Our lavender harvest will start at the beginning of June and last for three to four weeks. Right now we are giving the plants a good soaking with our irrigation sprinklers to make sure they have water deep down to last through the harvest. It is difficult to irrigate the crop while we are picking, as the water will damage the flowers. We can furrow irrigate between the rows, but this makes for a slow, muddy harvest.
We harvest most of the crop and dry it in our converted greenhouse that has a black plastic cover. We use 2 by 4 wood with nails in it to hang the bunches on racks upside down. It can take only 3 to 4 days to dry the bunches on the farm at this time of the year, weather permitting. It is then boxed up and stored at Lorraine’s Drinkwell Softers kitchen in Dixon. We also sell many fresh bunches at the farmers market, and we are hoping to include a fresh bunch in each CSA box next month.
