Lavender Hair Rinse

It is officially SPRING! Time to get outside...time to smell the flowers...time to freshen up our homes and our wardrobes. Why not freshen up our hair as well? I've wanted to make a hair rinse for some time but didn't realize how very easy it was to do. 

So, I did a little research on Pinterest and found a super simple recipe. I gathered all the ingredients (baking soda, bottled water, a mason jar, a cute jar for the shower, lavender essential oil and my jar of lavender buds) and went to work.

Anyone who "knows" me knows that I have always have a SUPER cute bottle saved and ready to use for something special. This super cute bottle will now hold my lavender hair rinse in the shower!

First, I added the bottled water and the baking soda to my mason jar. 

Next I added my sunshine lavender farm essential oil. Then I closed the jar up tight and shook to mix everything together.

Finally I filled my "cute bottle" up with a single serving of the hair rinse and placed it in the shower.

I must admit, I LOVE IT!! After I shampoo, I add the entire bottle to my hair and rub it in, especially at the ends. Then I lightly rinse my entire head. 

Give it a try!! It smells just like spring...

Homemade Lavender Hair Rinse

1 1/2 cups bottled water
1 heaping tablespoon of baking soda
10 drops of lavender essential oil

Add all ingredients to a jar and mix. Pour into your hair after shampooing. Rub into the ends of your hair and then lightly rinse.

Lavender Love in Liquid Form

We love lavender...we want others to love lavender...we make it our number one goal to promote the amazing array of uses and benefits of lavender!

Although this is part of our life and overall mission statement at sunshine lavender farm, it is still surprising and exciting when we accidentally run across other proprietors in our area that love and use lavender too! Recently, we went to one of the wonderful restaurants in downtown Durham, NC to enjoy drinks with friends. The restaurant we chose was Revolution (http://www.revolutionrestaurant.com/) located at 107 West Main Street. 

The entire restaurant is clothed in white with gorgeous lighting. There is an excellent cutting edge menu and freshly innovative bar drinks. While sitting at the beautiful bar and enjoying the music, I noticed a new drink that I needed to try immediately! 

The drink is called the "so far so good" and contains green tea infused gin, lemon, honey and lavender...it was refreshing, light and lavender-ry. In other words, it was DELICIOUS!! If your in the area, you MUST try the drink and the restaurant...

Have you found any interesting lavender goodies that we must try? Please send us an email with your suggestion and we will give it a try.

Lavender Tid-Bit #6

Have you ever considered where in our big, beautiful world that lavender originated? Although now seen growing luxuriously in the French and English county sides, lavender did not originate in these regions. Instead lavender started in the hills of the Mediterranean. It is thought to have been spread throughout Europe by the Romans. And anyone who has ever grown lavender can attest to why. Lavender can be described in one word- WONDERFUL!

What about the word lavender? That's an easy question to answer...Lavender was given its name by the Romans. The word is derived from the Latin word lavare, which literally means "to wash." This is quite appropriate as lavender was a key ingredient in the infamous Roman baths. 

There are so many intereting and useful things to learn about lavender...

A Summer with Too Much Rain- UPDATE

Dale and I were in the field yesterday working and we were actually very encouraged! Some of the older plants did not fare well, and perhaps they were on their way out anyway -- and the very wet, cool summer gave them that nudge on out!!! 

We are glad that the summer rains stopped when they did. Happily, the one and two year old plants are still growing strong. The Hidcote and Royal Velvet is doing great and some of those plants are actually in bloom right now!

Our hearts are full of lavender dreams for our Harvest Celebration next June 2014!!

A Summer with Too Much Rain...

If you live in North Carolina like we do, then you know what an usual summer we have had this year. We are typically faced with drought like conditions and loads of heat & humidity. This year, it has been cooler and wet. I mean VERY, VERY wet.

We, as farmers in North Carolina, know how to deal with a hot summer and fortunately, an established lavender plant really likes a NC summer too. But, this year has been a challenge. 

I've mentioned to several customers that I truly wish we could just pick the entire field of lavender up and let it drain out...thoroughly. But then reality sets back in and I know we have to deal with the situation. And that situation is that plant loss is a fact of life...even plants that we have had and loved for several years. Fortunately, we only lost a few plants and obviously, it will not affect our product offerings, etc. for next year. But, it is definitely more then the usual yearly attrition due to plant age. It is more then we are use to! 

But, what can we do? Well, if you have "lavender survivors", keep the plants well weeded. When any plant has to compete with weeds, it tends to take a toll on the overall health of the plant. It is also fine to could go ahead and trim the dead wood and clean away the spent, gray foliage. Then amend with lime, bone meal, compost (our success planting mix). 

If you have lost one (or more) of your lavender plants this year, the best we can suggest is to dust yourself off and know that it's just part of a gardeners life! We have decided to look at our plant loss situation as an opportunity to redesign the field some. We will fill in with some of our old reliable favorites but we will also try out a few different varieties as well, like the pretty pink Melissa variety.

Fortunately for our beloved customers, we have several varieties of plants READY to ship via our Etsy shop (including the Melissa variety)...just in time for fall planting! 

Check our what we have to offer-
 http://www.etsy.com/shop/sunshinelavenderfarm?section_id=13306598

HAPPY FALL PLANTING!!

Never Any Rest...

There's never any rest for a true farmer...from working in currently very muddy fields, to shipping our products all over the US, to carefully preparing new handmade goodies for the Laze Days Arts & Crafts Festival inventory which will take place this Saturday 8/24.

Seeing you soon is the reward for many long days and work filled weekends!

Lavender Tid-Bit #4

Have you ever been bitten by a chigger? If there is ANY question in your mind, then I promise you haven't. It is quite the memorable experience!

According to www.animal.discovery.com-

Chiggers are the larvae of mites. Like ticks and spiders, mites go through three biological stages in their life cycle: They begin as eggs, hatch as larvae, develop into nymphs and finally become adults. Nymph and adult harvest mites feed mostly on plant life and don't bother people or other mammals, but in the larval stage, many of the species are parasitic. After a parasitic chigger hatches, it finds a good position on tall grass or other vegetation so it can spring onto a passing animal. When it finds an animal, it attaches to the animal to gather the protein it needs to grow into the nymph stage.

Chiggers do not burrow under your skin, as many people believe, nor do they feed on animal blood. They actually feed on the fluids in skin cells. To get the fluids, they attach themselves to a skin pore or hair follicle and inject a digestive enzyme that ruptures the cells. The enzyme also hardens the surrounding skin tissue, forming a sort of straw for sucking the skin cell fluids. The whole process irritates the skin, causing an itchy red bump that continues to cause discomfort for several days. Chiggers are only about 1/50th of an inch (0.5 mm) in diameter and so are too small to be seen with the naked eye. This invisibility is the reason so many people believe chiggers burrow under the skin.

Obviously NOT a fun ordeal!

Recently a friend of mine, who loves to hike in the woods, found herself eaten up with chiggers. After a few sleepless nights and painful days, she read online that lavender essential oil just might help a bit.



Sure enough, a few minutes after lightly applying the oil to the worst of her bites, she no longer felt like "ripping her skin off" (a direct quote)!

Just another good reason to keep a bottle of lavender essential oil in your medicine cabinet...

Lavender Tid-Bit #3

Lavender IS for lovers! It is said that Cleopatra wore the scent of lavender (maybe her secret weapon) to seduce Julius Caesar and then Marc Antony after Julius’s assassination by Brutus and Cassius. 

Some claim that the asp (snake) that delivered her fatal bite was hidden among her lavender bushes.

BEAUTIFUL paintings of the 2013 Harvest Celebration

This year, we were privileged to have several professional painters visit us during the 2013 Harvest Celebration. One such painter was a lovely young man, Jeremy Sams, who is a plein air painter which means he enjoys painting in the open air or painting from real life. He is currently a member of four plein air groups and it was obvious to all who observed him work that he was born to paint. The resulting paintings were so excellently done that you felt as if you were looking at a photograph and not a painting at all.

While Jeremy was with us for only one day of the event, he was able to complete not only one but two gorgeous paintings of our farm. On his website, he stated of the experience-

Today, I was privileged to paint along side of fellow artists from Triad Outdoor Painters and others at the beautiful Sunshine Lavender Farm near Hillsborough, NC. This was my first visit, but hopefully won’t be my last. I met many wonderful people there and was thrilled at the event’s family friendly atmosphere. 

 The weather was absolutely beautiful and you couldn't have asked for a better day to be out plein air painting. Luckily, I found myself a nice shady spot for my first painting of the day, which was this pretty little scene looking down the walkway beside the farm house. Not only was I in the shade on a bright sunny day, but I was right in front of the food tent…SCORE! They served up all kinds of healthy goodies and offered up some lavender tea and pineapple tea to wash it all down. I could’ve drank a gallon…it was delicious.

 This was my second plein air painting of the day. These bicycles were just begging to be painted with their jewel toned colors, wheels turned in the same direction, and baskets full of harvested lavender. Oddly enough, this was actually my first plein air painting of bicycles. Maybe I’ll have to try some more in the future.

We had a blast watching and talking with Jeremy as he painted the day away on our farm...we do hope he comes back again next year!

If you are interested in purchasing either painting of the 2013 Lavender Harvest Celebration or any of Jeremy's other excellent work, please visit him at this website- http://www.jeremysams.com/ 

Lavender Tid-Bit #2

Did you know that one of lavender's folk names is "Elf Leaf"?

Makes you want to go out and check your lavender plants for elves and fairies, doesn't it?

Pharsalia Lavender Day, PM Update

After an informative seminar on growing lavender, we headed outside with Annie for the hands on part of our class. She showed us how to harvest and how to prune...which is CRITICAL for the health of each and every lavender plant.

Although it was a beautiful morning, it was starting to get a bit warm outside and a perfect time for a lunch break. Inside the gorgeous historic home, everyone was served a perfect summertime lunch consisting of chilled cucumber soup with edible flowers, a salad with lavender dressing, mini ham and fig jam sandwiches and pimento cheese fillo cups. Our beverages consisted of lavender sweet tea and lavender lemonade...YUMMY and so refreshing!

We finished our lunch with a delicious dessert that consisted of a homemade lavender shortbread cookie and chocolate ice cream.

After lunch, we headed back outside to start the craft portion of our Lovely Lavender day. This year, each participant was able to cut their own lavender for the craft of their choice- mini wreath, lavender wand or lavender basket.

Everyone loved being able to choose their own lavender and there were several mixed lavender variety wreaths. While crafting, the group listened to Annie discuss how to use lavender easily in everyday cooking. It was an extra treat!

It was another special day at Pharsalia in Tyro, VA! We would like to thank all the participants for their enthusiasm and wonderful questions, Foxie for her excellent hospitality and the Pharsalia staff for their hard work. Won't you join us next year?

Pharsalia Lavender Day, AM Update

We are here in Tyro, VA at the beautiful historical home of Pharsalia. We started early to set-up our product display and get our crafting items ready.

It is such a gorgeous day and the super informative lavender seminar (given by the lovely Annie Baggett) has just begun.

We will update again after our yummy lunch and of course our wreath making class!

Lavender Tid-Bit #1

Over the years, we have collected TONS of fun tips for using fresh and dried lavender. So, we want to share them with you... 

Why not place a few fresh stems of lavender in the bird bath? It will keep the water fresh and clean longer!

Even Snakes Love It

After our last eNewsletter, we received a fun email from one of our lovely readers who is a volunteer at the Page-Walker herb garden in Cary, NC. She writes:

Thought you might like to know that even baby garter snakes are calmed by lavender.  This little guy spent the whole day of Herbfest in the top of our “grandmother” lavender (maybe because he was too cold to move!), and was still there on Wednesday taking a sun bath!

Picture take by Lois Nixon

That proves it! Lavender is so wonderful that even snakes love it!

More Local Lavender Flavors

We have been fortunate enough to find more local lavender flavors recently. Last week, we visited the Scratch Bakery in downtown Durham, NC. Their website states- 

Scratch is a seasonal bakery that chooses the finest ingredients to provide its customers with the best product possible. This means that every time you walk through the door, you will find the best new foods that each season has to offer, and you will be supporting local farms, producers and businesses.

One of the delicious features at Scratch are the "Pie's of the Month". For April, in addition to 9 other yummy sounding pies, there was a Lavender Chess Pie. How could we resist?

I can say first hand that it was wonderfully delicious! The pie was rich and creamy with such a nice lavender flavor. I definitely recommend that you try it if you're in the area...

Scratch is located at 111 Orange Street in downtown Durham, NC. Their phone number is 919-956-5200.

Lavender Experience

Last week at the Spring Daze Arts & Crafts Festival, we had the great fortune to meet many lovely individuals Many new friends but also many who have know us for a time, have used our products and know the many wonderful benefits of incorporating lavender into their daily lives.

One such individual was Nance Murphy, Nurse Practitioner from Woman Care of Raleigh, NC. According to their website, Nance is certified in both family and pediatrics. She has more then 20 years of experience in a variety of settings from pediatrics, internal medicine, urgent care, employee health and gynecology practices. Nance's main interest is women's health encompassing the changes women experience throughout the life span from adolescence, through childbearing and transitioning into menopause. She is enthusiastic and interested in alternative medicine and mind-body practices. Personally she participates in Pilate's, yoga, hiking, creating ceramic tile and a myriad of other interests.

Nance shared with us at the festival that her favorite sunshine lavender farm product is our exclusive Lavender Essential Oil. She then opened her purse just to show me that she carries it with her everywhere. Nance then explained that favorite use for our oil is to offer it to patients when they appear to be under stress due to personal nature of exam. If the patient accepts, she will then place a few drops of the oil on each of the patients wrist. As she relates, "it clams them down immediately."

"THANK YOU" Nance for sharing your experiences with us!! We LOVE to hear wonderful stories like these...please continue to share.

Been There...Done That!

The 10th annual Spring Daze Arts & Crafts Festival has come and gone. I'm not going to lie, I feel a little sad that's it's all over...

Even after all the crazy preparation, a 4:00 am start to the day AND a 14 hour day total on Saturday (poor tired feet and back), we had a BALL meeting new people, sharing our lavender plants and products and especially getting to enjoy such a well orchestrated event. BRAVO to Cary!!

It makes us so much more excited for OUR big weekend June 1st & 2nd...the Lavender Harvest Celebration. Please stay tuned for more details!

We look so forward to seeing you again soon...