Harvesting Lavender

I don't have much of a green thumb, but one thing I've managed to grow very easily is lavender.

I love it. The smell gently blows in through our window and is so relaxing.

This year I want to hold on to it  even when the flowers finish blooming, so I learned how to harvest and dry lavender. Here is what I learned...

First, make sure you do it on a dry day in the morning. It was a great way for me to get outside earlier than I normally do. I felt so healthy! The kids played and I was able to keep an eye on them while I go to work. It was a little frightening at times because we have a LOT of bees that love the lavender as much as me. I put on a brave face and reminded myself of all the beekeepers that handle bees on a regular basis and then I began to cut. The stems I cut were about 6 to 8 inches long.

As I cut, I would bundle 20 stems and hold them together with a rubber band. When I ran out of rubber bands, I took my crop inside to do the rest. By then, my kids were ready for lunch so inside was a good place to be.

After getting the kids settled with their food, I unfolded enough paper clips and slid them through the rubber bands. You could also use ribbon, string or another type of clip.

My bundles were then ready to hang. They could be hung from a hanger, nails, hooks, etc. I hung them from our drying rack...

I made sure to space them apart enough so that the air could circulate.

Then I put them in a dry, dark place. Our only dry, dark place was the drying closet... 

I'll peek in on them occasionally so I know when they're dry...and to get a good whiff of the soothing scent.

☼