Yesterday afternoon went to Terre Bleu Lavender Farm for an adventure. It is located just a short car ride from home on Sideroad 25 just west of Guelph Line. I have been wanting to visit here for a few years but the timing just wasn’t right until this summer. Visiting the farm right now is a little bit different-but still an amazing time. For this summer tickets can’t be bought at the gate…each week Terre Bleu releases tickets via their email subscriber list. This is to control how many people are arriving at the farm in capacity etc. We picked 3-4 to arrive…which mean Katie could finish her nap before we went off on our adventure!

It was such a fun afternoon adventure–it was hot, but honestly I hardly noticed! The smells of the fields…and just walking around taking photos made me so happy.

The first stop for our crew was to head to the Yellow Door Field…this was the part I had been waiting for…I had seen beautiful photos of people standing at this yellow door in the middle of the lavender field. However, I didn’t know that in order to get there we had to walk there on the “Yellow Bench Trail” through a 200 year old Cedar forest.

The Yellow Bench was occupied each time we passed through the forest…so we didn’t stop to take a photo…sometimes when you are adventuring with a toddler you pick the places you will wait to take a photo. Some day I’ll be back Yellow Bench–but today was not the day for a photo shoot!

My Bug…waiting for her turn to walk through the door.

The wait for the yellow door was pretty short…there were just 2 groups ahead of us! We had fun striking a pose in front of the door. Katie at this point had her camera out and was taking photos too!

“When you walk through the door, your worries are behind you and your joys are ahead!” this was a quote from one of Points of Interest Cards that are all around the Farm. The historian in me is a sucker for information and plaques at places I visit–but the ones around the farm have so much added info about the history of the farm. Also right now if you answer a few questions from the “Bleu’s Clues” you can get 10% discount in the store! So it’s worth the time to go seek them out and read…

At dinner every day I have started a tradition to talk to Katie about what her Favourite thing was she did that day. Today it was “Playing Peek-a-boo with the yellow door momma!” (I think this needs to be printed for my house).

Being a single mum and a photographer…I always have these photos in my mind I want to capture with just myself and my bug…but often after wrangling a Toddler–setting a timer, setting up a tripod etc is just too much work! I must admit I have a great stash of selfies of the two of us. But I’m so thankful that Darcy was able to capture these shots of the two of us on this adventure!

The smell of the lavender is so amazing…Katie was really good to smell, and not pick (except for this clover).

I LOVE this photo that Darcy captured of me taking a photo of my bug.

What do you do when your toddler takes off across the Lavender field? Well first you take a few photos…then you go collect them!

*She was walking between the plants, but I also encouraged her to RUN down the open rows between the plants after these photos were taken!*

There also was a little bit of wrangling, and convincing the toddler in our group which direction we had to go!

Sometimes when you set your camera up with a timer to attempt to do a group photo–your toddler decides that they have a better location to be captured in the group photo… so you just go with it!

One of the things I didn’t know.. is that there are a few art installations to take your photo at… this giant circle is pretty awesome and is at the far end of the Yellow Door Field.

I love this series of photos of my Bug and myself.

Today was the first day in a very long time that I actually felt like myself again. I was happy…I actually put on contact lenses for the first time since September of last year. I stopped wearing them at some point last fall around the time of mum’s death. It felt good to wear them & sunglasses again…I felt more like me than I had in a long time.

“Children are great imitators. So give them something great to imitate.” I know I have my many faults…but if I pass along a love for photography and capturing the perfect image my job is done!

It was so great to see all the bees–hard at work making honey!

We explored the farm and found the Herb Garden & Bee Apiary & Essential Oil Distillery…some of these places weren’t doing typical things like serving refreshments–but it still was lovely to wander around and see the areas.

We also stopped at Farm B for a visit on the way home. There are some pretty ruins you can sit in..we found a table with an umbrella to sit at and enjoy some Lavender ice cream…

Katie had more fun feeding me ice cream…then eating it herself. (You will have to go watch the video on my Instagram feed…it’s hilarious!)

She also explored the ruins…and quietly placed little rocks into this circle for a few moments…until she discovered I was watching. Then she promptly got up and ran away!

If you are in the area…I really strongly recommend going to the farm for a visit. The fields are lovely…the staff is friendly and helpful (from a distance). Masks aren’t mandatory in the fields…because you can keep a 6ft distance. But if you go in the store it’s limited entry–one group at a time & masks are mandatory.

When we went into the store… Katie was in the stroller and immediately said, “Oh Momma–look at all those Teddy Bears–I’d like one please.” I couldn’t say no… and I’m not sure what toddler would resist the gorgeous display of teddy’s. So “Milton” has come home with us… he is filled with a lavender sachet…and smells amazing! (I’m secretly hoping the lavender will help her sleep too!)

When the woman in the store asked her what the Teddy Bear’s name would be…Katie said, “Elephant!” and started to laugh. Then she declared, “I’m funny-I just joking!” We also talked about naming him “Lavender” or “Milton” (his actual name on the tag…) time will tell what this little guy’s name will be!

Playing in Galena -Sky Window… the plants are all starting to grow up and into this cool structure…

We didn’t walk up the giant swing…this visit…but next visit we definitely will!

Thank for a great visit Terre Bleu Lavender Farm…we will return again! Maybe in August when your sunflowers (new for 2020) are in bloom!