….and we made it fairly unscathed. Even with the rain all three days people turned out in droves to enjoy the food and music, the ice cream and lavender margueritas. Out of six bands, Geoffrey Castle was our headliner at Purple Haze and he just…
Just about all the drying barns are full now and the distiller is going all day long. It looks like we will distill the helichrysum this week so the yellow stripes in the fields will be going away. We are still reeling from the impact…
This final week before the annual festival finds us all in a dead run as tourists are showing up early and staying late. Our U-pick fields were packed with eager pickers this past week and the colors of the different varieties of lavenders are just…
The farm is up and running now and open Friday through Monday for the rest of the month. We then go to 7 days a week starting Memorial Weekend. The hours for now are 10-4. Our new webcam is getting a lot of attention. It’s…
Word from Aveda’s Seattle downtown store is that the “Save Clean Water” fundraiser is a big success. All of our lavender bundles we donated are going fast and all proceeds go to preserving clean water in our Columbia River. They have created a beautiful display…
With the warmer, drier weather we experienced this past week, Jose and his crew have been transplanting mature lavender plants into the areas where we pulled out old, nonproductive plants last month. All varieties of lavenders are now starting to “green up” as we move…
With the farm opening this next weekend, everyone is scrambling around making sure everything is in it’s place and the Drying Shed is clean, clean, clean. After sitting all winter it is quite the project readying the Shed and surrounding area. Jose and I are…
We were fortunate this past week to partner with salon/spa giant Aveda. In a move to raise money to insure clean water in our Columbia River System, Aveda is ramping up a fund raising campaign by selling our lavender bundles in their downtown Seattle store.…
We’ve installed a new web cam here at the farm. We’re gonna call it “lavcam” and hope to get it on many sites around the NW. It should be installed on our site in a week or so…now the public can watch the lavender grow…
Jose has been planting like crazy between rainstorms and has this past week, stuck over 500 new one gallon Grosso plants in the ground. We’re seeing just the very first flush of green-grey in the plants now and in two weeks should see a full…
Purple Haze Lavender Farm Originally uploaded by pattieky. Wow this is a great photo of our farm.
Everything seems to be in order at the farm due to my WONDERFUL staff…so…off I head to my casa in Mexico for more rebuilding. I will return next month for the season but would love to get this house in order down there; the first…
We wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!…the Purple Haze Crew
Today we just shut down operations for a time and enjoyed each others company without the interruption of work; shut and locked the door of the downtown store, pulled Jose off the farm and feasted!…All this food!…no wonder I put on soooo much weight during…
I might have made a mistake coming home from Mexico for Christmas this year…might have?…no…It was a huge mistake. The day I arrived, after leaving 90 degrees and the sand and surf of Baja, a huge snowstorm hit our area. The drive from Olympia, just…
Tomorrow is a HUGE day at Purple Haze. We will celebrate this day for AT LEAST 24 hours. This day only comes once a year but we all look forward to it. Tomorrow, folks is our General Manager, Vickie Oen’s, birthday…Wow!…Vickie has been with Purple…
The dry weather continues at the farm….just a long, long time without any measureable amounts of rain. I sure am glad we raise a drought tolerant herb here…..We are busy winterizing the irrigation system as the valley wide water has been shut down for the…
With the onset of Fall, it’s now time to start considering the pruning of our lavender plants…all 40,000 of them. Jose does all the pruning ,by hand, with a plain old weedeater…it’s like watching an artist at work, as he shapes and forms the plants.…
Well, it’s that time of year where we replant old or non productive plants here at the farm. This year we will replant around 2,000 plants of several varieties….but first…we have to get the old ones out of the ground. Fall is finally here with…
Staff continues to defoliate lavender here on the farm and a select crew is making bundles like mad. All are shipped out as soon as they are arranged and it’s a struggle to keep up with orders…People LIKE our bundles….When we first started making bundles…
Now that the summer is over, staff is busy getting ready for the holiday “rush” that occurs every November and December. We have also decided to start hosting weddings and receptions at the farm during the summer months and have secured a wedding planner to…
Now, with hurricane John having dissipated up into the southwest U.S., the residents of my little town of La Ribera are digging their way out. Electricity returned to the town yesterday so I now have somewhat of a link to them and can respond to…
I just found out yesterday that my casa in mexico was destroyed by Hurricane John…so sad after all the work that I’ve put into it over the past couple of years….but…that’s the price of living in paradise, I guess. I will drive down next month…
These past couple of days have been very anxious for me. It all culminated last night when hurricane John came ashore on the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. I have a modest little place down there and it appears John thumped it right on the nose…