And even more lavender

©Robin Edmundson, 'Lavender Sprig', watercolor, 8 x 8 inches.  
[Available framed, $280]

While I was practicing painting lavender, I tried several different techniques.  I liked this one because it gives a good idea of how some of the plants look so fluffy when the flowers are almost all open.

More lavender

©Robin Edmundson, 'Lavender Bush', watercolor, 5 x 5 inches.  

In February I attended a gala to support a local charity and had the opportunity to sit and paint greeting cards with some of my favorite people.

In preparation, I spent some time painting lavender bushes, and poppies and echinacea and at the last minute some salvia popped up on the paper.  

This is one of the lavender bushes from when I was practicing.  I can just smell that lavender...

Lavender

©Robin Edmundson, 'Lavender - 682', watercolor, 14 x 10 inches.  
[Available framed, $375]

My lavender mostly survived the winter and I am sooo happy about it.   It's one of my favorite things.  Even the dog loves it and in the mornings when it's in the shade, I'll find her lying right on top of it.   I don't think it does the plants much good, but it makes the giant dog smell nice.

Lavender

©Robin Edmundson, 'Lavender-547', watercolor, 9 x 6 inches.
Matted and framed to 10 x 8 inches.  $95.

These summer florals make me so happy.  It's a great way to practice capturing the essence of a plant. I love all the herbs, but lavender makes me happy on a cellular level.   

Our lavender is pretty happy.  There were a few plants that suffered greatly from the affection of the dog.  Turns out that Pepper loves sleeping on lavender. [Who can blame her?]    Several of our bushes were crushed and had to be pruned way back, but they are mostly recovering and we're trying to find a way to protect them from her attention again this year.  

Strawberry Lemon Lavender Honey Jam

Jam and bread are two of my favorite things in the whole world.

Right up there with old barns.

And cemeteries.

And gardens.

Yep. That's where you'll find jam and bread on my list.  Right there at the top.

One thing I don't like in jam is too much sugar.   I like it to be more fruit flavor than sweet flavor.   It's jam, not candy.    I usually use 1/2 as much sugar as fruit in my recipes and I'm working hard on ways to use sweeteners other than sugar.

Like maple syrup.  [Peach Maple Cardamom Jam, Peach Maple Jam, Pear Maple Jam]

And honey.  I've been thinking a lot about honey in jam.

The trick with honey is to not let the flavor of the honey overwhelm the flavor of the fruit.   I decided to play.

While I was playing, I made this jam:  Strawberry Lemon Lavender Honey Jam.

It's beautiful.   And really really good!  The honey deepened the color of the berries into a deep dark red. 

Strawberry Lemon Lavender Honey Jam

• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• 4 cups sliced strawberries
• 3 T Dutch Jell All Natural Lite pectin
• 12 heads of lavender, tied in a bundle.
• 1 1/2 cups mild honey

Put the lemon juice, lemon zest, berries, lavender and pectin in a pot.  [You can stir with the lavender bundle.]  Bring to hard rolling boil.  Boil for 1 minute.  Remove the lavender bundle.  Add honey.  Bring to rolling boil and boil for 1 minute.  Ladle into jars.  

Notes:  If you don't want the odd lavender flower falling off into the jam, you can strip the flowers off and put them in a tea ball to steep in the jam as it cooks.   I found it easier to just use the bundle to stir with as much as I could, then I switched to a spoon when I needed a stronger stirrer.  

The jam isn't too sweet, especially with all that lemon.   If you want it to be sweeter, you can add more honey, or sugar if you don't want the honey to take over. 

This jam also mellows with time.  What flavor might seem overwhelming when cooking will tone down after the jam sits for a few days.  

Lavender Sachets

Remember when we made lavender wands?  

The thing about lavender wands is that you have to make them pretty soon after you pick the lavender and it's still soft and pliable.

Pliable is good. 

We like pliable.

After pliable comes dry.   Dry is not pliable.   Dry is stiff and brittle. 

Dry is what happens when you pick the lavender to make the lavender wands and then get distracted by real life stuff like changing diapers, going to work, cleaning the house, taking care of Grandma, writing letters to your representatives,  making pickles, going to the vet, sleeping for a few hours every night, etc.

Yeah, that sleeping business really gets in the way, I tell ya.    While you're sleeping, the lavender is leaving the land of pliable and heading at warp speed into the land of dry.  

It's pretty near impossible to make lavender wands with dry lavender. 

Never fear!  All is not lost!    You can use that lavender to make lavender sachets!

This is what you need:

• Paper.  Pretty paper!
• Double-sided tape
• Lavender
• Paper cutter or scissors

We used old scrapbooking papers that I knew I wouldn't use for scrapping, but would look fabu full of lavender in my drawer.

Cut the 12x12 ones in half.   Leave the 8.5 x 11 as is.   Fold them all lengthwise.

See where the fold is?   On one side of the fold, put tape across the top, one edge and bottom.   You don't have to use much.  

See?

Now, put a small bunch of lavender in the sachet - a dozen stems or so.

See how mine in the photo are too long?   I just cut the ends off.   They were dry and brittle and I could just bend and twist to get them off.  

Now, fold the other side of the paper over the lavender and stick it together. 

Voila!    A lavender sachet.   With rescued lavender!  Aren't you clever!

I made mine with bits of tape so there are open spaces along the edges.  That means that bits of lavender might fall out.    Mine are in the bottom of my drawers so I don't have a problem with that.    If you want secure edges, make sure you tape all along the top, edge and bottom so there won't be any openings for lavender bits to fall out of. 

They smell good immediately.  My scarf collection loves these.

So do my sheets.  

So do my holiday towels.  

And my t-shirts.    

And my kids' drawers.

You can also punch a hole in the top, thread a ribbon through it and hang it on a hangar in your nice clothes.   It would make you happy every time you opened your closet. 

Lavender Wands

I need more magic in my life.   

Mostly I need a magic wand.    I want a magic wand that I can wave to rid our property of all of the blasted multiflora roses.  And the autumn olive.   And the poison ivy.   And that I can wave to mow the lawn.    And bush hog 10 or so acres of brambles.  And make my mudroom bigger on the inside, like the Weasley's tent.  And wind skeins.   And finish a dozen house and property projects that have been lingering for far too long around here. 

If I had a wand that would do all that, then I'd have more time to blog.   And weed.   And cook.   And bake.  And can.   And dye.  

It's not that I don't want to do my work.   It's that I have too much work to do.  

I need a wand! 

Sigh.

In the absence of the Magic type wands, I've made some Lavender type wands. 

And since I know you need a wand or two or ten, here's how:

What you need:

• Lavender with long stems in bundles of 9 or 11 or any odd number that you want.   I like 9.     I try to pick my lavender just when the first blooms on the plant begin to open and before the bees really find it.   You'll see good color on the buds and they'll smell fabulous. 

• Ribbon.   I like using 1/4" satin, but I've seen some folks use the 1/8".   I like the 1/4" because it weaves around very quickly.
• Scissors

Here's the step by step:
1.  Cut your lavender with as long a stem as possible.   My favorite lavender plant for this is Impress Purple.   Super long stems!  Clean off the leaves and little bitty flowers on the lower stem if necessary.

2.  Cut about a yard of 1/4" ribbon [It might take 1.5 yds of the 1/8" since you have to wind it around a lot more.]

3.  Tie the stems in a bundle just under the flower heads.   Leave a tail of about 8 inches or so on one side.   The other side will be a lot longer.   Pull tight and tie a square knot.

4.  Turn the whole thing upside down and bend the stems down over the ribbon tie - all around the flower head.   You're making a stem cage around the flowers.

5.  Leave the short side of the ribbon in the center with the flower heads.  You'll need it later to tie off with.  

6. With the long ribbon, start weaving over and under the stems all around the flower heads.  Push the ribbon up snug around the heads next to the previous rows of ribbon.   Once in a while, a little flower will try to pop out.   Loosen the ribbon if you need to so you can tuck and keep the buds inside. Then pull the ribbon snug around the head and continue around.

Work all the way around and down the flower head bundle until you cover the last flower.

7.   When you have covered the last flower, do one more row around, then pull the short ribbon out of the center and wind the ends around and them tightly around the stems.  

Voila!   

Let air dry in a place with good air circulation. 







 What can you do with these?

• Drop one in a drawer to use for a sachet.   
• Put several in a vase.  
• Leave a long loop in your last tie and loop it over a hanger in your closet.  
• Tuck them in with your sheets.   
• Wave the wand three times clockwise and it will clean your house for you.

OK.   I'm really not too sure about that last one.