Blog @ Purple Haze Lavender Ltd.

We continue to harvest our crop as it becomes ready. All the barns are full and still we cut…Looks like we start distilling this week

Geoff Castle has graciously agreed to return to the farm to do a free concert on August 23rd and 24th. He’ll be on the stage at the south lawn both days at times that are not yet determined but it looks like he’ll play on and off all day, both days. We are so excited to have this very accomplished violinist coming back to Purple Haze. So grab a picnic lunch and join us in three weeks or so. MARK YOUR CALENDAR!!! This guy will rock your world!

I couldn’t resist snapping a pic of this tiny frog perched on our basil plants in our greenhouse. The photo just doesn’t do the golden coloring of this little critter justice but still it’s a cool shot.

It’s that time of year again to fire up the distiller and start making essential oil. Our new distillation plant is something to behold! It’s a propane fired boiler that generates 1.2 million btu’s and steams about 600 gallons of flowers at a time. That’s 10 times more than our previous one and is the biggest distillation unit in the area. The ground literally trembles when we fire it up. We’re already getting calls from other farms about processing their lavenders too so it looks like it will be a very busy 2-3 weeks here huddled around the still. The nice thing about this new unit is that we can tow the retort,(the part of the still that holds the flowers), out into the field and fill it there. Previously, we had to cut the flowers and put them into a truck, haul them back to the area where we were distilling and take them from the truck, placing them into the retort. Now, our labor is exponentially reduced with the larger size and the portability of the unit.

The staff continues to cut lavender and hang it in the many barns that we rent. All of the varieties are now in full bloom and the crowds keep coming. Yesterday was the biggest “non festival” Saturday we’ve had here and we expect today will bring em in also. There’s a big dog show going on in town so we’re seeing lots of “exotic” type dogs being led around by their owners..fun stuff!

Yesterday, Jim Poth and “Easy Goin Tours” visited us with about 40 folks from the NW corner of Washington State. We introduced them to Purple Haze and fed them a lavender lunch before sending them on their way. Jim has been bringing his groups here for many, many years and they always seem to have a wonderful time. Keep on truckin’ Jim…

Without even a small break from long days working the festival this past weekend, the Purple Haze gang started harvesting lavender early monday morning and will now continue cutting and drying throughout the month. We’re so lucky to have such a dedicated, hard working crew here at the farm. They never complain and just keep on truckin’.

Well, judging from the crowds, this Lavender Festival is bigger and better than ever; super music, great food, incredible artisan vendors, and tons of happy people.  Cars were stacked up clear down the road last night still at 4pm and the music was still rocking. Six bands in all played at the farm yesterday and they were all just unbelievable! “Final Approach” started their set at 10am and we finished up with “Copernicus Twist” at 7pm or so. The crowds were huge this year and we can only anticipate that it will continue today. Cisco Morris aired his weekly tv show yesterday morning on KING 5  that he filmed here at Purple Haze last week. We’ve got a feeling that this exposure will increase the crowds to the farm today, the last day of the annual festival. We start harvesting in earnest this next week and will continue to stay open to the public everyday throughout the summer. Bring em on!

The lavender festival is about to begin! Last night all the vendors showed up and are now established around the farm. The stage is ready for all the musicians and our staff is ready for the thousands of people that will show up shortly. The weather is supposed to be perfect for this event and everyone is really excited!

The Purple Haze crew started harvesting yesterday, FINALLY! This cold, wet spring has delayed our harvest by at least two weeks but now the lavender is coming on like gangbusters! We started with the variety Melissa yesterday and will continue today and tomorrow or until we get it all hanging in the drying sheds. Melissa is one of our culinary varieties that we use in our famous Purple Haze salad dressing.