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Purple Ranch Hand's BlogThe life and times on a lavender farm in Texas.
Lavender Update
Category: Lavender | Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 3:40 pm 
New lavender update from Purple Ranch. Wow! What a weekend. Our lavender is really budding. The larger field that we have has not popped open yet but the small field in front has blooms all over it. Thought I'd share some with you. 
For those romantics out there. A sunset view from a budding lavender field. 
Hope you enjoy. Until next time. Lavender Up! Purple Ranch Hand Last edited: Mon May 05, 2008 3:40 pm This blog entry has been viewed 470 times
Tips on Growing Lavender
Category: Lavender | Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 1:21 pm 
Stew Crew, That's my new name for all of you. Those of you interested in growing lavender there are a couple of things you might want to consider. They like dry warm climate. Mix equal parts gravel, sand and sandy lome. Make a mound about 12 inches high. Put your plant in the center so it is elevated. Don't water the plant but the roots. Don't water too often. If you water the plant itself it is more susceptible to getting fungus which can and will spread from plant to plant. Lavender likes to breathe. Give it plenty of room. If you have white rock available to you place that around the bottom of the plant covering the mound. The white rock will reflect the sun light and keep the plant warm and dry. Which it will love. DaphDaph, we have not grow lavender from seeds we always use clippings. I am curious to see how yours do. Keep me informed. We have mostly Provence but we also dabble in some of the Grosso. Provence is more fragrant but the Grosso seems to hold it's buds longer. Just a little info. Until next time. Lavender Up! Purple Ranch Hand This blog entry has been viewed 2278 times
The First Lavender Buds
Category: Lavender | Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 1:28 pm 
This is an exciting time. The first lavender buds have popped open here at Purple Ranch. We have been busy getting some of our products ready for a full month of May. We have three events coming up next week. I will be working on the infamous pergola this weekend so updates will be coming soon. This is going to be a great season. I look forward to sharing it with you all. Until next time. Lavender Up! Purple Ranch Hand This blog entry has been viewed 335 times
Lavandula stoechas (Spanish Lavender)
Category: Lavender | Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:21 pm 
The Spanish Lavender is in bloom at Purple Ranch. We only have a few of these since they are not good for the products we produce. They are however probably what the Romans used in their bath water. They are great for heavy traffic areas because they are very fragrant. Some of you may know them as Rabbit ear lavender or pineapple flowers. It is obvious why they would have that name. Until next time. Lavender Up! Purple Ranch Hand Last edited: Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:22 pm This blog entry has been viewed 373 times
Pergola Update
Category: Lavender | Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:07 pm 
My Dad and I worked on the pergola this last weekend. My Dad is a little over 6ft tall so you can see the scale of the project. It is 20 feet wide by 12 feet deep. It over looks the first tear of lavender. I hope to finish the structure except for the built-in benches this weekend. It took me half a day just to pick out the lumber. I have been busy working on a special gift for my Mom on Mother's day. I'll let you know about it a little later. Until next time. Lavender Up! Purple Ranch Hand This blog entry has been viewed 343 times
Been a while
Category: Lavender | Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 7:22 pm 
It has been a few days since I have written. A lot of things going on here at Purple Ranch. Last Saturday we hung the Purple Ranch sign at the entrance of the farm. This is no ordinary sign. I designed the sign and had a guy out of Houston Texas cut it out of quarter inche steeel. It is 3 layers. Two white and the center being Purple Ranch Purple. I wired LED lights behind the white layer so at night the logo lights up. Really cool if I might say so myself. This thing weighs over 300 pounds. Quite a job. We put the skin on the greenhouse and I poured the foundation for a pergola I am building near the lavender field. It's a pretty good project. Until next time. Lavender Up! Purple Ranch Hand This blog entry has been viewed 306 times
Got a Friend!
Category: Lavender | Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 4:21 am 
This weekend I shot some really nice photos on Saturday morning. This rose looked like it was a fire ball. The bug there is some type of lady bug. Hope you enjoy as much as I did. Until next time. Lavender Up! Purple Ranch Hand[/img] This blog entry has been viewed 325 times
A Family's Journey
Category: Hand Family | Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:48 pm 
Most of you know that my Mom started a lavender farm about 3 years ago. I thought I'd share some of the rest of the story. Yes, we faced all types of trials and adversity as we started this farm. We lost 75 percent of our crop the first year. The above photo tells some of the rest of the story. Four years ago my youngest sister was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. There are four of us kids and none of us had had any physical problems but now it was different. As we all watched my sister Brenda grow in her faith but wither down to almost a skeleton as her chemo treatments took all she had. My Mom and Dad would keep her during the week and take her to her treatments. Being a very logical thinker I would sometimes visualize life without her in an effort to prepare myself for the worst. Obviously not in hopes of that, but in my own way dealing with the loss of not only my sister but one of my best friends. I had never seen someone as strong as she was. God took on new meaning for my family. We were at the bottom just looking up wondering what next Christmas or Thanksgiving would be like. Would there be one extra plate or gifts under the tree that bore a name but had no recipient. In an effort to support her, all of us that could, shaved our heads to honor her as she lost her hair. I remember the first time I went home and saw everyone sitting there with their new hair styles. We all laughed and joked about the funny shaped heads we all had. Through all of this we learned to not make the outward things important, but see what was in the heart. I saw a family that I could take pride in being one of them. The above picture is all of us honoring my sister Brenda in our own way. During this time my Mom put her dream of the lavender farm on hold in order to take care of Brenda. There is a happy ending to this story. A couple of weeks ago Brenda got a positive bill of health from her doctor. Her cancer has now been in remission for 3 years. Below is a picture of her and my Mom a few weeks ago. Alive and well selling lavender at the Tomball German Festival. 
I know she will read my blog some day. So here is my plug. It's good to have you with us Bren. I love you. So, until next time. Lavender Up! Purple Ranch Hand This blog entry has been viewed 427 times
Sad day at the farm
Category: Lavender | Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:19 am 
Sad day here at Purple Ranch. I have been watching these eggs each time I go out to the field. They are Killdeer eggs. We see them all over the farm doing their broken wing act when you get close to their nest. This nest was made in an indention where we had rooted up a lavender plant that didn't make it through the rains of last year. So I have been keeping track of these eggs. This weekend when I went to check on them they were gone. No evidence of shells in the nest so I assume a snake or the coyotes that frequent the fields had a midnight snack. Every year we have these nests in our driveway. They lay them right there on the hard aggregate. My Dad told me yesterday that he walked down the drive last year and some young ones had hatched. When he came up on the nest all of them were dead. So he went to tell my Mom. They came out to look at the nest and those chicks were running around until they saw my parents then they played dead again. My Dad said they were laying all over the driveway. That could kind of tie in with that possum shot I saw earlier today. Until next time. Lavender Up! PS. I will try to get a photo of an adult so you know what I am talking about. Purple Ranch Hand This blog entry has been viewed 366 times
Daffodil's are Blooming
Category: Lavender | Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:00 am 
The daffodils are out in full bloom now. I didn't realize there was a little friend in the yellow one till I put it on my computer. Always something to see. Until next time. Lavender Up! Purple Ranch Hand This blog entry has been viewed 282 times
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