Lavender Ridge Farm

One of my favorite things this past week was putting into action a site I've been exploring for awhile called pickyourown.org. It list local farms in the states that are open to people that want to 'pick their own' fruit/flowers/Christmas tree....whatever the farm offers. I love the idea of finding local treasures, and picking my own to take home with me and enjoy.
There was a write up last year in the Dallas Morning News regarding this little pick your own Lavender Farm a few miles outside the city of Gainesville, Texas (about an hour North of Dallas).

My friend, Sonia, headed out last year, and told me about it....after their season was over, BUT while handing me a sachet of lavender she filled for me. Due to the gift, she was forgiven for not telling me before then...after a day or two. I put it on my list, and now I've been, and I'm going back! They are holding a festival over Memorial Day weekend where you can pick your own lavender from their fields, and shop at 35 vendor's booths who will be out selling their wares on site. It's on my calendar. You can click on the link, and get directions, and further info.
The lavender fields are growing...

...with a few blooms. The rest of the blooms should join them in time for the pick-your-own festivities coming their way.

My cousin and Mom joined me on this little roadside adventure. Holly quickly found a farm friend. Mom refuses to have her picture made until her lips and arm heel.

They have a cafe on site.

They serve lavender lemonaide, lavender chicken salad, lavender everything. They apparently also give lavender cooking classes. I was a little scared, and I had plans for other eating festivities a little further down the road, but I thought it was interesting.
They also had a shop selling potted plants, and lavender merchandise.

They have animals on site as well, always a good thing in my book of 'good things.'


And on site there is a butterfly garden. I guess a 'bee' garden doesn't have quite the same charm, but I believe it might be a little bit more appropriate name....I'm just sayin'....


I have a few more photos here from our time on the lavender farm.

It really was a charming little farm. There was a nice collection of things to walk around and see. The family running the farm was sweet, and welcoming, and I'm really looking forward to heading back and getting my hands in the middle of those lavender fields in a few weeks!
After visiting the Lavender Farm, we headed just a few miles down the road to Downtown Gainesville.

I explored this spot last year on my scrapbooking retreat, and I'm heading back in July, but I had to take my Mom and cousin to the Fried Pie Company for lunch. They are open until 3, and at all hours people walk out with fried pies by the box-load. The lunch is really, really good, and very affordable. They have a great salad bar, and a really good hot dog...weird, but I really like hot dogs cooked 'right.' They have a really good everything, this info is just for me so I can remember what I want to eat when I return this summer. This go round I tried the Fried Pecan Pie.

Oh. My. Goodness. This is how a pie should always taste.
We then shopped the cute little shops along the square. They prices are much more affordable than a lot of shops I've frequented lately. I found old milk bottles for 2 and 3 dollars. I didn't need them, but I couldn't leave them behind at that price!


I managed to find a few treasures , including some kittens in one of the shops that apparently weren't up for adoption so I just crawled around the floors of the boutique photographing them, because I'm normal. The best blog posts ends with kitties.

I'm linking to:
Coastal Charm