Lavender Farm Excursion & Tea Cookies
This year has been a weird one for sure. I don’t even know where to begin on trying to make sense of things. It has made me incredibly thankful for what we have - Davor and I have been lucky enough to keep our jobs, we have a roof over our heads, and we are both healthy, thank the Lord. Our dogs don’t know there is a pandemic going on and continue to spread love and joy with their sweet little selves. I’ve read more books this season than in previous ones, we have found some delightful shows on streaming channels we have really enjoyed, and gotten creative with Zoom celebrations when we can’t celebrate in person.
But I also find myself feeling very isolated and listless. I didn’t realize how much I looked forward to and enjoyed frequent date nights, or how much time I spent looking forward to vacations, both the planning of and the experience. I am generally a homebody but now that the option of hanging out in a large group has been taken away, I find myself seriously missing getting together with friends.
We are lucky enough to live in Texas and so much of our state has been opening up. This has been wonderful for my job and so many of us and I am so thankful that we have the option of going to restaurants and celebrating in small groups. But because of the current state of the world, I do find myself second guessing even the most basic of get togethers. I kinda hate it. I can’t wait for the day we can get together without fear or hesitation. For the day we don’t have to cross our fingers and hope our vacations won’t be cancelled, or that we will have to self quarantine once we get back and risk losing our jobs. I know these are small things in the large scheme of things, but I didn’t realize how much I relied on these small pleasures.
It has been an interesting realization and until we can go back to enjoy those simple pleasures, I am determined to delight in different little things. I saw a Hummingbird on my walk today. I haven’t seen one in my neighborhood before and it was lovely. My sweet little dog leaps up in joy when you walk into the room, even if you were there just a moment before. I ran in a virtual race last weekend and the organizers thought of everything needed to make it feel like the fun of running in person - cute swag complete with a runner's bib, glittery medal, and funny tank top, and even a cocktail recipe for celebrating going the distance. My husband and I have been inserting Hamilton lyrics and melodies into conversations as we feel like it and it always makes me laugh. I have been binge-listening to Anne Bogel’s podcast What Should I Read Next and it makes me feel like I am in book club with friends. Speaking of books, every time I go through the library pick up line to drop off books and pick up new ones, there is a line of cars wrapping around the building. It makes me ridiculously happy that there are that many library users in my area, I had no idea! There are a lot of good things. And although I will still acknowledge there are a lot of bad things in the world right now, I am going to choose to hold on to the good, and do what I can to spread the positivity to make any difference I can.
One thing I am really enjoying right now is getting to experience places in my own backyard for the first time. Early on in the summer, my sweet mom and sister made plans to visit a Lavender Farm just north of us. I have wanted to visit this farm for YEARS, but the summers always seemed to fly by and over and over I would find myself at the end of the season, and I had missed the prime time to go pick my own lavender. Thankfully, as a belated birthday celebration, my mom and sister thought ahead and made plans before this summer could fly by like all others had.
It was just as lovely as I hoped it would be. Lavender Ridge Farms is not crazy large, but the owners have taken full advantage of the space they have. The rows of lavender were lovely, there was a rose garden you could stroll through, and plenty of shaded spots to sit and enjoy the nature around you. There was an outdoor cafe that was dreamy. I don’t think I will ever stop craving the lavender lemonade or the lavender ice cream. The chicken salad with lavender was to die for as well.
For about $8 per bunch, you could pick/cut your own lavender bundle. They gave each of us a pair of scissors and basket and a twist tie to close around our bundles. We happily went out into the field to trim our flowers and it was lovely. It is blazing hot in Texas so I only lasted in the sun long enough for a small bundle, but I love it. It is hanging upside down in my kitchen to dry as we speak.
After we filled our baskets, we waited in line to go into the gift shop and I wanted one of everything. They had various lavender soaps, cooking lavender, all varieties of tea, lavender essential oils and hand sanitizers. There were t-shirts and tote bags and lotions and candles. I truly wanted everything. I did go home with lavender lip balm, lavender black loose leaf tea, and a delicious lavender lemon pepper spice blend. The spice blend alone is delicious, here is the link in the shop on their website.
The farm also runs a nursery and the number of customers that came to buy plants was really impressive to me. There was a kind gentleman behind the counter, and he was kind enough to answer my questions about growing conditions and the best type of Lavender for Texas (Phenomenal Lavender in case you were wondering, and the soil must be well drained, don’t over water the plants).
I share all this to say, it was lovely from start to finish. I was so glad we finally went, and even more thrilled to have a fun experience in our own area. It was like stepping into another world and it was only about an hour away from home. I’m eager to seek out more local experiences and support local businesses as I can. I have been feeling like we are all so isolated, but maybe we can seek new kinds of fun in our own states and backyards.
I feel like I have been baking too much during this pandemic (hello Covid-19-pounds gained) but I will take the small moments of delight where I can! Here is a recipe for Gluten Free Lavender-Lemon Tea Cookies I hope you love!
Here is the link to the original recipe I adapted as well.
Gluten Free Lemon Lavender Tea Cookies
Ingredients:
For the Cookies:
1.5 cups of Bob’s Red Mill 1-to1 Gluten free Baking Flour
½ cup of unsalted butter
1 cup of sugar
1 large egg
¼ tsp of salt (omit if you end up using salted butter)
½ tsp baking powder
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp of dried cooking lavender
For the Glaze:
1 cup of powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice or milk
1 tablespoon of dried lavender (or to taste) to garnish
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cream butter and sugar together until blended.
Add egg, salt, vanilla, and lemon juice and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and baking powder and slowly mix into the first bowl’s mixture [I must confess, this makes me a bad baker, but I usually don’t use a separate bowl to make the dry ingredients. Normally I introduce the flour through a sifter or colander, a little bit of baking powder, mix together, and repeat in order to make sure it is all evenly distributed. I have included the separate bowl instruction as this is the proper method, take it or leave it!]
Once the dough has been mixed thoroughly, fold the dried lavender into the dough.
Once dough is mixed, roll into a log about 1-2 inches in diameter on a board or counter top. Wrap in wax paper and chill for 30 minutes. Or, form into ball in bowl, cover in wax paper and chill for 30 minutes. (Method may vary depending on if you want uniform shape to your cookies or not.)
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove dough log from fridge and cut slices ¼-½ inch thick, or use a spoon to scoop out about a table spoon of cookie dough from the bowl. If the latter, flatten the scoops of dough to ¼-½ inch thickness.
Bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove cookies when edges around the bottom of the cookies start to turn golden.
Allow the cookies to cool before transferring to a cooling rack.
For the Glaze: mix the lemon juice/milk to the powdered sugar. It will have a runny consistency.
Drizzle over the cooled cookies and sprinkle dried lavender over the top for garnish.
I can’t wait to hear your thoughts! How are you getting through this Pandemic? Have you discovered anything in your own backyard? Let me know in the comments or through a message and know that we are all in this together!