Lavender Festival in Cherry Valley
Father's Day was bittersweet for me. It marked the first Father's Day without my dad, but I wasn't sad. I wasn't sad because I'm honoring his memory by doing what he would want me to do; Live. I reflected on him in my morning meditation and thought about the memories we made together on these holidays. Today I was going to make a new memory at the Lavender Festival.
I was invited by my friend Christina, 1/3 of my favorite trio of sisters whom I am so honored to have in my life as family. Her mom came with us, a wonderful surprise as she is such an incredible woman. We were joined by Christina's friend Yvette and Yvette's other as well. It was a big weird, realizing that I'm already people and their parents and yet I'm not around either of mine. To be quite honest, I didn't realize that the festival was on Father's Day when I said "Yes" to going, but a part of growth is experiencing these feelings and dealing with them.
The festival takes place every June at 123 Farm in Cherry Valley for two weekends. The Farm is the largest organic lavender farm in California, with over 11 acres of just lavender! Working with a Farm myself, I'm starting to really enjoy the different cultures of organic farms around me. The festival invited guests to walk through lavender fields, listen to live music and, of course, try lavender-inspired treats!
I'll admit, I was talking to my friend the day before about how the caucasity of loving Lavender, but we also joked that my millennial behind is going to jump right into lavender errrythang...She was right.
From Lavender Ice-cream to Lavender Cheesecake and even a Lavender Earl Grey latte, I was living my lave-fantasies!
Lavender Latte...but make it Fashun.
In addition to the Lavender fields, there was an 1,100 Year Old Oak Tree on the property, it gave off an ominous energy that Christina wasn't too keen on. There was a shackle attached to the base, making us think of the history that may have went on there...By history, I mean slavery and it was an uncomfortable moment to be around that. To imagine that 1,100 years of history have occurred around that tree is pretty jaw-dropping.
The Farm noted that it has an Inn, trails and also produces vegetables so it was interesting to learn a little bit more about the the history of it.
All-in-all, it was a pretty fun day in the sun, inhaling the smell of fresh lavender and enjoying time with some pretty cool people. I'll put a little gallery below of some of my favorite shots!
