The month of August always seems so surreal on the farm. We are getting over the mad lavender rush which leaves us a bit sad and a little relieved at the same time. In the month of July we welcome thousands of guests to the farm. It really is our favorite time of the year, seeing everyone with their family and friends enjoying the farm is pretty magical…but we are all exhausted at the end! While we want to rest from our lavender hangover, we still have SO MUCH to get done on the farm. 
All of the lavender must be harvested and 14,000 plants is a big big job, all done by hand. A good portion of the lavender is bundled and hung to dry. After dried we will either de-bud it with our de-budder machine for culinary grade lavender or wrap the stems for sale in our store. The rest is used for our oil distillation. We do all of these processes right on the farm. After all of the lavender is harvested each plant will receive a little flat top hair cut. This process of pruning helps stimulate future growth and keeps the plants at a manageable size. (Pictures of the de-dubbing process below were from last spring when this process is also done)
* Trish is giving the lavender a hair cut in this video.
In addition to our end of season lavender tasks we also begin harvesting all of our herbs from the garden. We have mint, sage, rosemary, and lemon balm. After harvesting all of it by hand, we bundle and hang to dry in our production area. It takes about a week or two to dry completely after which we will use it to make tea, Herbs de Provence, and even wreaths.
We are also growing beautiful mums in the greenhouse. There is always weeding to be done between the greenhouse and the garden. Those little buggers grow faster than most plants! The wetlands are also cut back to promote growth and help stop invasive weeds from seeding.
Believe it or not, we are also planning for our events next year! We take time to reflect on what went well and what we will change to make next years events even better. Our ultimate goal is to provide an entire experience when you visit the farm. Though our planning is in the beginning stages, it is important to get the ball rolling now while everything is fresh in our minds.
Remember to follow us on social media @lavenderfarming, we will be sharing a lot of our processes on our stories.