Lavender Festival!

Our monthly car rental for a supply run just so happened to line up with a local lavender festival put on by a local supplier of ours. I had wanted to go last year, but it just didn't work out. This year was different and we happened to make it! It was a lovely time. Upon arriving at the farm, all you could smell was sweetness in the air, it was amazing. I'll let the pictures tell the story...

This is what you see upon arriving at the farm. A glorious view of Mt. Hood. You could also see St. Helens and I believe it was Mt. Adams as well. While I do love my job, can you imagine working here?! All the employes were happy and cheerful. I would be too! What a beautiful place to work.

I really wish I could capture the sound of the bees hard at work. While you could hear the wind blowing through the trees, there was this overwhelming pulsing hum of millions of bees! It was pretty incredible. They didn't seem to mind us harvesting and would move off to another area while we picked.

The variety that we collected was called, Buena Vista. It has a very sweet aroma, almost fruity! It's not at all medicinal or camphorous. They distill this variety on site and I walked away with a bottle. Of course I'll be soaping it ;) This is an organic farm, too. Nothing but the best!

Matt can't help but make faces during picture taking, what a man-child. At any rate, we walked away with four big bundles! Enough for personal use and for soaps.

This was my favorite picture. Trying to capture these little guys is hard! I think I got lucky here.

When I first began my adventures in perfume and soap making, I was always drawn to the most exotic ingredients. I overlooked classic and simple essential oils. Lately, I have been having a love affair with the simple "basics" lavender, rose, bergamot. They're timeless scents. Lavender and sandalwood, lime, rose are pairings that come to mind. I think I'll be using the oil that I bought on site for a Lavender Pumpkin soap sometime shortly after the fall release. I managed to make up a pretty great pumpkin accord, blend that with this amazing Buena Vista lavender and a touch of sandalwood and I think it'll be a heavenly bar of soap!

So tell me, what is your favorite pairing with lavender? Or your would be favorite?