June on the Farm

Behind the Scenes

June is here and things are in full swing on the farm! We’re in one of our busiest and most beautiful times of year at PepperHarrow but there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes. While guests have been wandering the fields at our Lavender Festival or getting ready to attend our upcoming classes, we’re behind the scenes making sure every bloom, path, and product, is ready.

Here’s a peek at what we’ve been up to this month!

Trimming & Harvesting the Lavender

One of our big tasks this month is to trim the lavender. Trimming really is the secret to lush fields because it helps them grow fuller, stronger, and more vibrant. Trimming it back makes the lavender bloom much more quickly and usually, we’re able to harvest 2-3 weeks after the trim.

We’ve been harvesting bundles now that it’s starting to bloom (at the end of June) for drying and to be used for culinary purposes. It’s fun to see our entire space filled with hanging lavender bouquets and they smell incredible!

Weeding

Weeding is the never-ending story of farm life but keeping our fields clean and our flowers thriving is important. We don’t mind putting in the hard work now, because it means healthy soil and tidy rows for our visitors (and pollinators!) to enjoy later.

We’re always asked what types of weeds we see most on our farm and our answer is usually: grasses, but it seems like every weed likes to grow here. Do they ever go away?

Generally, I try to look at the flowers and NOT the weeds, but like every good gardener, I can’t NOT see them.

 Planting

Even though lots of flowers are blooming, we’re always busy planting new ones. June is all about balancing both ends of the growing season to make sure what comes next is well rooted and ready.

Some of the flowers we’ve been chipping away at planting this month are: sunflowers, which we direct seed into the soil, specialty zinnias, ageratum, cinnamon basil, snapdragons, celosia, and of course, so many lavender plants.

Harvesting Blooms for Bouquets

Believe it or not, but there are a ton of flowers blooming on the farm now (early June). We gambled this year and planted zinnias and cosmos well before our last frost date. This is a little risky, but sometimes taking a gamble can pay off and we’re reaping the reward of planting early with early blooms. We’ve been cutting them every single day and they just keep blooming their little hearts out.

Dahlias

If we’re being honest, the dahlias are one of our flowers running a little late this year, but we’re getting the rest in the ground as fast as we can. It happens. We’re human! We think these stunning flowers will be well worth the wait though and can’t wait to wow you with them.

We have a few new varieties we’re growing this year that we’ll share with y’all in a later post when we can get some good photos, so be on the lookout for that later. In addition to new varieties, we’re also expanding our PepperHarrow dahlia seedlings, and our pretty dahlia seedlings from last year. It’s been a fun adventure to make our very own dahlia varieties.

Lavender Festival Prep

With our first Lavender Festival June 20th and 21st, we’ve been in full prep mode! We’re busy coordinating musicians and artisan vendors, organizing food, tours, and demos, and making sure our team is equipped and ready to welcome you to the farm. We can’t wait for you to enjoy what we’ve been working so hard on.

Making Lavender Products

When we’re not in the fields, (or running anywhere else) we’re busy in the workshop making lavender products. We have everything from essential oils, candles, soaps, sprays, and perfumes to culinary products and assorted mini bouquets and sachets. It’s amazing to see what our blooms become, and we can’t wait to share them with you, either online or at the farm. If you want to get a head start, you can visit our online farm store here.

So, that’s June! It’s fast-paced, flower-filled, but purposeful. While the to-do list is long, we wouldn’t trade it for anything. There’s something so grounding about this work and knowing we get to share the results with y’all makes every long day worth it.

 XX Jenn and Adam