The farm is up and running now. It's 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 pretty cool to watch the lavender grow in "real time"..

I travel to Saskatoon in a week to speak at an International Conference sponsored by the Saskatchewan Herb and Spice Association. It joins together the Natural Health Products Research Society of Canada and The Canadian Herb, Spice, and Natural Health Products Coalition. I presented in Saskatoon several years ago and found this organization to be incredibly knowledgeable and extremely interesting.

Aveda fundraiser/partnership a success

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 that folks are responding positively to.

Transplanting lavender

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 deeper into April. Staci is packing and shipping little lavenders to all over North America and she really has her hands full as there are thousands and thousands of back orders that need to be filled.

Spring cleaning at the farm

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 busy pressure washing the outside and using a brightener on the cedar siding. When this dries, we'll spray a nice clear stain on. This long, wet winter sure contributed to an abundance of mold and mildew on the outside of the building.

We hope to have a complete selection of lavender varieties for the opener on Saturday. Along with the usual 4" offerings, we will have a limited supply of one gallon plants also.

Aveda is selling our lavender bundles!

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. All proceeds from the sale will be used to insure a long life for that beautiful piece of water down south in our state. Purple Haze was happy to donate the lavender bundles for this worthy cause.

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With April rapidly approaching, the ladies of Purple Haze are busy cleaning and arranging the drying shed for an April 1st opening of the farm. It is just amazing every year how my wonderful staff can put it together and have it looking gorgeous in such a short time. For the opener this year we will have a fabulous selection of lavender plants available plus all of PH's other products.

Yesterday found me on my hands and knees in my garden planting the first veggies of the year; sugar and chinese peas, a variety of salad greens, arugula and two types of spinach

New web cam

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 in real time. Jose was instrumental in the installation of the camera in the upstairs window of the drying shed. Once again he showed his expertise in getting things done......

I spent the weekend in Neah Bay at some brand new cabins RIGHT ON the beach. The location is just to die for. It's called Hobuck Beach RV and cabins. It's just a wonderful location and I'm sure in a short time they will be booked all the time. I took some random shots of the cabins to show you their uniqueness...

At the farm we continue to plant lavender, replacing the old varieties. The fields are just about full now and we will start to weed in earnest, getting ready for the farm to open on April 1

A couple of weeks ago, we were visited by Paul and Jacqui Abbot, owners of Isle of Wight Lavender farm in England. It's England's largest lavender farm with over 600 varieties under cultivation. Paul and I hope to start exchanging cultivars in the near future.

Anyway, here's a couple of shots of the cabins at Neah Bay...just beautiful

Planting time

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 blown bud push. The birds are at the feeders big time now, and the willows are showing their furry fat buds. It's pussy willow time at Purple Haze!

Planting time

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 blown bud push. The birds are at the feeders big time now, and the willows are showing their furry fat buds. It's pussy willow time at Purple Haze!

Purple Haze Lavender Farm

Purple Haze Lavender Farm
Originally uploaded by pattieky.

Wow this is a great photo of our farm.

Off to mexico!

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 story is up and now we concentrate on getting the second story in place....the farm is just asleep; all the plants are pruned and most of the windfall is cleaned up...thanks to jose and his diligent work ethic...geez, has this been a horrific winter for rain and wind or what?....we will be offering early plant orders this next month and I encourage all who wish to put lavender into their landscape to order early as the orders in the upcoming months are pretty overwhelming. We will file the orders chronologically and deliver as we receive them so; first come, first served...we just sent out our Valentine's Special yesterday so you might want to check our website for a gift that will tell that special "someone" just how much you love her/him....always check back to our site for any and all questions you might have in dealing with your "problem" lavender...we have the answers...we really do...good luck and blast into your new year with gusto...mike