Hooray! It’s finally spring time in mid-coast Maine. Our farm’s owner, Michelle, treks to Maine early in the season to check on the lavender plants and in late April it’s finally time to remove the covers that have protected the lavender for the entire season of wind, snow and bitter cold temperatures.

In the warmth of summer, when the bees are buzzing around the lavender and the essence of the plant blows with the breeze from the river, it’s hard to imagine the work that goes into keeping the lavender looking great all year long. Michelle shares a bit about the process of covering and uncovering the plants in the late fall, so they can be enjoyed all spring and summer:

“I have chosen to cover the majority of the lavender on the farm so that there are fewer unknowns. I like taking the covers off and finding that the plants are greening up. The plants have less breakage from the winter ice and snow. I wish the covers could be placed and staked down, but the winds across the farm are far too extreme, so the covers are laid and the edges buried under nearly 6 inches of dirt. The covers cannot be placed for protection until the warmest days of autumn have passed.”

About the process of uncovering the plants:

“I wish I could just yank the covers off, but no such luck. You develop a rhythm of up and down, reaching and pulling slightly straight up on the cloth and then bending and reaching forward to repeat. A true “waist whittler.” But the reward is seeing the plant, unscathed and really starting to show the signs of a green cast overshadowing the grey of a dormant lavender plant. Each row is approximately 100 plants long and you have to travel up and down both sides of the row in the same repetitious manner. At the end of both sides of 5 rows my waist and lower back were screaming at me to stop….and only 10 rows to go.”