Fertilizers

   ​A common question we get is "what do you do you use for fertilizer?" Thus far, we have not used any of what I would call "commercial fertilizer." Before we convert a piece of land into a lavender field, we use it for grazing livestock. After we have planted lavender, we use manure and bedding from the other inhabitants of our farm.

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   ​Our primary contributors are our two Nubian milk goats, Zinger and Kamea.  These two ladies have been productive milk producers for us the past four years and they produce more manure than milk.

    Then come the chickens, our flock generally hovers in the 22-24 member range.  The flock is composed mostly of New Hampshires and Rhode Island Reds, but we have a few other breeds such as: Silver Laced Wyandotte, Barred Rock and Orpington.

    ​Finally, the ducks. Tiny and Tulip were our daughters classroom incubator project that ended up coming home with them. We use both the manure and bedding for general soil maintenance and as a mulch for the plants. 
  We also have some volunteers from our local deer herd. They donate a little manure here and there as they graze amidst the rows.  On occasion they may do some damage to our water lines, but they don't  disturb the lavender too much. They are a little camera shy and its tough to get a good picture of the herd.

Tiny and Tulip, were a classroom incubator project brought home by our daughters.