Lilting lavender

Lavender. I thought I would dedicate a post to this plant which has been on my mind a lot lately. We just returned from a trip to France, where we came across lavender a lot. We had lavender bushes at our home there. We also visited a farm that ran a store with several homegrown natural beauty products, and lavender made its appearance there as well.

My emotional tie to lavender goes back a few years, when after my wedding, my mother-in-law gave me a sprig of lavender to gift to my grandfather...from her garden to his. It made the journey across continents and was a sign of a special bond between families. The plant did not do too well since it thrives in temperate climates and was being sent to a tropical one. However, its spirit of lives on in my memories.

An earlier brush with lavender had been on a trip to Saint-Paul de Vence, a quaint little fortified town in the Côte d'Azur area of France. There, we got several interesting products like Provence herbs (which we still use in our daily cooking), and lavender essential oil (which I recently started using in our baths).

This trip to France took us to La Ferme du Hitton, a beautiful farm in the south western region of France. Here, they had a herd of donkeys and used donkey milk to make a few of their beauty products such as soaps. We picked up a lavender and donkey milk exfoliating soap, a rose and donkey milk soap, lavender essential oil and a lavender infused balm. We were allowed to get up close to the donkeys, and see the cute little newborn that was born just the day before which was quite a treat. My daughter however decided that she was more interested in playing with the farm cat. The lavender used in the cosmetics was locally grown. The fragrance is relaxing, and (hopefully) its antiseptic and anti-inflammatory nature makes it a good addition to our skin care routine. 

I continued to cross paths with this interesting herb. On one of our walks in our neighborhood, my husband remarked that he really loved lavender plants when he saw some in a neighbor's front yard. Later during our trip to France, I came across lavender water in a spray  (Eau florale de lavande) which I started to use on my skin and hair and found that it made them glow and shine.  I also used a heating pack infused with lavender when I injured my neck, and it seemed to help.

When we returned home, my daughter suggested buying my husband a plant for his birthday, so of course, it had to be lavender! We went to the local nursery and my daughter and I had an enjoyable time picking out a plant just for him. The nursery had many varieties that broadly fell into three categories – English lavender, French lavender and Spanish lavender. They look slightly different and the English lavender plants were the ones currently in bloom so we chose one of the Hidcote variety. It has now been replanted in our garden, and we are hoping it grows well. I suppose I have been seeking out the plant, because on a trip to the farmers market on Sunday, I even picked up a hair oil which had lavender as one of the herbal mixes in it. 

I disappeared last night
While sleeping in my bed
A field of lavender beneath my head
Another planet, I'll try to map it
No user interface
It won't escape me again

And if I sleep tonight
The cosmic radiation
I won't complain
Maybe I can find the right frequency and station
I might just stay

- Lavender, by Two Door Cinema Club