"Navette" of lavender

The lavender is in full bloom it's time to harvest it.

I want to share with you a way to keep your lavender and use it in your dresser or wardrobe to perfume your clothes. 

In France we call it "navettes de lavande".

This is what you'll need. 

Scissors 

4 feet of 5 mm colored ribbon ( it is generous but better have more than not enough ) 

Freshly cut lavender ( you can't use dried lavender the stem would break )

A little patience

The one I will make here is with 18 lavender stems. You will need an even amount of stems that paired would make an odd number.  For example, 18 stems = 9 pairs of 2.

  

You can also make them a lot bigger as long as it is still a multiple of 2, which paired make an odd number. 

Example 22, 26, 30 ...

You need to take the leaves of the stem and keep only the top flowers

Form a tight bouquet where the flowers starts.

Just at the bottom of the flowers you tight your ribbon and make a knot.

Then you gently fold the stem over the flowers to create a cage, sort of.

Be very gentle it could break the stem when you do it. 

Then you take your ribbon ( the tiny part from the knot should stay inside the "cage") 

And you start to weave the ribbon through the stems- 2 by 2. two stems over, 2 stems under, repeat.

Try to have the beginning pretty tight.

Here is how it should look.

Keep going until the flowers are encased. Make a knot.

And there is your "navette" of lavender 

ready to hang it in your wardrobe or you can also have it in decoration in a room.

Let me know how it goes !

ode to lavender

by far, my favorite plant of them all.  lavendula.  all varieties, really.  it is beautiful, and hardy (mostly), and produces the most intoxicating and calming scent.  i've always said that i believe that if a heaven exists, it would smell like freshly baked bread, but now i'm beginning to think it may be lavender after all.  in these crazy busy runaround days of summer, all i need to do is run my hand through one of my (five!) lavender plants and inhale.  calmness wraps around me like a gentle wave.  {it's no wonder that a drawing of a lavender plant will be on our wedding invitation!}

i transplanted these lavender plants from our old apartment last spring after we moved into our house, and some of them are now in their third year, growing bigger and fuller each season.  they are my little garden babies and i love watching them grow, snipping their blooms and drying them to put around my house, or use in body care recipes.  to make a lavender infused oil, simply pick fresh blooms and place the flowers (either fresh or dried) only in a jar and cover with olive oil.  allow the oil to steep for 2-6 weeks before straining out the flowers through a cheesecloth.  you can use this oil as a massage oil, in the bath, as a moisturizer or headache reliever (simply rub a little bit on your temples) or in other body care recipes for lip balms or lotions.

[or you could use the blooms to make some of amy's hand scrub]

if you have any room left, i highly recommend adding a lavender plant to your garden.  you won't regret it.