Today I knew for sure that I have the coolest job ever. I got to start my day off by visiting a lavender farm and ended it by visiting a bee keeper, what a great day. I even had some company today, Deb Churchill, the property manager for the City Market and my boss went along to take pictures and I’m pretty sure she wanted to see the lavender farm.
Washington Creek Lavender is located south of Lawrence, Kansas up a long curving gravel road. We were greeted first by a large Irish setter who wanted to say “Hi” and stuck his head in the truck window. When he saw we were friendly he jumped in the back of the truck, I am sure it was the smell of garbage that attracted him. (I drive the City Market truck used to pick up trash) Kathy and Jack Wilson moved back to Lawrence in 2004 to start a vegetable farm, but after much bad weather decided to turn to Lavender. They started with a small test plot to see which varieties would do best, they decided on Grosso Blue and four or five culinary varieties. I did not know lavender came in pink and white, I thought it was always purple. We parked by their beautiful log home and walked along a lane to their drying barn. The Wilsons have been harvesting lavender for a week so the barn was fairly full. After cutting each stem it is bundled, tied with a rubber band and hung upside-down to dry. Kathy told me it takes two or three weeks to dry depending on how wet it was when harvested. Today they were working on pulling weeds since it had rained overnight and the lavender was very wet. Once we topped the hill we were greeted with a beautiful sight and fragrance, the pictures will not do it justice. Kathy walked us through the field explaining the differences between plants and when they were planted. She pointed out a new high tunnel they are working on and told us what their plans are for the future. I was so amazed when you stood still in the field and no one was talking the sound of the bees was incredible. A few weeks ago the field was bursting with butterflies. What a site that would have been.
I would have loved to just set in the middle of the lavender field for a while but Tony Schwager, Anthony’s Beehive, was expecting me around noon. Tony had a hive that he needed to check and was waiting for us to go along. Tony has been a Sunday vendor at the Market for about three years and this year has also taken a Saturday contract. Anthony’s Beehive was created due to Toni’s son, Anthony’s love of beekeeping. And since then it has become a family operation. Tony has hives in 20 different locations around Lawrence, this is a very common thing to do so you are able to get different flavors of honey, early spring honey is made from mainly clover and wildflowers. The kind of honey depends on what flowers are blooming at the time. The hive we visited was at a home a few miles away and had not been checked for a while; actually Tony thought it might be a dead hive. When we arrived there was a lot of activity so he knew this was not the case. Tony told me it is always exciting when you open a hive, you never know for sure what you will find. The hive today consisted of about 60 thousand bees, usually about 2thousand per frame. This hive had three tiers. Tony had extra beekeeper hats and gloves for Deb and I to wear, as you can see from the picture it was a good look! After getting the smoker fired up, the smoke confuses the bees so they stay in the hive, Tony opened the hive and oh my. To Toni’s surprise the hive did not have all the frames in place so there was just one massive heap of honey comb covered with bees, It was very cool. Toni’s plan today was to divide the hive and take a queen bee and some worker bees to another location. Bees are just amazing. I was not too nervous when the bees were swarming around me, but I did get a little worried when they started climbing up my leg. Tony did not have gloves on when slowly removing each frame; I asked him if he ever gets stung since the bees are just thick where he puts his hands. He no sooner said “not usually” when he got stung. It is very important when working with bees that you move slowly so the bees don’t get agitated; trust me I did not want the bees to get agitated. Tony sent us home with a large honey comb which I shared with my grand children, they thought it was great.
I have not yet decided where I am going on Thursday but with the heat wave we are having I don’t think I will be gone all day. Cantaloupe should be at the Market any day now and I saw my first field tomatoes last week.
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