Mystery Plants Revealed

More new adventures around here! This is our first go at harvesting the ginseng and goldenseal planted by the previous owners. It’s been in the ground for 4 years now so our anticipation has been building since we’ve been here, wondering about the quantity and quality of these mysterious plants. While we can clearly see that the weeds love the shaded, untouched, certified organic soil it’s been very stressful to not know the outcome of the ‘real’ crops that were trying to grow under all that ugly. And the results are…. mixed. So far some fields have done great, even exceeding our expectations, while others are quite barren. We still have quite a few fields to harvest so the final results have not been tallied. And in case you were wondering, no we will not be planting more ginseng or goldenseal. It’s too stressful for this lavender-loving family. The process has been interesting, but we are excited to take down the shade cloth and posts and begin to think about what we’ll do with all the new space.

Harvesting goldenseal… very tedious and time consuming!

This is the ginseng, not very impressive.

Meanwhile, we continue to fill lavender orders and welcome visitors to the farm. Just as we suspected, we sold out of our angustifolia varieties very quickly and we are just about sold out of the Grosso as well. This is a new record for us and we’re encouraging our wholesale customers to get their deposits in early next year to assure they’ll get what they need. We’ll be closing up the Shoppe soon but will re-open during the holiday season so the gift-giving can commence. We also hope to get an online store open soon.

Happy chickens, happy kiddos!

As the fall approaches and we try to finish up our outside duties, we are still enjoying a plethora of apples and pears from our trees this year and trying to figure out new ways to save them. We are also enjoying our egg-laying chickens, our garden goodies, and the goodness of farm living in Sequim, Washington! Oh and we are also anxiously awaiting the arrival of Baby Boy Hilliker. Lots to look forward to as we welcome fall to the Northwest and continue to appreciate all that surrounds us.