Lavender Fields Forever

Dorthy, we’re not in New York City anymore.

Last weekend I escaped the city with Marta and Joe to visit Pleasant Valley Lavender in New Jersey. Located an hour outside of the city, this is the perfect Saturday afternoon trip. Pleasant Valley Lavender offers a pick your own option in addition to the range of products they sell. They have both English and French lavender; English lavender is better for baking and sweets [i.e. lemonade] and French is better in savory dishes [perfect in herb rubs for meat]. From their shop, I picked up linen spray, soap, and culinary lavender [see how I’m using my lavender at the bottom of this post!].

Black Dress | Sunglasses

The farm also has their own bee hive and they make lavender honey once each year [unfortunately, we visited too early for honey]. If you’re interested in visiting, I recommend heading over soon, as the fields are in peak bloom at the moment [the buds will be affected by heat later in the summer]. 

Tie Dye Dress (similar) | Sunglasses (similar)

For my city dwellers, post lavender picking–make a trip to the beach. The nicest nearby beach is Asbury Park, roughly 30 minutes away. We ate lunch at Talulua’s–delicious pizzas & local ingredients [highly recommend!]. After lunch, we walked over to the boardwalk. We spent a hour or so at the beach; you do need to pay $7/person [cash only] to access the beach but it’s very clean and the water was warm enough for swimming. The boardwalk has a variety of restaurants, bars, and snack shacks to satisfy any cravings. Joe and I are already planning a trip back this summer!

Finally, I want to a share a recipe for lavender lemonade. This is a great use of culinary lavender!