We are going to become lavender farmers! A bold statement (to join many others, I make everyday) I realise but this one may just come to fruition.
Jim spent most of the week end shoveling cow poo onto grass, fruit trees and anything else that did not run in fear from the smell. We have been talking about manuring and composting the whole garden for some time but it took a long weekend with 2 free days to get it happening.
Early on Sunday morning Jim took the pick up down to a Maasai boma near our friend Dave's plot and filled it - about 1 tonne of cow poo for 2,000/= (about $25). The compost bins were finally lifted and the lovely mush mixed with manure.
It was on Monday evening when I was out surveying the results especially the hole being prepared for the transplanting of a citrus tree, I commented that the rosemary bush probably should be moved as well as it never flowers being under a very large grevillia tree. Well as the conversation rolled on from too many trees to the condition (or not) of our soil, I made a random statement about how lavender loves harsh conditions - rocky soil, dry heat - and we had the perfect conditions right here on our plot. So of course, Jim's comeback was something like 'well why don't we grow more and can we make money out of it?' Well I just happen to know the answer to the second part of the question having just read my latest edition of Country Living magazine which features a woman growing lavender commercially on the hillsides of Wales. '2-3 acres and we need a stil to get the oil, sell it for a fortune or make our own soap' I come back with!
Surprisingly, unlike many of my suggestions, this one seems to have sparked an interest - as have the cows, geese and chickens being kept in the top shed - in Jim's brain. All we have to do is have enough land - we have 2.5 acres now, and find the right variety to give the oil. Other things we can learn whilst the lavender grows. I can imagine nothing more amazing than waking up to acres of mauve and the scent of lavender on the air. I am not sure what the buffalo or the baboons will make of it but I know the bees will be in heaven. We can put the hives amongst the bushes and have litres of lavender honey, lavender ice cream, make our own soap and other toiletries, and maybe even serve teas to people coming to buy......
not just a dream, I am going out next weekend to buy several more bushes at my favourite road side nursery and I am going to start now. Even if we never reach commercial production, I will have my own little corner of Provence here in Nairobi.
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