On a rather overcast but warm evening, ten of us gathered at Kirkstead
Old Mill Cottage, Barbara’s lovely home near Woodhall Spa. We have been
volunteering there for several years, developing their private reserve, but
this was a bit different – picking lavender that Barbara will dry and make
up into bunches to sell to raise money for cancer charities, or will use
around the B&B that she runs.
After a delicious meal prepared by Lucy, who works with Barbara, we were
given a quick demo of what to cut and how and then we spread out along the
lavender hedge growing by the river bank and got snipping. One advantage to
leaving the picking til the evening was that there were relatively few bees
– had it been hotter and sunnier, it would have been hard to find any
bee-free stems to pick!
Barbara provided back-up, binding the stems into bunches and hanging them in
windows to dry, but after a while she had to admit defeat as the pile of
picked stems threatened to overwhelm her. I think she will be busy for
a day or two! And as it got darker outside and it was time to finish we
forced ourselves to have tea/coffee and cake – we are so polite!!
So another relaxing and successful visit to this peaceful place on the
river.
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