Rusted Gingham and Blanco Lavender

My oldest daughter and I made the hour and a half drive up to Blanco last weekend to witness beautiful Texas lavender farms, do some cutting of our own and then some browsing at the annual Lavender Festival in the Blanco town square. I didn't know what to expect, but I was hoping for something like this.

Blanco does have about 7 lavender farms, and they are all in various stages of development. I was disappointed to discover that the drought last summer did a number on our lavender plants, and that our fields are nothing like, well, Provence (above). Go visit my pinterest board for REAL lavender inspiration.

Our fields look like this. A few varieties of lavender were in bloom, but only a few. We were not given the opportunity to cut our own, but then there really wasn't much to cut. So we just enjoyed smelling it all, and tasting lots of yummy things. Lavender Lemonade was our favorite, and lavender peach salsa, lavender/lemon shortbread, lavender/chocolate brownies, and then we also treated ourselves to some locally grown peaches!

Our favorite stop was this lavender farm where they had a farmer's market at the roadside. I was so upset I didn't bring along a cooler. I could have brought home cantaloupe, peaches, and zipper cream peas. My Aunt Melba in East Texas and my Gran always made sure I was stocked with zipper cream peas this time of year. I haven't been able to find them in a long while. But here they were. (The ones pictured are black-eyes, the zippers were in the other room by the peach ice cream.)

Don't you just love fresh produce?! It looked so good and it tasted great. Sure wish I had a stand like this nearby. One of the funniest things we saw all day were the lavender port-a-potties! Never knew they existed until now. But they were everywhere. Can you imagine being the one in the port-o-potty board room one day who said, "Hey guys, I know you'll think I'm crazy, but I think we should start making these things in lavender...I know there's a market for them out there somewhere...." Ha. After the farms, it was off to the 8th annual Blanco Lavender Festival.

It was an overcast day, so it started out pretty comfortable.  

 

 There were lots of beautiful plants, super nice people, artisans of all kinds, and, of course, lavender booths.

 

 

 

 

We sampled everything there was to sample, but kept going back to the lavender lemonade! It go HOT in the afternoon. We met some great vendors who are very interested in coming to our Barn Sale! 

I'll have to let you know about them in a separate post, but I was thrilled to make some new friends! 

You can be looking for some lavender products at our Barn Sale November 2-3rd!

By 6 o'clock, we were back on the road home. It was a great day to spend with my daughter and to do something we both love. I don't think I can go shopping any more without her. She is the best at giving me the thumbs up for great things, and for making me walk away from things she knows I should NOT bring home ♥.

So I did, with her approval, come home with a leather flower bracelet, a garlic basket (to hold garlic), lavender tea, and lavender jalapeno jelly. I now wish I had picked up a little jar of lavender sugar, but I guess I'll have to get some in a few months at the Barn Sale!


So, readers, am I the only lavender lover out there?

♥ Tracy


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