August is a slow month on the farm: the lavender is still sleeping, the grass has slowed and doesn’t need as much mowing, and the weeds haven’t popped up yet. It is a quiet pause before product making begins and the busy lavender season gathers pace.
We lambed early this year because we had other places to be, so we planned for an early lambing. We had twelve lambs born on the farm. Usually, we have all twins, apart from first timers, but this year we had mostly single lambs. In my opinion, that’s better for Mum, as she only has one to feed and the lambs grow up big and strong. We had three sets of twins and the rest were singles. We only bred nine ewes this year, and it was all over and done within a couple of weeks.
Once lambing is over, our attention slowly turns from the paddocks to the products that will carry us through the market season, which begins to pick up in September.
When we start our product making for the season, we don’t want to make everything at once. We want our products to be fresh and last the distance for you. However, by October we are churning out products daily to make sure we have enough for our open days and larger markets. So, while we have a nice quiet period from around May to August, it changes dramatically from October through to March, with Lavender Abbey being such a seasonal business.
As spring arrives, the weeds begin to show, so it is all eyes out to catch them before they take over. From spring right through the season, hand weeding is done weekly so the farm looks its best when visitors arrive in late December and January.
This weekend we are off to Wellington for the NZLGA Conference, were hoping to come back with some good news that we can share with you soon. Bye for now, roll on Spring!
Jan and Stuart