I have been in love with lavender forever. I completely don’t know where it comes from because I don’t have a romantic story about my grandmother loving lavender or my mom having sachets under her pillow. All I know is I have been smitten with the smell of lavender for years and have been chasing a romantic vision of living on a lavender farm.

When we moved into our Niagara farmhouse I had the idea that a fine small lavender farm it would make. I rechristened the house Lavender Stone Farm (from the Stoner House (insert joke here) and promptly planted 150 lavender plants. My neighbour suggested I plant five plants to see how they would do, but with much gusto, I planted a whole field of French Lavender. Wow was it beautiful!  We hosted two beautiful lavender harvest dinners which remain some of my favourite memories at the farmhouse.

Fast forward a few years, and for many a reason-  the lavender didn’t survive, (blame it on a cold winter and some weeding challenges on my end).  In the last few years I have come to terms with the fact that I don’t have the time to tend to a lavender field. Instead, I am focusing on growing English Lavender  (hardier and more suited for our climate) and picking up pots of French lavender on every trip to the greenhouse to add to my collection. This approach supplies me enough culinary lavender to use at the Buddha in the Lavender Creme Brûlée and for stuffing into sachets to give to friends.  I continue to visit lavender farms in Niagara (Terra Lavanda and Neob Lavender) as inspiration for the day that I will plant my lavender field again…