Increasingly we are finding that people engage with Stroudco for one reason and then get involved in lots of other ways too. One example is one of our regular shoppers who then started helping on occasional Saturday mornings and has recently also become a producer member of the co-op too. This is her story….
I think lavender is one of the most rewarding plants to have in the garden. Not only is it easy to grow – it’s a hardy perennial that largely takes care of itself, given a sunny well drained position – it is also the perfect plant to attract bees, and this is more important than it has ever been for the maintenance of our food supply.
Apart from harvesting my lavender at the end of the summer, there is little else I need to do. It’s organic because it thrives without any artificial feeding, so I just prune it back in autumn. There are 39 species of lavender, but I only have two, my favourite being the old traditional English Lavender (lavandula angustifolia).
Lavender belongs to the mint family, but is less well known than that herb for its edible properties. I must admit that I’ve never used it in baking, but I gather it creates a gentle floral flavour and fragrance in products such as scones or in sweetmeats like marshmallows. It’s included in the blend of herbs known as herbes de Provence (after the French region where it is grown profusely) and, allegedly, can be used as a condiment and in salads.
Norfolk lavender, grown to make eau de toilette, is a familiar concept, and the most common domestic use of the plant is for its fragrance. According to The Folklore of Plants by Margaret Baker (Shire, 1996) lavender was recorded in 1387 as being used in fragrant pillows for the benefit of King Charles VI of France, to repel moths. I like to use it similarly, to fill sachets, or mini pillows for use in clothes drawers. Not only is it very pleasant to hand-sew attractive fabrics and handle the fragrant dried buds, but the sachets also make ideal small gifts.
This year, however, I discovered another use for lavender. I sprained a ligament in my knee, and to soothe the damaged area a herbalist friend recommended massaging in a scented lavender oil, prepared by steeping the lavender in olive oil for a period of several weeks. It was very pleasant to use the scented oil, and my knee did feel better - though this may have been because of the psychological benefit of the scent!
To buy local lavender, see the full range of local produce available on Stroudco Food Hub or to download a catalogue go to www.stroudco.org.uk