Here are Some Tips on Keeping Your Candles Burning Longer

This is one of my favorite treats and it’s not Fattening!

Sometimes my husband surprises me, and I open my front door and see candles burning in the living room.  I don’t know what it is …but when I walk through that door and see and smell those candles burning, it’s like getting a big loving hug. 

It makes me feel so welcomed like my house is saying “Hello, welcome home”.

Do candles have that same effect on you?

If so, then light one up today and get that big loving hug. 

This is the reason that Candles make such great gifts!

Keep reading for a few tips and tricks to get the most out of your candles.  

Candles Make Great Gifts

TIPS FOR KEEPING YOUR CANDLES BURNING LONGER

  1. Keep your wick short.

    Always trim your wick to ⅛ to ¼”.  Candles are made to be sootless.  So if you see smoke it means that your wick is too long and can be sending soot into the air and on your walls.  To fix, put out the flame, wait for the wick to cool and trim it to about ¼” long.  This will also prevent black soot inside the glass, which doesn’t look very nice. 

  2. Blow out your candle the “Proper Way”.

    The best way to blow out a candle is to use a candle snuffer.  But if you don’t have one, simply hold your index finger up in front of the flame and then blow gently.  This causes the air to move around your finger surrounding the flame and prevents the wax from splattering.  Believe it or not- but I saw this on Martha Stewart and Martha does not lie...wink, wink

  3. Take special care the first time.

    To ensure your candle burns evenly, you must take special care the first time you light it.  The first time you burn your candle, make sure you let it burn long enough to allow the whole top layer of wax to become liquid.   By allowing the wax to melt all the way out to the edges, when it cools, the surface of the candle will remain even.  Since wax has a “memory” it tends to follow the path of its last point of melting and cooling. Having an even burn on top will prevent it from tunneling; tunneling is when the wick burns straight down the center of a candle without creating a full melt pool. 

  4. What to do if your candle starts tunneling.

    If your candle begins to burn a hole straight down the center and only the wax near the wick is melted and the outer edges are still hard, that is called tunneling.  To fix this, cover the top of your candle with foil.  Then cut a hole in the center where the wick is, and then burn your candle for several hours with the foil lid in place.  This will allow the hard outer wax to soften and melt evenly. Once the whole top layer is liquid you can remove the foil. 

  5. Don’t burn your candle too long in one sitting.

    You should only burn your candle for 4 hours at a time.  After 4 hours, the candle gets too hot and begins to evaporate the fragrance oil and burn off quicker.  So to get the most out of your candle, keep burning for 2-3 hours. 

  6. Stop burning your candle before reaching the bottom.

    To prevent your glass container from overheating, and damaging the jar or the surface it is sitting on, stop burning your candle once there is about ½” wax remaining in the jar. 

  7. Spills Happen.

    Unlike paraffin wax, which can be impossible to remove, soy wax is biodegradable and cleans up easily with soap and water.  Depending on the surface of the spill, you can either let the wax harden and then scrape off the hardened wax, or remelt wax with a hairdryer and then clean up the melted wax with a paper towel.  After the wax is removed, wipe down the spill area using a soft absorbent cloth, and hot soapy water or a solution made with half white distilled vinegar and half water. 

I hope these tips will allow you to enjoy your candles longer. If looking for candles to purchase, our Lavender Candles are made from 100% soy wax, and scented with lavender essential oil, rather than artificial fragrance.

This gives our candles a light fragrant aroma, rather than the overbearing smell that some candles can have.  

Our Candles are available throughout the year.  In addition to our wonderful Lavender Candles, we periodically offer other seasonal scents such as our Spruce Lavender Candles offered in the Winter Months and our Lemongrass Lavender Candles that show up just in time for Spring.  

Just in time for Valentine’s Day - Our De-Stress Gift Bag with Lavender Calming Spray and one of our lovely Lavender Candles.

Lavender Valentine’s De-Stress Gift Bag

Source: www.mtairylavender.com

Take care of the most important person in your life - YOU!

If you watched the Super Bowl last month you might have noticed several advertisements that featured Self Care. There were two ads associated with fitness (Lindsay Lohan with Planet Fitness and Serena Williams with Tonal), and one that featured John Legend promoting his new sleep cast on Headspace (a meditation App) advocating “treat yourself for some well-earned self-care on Headspace”.   

But the one commercial that really captured my attention was the ad for Hologic (a global women's health organization) that featured rap singer Mary J Blige.  In this commercial it showed the busy Grammy award-winning music star running from event to event, from backstage to recording, talking with agents, and showing her rigorous workouts with her trainers.  But even with everything going on in her busy hectic life, she purposefully takes time to slow down and make herself a priority…scheduling and going to the doctors to get her annual check-up.  The commercial ends with her saying “Making your Health a Priority is Real Love”.   How powerful is that ?  Yet so many of us get caught up in our busy lives and put off caring for ourselves and giving ourselves “REAL SELF LOVE”. 

Why is it so hard for women to focus on themselves and put themselves front and center and prioritize self-care? 

When I was researching self-care, I came across so many quotes encouraging and giving women PERMISSION for self-care..things like Self-care is never a SELFISH ACT…Caring for myself is not SELF-INDULGENCE…it is so sad that so many women think that they are undeserving, or putting themselves first is selfish and deprive their own self-care in lieu of others.  

Practicing Self Care is more important now than ever.  It is not about beating yourself up for not exercising more or scrutinizing every calorie you eat.  It is about slowing down, listening to what you want and need in your life, and making that a priority for no one else but yourself.     


Here is the best definition for Self-Care that I found:

Self-care /self-kare/noun:  the active process of making your body and mind a pleasant place to inhabit by filling your own cup first.  This ensures you have enough to give others. 

So what does that mean and how can you start focusing on your own Self Care?


Self Care doesn’t have to be time-consuming and overwhelming.  It can be as easy as sitting with yourself for 5 minutes and changing your thoughts from what you should be doing to what will make you feel good today.  Is there a friend that you have been thinking of?  Perhaps picking up the phone and giving them a call is just what you need today rather than doing that extra load of laundry. Have you been sitting in front of the computer and feeling lethargic and stiff? Perhaps a quick power nap or a short 20-minute walk will give you the energy you need for the rest of the day.  Or if the clutter on your desk is driving you crazy, take 10 minutes to put stuff away to clear your mind to focus on your task at hand.

Self Care covers really every area of your life: Physical, Emotional, Spiritual and Psychological.  And they are all intertwined and often overlap.  What area is calling out to you? What area needs you most right now? 


Body (Physical Self-Care)

What is your body telling you it needs today? 

More movement, stretching, or rest? 

What would make your body happy? 

Earlier bed-time?  A brisk walk?

Getting up from your desk to stretch? 

Choosing a healthy salad today for lunch? 

Or is it just to sit and take a few deep breaths to refocus?  

Heart (Emotional Self-Care)

Are you treating yourself with the same respect, love, kindness, and support that you give to others?

Are you aware of the negative or self-doubt talk inside your head that might be holding you back? 

Are you asking for the help you need? 

Are you setting clear boundaries and saying no to things you do not want to do so you do not overtax yourself? 

And are you taking time to enrich your relationships with family or friends?  


Mind (Psychological Self-Care)

Are you growing and learning? 

Is there a book that you have always wanted to read? 

Is there a hobby or interest that you want to explore? 

Is the clutter in your mind or surroundings bogging you down? 

Are you reflecting on what your future looks like?

What do you want to do? Who do you want to be?

Spirit (Spiritual Self-Care)


What beliefs and values are important to you? 

Are you being true to these values and are you listening to your gut to guide you?

  Meditation, prayer, taking walks in nature, listening to music or journaling are all ways to connect to your inner spirit.  

You may be asking yourself what self-care has to do with Lavender.  Well, Joanne and I have always been passionate about health, and self-care, which is one of the reasons why we grow and love lavender so much, not only for its beauty but because of all the health benefits it has.

Because of this passion, we will be posting easy self-care practices that specifically feature lavender, but wanted to first just introduce this concept of self-care to you.   As a first step in practicing self-care, you might want to read our blog on the Art of the Bath.

It is our hope that you will put yourself front and center and treat yourself by taking advantage of some of the tips we share in our blogs or join us at one of our workshops or events at our farm.   

Remember “MAKING YOUR HEALTH A PRIORITY IS REAL SELF LOVE”

Take care,

Amy & Joanne

How we make our Lavender Essential Oil

Behind the Scenes

If you have had the opportunity to visit our farm, you may have seen us planting, or harvesting the lavender.  But many of you may not realize that we actually distill our lavender to make lavender essential oil and lavender hydrosol used in our products.  So I decided to write about this process.  And although I started writing this blog to educate our customers, I realized how much I take for granted all that is involved to create a single drop of Lavender Essential Oil. So I am writing this article with a new appreciation of all the steps we take to make our Mt Airy Lavender products.

It all begins with the love of the land

Like many things in life, the care and nurturing you give on the front end is really what is important to produce quality results.  And it is no different here on our farm. It all starts with the love of the land.  And not only the love required to nourish the soil and care for the plants but actually the true love of the land.  Our parents bought the farm in 1970.  The fields were overgrown with weeds and brush and the house was in disrepair.  There was no bathroom, only an outhouse and I still remember the kitchen having a dirt floor.  But they had a dream and renovated the farmhouse and cleared the fields to become the beautiful farm it is today.  And it is this love of the land that is deep-rooted in us.  

And trust me, in farming you need this deep-rooted passion.  Everyone knows farming is hard work, but the real challenge is how much resilience is needed.  There have been years when we lost most of our lavender plants due to a deep freeze or wet weather.  But it is this love of the land that keeps us motivated to replant and keep going.  And we are so grateful that we have this passion and drive because although farming is hard work, my sister and I get so much satisfaction and joy in creating and sharing the beauty of the farm and our products with you. 

Planting the Lavender

Lavender loves a slightly alkaline and loamy soil.  So we start each season by testing the soil and adding the appropriate nutrients.  We always choose a sunny hill to plant our lavender.  Lavender loves lots of sun and needs good drainage.  We haven’t had much luck propagating our own plants, so we typically order our lavender plants in the fall for spring delivery.  They arrive in early March as little seedlings.  

We then truly “baby” these plants, by keeping them warm in our greenhouse and watering them every day until they are big and strong enough to be transplanted to a larger pot.  We then tend to these “teenagers” for another 6 weeks until they are ready to be on their own and planted along with the big kids in the lavender fields. We then water often the first summer after planting to get them truly established.  We will wait to harvest them until the following year. 

Harvesting- a Labor of Love


Often, we are asked: “When do you cut or harvest your lavender?”  Well, it will depend on how we intend to use it. For our English Lavender (like Big Time Blue or Super Blue), we like to harvest this beauty right after the lavender florets start to bloom. We do this for two reasons,  one for crafts and products like our cocktail stirrers, we find by cutting it early before the florets have time to pop, the buds stay on the stem longer and keep their vibrant color after they have dried.  Secondly, the more you cut this workhorse, the more it blooms.  So we will cut this variety often throughout the summer.

In contrast, harvesting our French Lavender crop is such a bittersweet moment.  This type of lavender blooms only once and then it is done.   It is so tough for us to harvest because we love seeing the lavender in the fields. Unfortunately, this is the cost of doing business so we have a rule -  all French lavender must be harvested by July 15th.  Honestly, though, we always leave a row or two that we can’t bear to cut so early!  

All of our harvesting is done by hand and takes several days. The harvesting is a long tedious process while fending off the masses of bees busily collecting their pollen.  

The next step is bundling and hanging.  We hang the lavender in our barn to dry.  This year we had such a great harvest, we had to add additional walls of wire fencing inside the barn to hold all our lavender.  After about 10 - 12 days, depending on the weather,  we take the bundles off the wall, trim them and store them in boxes and bins in a dark, dry location. We will de-bud some of the lavender and use the buds for sachets. We will also sell our dried bouquets directly to our customers, florists, craft shops, gift shops, and other companies that make lavender products.  But the majority of our lavender we will distill to make essential oil and hydrosol (lavender water). 

Now the Fun Part - Distillation

To distill the lavender, you can use fresh or dried lavender flowers.  In the summer, we are busy hosting guests with farm tours, workshops, and visits to our farm store.  So, we prefer to wait until the summer winds down to focus on our distillation process.  

We have a 40-liter copper still. The anatomy of the still is shown below so you can better understand the process. The bottom is just a big pot.  The Column has a sieve on the bottom and fits snuggly on top of the Pot.  The Hat attaches to the top, and the tube coming from the top of the Hat is called the Swan Neck and continues into the Condenser. 

To distill the lavender, you first fill the bottom pot halfway full with water and place the still over a heat source (propane flame).  Then cut the lavender below the flowers and you pack the column with the flowera and place the hat on the column packing additional florets inside the hat.  The column has a sieve on the bottom, that keeps the lavender from falling into the pot, yet will allow the steam to pass through. 

Once the column is in place you need to seal the seams with plumber’s tape so that steam and precious lavender oil will not escape.  

After the lavender is packed in the still, you run cold water through the cooling bucket and set up a device called an Essencier that separates the oil and water.  Then we crank up the heat. Essentially the water is heated to release steam.  The steam rises through the column and the molecules of lavender essential oil are released from the lavender flowers into the steam and travels through the swan neck and through the coils into the condenser.  The steam is then cooled as it travels through the coils in the cooling tank and the liquid (essential oil and hydrosol) is collected and separated in the Essencier.

The Mother Load- Essential Oil


The essential oil is highly concentrated. When we distill a batch of lavender (15 large bundles) we only get about 20 ml of essential oil.  That is less than 1 ounce!   As you can see, the work involved to extract Lavender essential oil is intense, however, the final product is so worth it!  Lavender essential oil has many benefits.  We hear so many stories from our customers on how our lavender essential oil has helped them.  We have mothers that tell us how they use our calming spray to soothe their children's insect bites, sunburns, and minor burns. Customers tell us how therapeutic the lavender oil in our body butter and face cream is for their skin (rosacea, eczema, acne, dry skin).  And nurses share stories of how the lavender oil helps calm their Alzheimer patients who often struggle with anxiety, especially at night.  The lavender essential oil not only helps the patient but calms the caregiver as well. So although the distillation process is lengthy and a lot of work, these stories make the job so worth it!

Hydrosol- Always Playing Second Fiddle


In addition to the lavender essential oil that is produced during the distillation process, we also get another product which is called hydrosol sometimes referred to as lavender water. 

Hydrosol is often considered to be just a byproduct of the distillation process, but in reality, hydrosol stands up on its own with its own special attributes. All of the natural chemical compounds stored in the lavender plant make up the wonderful properties of hydrosol.

Hydrosol has many of the same benefits as essential oil, with a bit more.  Like lavender essential oil, hydrosol also has calming properties and it is the main ingredient in our Lavender Calming Spray. Our customers tell us they use it in their bedrooms and spray it on their sheets to give a  fresh, clean fragrance that helps them sleep at night.  It also helps repel insects and soothes wounds.  It is safe for dogs and children and I have a friend that says her son always asks for the lavender ”boo-boo” spray any time he gets a scratch or insect bite. 

Lavender hydrosol is used extensively by the cosmetic industry.  Hydrosol is slightly acidic and therefore it is known to be great for the skin as a toner allowing lotions to absorb better into your skin.  I use it daily before applying my lavender face cream at night.  

Bringing it all Together


Although the planting, harvesting, and distillation process is satisfying, I get real pleasure and joy when we use our dried lavender, essential oil, and hydrosol to make our products.  I love creating the products, labels, and special packaging so that they can be used as gifts either for yourself or a friend.  But most of all I love all the wonderful comments from our customers that purchase our product.  Thank you!   

In closing and reflecting on all our processes, I need to pause and give thanks to all that make Mt Airy Lavender possible: my parents who had the great vision of how beautiful this farm could be, my business partner and sister, Joanne, who allows me to do the fun stuff (packaging, blogging, flower design) while she does all the business stuff, our husbands and other family members that are always there when we need help or have a new project (and believe me we have many projects), my daughter that helps with all of our social media and marketing, our farmhand, Ruffino,  who painstakingly tends to the fields, and last but not least our customers who give us the inspiration and encouragement that motivates us to continue to love and grow Mt Airy Lavender. 

With Gratitude and Appreciation, 

Amy and Joanne

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Ideas to Make the Last Days of Summer Memorable!

Every year I panic when I start hearing the crickets chirping and begin to walk into spider webs in the orchard because I start thinking where did the summer go?  I question myself did I truly take advantage of the summer?   Did I schedule and create memorable experiences for myself and my family to make this summer special and something I can remember for years to come?  

It is sometimes difficult to stop ourselves from the day-to-day grind and take time off to connect to the things and people we love.  Taking time to get out of our daily routine takes a lot of effort.  And the recent rise of the pandemic means more of us are missing out on family outings and vacations that we used to enjoy.

Studies have shown that the restrictions on our daily life and the inability to create special moments can be harmful to our emotional well-being.  It is important to have fun and create new memories.  And this doesn't necessarily require you to travel or have it be expensive. Even small changes to normal everyday activities that incorporate different sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and experiences will make that memory stick with you.  

If you know me and my sister, you know we look for opportunities to create special and unique experiences.  To take advantage of the last days of summer, we have put together some fun ideas that you may try to truly treasure these last days of summer and make it a summer that you will never forget.  

Here are a few fun activities that we loved doing!


Family Themed Dinners

Pick a theme and celebrate with your family.  Last summer,  my sister, Joanne and I had a Savannah Themed Dinner Party for our family under the pergola in the lavender field.  Savannah is one of my favorite cities.  My daughter Kirby went to school there at SCAD, and I loved having any excuse to visit.  My sister also fell in love with Savannah while traveling back and forth to Florida to visit her son, daughter in law and grandson in Orlando.  So since we weren't able to visit Savannah, we thought we would bring Savannah to us with all its southern charm.  As always, Joanne made a delicious meal from one of our favorite restaurants in Savannah- Vic’s on the River and I took care of the flowers and tablescape. 

To create the look and feel of the live oaks of Savannah and the Majestic beauty of the Magnolias, I cut white hydrangeas from the garden and laced them with Spanish moss, and hung them upside down from the roof of the pergola.  For the table, I used magnolia leaves as place settings and accented the center pieces with white roses, hydrangeas, and lisianthus all from our gardens.   

Cocktails were served from a vintage portable bar set from my husband's grandfather.  We made Bee’s knees using our own Mt Airy Honey and Manatawny Gin.  To keep to the “vintage theme”, my daughter wore my prom dress that my mother made me many moons ago to mimic Jessica McClintock’s Gunne Sax designer dresses that were popular at the time. It was fun and memorable and we loved the planning and preparation as much as the event itself!

Host a Special Themed Dinner with Friends

Host a Special Themed Dinner with a small group of family and friends. I actually have a group of friends that we call the “dinner club”, in which we get together every other month and have a ‘themed’ dinner. In our dinner club, we have 6 couples.  The host couple prepares the main course and picks out a theme.  Then each of the other members of the group is responsible for something else: drinks, appetizers, desserts, or clean-up.  These responsibilities rotate each time we get together, with the host always having “off” for the next event after hosting. 

It is always so much fun to get together and share stories and see all the clever dishes, outfits, and decor around the selected theme. And I find it kind of liberating to get out of my comfort zone and put on a fun costume or experiment with foods from around the world.  Here are just a few funny pictures of me from some of my favorite dinner parties (Gilligan’s Island, Caribbean Adventure & Swiss Chalet.

Set up your Table under the Stars

If themed dinners are not your thing, think of setting your table outdoors under the stars. Hang some market lights or lanterns, and place some candles on your table for lighting.   By using some of your “good dishes and linens” and adding some flowers to your table from your garden you can create a romantic elegant evening right in your backyard.   Sometimes, just mixing it up and dining in a new spot will make an evening one that you will remember for years to come. 

Dinner-in-the-Lavender-Field.JPG

Pack a Picnic Basket

Don’t have time or space for an outdoor diner?  Pack a picnic basket, spread it out in your living room, or go to a park. Picnics always make me feel like I am going to a special hideout place, even if it’s only a short walk in the field.  Here is a picnic lunch we had with Henry (Joanne's grandson) when he was having an extended stay at the farm this summer.  We just packed a simple lunch, took a hike and threw a blanket on the grass, and had a fun picnic experience without a lot of work and fuss.  You can even throw in a little treasure hunt for extra fun!

Want more Adventure- Plan a Camping Trip

Want more adventure?  Remember the fun you had camping?  Why not go to a local campground or pitch a tent in your backyard?  Camping always brings out the child in you.  Add a campfire, some s’mores, read some bedtime stories, and reminisce about your childhood adventures. 

We encourage you to take advantage of these last days of summer to create long-lasting memories. Whatever you decide to do, taking the time to stop and connect to the child within you will give you energy and joy and add memories that you will have a lifetime.  So escape from your everyday life and cherish these last dog days of summer! 

Happy Summer, 

Amy and Joanne

If you are interested in having a small intimate experience at our farm, we welcome you to contact us here.