Harvesting 2013 Melissa Lavender

Well, it’s lavender harvesting time again here at Happy Acres. My Melissa is the first to bloom and the first to harvest. Here is what I harvested yesterday.

My bucket full of Melissa
My bucket full of Melissa

I always hang them to dry which takes several weeks. Last year I tried using bags which worked fine so I’ve done it again but not for every bunch.

Melissa hanging to dry
Melissa hanging to dry

Melissa is a mild lavender, great for culinary dishes. I’ve made some delicious shortbread cookies with it. You can find the recipe here.

Lavender Shortbread Cookies
Lavender Shortbread Cookies

This lavender could also be used to make lavender sugar. I made mine with Royal Velvet, but Melissa would work great with it too.

Lavender Sugar
Lavender Sugar

Dave made  a simple syrup with Melissa to add to tea or pour over fruit, and also a couple other of our lavenders. So far, Melissa syrup is the best. Check out his post here.

Lavender Syrup
Lavender Syrup

I’m planning on using Melissa this summer more in cooking. If you have a lavender recipe you love, please share!

Meanwhile I’ve been harvesting our blueberries. The first to ripen are Patriots and the unknown bush that was here when we moved in. So far I’ve picked almost 5 pounds. We’ve been eating them and I’ve frozen a batch for this winter.

Blueberries
Yummy blueberries

Then I have to show you one of the Chandler berries. They are so huge. They will be the next to ripen. Here is one I picked the other day.

Chandler blueberry
Chandler blueberry

Well, that’s all from the garden for now. Back to the art!