Summertime is a challenging time for me when it comes to posting as much as I desire too. Our 4H volunteer work ramps up into overtime during the fairer months of the calendar year, and I won't even get started on just how much farm work we accomplish from May to October, for when you live a snow belt you have a limited time to get everything squared away before that white floof of land blanketing doom returns.
That said, many of you know that I enjoy mixing an ingredient or two together. Baking and cooking are something that I truly enjoy. The farm also happens to be home to a little over 300 lavender plants suited to culinary purposes. For the last fourteen years I have been experimenting with the lavender harvest in all manner of ways, for I wanted to find my niche for the crop. Most lavender farms are U-pick and/or grow for essential oil production. Although I like those things, I didn't really want to go that route, and let me tell ya, lavender, done right in comestibles is quite delectable.
So, a few months ago my work Facebook feed reminded me of the fledgling little farmer's market in a neighboring burg was looking for vendors. I had visited this sprouting market the previous summer and loved the laid back vibe. The rules were simple, you had to grow or make what you sold and live within 25 miles of the market. Check and check!
My husband is always encouraging me to find my thing as I spend most of my time tending others. With his prodding, I developed a lavender lemon shortbread cookie, a salted lavender white chocolate chip cookie, packaged my triple sifted culinary lavender buds, and harvested multiple bundles of bud stage lavender for my first market offering.
Since he was so insistent on kicking my rear into farmers' market gear, I returned the flogging, er, favor and suggested he bring some of his hand forged steel. You see, my hubs has his own, old-fashioned blacksmith forge. He has been forging for quite a few years now. His hooks and nails are holding things all over our farm, I just love the look of hand forged steel. One of my favorite pieces is a reclaimed wood serving tray with hand forged, twisted handles. I figured if I was going to go into the realm of market-land, his talented carcass should go there too, you know, just so our tables would look nice and full.
And so off to market we went one Friday afternoon. As with all new ventures, I had (and still am a bit fuzzy) no idea what the heck we were doing, but as I am older and care less about looking like a buffoon these days, I just decided to have a good attitude and go with it.
The first item we sold was one of my hub's really super cool twisted steel key chains. Then I started giving out samples of my shortbread. When you ask people if they would like a lavender cookie, you tend to get one of two responses. Either the person has had lavender before and dives right on it, or the person looks at you with this aghast face of almost repulsion. Let me tell you, lavender can be done right, or horribly, horribly wrong. I always say,
"I promise they don't taste like soap."
We usually have a good giggle, the future customer and I, for I kid you not as soon as the brave ones try the cookie, their faces do this thing. It's like complete and utter pleasure settles upon their mugs. And I have to admit, few things make me happier than bringing about joy to someone due to them ingesting something I have crafted. Also, I have sold out of the cookies almost every single week!
My husband has been enjoying some popularity as well. We are in the middle of a massive migratory influx of people to our area, and many of them are building houses. The hubs has been hired and or inquired of to make handles and drawer pulls for three different families who are constructing new homes.
So, even though my life was super full to begin with, and there are days, like right now where I am truly exhausted, I feel like I have to give this culinary lavender and hand forged farm business thing with my family a go. In all reality, I have never truly applied myself to any endeavor. Most of my life I have been a little bit good at a lot of things, but truly afraid to give something my all. It's never to late to throw your form into something and give it a try, well, unless it's swimming through a vat full of ravenous piranhas. I'm probably gonna pass on that.
And I will do a post on all the cool hand forged things my hubs has crafted soon. The steel's so cool that I figured it deserved its own spotlight of writing accolades and whatnot.
And as almost always, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's somewhat bemused and currently under the left flank of a Cowboy Corgi iPhone.
