Isn't lavender gorgeous? I took this photo in Moscow, Idaho, where the stuff was growing carelessly in absolute heaps, as if it were a particularly prolific weed. I've tried growing it, but it seems to sense my potential for neglect and simply refuses to cooperate. The difference between reality and what happens in my mind's eye is often quite stark. I've done the most amazing things in my mind as I've planned extensive herb and flower gardens in which I harvest and dry things, extract essential oils, make home remedies from wildflowers and weeds, create healing tinctures and teas. Every time I read something about that, it sets my mind in motion, but the motion seems to stop there. Because I can't grow lavender. Not only that, but I've discovered that thinking about work is considerably easier than actually working. And I can't grow lavender. You know what? That's absurd. I'm taking the Lavender Challenge. This is the year that I shall overcome the blackness of my thumb! I will have fields of lavender, bushels and bushels of the stuff. I shall become the Lavender Queen! I'll start my own business selling lavender essential oil, lavender scented soap (homemade of course), lavender infused hot chocolate, lavender mosquito spray, everything lavender!!
And now you know how my mind's eye works. It doesn't take much for me to get carried away. I think I'll stop now, mostly because (forgive me for repeating myself) I just can't grow lavender. Sigh.
Cool update: I wrote this a year ago but never published it. Last summer I successfully grew lavender!
Lavender is often mentioned in the Bible, not by the name lavender but rather by the name used at that time, spikenard. In the gospel of Luke the writer reports: "Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment."
Cool update: I wrote this a year ago but never published it. Last summer I successfully grew lavender!
These two photos represent pretty much my whole lavender crop, but I consider it a fine start. And here's something else cool; I did a little research about lavender in the Bible and came up with this:
Lavender is often mentioned in the Bible, not by the name lavender but rather by the name used at that time, spikenard. In the gospel of Luke the writer reports: "Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment."
The name "lavender" is a definite upgrade from "spikenard," in my opinion. Apparently the Romans had something to do with that:
The Greeks and the Romans bathed in lavender scented water and it was from the Latin word "lavo" meaning "to wash" that the herb took its name.
At any rate, the Lavender Challenge has been met! Can lavender infused hot chocolate be far behind? I'm going to catch up with my mind's eye yet, you'll see...
For the beauty of the earth
For the triumph of the skies
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise!
