Lavender Ridge Farms

I'll begin by saying that this one of the best dates I went on with my boyfriend. For many reasons. How does that have to do with anything? Well... it doesn't. But it's just a fun fact to start lol! I actually came across a Facebook page ad that had mentioned a Lavender Farm Festival out in Gainesville, Texas for about four weeks ago. It was something that I asked my boyfriend to do with me since it looked like fun. I heard you could pick your own lavender for free and take it home. And I love that idea! Lavender has a lot of healing properties which I felt it would be great to keep around the house or to give to friends. But then as you know the rains came and took Houston, San Antonio, and bits of North Dallas and the areas were flooded. With my hopes crushed, the festival was pushed to four weeks later. The drive from The Colony, Texas (where I live) is about an hour's drive away. If there's anything that I recommend for photographers is always go to ANY event early for the sake of less crowds and fewer people in your shots. It makes things easier. So at 8 am, we headed out there on a gloomy Sunday morning. The festival had already began the day before with a bright sunny forecast. But Sunday was nowhere like it. Even though we were driving away from the rain, the sky was dark and the air was humid. But the drive was beautiful! So much country and farmland  and cattle and horses seen for days. I had such a great time just sitting in the car talking to my boyfriend that it made the drive even more pleasant. When we arrived, we stepped out of the car and instantly got a whiff of a wonderful fragrant smell which I can only assume was the lavender. But we discovered quickly from the locals, that the rains made it difficult for lavender to grow so unfortunately we couldn't pick some to take home. I was really really disappointed. Even though it was bad news for us, you can see the plants going strong trying to return to full bloom. My boyfriend encouraged me to look around at the other parts of the festivals. We saw so many small vendors just selling the neatest and oldest of things. And there was plants you could purchase. Gifts you could buy in their shop. I smelled so much lavender in the gift shop - I nearly passed out. There were even a good deal of animals to check out. Then the rain slowly started to come, so we purchased some Lavender ice cream drizzled in lavender honey and headed home happy. BEST LAVENDER ICE CREAM I've ever had.

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