Have you ever gone lavender picking? I hadn’t until I decided to put it on the calendar and book a little trip down to Pleasant Valley Lavender in Morganville, NJ. Along with my son, we had a lovely experience exploring a large open field of beautifully fragrant lavender on a warm sunny morning. We knew wanted to cut enough lavender to make the best of it by making our own lavender products at home.
So what is the obsession with lavender? For me, it is the calming fragrance that is used in essential oils to help with anxiety and sleep, but it also has antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties and are used in skincare like the Rodin’s Face Oil.
And since we’re doing “Mom’s Nature Camp” this summer, we decided to make something out of our lavender picking journey. You can check out how we made Lavender water and oil below. Hope you get to enjoy the lavender season this year!
Lavender Water
- Two handfuls of fresh lavender petals
- 1 1/2 cups of water
- Small Empty Spray bottle
- strainer
- funnel
- Bowl and citrus reamer (or large spoon)
Take each lavender petal off the stem until you have about two handfuls. This took time, but it was a great way to spend time with my son and our hands had that great scent after. We boiled the water and then placed the lavender petals in the bowl along with the water and let it seep until cool for about 20 minutes. We poured the seeped lavender into a strainer and used the citrus reamer (you can use al are soon to press) to press the liquid out of the mixture into a funnel that was placed in our spray bottle that we bought at Target in the travel section. And that’s it! We had lavender water that we use around the house.
Tips for Lavender Picking at Pleasant Valley Lavender
- Go early before the hot sun is out.
- Bring cash.
- We brought our masks, but with few people allowed at one time, we could take them off far into the field.
- Have a cool drink with you.
- Have your own scissors & gloves, if you’d like.
- Bees are mostly around the edible lavender and are calmer in the morning. We went at 10am.
- For great pics, natural textures & colors and a pretty hat work (I didn’t bring one this time.)
Have you gone lavender picking? I would love to to visit the lavender fields in the South of France one day, until then, we’ll be right here enjoying what NJ has to offer.
