Lavender showcased at Garden Gate festival
Maybe it is because Spokanites rever the lilac. Everything colored lavender, we call “lilac.”
Even the lavender plant seems to get the short shrift hereabouts. There were no more than 25 cars in the parking lot of Garden Gate Farms north of Fairchild Air Force Base for last weekend’s “Lavender Festival.”
There were probably more lavender (not the color) vendors than there were attendees. You could buy lavender sachets, lavender soap, lavender beads, oils, lotions and even ice cold lavender lemonade made from purified water, lemon, sugar and lavender. The drink looks a bit like pink lemonade but has a unique flavor, lavender, probably.
For $5, anyone could go into the neatly rowed U-pick lavender field and use the furnished scissors with a lilac-colored bucket to retrieve a hundred, more or less, stems which each has the lavender flowers heavy at the top.
The gatherers in the field learn quickly that they are sharing the lavender with bees of the large bumble variety. I did not see any wasps. The big bumble bees seem fat and slow with accommodating dispositions. They have not yet been Africanized and move away from human motions. In my case, I think Mr. Bee sensed the danger of being stepped on by a full-figured human male wearing size 13s.
The Garden Gate hosts provide an information table and are eager to impart details about the lavender plant.
Culinary lavender is different from aromatic lavender. You cook with one and the other gets rid of foul smells and relaxes the troubled mind, not to mention the lavender honey, beauty products and “herbal eye pillows.”
The U-pick field not only has comfortable wicker chairs around the perimeter, but also a love seat in the middle of the lavender patch for those overcome by the soothing aroma.
When you get your bouquet of lavender in your home with the doors shut, it becomes more apparent that this lilac colored flower is powerfully aromatic.
After a couple of hours, my wife placed our fresh bunch of lavender in my bathroom. I hope it works. She has not always found my pheromonic allure irresistible.