~~ Upcycling A Treasure ~~

Many moons ago my sister-in-law bought a night gown , it was gray and had small flower prints in shades of pink , crimson red and lavender with small green leaves. She wore it for a year or so , grew tired of it and passed the gown on to my daughter. My youngest daughter wore it until it had a small hole , I think my oldest daughter wore it a few times as well. Well , I didn't mind the small hole , so I started wearing it . It was the most comfy gown and became my favorite quickly. I've worn it several years and just wasn't willing to part with it , although the small hole had grown to a large hole and several more had appeared. Well , the time came that it was destine for the trash , but I just couldn't part with it. I decided to make sachets with it , so I cut out squares from the gown material. I stripped my lavender buds from the lavender I gathered at that lavender farm back in the Spring , it smelled sooo good. I had some small drawstring bags on hand from my oldest daughter's wedding , we had used them to make birdseed bags , I put the lavender buds inside the drawstring bag , drew the string and tied tightly. Since I don't sew , I just gathered the material and tied with a yarn bow. I gave the girls and my sister-in-law their sachets for Christmas , they loved them. I put mine in my drawer with my sleepwear , so I still have a little part of that gown. I plan to use the other part as cleaning rags or maybe another upcycled treasure.

So have you ever upcycled a " Treasure " ?

~ Green Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Bluebird Hill Farm / Lavender Harvest ~

~ Bluebird Hill Farm ~

~ Clipping the Lavender ~

~ Lavender bushes after they've been clipped ~

~ Bundling the Lavender ~

~ The Barn were the lavender is hung to dry ~

~ Raised Bed with Herbs ~

~ Tepee Garden ~

~ This raised bed had lambs quarter growing in it ~

~ More Herbs ~

Awhile back I was on the Local Harvest website ~ http://www.localharvest.org/ ~ , looking for local farms in our area , I found an herbal farm that's about 15 miles from me , called " Bluebird Hill Farm ". The farm was having a lavender harvest this past weekend ~ http://www.localharvest.org/event.jsp?id=24074 ~ , so yesterday I packed my bag with clippers , gloves , water and headed out to the farm to learn about lavender. It was a wonderful experience , the farm was beautiful and the owner was friendly.

I arrived at the field before they were ready to start , so I sat by the pond enjoying nature and having some Prayer time. Norma , the owner came out to greet me , then a guy name Kevin showed me how to use their electric clippers and how to bundle the lavender so it could be hung in the barn. I helped clip and bundle lavender for about 3 hours. But before I headed home I went to check-out the gardens and herbs. I was so impressed , I've never seen so many herbs in a garden , there were common herbs , wild herbs , garden veggies , fruit trees , grape vines. As I was looking around the garden , Norma came out with a small jar , she was chasing bugs , said she needed to catch them before they mated (LOL) , ahh ...... the life of an organic farmer. I asked about a herb that was growing near by , she gave me a piece of it and told me to take it home and put it in vinegar , it's called Perilla and makes a great flavored vinegar , she said. She also sent me home with spearmint to plant in my herb garden.

So I came home with a bundle of lavender for helping with the harvest , Perilla to make a herbal vinegar , spearmint for my garden and a small jar of lavender honey I purchased. She sells her herbal products on the local harvest site , you can check-out her store here ~ http://www.localharvest.org/store/M17728 ~. I had a great time and will go back next year for the harvest , or maybe before then.

~ Lavender Blessings ~

JoyceAnn