All for the love of lavender.......

What a perfect day for a drive in the country....wait, I live in the country!  Well, it was a perfect day for a drive...so first we drove to Molalla, a town bigger than the one I live in and a town who's newspaper I helped publish for seven years, also, a town best know for its' 4th of July weekend rodeo!

This weekend they are having a huge competitive Bar-B-Que cook off with entries from all over the state.....so we ate some gooooood ribs!

Sorry, not photos so you'll have to take my word for it, they were good!

Then we headed to the REAL country and visited a wonderful lavender grower/nursery called The Lavender Thyme Herb Farm located between Woodburn and Molalla.  This wonderful nursery is located in the heart of the Willamette Valley's farm country...you can see the wheat fields in the background.

Not only do they sell lavender plants, here at the nursery, but they have a sweet little garden shop filled with lavender soaps, lotions, teas and other goodies.

Beautifully landscaped with shady nooks, water features and a man-made stream......so relaxing!

Sunny, 75 degrees.....I could live here!!!

It's difficult to see in the photo but the gravel is covered by water...it is their little hand-built stream..........

.......complete with a foot bridge sided with wagon wheels.

 

 

 

Sweet rusty chairs surround a beautiful flower basket.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I joined in on the lavender wand making fun!

Joyce, a member of the local herb society, was teaching us how to weave ribbon around stems of lavender to make a holder for the lavender flowers that helps preserve the blooms and fragrance for years.

  Not perfect, by any means, but I'm ready to try again.

I've wanted to make one of these for some time......I learned that, like everything else in this world, practice makes perfect and I need more practice.  This is a pretty simple and inexpensive gift to make for a friend or for delightful party favors.

Actually, this is officially called Oregon Lavender Festival weekend with 24 lavender growers, throughout the state, holding special events all weekend.  We only made it to this one nursery but next year I'm going to hit a few more.

What a wonderful way to spend the day.......a delight for all of the senses!

I am linking to Jean's Bloomin Tuesday and Tuesday Garden Party