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Bzzzz February 22nd, 2008

Behind our house and beyond the garden is a messy field that needs attention.

It’s about three-quarters of an acre that used to be in hay production until the farmer who tends the rest of our field decided that I should mow it instead of him farming it. (Thanks for that.)

My husband would love to see a huge swath of neatly mown green grass. I haven’t yet convinced him that traditional lawns should be a relic of the past. The chemicals that must be dumped on them to keep them as pristine as he likes are bad for the environment, as are the emissions of my riding lawn mower.

The other option is just to let is grow scraggly grass. As ugly as that is, it’s very good for the environment and as a habitat for the wildlife.

A more manicured idea is to make it a wildflower meadow. But those don’t just pop up from seed and look picturesque without some serious seeding and tilling.

If I’m going to go to all that trouble, why not make it my own field of dreams? A lavender field of dreams!

Have you ever been around lavender in bloom? The scent is intoxicating! Heavenly! I grew lavender for a couple of years as the border in my herb beds before I had to tear them out to install the raised beds. As the lavender bloomed, the bumblebees would be everywhere, working slowly and peacefully around the lavender blooms.

Before they faded altogether, I cut bunches of lavender to place around the house and lined my drawers with the blossoms. I even made a pound cake with lavender scented water and lined the baking pans with the lavender blooms.

Then, there’s lavender sugar, lavender lemonade, lavender ice cream…

Lavender farms seem to abound judging from a Google search. Most of the farms at the top of the Google listings seem to be small artisan enterprises that also produce their own products. Well, forget that. There’s no time.

I wonder if there’s a market for pick-your-own lavender farms? Nope. I don’t want all those people down here invading my privacy.

Let’s see…Maybe I can grow it for some large-scale producer? Probably not. They would want me to meet some quality control standards or obey other rules. I’m not good at rules.

Perhaps…nah. Not that either.

Maybe I’ll just make some lavender borders for now…And get a lavender colored chair so I can sit and watch the bumblebees at work. And those lavender fields will just have to remain my field of dreams. At least for now.

About those Survey Results…

Have you cast your vote for how you would spend the $10,000 Donald Trump is going to give you? It’s interesting that so many people are choosing hardscaping. And although I made my case for nice garden seating, as of this writing no one has chosen furniture!

Posted In: Flowers, Gardening

22 Comments

Bzzzz May 5th, 2007

Hi. Sophie here again. I thought I would drop a line before my mom gets on here and starts telling stories about flowers and birds again. She can be very boring that way.

Dad and Ben are off on a fishing vacation, but when they return I need to remember to warn Dad about leaving Mom alone like that. She talks to herself and gets into quite a lot of trouble.

For example, the other night just after dark she decided to bring in the birdfeeders for the night. She does that because she hasn’t yet put in a proper birdfeeder pole with baffle and the local raccoons have worn a path in the yard going to and fro to the birdfeeder buffet.

Well, she must have been in a hurry because instead of looking outside first she just marched to the tree and started grabbing at the feeders. Next thing I knew she was yelling “EEEEEEEeeeee” and running around in little circles in the yard. I’m guessing it was the two raccoons in the tree that surprised her.

Then just yesterday morning she wasn’t paying careful attention again. She was getting dressed and decided to wear the bluejeans that were left in the car from her change of clothes for a meeting the night before. She went outside in her underwear (she calls it lingerie) to get them. I tried to warn her that wasn’t necessarily a good idea at that moment, but she strolled right out there dressed like that anyway.

Sure enough, no sooner had she gotten all the way to her car when the FedEx guy Billy came barreling down the driveway in one of those quiet little minivans. By the time Mom noticed the company it was too late for her to dart back into the house undetected. So instead, she threw herself into the back seat floor of the car and hid there until the Billy drove off. She’s still not sure if Billy noticed that she was there or not.

Now, I fully expected her to be a little cranky about this development to her day, but instead she came in holding the opened FedEx envelope.

“Hot dog! Hot dog!” she shouted, even though I wasn’t the least bit warm.

Apparently, she was happy about the envelope that she said was a check from an “overdue” client. She immediately started talking about buying bushes, bird and garden books, binoculars and something called a digiscope (which I think is a fancy machine to look at birds) even though I already heard her and Dad talking about sending money to some distant uncle named Sam who never comes for dinner. I don’t think Dad would approve.

So just to show how much fun she can be, today Mom says she plans to dig a bunch of holes. In my opinion, she is very inconsistent on the issue of digging holes. I know for a fact that Sarah just recently tried to surprise Mom by digging a lovely deep hole in the spinach bed. Mom was not at all happy for the help and retaliated by giving Sarah a bath. She can be mean that way.

She also plans to go out to find more plants to put into the holes she’s digging. As you can see I already have a plan in mind so that I’m not left behind this time babysitting Sarah.

Don’t tell Dad about Mom’s misadventures. I’ll break it to him gently myself.

–Sophie

Posted In: Dogs and Cats, Flowers