Have Fun with Lavender — Lavender Classes & More!

By Caryn Gehlmann

Every summer I feel excited at the prospect of lavender season. Here in Southern Oregon, everywhere you look there is lavender growing. It’s amazing how many people say how any tension or anxiety they have just melted away after a few minutes of being near aromatic lavender fields!

Whether you have lavender growing in your backyard, nearby on a lavender farm, or even if the closest you get to lavender fields is in a bottle of Lavender essential oil — I’m going to share some ways you can get to know and benefit from this amazing plant. Let’s have fun with lavender!

If you live in Oregon or plan to visit this summer, here are the lavender classes I’ll be teaching. If you can’t attend, scroll down for other ways to learn about lavender from the comfort of home!

LAVENDER CLASSES — SUMMER OF 2023

The following classes will be held at the beautiful Applegate River Lavender Farm in Jacksonville, Oregon:

The Art of Blending: Create your own aromatherapy blend 

June 30, 2023, 9:30 – 11:00 am

I will share the many ways you can use lavender — such as calming respiratory congestion, soothing aching muscles, reducing discomfort from insect bites, cuts or scrapes, easing anxiety, promoting deep restful sleep, and so much more! Then the real fun begins as I guide you through the creation of your own unique essential oil blend with lavender as the base. You’ll be able to experiment with different essential oils until you create a blend that with every inhale, leaves you feeling calm, peaceful, and smiling! You’ll be able to take your new blend with you in a 10 ml roll-on bottle so you can enjoy all the uplifting properties of lavender wherever and whenever you want. Learn more and sign up.

Lavender Essential Oil/Hydrosol Distilling

Monday, July 24, 2023, 9:00 am – 11:30 am or Friday, July 28, 2023, 9:00 – 11:30 am

Come learn firsthand how pure, high-quality, small-batch lavender essential oil is steam distilled. Experience the joy of the indescribable sweet aroma as lavender oil and hydrosol emerge from the still. There’s nothing like it. In the class, you will harvest the lavender, prepare the flowers to go in the still, distill the flowers into essential oil and hydrosol, and bottle them. Take home 5 ml of freshly distilled lavender essential oil and 8 oz of lavender hydrosol flower water. Learn more and sign up.

FUN WITH LAVENDER BLOG HIGHLIGHTS

e3’s educational blog is another place to learn about lavender. Here are a few to get you started but feel free to type “lavender” in the search bar for even more!

How to Make & Enjoy SCENTsational Lavender Sachets
You can benefit from lavender essential oil all year long, but many don’t realize how long you can enjoy lavender sachets. Not just days, weeks, or months, but actually years of lovely lavender scent. Lavender sachets can be used in your drawer or closet to keep your clothes smelling fresh, when you travel to use both in your suitcase and your hotel room, under your pillow to help you relax at bedtime, and more. Get step-by-step tips on how to make your own.

Lavender Plant Care Outdoors & During the Winter
If you want to give yourself a jumpstart, try growing lavender yourself! I share some basic lavender plant outdoor care tips.The optimum time to plant and transplant lavender is from the middle of May through early summer. Avoid planting during the extremes of summer if possible. Lavender can be planted in the early fall as well. Read more on pruning, harvesting, and caring for your plants during the winter.

Cooking and Baking with Edible Lavender Varieties
The first thing you need to learn is that not all lavender is considered culinary and recommended to use in cooking, so don’t run to your backyard and start clipping lavender for dinner! You’ll want to choose culinary lavender rather than lavender plants that may be better used for drying, (aromatic buds), distilling, (essential oils), or ornamental lavender bushes, (a lovely addition to your landscaping). Get more tips and discover my favorite lavender cookbook here.

Blending Tips — Good Scents to Mix with Lavender
This is one of our most popular blogs and it’s no wonder since lavender is one of the most versatile essential oils you can find and it blends well with almost any other scent! When you pay attention to scent notes, you’ll find lavender adds a clean, vibrant scent to other florals, it softens spicy or woodsy scents, and it adds a little herbal essence to citruses. Discover good scents to mix with lavender for DIY blending.

Besides all the fun you can have with lavender, there’s science behind how lavender helps you de-stress. In the aromatherapy world, lavender is a superstar when it comes to helping you maintain and support emotional and physical balance.

Did you learn anything new about lavender? How will you have fun with lavender this year? If you have more questions for me, bring them with you to one of my upcoming classes or feel free to contact me — I love answering your questions.

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Thank you for the photo Phil Hodkinson.