Summer is finally over in Reno and a storm is on the horizon. Although cooler temperatures and a bit of rain are definitely welcome, the prediction meant I needed to harvest my lavender right away. I spent all yesterday evening harvesting the flower stalks, then tying them up in bundles to hang to dry. I had to give up at midnight, with one more bucket to go. This is the first time I have had my own harvest of, well, pretty much anything. It is amazingly satisfying. (Ignore the fact that I went to bed with my house looking and smelling like an explosion in a potpourri factory. There is always the weekend to clean up and air out.)
The string I used was something I call "Battalion String". Back when I worked at Texas A&M University the student newspaper was delivered in bundles with huge amounts of cotton string wrapped around them. Being of an environmental mindset, I was outraged at the overpackaging and took to collecting it for future use. I have been carrying around that big box of string for 16 years and have used it for all kinds of things. Eventually I hope to incorporate it into a rug. Meanwhile, I can feel smugly 'green' as I harvest my organically-grown, low-water-use lavender and tie it up with recycled string.
Someone is bound to ask what I plan to do with all that lavender. Some goes to my Dad for the making of herbes d'provence, some will go into sachets to discourage moths in my wool stash, and the rest will go to
Sharon for incorporation into her fabulous hand-made soap.
Summer is finally over in Reno and a storm is on the horizon. Although cooler temperatures and a bit of rain are definitely welcome, the prediction meant I needed to harvest my lavender right away. I spent all yesterday evening harvesting the flower stalks, then tying them up in bundles to hang to dry. I had to give up at midnight, with one more bucket to go. This is the first time I have had my own harvest of, well, pretty much anything. It is amazingly satisfying. (Ignore the fact that I went to bed with my house looking and smelling like an explosion in a potpourri factory. There is always the weekend to clean up and air out.)
The string I used was something I call "Battalion String". Back when I worked at Texas A&M University the student newspaper was delivered in bundles with huge amounts of cotton string wrapped around them. Being of an environmental mindset, I was outraged at the overpackaging and took to collecting it for future use. I have been carrying around that big box of string for 16 years and have used it for all kinds of things. Eventually I hope to incorporate it into a rug. Meanwhile, I can feel smugly 'green' as I harvest my organically-grown, low-water-use lavender and tie it up with recycled string. 
Someone is bound to ask what I plan to do with all that lavender. Some goes to my Dad for the making of herbes d'provence, some will go into sachets to discourage moths in my wool stash, and the rest will go to Sharon for incorporation into her fabulous hand-made soap.
3 comments:
Sharon forgot to harvest her lavender and would be a most grateful recipient. There's an irony in this since the store where all my soap oils come from gave you a migraine.
It must smell wonderful :)
What, you didn't use handspun cotton for your lavender ties! Oh well, I guess that salvaged string is almost as good. I can almost smell the harvest -- wonderful.
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