Each July a verdant green farm overlooking Naramata transforms, almost magically, into lush purple, a signal that the lavender harvest is about to begin! Owners Karolina Born-Tschuemperlin and Doug Mathias then recruit staff to help out with the harvest and set about making a sensory delight of culinary and personal care products.
Part art, part handicraft and part the magic of the “Green Man”, the Celtic spirit of nature, the lavender products have qualities that are as easy to detect as they are difficult to describe.
“In general, we sell all of our own products, and we make them all ourselves,” Karolina says. Made-on-site creations include hand-made soaps, essential oils, distilled in a beautiful copper pot still, bath salts, lotion, linen water and sachets, all made with fragrant lavender that grows hip high prior to harvest. Bulk dried lavender flowers are also available.
For the kitchen, Karolina and Doug make white lavender tea, flavoured sugar, pepper and sea salt blended with Herbs de Provence, jelly, vinegar and even lavender-infused honey.
Other organically grown herbs are turned into products, too, but on July 14 this year all attention turns to the fragrant flower. The annual Lavender Harvest Festival is an invitation to enjoy a day of live music and delicious crêpes, wander among the gardens and visit the too-too-tempting shop, which abounds with farm products, paintings, table cloths imported from France and authentic silk Kashmir Pashminas.
Want to stay longer? Ask about to the two beautiful guest cabins available to visitors.
Can’t visit? Thank your lucky stars (and the Green Man) for email orders. Visit www.forestgreenman.com for a price list and order information.
~ Lorne Eckersley