How to Make Lavender Wands from Flesh Flowers, a Step-By-Step DIY Tutorial

A few years back, my co-workers gifted me three lavender plants that I planted in a sunny area of our yard. It took the plants a few years to get established but they finally hit their stride last summer and began putting out beautiful, fragrant spikes of flowers in the early summer and again in the fall.

Last year, I harvested them and hung them up to dry, thinking that I'd have pretty bundles to give away in the winter. But when I took the bundles down, I discovered that they were verrrry delicate and the flowers dropped their buds at the slightest touch. The bunches do look pretty but they're quite messy, making them a less than ideal way to enjoy the flowers.

This summer, I decided to try out another option to preserve and enjoy these fragrant blooms— lavender wands.

I love that this method uses the plants’ own stems to contain the flowers - so neat and compact. The woven wands also smell divine.

If you have access to fresh lavender, you can easily make your own lavender wands - here's what you do.

Big thanks to my son, Will for making this video tutorial for me. You can find more of his work at willfoxfilm.com.

Materials: You’ll need a pair of scissors or garden or kitchen shears, a yard of roughly ¼-inch width ribbon, and a bunch of lavender flowers.

Step 1: Harvest the flowers

Try to cut the lavender stems as long as you can without cutting away any healthy leaves on the plant. If possible, do this when the flowers are fresh (I waited a little too long, next time, I'll do it sooner) as the stems will be most pliable when they're greener. And keep in mind that you’ll need an odd number of stems to make each wand.

You can also harvest all of the flowers as that's good for the plant. Anything that’s too short or too irregular to use for your wands, you can just hang up to dry and then use the dried flower buds to make sachets with.

Step 2: Sort the flowers

Once you've harvested all your flowers, it’s time to sort them into sizes - you want to keep them roughly the same size and length and prioritize full, straight flowers over ones that are curving to one side.

Step 3: Remove the leaves

Now that you're all sorted out, remove the leaves from each stem as they’d get in the way when we’re weaving the wand. The leaves come right off - very easy.

Step 4: Select the flowers

All your stems should be bare now and you're ready to sort them into a group for your wand. You want either 11 or 13 stems for the wand. You just need an odd number. You can use more if you want it to be a bit fatter - it will just take longer to weave.

Step 5: Line the stems up and trim

Line them all up so that the heads of the flowers are at the same point (not the ends of the stems). Then tie your ribbon just below the flower heads. Once they’re secure, trim the ends of the stems to match the length of the shortest one.

Step 6: Lightly crimp the stems for ease of folding

Take the dull edge of your shears or some other blunt object and gently press each stem just below the ribbon to soften it in that spot. Doing this will help you bend the stems backwards without them breaking. Make sure you get them all.

Step 7: Make the cage

One by one, bend all of the stems down over the flowers to create the little cage that will encase the flowers through which you'll weave the ribbon. Try to space them evenly. It’s a little fiddly.

Step 8: Weave the ribbon

Now that you've got your cage of stems, it’s time to start weaving the ribbon through them. The first time around is the hardest - definitely a little awkward but then it gets easier. Since you have an odd number of stems, you will keep going over and under, over and under, around and around in a downward spiral.

Step 9: Tie off the ribbon

When you reach the bottom (aka the actual top of the flowers but they're pointing down inside the cage), it’s time to tie a knot to close it off. You can also wrap the ribbon around the end the stems to the end of those and then tie it off. I prefered to end mine at the bottom of the flowers, though.

And voila. Mmmm, it smells so good!

Step 10: Dry the wand

Hang your wand(s) up in a dark, dry spot for about two weeks. It will shrink a little bit as it dries so I may need to gently pull the ribbons to tighten them up later.

Step 11: Enjoy!

Once it’s dry, you can use it as a sachet and a moth repellent in your closet or in a dresser drawer. Or just hang it up anywhere you want to catch a whiff of lavender. It smells wonderful.

Share photos of your completed wands and tag me if you make one. I'd love to see your finished product!

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Best Veggie Burgers - Packed with Flavor (Vegan & Gluten-Free)

These veggie burgers are delicious—a little sweet, a little savory, a little spicy, and they're packed with nutritional goodness from quinoa, black beans, sweet potatoes, and oats. I found them in Cookie and Kate's cookbook, Love Real Food, and am sharing her recipe below with a few minor changes.

Making these yummy burgers is a bit time-consuming, unless you happen to have a lot of the main ingredients on hand as pre-cooked leftovers -- something that happened to me once and was awesome!, but they freeze well so I recommend doubling or tripling the batch to get more bang for your burger prep buck.

A few notes:

• I never have quick cooking oats so I followed Kate's note and pulsed a bunch of regular rolled oats (do not use steel cut oats here) in the food processor until they were chopped but before they turned into flour.
• I recommend using seasoned black beans instead of plain canned beans as the flavor of the burgers will be better. Seasoned black beans are another thing I like to make in bulk in the Instantpot and freeze in quart-sized mason jars to make future meals easy.
• I am a huge fan of Japanese yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes. In my humble opinion, they have the best flavor and texture and are not overly sweet. If you have access to this variety, I reommend using them over Garnets or yams. And I would not recommend using purple sweet potatoes for this recipe as they're a lot more starchy than they are sweet. 
• These burgers can be fried, grilled, or baked. I baked mine since it requires less oil and creates a lot less splatter. 
• Don't skimp on the toppings!

I hope you enjoy these toothsome veggie burgers which happen to be gluten-free and vegan.

-- print recipe --

Best Veggie Burgers
Makes 8 burgers

Ingredients

• 1 ½ pounds sweet potatoes (2 medium or 3 small)
• ½ cup quinoa, rinsed in a fine-mesh colander (or 1½ cups cooked quinoa)
• 1 cup water
• 1 Tbsp Better than Bullion vegetable broth
• 1½ cups cooked black beans (or one 15-oz can of black beans)
• ½ cup chopped red onion (about ½ small red onion)
• ⅓ cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3-4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• 2 tablespoons adobo sauce (I get mine from the sauce in a can of chipotle peppers)
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 tsps sriracha sauce
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ¼ cups quick-cooking oats (you can pulse rolled oats in a food processor until roughly chopped if you don't have quick-cooking oats, you'll need more than 1 ¼ cups but you can measure as you go)
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for brushing

Directions

1. Roast the sweet potatoes. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Rinse the sweet potatoes and slice them length-wise down the middle. Rub a little olive oil on the bottom of each and place cut-side down on a baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes until soft when you give them a little squeeze then set them aside to cool. Here's one of the ways my recipe differs from Kate's -- please do NOT use parchment paper! Not only is it unnecessary and wasteful, it's also not really paper but paper coated with a thin layer of silicone which is a type of plastic. None of us need more plastic or its thousands of chemicals in our food or bodies. You can clean the pan, instead.
2. While the sweet potatoes are baking, make the quinoa. In a small pot, combine the rinsed quinoa with the water and the Better than Bouillion and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat as needed keep the quinoa at a gentle simmer. Cook, uncovered until the water has been absorbed, 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let the quinoa steam for 10 minutes.
3. Once the sweet potatoes have cooled down enough to handle, remove the flesh from the skins and add to a large bowl, along with the quinoa, black beans, onion, cilantro, garlic, adobo sauce, smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, sriracha, and salt. Mix them with a potato masher to mix this all together well. Don't worry about the beans getting smashed as that is fine.
4. Sprinkle the oats over the mixture and then mix together with a large spoon until well incorporated and the mixture holds together well when you form a patty. If you're not going to be cooking the patties right away, cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate.
5. Shape the burgers using a half cup measure and shaping it into a patty, using your fingers to smooth the edges and flatten the patty. The mixture should make 8 good-sized burger patties.
6. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Brush the burgers with olive oil on top and bottom and place on a heavy metal baking sheet and bake until golden, flipping once, for about 35 minutes.  To fry, heat a tablespoon of grapeseed or peanut oil in a large heavy-duty skillet over medium heat until shimmering, then fry the patties for 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden.

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Kale Caesar Salad with Garlicky, Lemony Tahini Dressing

This salad is a flavorful, nutrition-packed riff on a classic Caesar salad. I've swapped antioxidant-rich kale in for lettuce, fiber-filled whole grain croutons for white ones, and coated each bite in a rich, garlicky, lemony tahini dressing that's actually good for your heart.

The result is flavorful, filling, and packed with fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Best of all, you will feel full in a good way. I adore a classic Caesar salad but often feel pretty gross after eating one. This version carries none of the stomach cramps, bloating, sleepiness, or brain fog that can accompany a meal that's too rich. 

You can make the dressing in advance and store it in the fridge for a week or two in a glass jar with a screw on lid. My fridge is full of repurposed Bonne Maman jam jars holding a variety of dressings and sauces.

If you wish to make this salad vegan, replace the Parmesan cheese with nutritional yeast. 

If you want to turn this salad into a main, try adding roasted chickpeas (you can also use regular old cooked/canned chickpeas if you're in a hurry) or top with some ripe avocado slices.

Don't be intimidated by making the croutons. And if you have stale bread, so much the better as it's already dried out plus you're not wasting food. But if you're short on time, you can certainly use store-bought croutons in this salad, too.

Enjoy.

-- print recipe --

Kale Caesar Salad with Garlicky Lemony Tahini Dressing
Serves 4

Ingredients

For the dressing

• 1/4 cup tahini
• 3 Tbsps fresh lemon juice (you'll need at least one lemon)
• 3 Tbsps organic olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tbsps water
• Freshly ground black pepper

For the salad

• 1 bunch of kale, rinsed and dryed, thick inner ribs/stems removed
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup roasted, salted pepitas (you can also used toasted almonds or pine nuts if you prefer)

For the croutons

• 2-3 cups of whole grain bread, cut into cubes
• 2 tsps organic olive oil
• Sea salt
• Dried oregano, thyme, and basil
• Garlic powder

Directions

1. Start making the croutons. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Lay the cubed bread out in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes until crispy but not burnt. Turn off the heat and remove from the oven to cool.

2. Make the dressing. If you have a mini food processor, whiz all the ingredients in it until smooth. If not, combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until blended. Season with freshly ground black pepper to taste. If the dressing is too thick to pour, stir in a spoonful more of water.

3. Finish making the croutons. In a large bowl toss the toasted bread cubes with the olive oil and spices until well coated. Heat a cast iron pan over medium heat until shimmering then add the bread cubes and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently.

4. Prepare the salad. Roughly chop the kale leaves and place in whatever bowl you plan to serve the salad out of. Sprinkle the kale leaves with salt and massage them with your fingers until the leaves have turned a darker green and the volume of the kale has shrunk by about a third. Drizzle with the dressing and stir to coat. Add the croutons and pepitas (and optional roasted chickpeas or avocado) and stir again. Top with grated Parmesan cheese and serve.