A Floral, Horsey Adventure May whatever, 2020

Yesterday, my sister and I took a jaunt about 35-40 miles northeast of Carson Valley to visit the Campies Lavender Patch to purchase some lavender plants and products.  https://www.campieslavender.com/    I’m including the link to the farm because I forgot I had the camera until after we visited the Lavender Patch.

The owners, Mike and Diane, own a few acres out near Stagecoach, Nevada, and offer up to 40 varieties of lavender.  Some of those varieties have been bred by Mike himself.  The best thing about these plants is that they are acclimated to the Nevada climate, can stand up to our weather extremes and they won’t die as have most of my other lavender plants.  Good friends at the Jacobs Family Berry Farm https://www.jacobsberries.com/  have many of the Campie plants and they are beautiful!

Stagecoach in Lyon County, Nevada, United States, located east of Reno. Its name is likely derived from its place as the Overland Stagecoach station at Desert Well.  The 2010 population was 1874 and I don’t think it’s grown much since then. The Lavender Patch is a few miles north of US Hwy. 50 located on an upslope of a hilly valley.

It was rather stormy here in Minden, but was just windy out near the Patch.  Mike met us outside the house and then showed us the buildings where the smaller plants are kept.  He described the plants and what they look like (they were mostly all alike to us) and then showed us the gallon plants.  We chose our plants and then purchased our lavender products that we had ordered ahead of time.  (Remember, technically, Campies Patch is still closed.  So, our orders were “to go.”)   We had a pleasant visit and then hopped in the car to go home with our treasures.

Nevada is home to many herds of wild horses and the area we were in is famous for its herds.  We happened to see the largest herd we’ve ever seen before we got back to Hwy. 50.  We counted them from afar (between 50-54) and then I was able to find a road/gravel path to get closer.  We could see horses of all ages and they all looked pretty healthy.  It was then I remembered my camera and took a few photos of them engaging in several activities and two were doing what comes naturally.  If you wish to see that picture, please contact me as this is a family blog.    Jerri and I were pretty excited to see this herd because if we are lucky enough to see any wild horses, they are in groups of maybe 5-6 or so.

You can see the terrain and the desert foliage.  It must be difficult for the herd to sustain itself as I don’t think sagebrush is all that tasty. I think the brown roofed house on the left side is close to where the Lavender Patch is.  Please click on the image to enlarge it.