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What is lavender hydrosol? What is it good for and how do you use it? These are the topics covered in this post today.  The Benefits of Lavender Hydrosol What is is hyrdrosol? Hydrosol is the floral water created from making essential oil. This process is called, steam distillation. Steam heats and passes through the plant material and the result is floral water and essential oil. The essential oil gets extracted from the waters surface and the water left over is the infusion of the plant material. The floral water smells similar to the essential oil but much softer in fragrance and in addition has the water soluble constituents of the plant material which can give it a very slight greener note. Benefits of lavender hydrosol The benefits of hydrosol is they carry same properties of the essential oil being a natural antiseptic and anti-inflammatory. Making them a safe and gentle way to treat those with sensitive skin or sensitivity to fragrances. How does it help your skin It can naturally hydrate your skin, soothe inflammation, help repair and regenerate a balance to your skin. Helps replenish lost moisture. Its a natural and safe skin toner and better as many times toners have alcohol which can irritate sensitive skin. This makes it especially important to aging skin that naturally loses moisture due to age and environment. But let me share other ways this amazing hydrosol can be used; After shower mist for your body to help it retain the moisture. Diffuse offensive odors by spraying down after a workout Use for insect bites helps ease discomforting itching and inflamed skin. Room or car freshener Linen spray- spray your sheets and towels as they come out of the dryer. Stress relief spray helps to relax in difficult situations. Natural bug repellent Skin toner Sunburn spray Natural perfume Diaper rash spray Replenish skin with moisture Even scares monsters away for kids  Here are three products made from lavender hydrosol. Face and Body Spray to use as toner, on rashes, burns and sensitive areas can also be used as bug repellent. Lavender sleep spray for pillows, bedding along with clothing. Lavender Room spray to help with offensive odors and fabrics such as furniture, floors and overall room spray. Lavender essential oil is the oil that is extracted from the top of the floral water. Lavender perfume is a infusion of coconut oil and lavender essential oil.
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A fun twist on a all time favorite! The light floral flavor makes this breakfast extraordinary! Drizzle just about a tablespoon of lavender simple syrup on top if your a lover of lavender. We liked using Texas style toast for this breakfast, but any type of bread will work.  Lavender French Toast 2 eggs 1/2 cups milk 1 tsp Lavender Extract 1/2 tsp Culinary Lavender Bud 1/2 tsp Ground Culinary Lavender Bud 6 slices of bread In a shallow baking dish combine eggs, milk, lavender extract, culinary lavender bud and ground culinary lavender. Mix with a whisk until combined, set aside. Heat a skillet on medium heat until pan is warm, spray with a little oil. Dip your bread into the egg mixture on both sides, place on hot skillet. Turn each french toast slice when golden brown. Optional, drizzle finished french toast with 1 Tbsp Lavender Simple Syrup or your favorite maple syrup. Serve while warm and enjoy!  We always love to see people make our recipes! If you do #norwoodlavenderfarm so we can see them. Enjoy!
Ohhhh, la la. It's been awhile since I made chia pudding but spring just has a way of making me crave it. We put a fun twist on it and used our Lavender Rose Tea and Lavender Simple Syrup that we are think you'll enjoy!   Lavender Rose Chia Pudding 2 cups milk 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp Lavender Rose Tea 1/2 cup chia seeds 1/4 cup lavender simple syrup purple or red food coloring (optional) lavender cocktail picks (garnish) whip cream to top (garnish) On a stove in a pan heat milk and tea together on medium heat until just below a simmer. Turn burner off and let sit for 10 minutes. Strain tea from milk, add chia seeds and stir until combined. Stir in your lavender simple syrup and food coloring if you wish. Pour into decorative dessert dishes and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until set.  Lavender is a beautiful plant and fairly easy to grow. Let me teach you a little about the soil requirements, how much water it needs, when to plant and the spacing between plants that will all help you to add beautiful lavender plants in your landscape or garden.  Lavender is a mediterranean plant that flourishes best in a more alkaline soil with a pH balance between 6.5-7.5, nice aerated or rocky soil, with full sun and very little water. Soil Soil pH is a way to start your plant off right. Depending your region and the condition of your soil you may need to add a little lime to your soil to raise the pH to around 7. A simple soil test can tell you what the value of your soil is so you know how to help set up the plant for success. You want a nice airy type soil so if you have a lot of clay you may consider adding a little bit of mushroom compost to lighten up the soil. Lavender doesn't require many other amendments. Spacing Lavender loves its space and doesn't like to be crowded, it will thrive better if it has more breathing room. Spacing requirements depend on the type of lavender you get. If you get an Angustifolia variety also referred to as English or culinary your spacing should be about 3’ between plants. If you get a Lavandula x intermedia, also referred to Lavandin or French lavender you will want a 5’ spacing. This will allow your lavender to breathe and have room to expand their flowers spikes in their season of blooming. Water Lavender needs water to get established you will water it frequently as you want the soil to be moist for the roots to begin to reach into your soil. This may be every other day to begin with. After about a week spread the watering to every couple days then the following week see if you can spread the water out one more day. By this time your lavender is beginning to make its root system into its new location and getting established. Once it is gets established in your garden, after its first season, it requires very little water so it is recommended you plant it with other drought tolerant hardy plants that have similar watering needs. When to plant Lavender typically gets planted in Spring or Fall, 6-8 weeks after last frost date or before frost date in fall. This will enable your plant to get established before the heat of the summer and or before dormancy of winter.  Lavender is beautiful plant for your landscape and with this information it will be beautiful in your yard or garden. I recommend you get both Angustifolia and Lavandin varieties as they bloom at different times this will help to extend your color bloom during the season. In addition the flower use from these two types are different. For example the Angustifolia you can use in your culinary adventures where the Lavandin is used for it's more fragrant nature in sachets, and eye pillows. I'll write another blog post on this, but here is to wishing you a happy planting season!
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AuthorI am Nicole Callen, lavender lover, farmer, and owner of Norwood Lavender Farm. My intention for this page is to bring you great lavender related content that you can use. Most of it contains culinary adventures that transpire in my kitchen, as I have a love for the complex floral flavor and depth that lavender brings to cooking. 
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Photo used under Creative Commons from TheGirlsNY
