Eleventh Acre

At it again. Today is the last cucumber distillation for the season (hopefully). I have to have enough to last production through the year. Folks ask what the bathtubs are for. I really do get in them after a distillation. There is a lot of water used and I don’t waste it. After using it for distillation, then a dip, I will siphon it down the hill to water the pumpkin patch and the watermelons.

I love this! Beautiful people who are passionate about their craft💕

Lavender bouquets and sachets are available at Pompeii Street Soap Co. in Mifflinburg, PA.
OPEN MONDAY - SATURDAY 10-5.

My first experience with Clary Sage was magical! Clary sage is a bi-annual meaning it grows foliage year 1 (when I started it last summer) and sprouts out gorgeous tall flower stalks year 2. These beauties are about 3 ft high. The magic is in the transformation of the aroma when distilled. I honestly wasn’t sure because the fresh flower smells like an armpit! Really pungent and in my opinion, a very foul odor. When distilled, the sweet and floral molecules of linalyl acetate, linalool, and unique to Clary Sage, Sclareol! My aromatic chemistry background is coming into play here. This floral water is great for skin balancing and is often used as a toner or replaces distilled water in skin care formulas. I’m not sure what I am doing with it just yet so keep an eye on my feed we’ll find out.

Harvest day at Eleventh Acre 💜🌿

The weather couldn't have been better for this year’s harvest day with my family. It was full of sunshine and the sweet scent of lavender filled the air.

We harvested just 8 of our 54 rows to fill our lavender room in the barn with bundles for drying — and even that was a big job! The plants are incredibly healthy this year, producing beautiful, abundant blooms from every plant.

The rest of the field will stay right where it is a little longer — soaking up the summer sun, feeding our busy bees 🐝, and waiting for distillation in the following weeks.

Our fresh lavender bundles will dry for about a week, and we’ll share another update when they’re ready and our lavender products are available (usually around July 4th!).

Thank you for following along with our little farm. We can’t wait to share this year’s lavender with you!

I am organizing the Lavender Room in the barn today to make space for drying bundles. Over winter this is where I store my stills and the timing is perfect to get the stills out for cleaning while making space for harvest time. We only cut a small portion of the field for drying and the rest is left for distilling through July, so get ready for a lot of lavender posts!

I did a walk about this morning to check out progress. This is how things are going. I have a lot of work to do in the near future.

Homemade iced tea is so easy and delicious. A fuzzy spearmint type makes the best. Simply remove the leaves from the stems, fill the pot just 1/4 to 1/3 full, heat until it steams (never boil!), give it a good stir, remove from heat and let it cool naturally at room temperature. Filter, add sweetener if you like, EASY!

Tips- grow mint in a tall raised bed or pot so it doesn’t take over your yard! Cut it down before it flowers. Don’t overheat the leaves . Heat it mildly to prevent it from tasting too bitter or too menthol-rich.