These days we have been so focused on our house hunting to the point where other things in our lives are being placed on the back burner. This is in turn beginning to take a tremendous toll on me.

Every spare moment we are running out to go look at more homes. We live a rather large distance away so these searches are no small feat.

Our teeny tiny one income budget is not making this house hunt easy either. The home that we put an offer on that I mentioned about fell through. The seller was asking for way more than what the house is worth and we just couldn’t do it. I was heartbroken at first as it was a nice home in a beautiful neighborhood within walking distance to the library. Perhaps it is for the best as maybe there is another home out there that is meant for us.

One thing I have learned in this house search is just how much I want a small piece of land to homestead on. A half an acre would even be fine with me right now. We have always known this is what we want but we did not realize just how strong that pull was till we began looking at homes with almost no yard.

On Friday we are to go look for the second time at a home in Washington that is sitting on a half an acre. It is a rather small home so in some respects I cannot believe we are even considering it with our family of 6 but considering it we are. Taking a second look is always good. It fits nicely into our budget and even has fruit trees growing on it already. We shall see what Friday brings.

One thing I now know for sure—I do not want to skimp on this dream if we can at all help it. The garden and land and what comes with it is just far too important to me.

In attempts  to keep myself busy so as to not let worrisome thoughts of moving enter my mind I have been puttering around the garden taking note of what plants will come with us if we do indeed move.

A few days ago I went ahead and harvested all four of my lavender plants, all of which happen to be Lavandula intermedia ‘Grosso’. Truly a most ugly name for my favorite variety of lavender if you were to ask me.

Grosso has nice long stems for hanging up to dry or for making lavender wands. I also find its fragrance to be one of the best. But that is my opinion.

This particular lavender harvest has been 3 years in the making. Three years ago I planted little lavender cuttings and carried for them like the little babies they were. Then last year I willfully refrained from harvesting too much instead allowing the plant to grow big and healthy. This year I have been rewarded and the plants are bursting forth with beautiful blooms that the bumble bees are finding irresistible.

{I do feel so guilty when I harvest flowers that the bees just adore. I just can’t help but apologize to them.}

I was able to harvest 5 bundles of lavender off of my 4 plants. Not too bad really!

They are now hanging up in my kitchen drying and filling the house with their intoxicating scent.

I adore the lavender blooms as much as the bees I think!

(Photo can be clicked on to view full size)

The blackberries have me a little baffled right now. As you can see in the above photo, which was taken just this week, the blooms are pink. The entire bush is flowering pink. What baffles me is last year all the blooms were white. Does anyone have any notions as to why the colors are different this year off the same exact plant?