Picking Lavender in Vacaville, California

As I gazed at 22 rows of purple flowers at Soul Food Farm in the Northern California town of Vacaville, I imagined I was in the lavender fields of Provence, France!

On Father’s Day, my family and I went to the Second Annual Lavender U-Pick Festival at Soul Food Farm and Morningsun Herb Farm (joint venture name is Hierbas y Flores), located in Vacaville, California (about 55 miles/ 89 km northeast of San Francisco).

Alexis, the owner of Soul Food Farm, greeted each visitor and gave each of us a pair of sanitized clippers, a bucket, and a few plastic twist ties to make bouquets.

Grosso and Hidcote Blue lavender were ready for picking – each row was over 200 feet/ 60 m long!

However, on the opposite side, their Maillette lavender, used mainly for essential oil, wasn’t ready to be picked.

In addition to the lavender we picked, we bought a small sachet and a jar of lavender jelly. My daughters each got a tube of lip balm, too. Other products the farm had for sale were soap, flower water, and essential oil.

The farm gets bees from Clay’s Bees, a local beekeeper. Their bees were everywhere and busy pollinating away!

I spotted several brown Common Buckeye butterflies fluttering in the fields, as well.

There was a pair of cute baby lizards that seemed to be playing hide and seek with each other!

Tell me in the comments: Are you a fan of lavender?