun to go and get all that information. Yes, that still is a gorgeous piece of equipment. Would love to see this post on Friday Face OFF. I know everyone would enjoy seeing it and you have some good face photos. Have a nice weekend.

Mary Rose's said...

Hills of lavender, then hills of zinnia, and sunflowers to come. What sensory delights! I grow lavender and zinns in small patches and you're right - the bees love them, and are not at all interested in what I'm doing.

The photo of your mother-in-law smelling the flower bouquet is a painting waiting to happen (just sayin'...)

XOXO

Anvilcloud said...

My former BiL grew a lavender plot this year, but he didn't post too much of how they fared. He lives on iffy soil, so I wonder.

Stevenson Q said...

this post is such a treat to me Jeanie! I have always fancied lavender fields and the plant itself but they do not grow here in the Philippines! the first time I ever saw them was when I was already 25 in California. I visited a Mission Church and saw them. Nobody was looking and I thought I'd curiously get a stalk of flowers and crushed it on my fingers and they smell so good! It's lavender but it has a fresh citrusy tone to it. Lovely! Plus the Zinnias so colorful (those ones grow here, love them!)

gigi-hawaii said...

I am so impressed! I would have enjoyed this tour. We use Lavender body wash from Olay. It has a subtle fragrance. A sunflower patch would be stunning.

Salty Pumpkin Studio said...

Wonderful tour. Lavender is an important winter scent to lift one's spirits.

Pam said...

I love field trips!! I have been laying so low that I have not been doing many but I need to start again. Lavender, love it. Great pics.

Joanne Huffman said...

I went to a lavender farm (smaller one) years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Such a good smelling visit!

Bonnieellen57 said...

I want to know what you bought at the gift shop!

anno said...

So beautiful! I can almost smell that lavender... heavenly!

Hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend, wherever you may be.

Linda P said...

You had a lovely tour around the lavender farm. We love the lavender bushes growing in our garden and so do the bees.

Judy at GoldCountryCottage said...

Jeanie, that must have been a treat for the senses. What a beautiful sight. I can imagine the amount of bees as my two plants keep enough for themselves Was that you in the photo, I couldn't tell exactly. Whoever it was has beautiful hair..Happy Weekend..xxoJudy

DUTA said...

A day to remember for you, a post to remember for me.
I find the information in your post very interesting and useful, as I love and use lavender for various purposes.
By the way, the scent of lavender attracts humans, but repels insects.

Marilyn Miller said...

What a beautiful tour. I would thoroughly enjoy that.
Most honey bees are not aggressive. When I walk in my neighborhood there are some bee hives I walk by and they just ignore me. I love watching them.
Oh, the flowers on your tour are gorgeous too.

Debra@CommonGround said...

How fun, what a gorgeous farm! Love that amazing copper cooker and being able to make a quick day trip! Happy last week of August.

Carola Bartz said...

Lavender farms are such wonderful places and this is no exception. Too bad that we can't smell the beautiful fragrance through the internet as well. We have several lavencer places nearby, but harvest is already done - peak in color is usually at the end of May and into June. I had no idea that you could use catsup for cleaning copper - when you try it, will you tell us whether it worked?

My name is Erika. said...

Emily is so right about those Italian honey bees. Those are the type of honey bees I have. And I can see those honey bees in your photo. This visit to the lavender fields looks like a really interesting day trip. I hope Rick's mom enjoyed it too. I bet its gorgeous when the lavender is in bloom. Have a great weekend. Hugs-Erika

William Kendall said...

Sounds like you enjoyed the trip.

David M. Gascoigne, said...

Who knew so much about lavender? Emily was the perfect guide to tell all it seems!

Rustic Pumpkin said...

What a fabulous day out. Ketchup does make good cleaning. It's the high acid content, so be careful what you use it on. I bet you all were really chilled after smelling all that wonderful lavender.

I'm testing out a new facility on my laptop. A microphone typing gizmo. It seems to be working well so far, don't you think?

Iris Flavia said...

What a great post! I have lavender soap, a tin, can and sachets for better smell with clothes, oil for better sleep.
I do hope the French come back this year for the festival, they sell all fresh lavender goodies!

And you got to see the real thing, how wonderful!!!
Love also the last pic, great sign!

It's me said...

Wowwwww i loooove lavender …I wish I could there with you 🍀💜🍀 loveee zinnia’s too my favorite….love happy weekend !

eileeninmd said...

What a wonderful tour. I love the scent of lavender!
The fields of flowers is a lovely sight! I have the lavender oil and lots of lavender sachets. Wonderful photos. Have a great weekend.

La Table De Nana said...

I have visited lavender farms and loved my visits.Enchantment!

Mae Travels said...

The only lavender farm I have visited was in Maui, on the slopes of the volcano -- this one looks just as wonderful, though I'm sure they grow different varieties of lavender. I love your description of the processing steps: that wasn't discussed in the one we visited so maybe they have the work done elsewhere.

best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

Rita said...

What a treat! Must have smelled magical.
I certainly never heard of cleaning copper with ketchup! :)

The French Hutch said...

What a wonderful "field trip" to plan. I've always dreamed of seeing the lavender in bloom in France but unfortunately it comes at a time it's to hot to be there for me. We did see the fields with a few remaining blooms in September while driving from Nice to Paris a few years ago. I had no idea you grew lavender in Michigan. This must have been a beautiful and magical day. The other flowers are so many of my favorites. I'll have to try the ketchup cleaning for copper on my pots, great tip Jeanie.

Steve Reed said...

Beautiful! Between the lavender and the zinnias, that does look like bee heaven. I wonder if we have Italian honeybees? In all the years we've lived here and gardened, I have never been stung. (I've jinxed myself now!)

Misadventures of Widowhood said...

What a wonderful place to tour and I'll bet it smelled heavenly. I was on a tour of a lavender farm near Lake Michigan, mid state and it wasn't nearly as thorough as yours.

Lowcarb team member said...

Lovely photographs of your visit and tour.
Lavender does have a wonderful smell :)

Enjoy your weekend.

All the best Jan

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful visit! You don’t need to go to Provence to see lavender farms. I was there a few years ago but, alas, I was too late and the bloom was over. Getting to MI sure would be much easier. Next time. 😉

GretchenJoanna said...

It's been so long since I visited a lavender farm... but I remember how fantastic it was, being surrounded by all of that heavenly scent, growing plants... When they are harvesting it, that would release more of the oils into the atmosphere through which you are walking. Yum.

I do have a couple dozen plants of my own so I get a tiny farm experience. Here the peak is the end of June, and though I waited as long as I could to cut mine back, it was several weeks ago now. It seems like that loss signals that summer is on its way out, and the garden mourns.

Joyful said...

How marvellous to have a tour of the fields in a golf cart. That would be what I'd need. I didn't realize there were so many varieties of lavender. I love the smell of lavender. I guess most people do. I also love seeing bees in the gardens. I'm reading a fascinating book on bees called "Bee Time: Lessons from the Hive" by Mark L. Winston.

Pam Richardson said...

Jeanie, thanks for taking me along on this wonderful garden tour. I adore the smell of lavender and the bees surely love it. I think I will try the catsup and see how it works, thanks for the tip. Wishing you a lovely day!

Carol @Comfort Spring Station said...

I've always wanted to go to a lavender farm - glorious!

shoreacres said...

I know some people who avoid eating tomato-based sauces or even plain tomatoes because of the acid.That acid surely is the reason catsup works for polishing. As for the salt, I wonder if the reason for using that is for its ability to provide a little "scrubbing action" while dissolving away -- like a sugar facial scrub.

And here's something amazing. I have a friend who adores lavender, and I gave her some bunches of dried lavender for Christmas -- from this very place!

thepaintedapron.com said...

What a fun excursion! I bet the scent of lavender was amazing!

Divers and Sundry said...

Sounds like a fascinating outing. I remember being surprised to learn how hard it can be to get lavender to grow/thrive and how important it is to find one that can tolerate the specific climate in my area. Bees do love them. I also enjoyed seeing the other bee-beloved flowers :)

Buttercup said...

I would love this! Love lavender, too. I have a painting of the lavender fields of Provence over my desk. Never get tired of it.

Sandra Cox said...

What a wonderful place to visit.
Ketchup, who'd a thought.

Priscilla King said...

I'd like to know how catsup worked as copper polish, and whether there's a difference among brands!

This N That said...

Looks like an interesting place to visit..I have 3 lavender plants in my garden..They smell so good and keep the bees busy..have a good week..

Prims By The Water said...

We have a lavender farm about an hour from us. I also sell lavender pretzels in our store. Janice

ashok said...

Thanks for the wonderful tour

Veronica Lee said...

What a delightful post, Jeanie!

Such a fun excursion!

I'd love to visit a lavender farm but I'm pretty sure they don't grow in my corner of the world.

roughterrain crane said...

I love zinnia flowers. They are tough under the strong sunshine. Their many colours delight my eyes.

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

How fun! I can imagine the sights and scents! Fabulous.

I really didn't know that Boyne City is a real place...It was the setting of the last novel I read---Early Morning Riser.

Your trip reminded me of the Lavender Walk I took with my sister and her two daughters when we visited Provence in 2010. I just realized that I never posted pictures of most of that walk. I need to pull those out, I think.

R's Rue said...

I love lavender. So much fun

DeniseinVA said...

Such a fabulous place to visit and I would love to go to a lavender farm one day. It is my all-time favorite scent. Great photos Jeanie!

Nikki - Notes of Life said...

It sounds like you had a wonderful visit! We've got a lavender farm about an hour from here.

Rita C at Panoply said...

This is a great post, Jeanie. It's such hard work, what they're doing. I grow just a few lavender plants of mine for drying and shucking the buds of the lavender, but the distilling process alone yields so little - a labor of love. Here in WV, there's been a recent initiative of turning surface mine sites into lavender farms. Just goes to show lavender loves dry, poor soil for growing.

Lisa from Lisa's Yarns said...

What a cool place to visit! It's good to have visitors to push us to check out what our areas have to offer! This place sounds really interesting. It kind of reminds me of the brewery tours we've taken - I love learning about how raw ingredients are turned into a finished product!

Linda @ Life and Linda said...

Lovely post Jeanie. Lavender is so lovely. How interesting to see the whole process. The bees love our lavender. Thanks for sharing at Love Your Creativity.

Amy at Ms. Toody Goo Shoes said...

Sounds like a great outing! I visited one out on the north fork of Long Island a few years ago, and also missed the peak bloom season, but enjoyed it nonetheless I know there's one here in NJ, and I must try to get to it next year! I love the scent of lavender!

crackercrumblife said...

I love this! How cool that you got to see behind the scenes and learn all the ins and outs of the lavender business!!

Victoria Zigler said...

What a wonderful trip. So interesting. Plus, lavender is my absolute favourite scent.

Sandra at Maison De Jardin said...

Good morning, Jeanie. Well, I thought I was a week behind. It appears I am further behind than that. Anyway, I do love this post, and what a treat it must have been to visit such a grand place. I have been looking for white lavender to order - it is hard to find. I know the bees are ever so happy when they found this garden. Again, a great post!

kathyinozarks said...

Good evening, I really enjoyed your post very much. I Love lavender so I would have had so much fun visiting this farm. awesome still too Thanks for sharing with us Kathy

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