Saturday, July 10th, 2010  click here

The Fair will have the usual wonderful gourmet food, crafts, workshops and walks
and talks on using herbs for crafts, culinary and medicinal purposes, organic gardening,  wild edibles, wild mushrooms, massage etc.  It takes place in the beautiful and
peaceful country setting known as La Paix Herb Farm, which was recently named a National Historic Landmark.  (May/Kraus Homestead)   To order gourmet luncheon,
click here.  Please note that those pre-registering for the luncheon will be served
first, to assure that they receive the full luncheon. 
Photos  are ready to view!  Lavender Fair 2008

 

Lavender Fair 2009: "Just Keep Dancing" Saturday, June 27th.  Put it on your calendar! Order Gourmet Luncheon Now  or phone (304) 269-7681 or mail to La Paix Herb Farm, 3052 Crooked Run Rd., Alum Bridge, WV 26321. $27. each by check or money order:  $28. by credit card (link above or by phone) Deadline for Luncheon Reservations 5 p.m. June 24th Menu Salad of greens from Dale's organic garden with Olive Oil and Sherry Vinegar ____ Tomato, Green Pepper and Olive Salad ____ Gruyere & Rosemary Biscuits Creamy Zucchini & Fresh Lemon Verbena Soup ___ Fricassee of Chicken with Roasted Garlic Tagliatelle Pasta with Eggplant, Rosemary & Lemon _____ Green Beans with Basil _____ Strawberries with Yoghurt Cream Apricot Honey Almond Bars _______ Mint & Lavender Iced Tea Lemonade Complimentary Wine served with full luncheon $27./person plus sales tax (4%) Order Gourmet Luncheon Now Cancellations after June 24th will not be reimbursed. To mail reservations ($28./person), send to: La Paix Herb Farm 3052 Crooked Run Rd. Alum Bridge, W.V. 26321 Reservations limited to 100 people. There will also be a Food Booth serving Pesto Puffs, Chicken and Vegetarian Wraps and Beverages ala carte.  Dale Hawkins will return for his 7th year of catering the Lavender Fair.	Admission:  $5/person, $10/family (one car)   Maureen Rogers of the Herb Growing and Marketing Network will return  to speak on "Bay, Herb of the Year 2009". The Lavender Cookie Contest will stimulate your taste buds and earn the winner $25. and fame on the La Paix website! Bob Maslowski,* PhD,  will return again to take you through La Paix's woods in search of the edible mushroom! Dot Montgillion, Smoke Camp Crafts, will return in 2009 to share her wisdom of  Medicinal Herbs. Photo by Mike Costello And I'll be back (Myra, The Steward of La Paix) to enjoy the love and laughter and wisdom this Fair seems to engender in all who attend. Photo by Kathleen Shannon O'Brien Hale One of a series on Peace by Holly Hinkle from her Blogspot.  Holly intends to have a booth at the Lavender Fair - I am so pleased as her Art for Peace is so appropriate at La Paix.
Melissa Dennison of Garden Treasures will return to give her very popular workshops: Making Lavender Wands and Making Lavender Soap - and I hope her booth of plants, lavender and soap will be sold out again.  She was very happy last year!	Bonnie McKeown of Barrel House Bonni fame will energize you and entertain you with her Boogie Woogie Blues - from Chicago via Charleston WV! Notice:  Bonnie called 5-21 to let me know she could not come to the Lavender Fair as she has accepted a position to teach in Chicago.
Eve Ristl****of Left Fork Farm will present "The Art of Timing":  350 (or 999) ways to use the help of the moon to make life easier, from cooking, gardening, health to beauty.  Eva has been studying and applying this knowledge since 1993, especially so since starting their organic medicinal herb farm in 2005. . Eva trained as a translator, traveled the world in the German Diplomatic Service, has 2 degrees in psychology/psychoanalysis and has translated 2 books and numerous papers in the field. Her greatest interest is healing and nourishment, and she's a Reconnective Healing Practitioner.	Mike Plybon returns again to give his wonderful relaxing massages.
Bill Hale* will conduct the "Just Keep Dancing" event at the Lavender Fair.  Those are my paintings in the background.  *my son	Silvia Bresson, my current apprentice (winter '08 - Spring '09) is a certified massage therapist who will offer her services  at the Lavender Fair.
Anne Romance of Green Heron Gardens will take you on a Wild Edible Plant Walk	New vendors - Adrian Millar and David Hart will have a booth featuring their exquisite and reasonably priced jewelry.
Elaine Ferry R.N.,Arcadia Herb & Retreat Farm will give a tincture making demonstration.  To participate in this workshop, bring small bottles and apple cider vinegar.    "Bill Church (on right) says:  "We all know birds have different songs and calls, but did you know there is a language of the birds?  How do you think native hunters could move silently through the forest without being detected?  How do the animals live so close to us yet go unseen?  The thing they have in common is that they understand the language of the birds.  In my walk at the Lavender Fair, we will explore the forest."  See Bill's bio below.	Marie Koon will demonstrate the distillation of lavender in La Paix's distillery.
Painting by Eddie Maier Spaghettiart Booth featuring the art of nature.   The artist has studied in Australia, Europe and Ghana West Africa. Geese on the Monongahela River	Bob Taylor of Born Again Wood creates unique bird houses created out of recycled wood and objects as diverse as old spoons, keys, and hinges.  He is new to the Fair this year.

Booths to date June 15th , 2009:   1.  Maureen Rogers, Herb World cd's of Herbalpedia, Herb Business information, 2.  Melissa Dennison, Garden Treasures lavender plants, soaps, 3.  Holly Hinkle's Hillbilly Artist, fun, creative, joyful sculptures from recycled wood, as well as loving musical creatures painted on wood. Art that will make your soul smile!  4.   Silvia Bresson Massage Practitioner, Esthetician, 5.  So-Lux Candles, 6.  La Paix Herb Farm Shop, Passionate Gardener's Hand Cream, Paintings of La Paix, Lavender Hydrosol and more. 7.  Ann Nye WV Herb Association, cookbooks, information, 8.  Smoke Camp Crafts, plants, teas, herbs, 9.  WV Environmental Council, environmental information, 10.  The Maslowski's, Mud River Pottery pottery,  11.  Bill Church wild plants CD's, 12.  Ann Romance, Green Heron Garden, tinctures, herbs 13.  Kevin Smith walking sticks      14. Eve Von Deck, Great Spirit Herbs, plants and more   15. Jill Stewart, Creative Exposure photography 16.  Elaine Ferry, Arcadia Herb Retreat, tinctures by Elaine  17. Eddie Maier Spaghettiart woodcuts from nature on handmade paper paintings  18.  Mike Plybon  Massage, 19. Adrian Millar and Dave Hart Pins, Broches, Necklaces, Bracelets   20.  The Beautiful  Byway. The Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike 21.  Bob Taylor Born Again Birdhouses  22.  Patrick Patrick and Morgan McKinney, Morganna Fair Trade Booth  23.  Laura Yokochi plants, books   24.  Denise Poole, Poole's Antiques and Collectables, soy wax candles, antique jewelry. 25.  Angela Eib Photographs of Crooked Run Rd. and beyond.
26.  Karen Spencer, Enameled jewelry and Glass Scents (recycled glass).   27.  Kay Basham, Medicine Song Crafts, fiber arts using natural materials.  28.  Doris Mellott, Lotions and Quilted crafts.  29.  Ala Carte Booth, Stonewall Resort's finest chicken wraps, vegetarian wraps, lemonade, ice tea and something sweet. 
Order Gourmet Luncheon Now  30.  "The Cat Lady" Cecilia Hodges: Eathenwear:  Jewelry Line of animals, and clothes with cats on them - embroidery done by Elkins Sheltered Workshop.

Lavender Cookie
Contest!
Bring your printed recipe, your
cookies
and let us know you are
coming!   Email us.

Time

Workshop/Walk

Dot Montgillion
Smoke Camp Crafts: Appalachian Medicinal Herbs

Robert F. Maslowski, PhD
Wild Edible Mushroom
Walk  (bio below)

Maureen Rogers: 
Herb Growing and Marketing Network: 
Bay - the Herb of the Year

Dale Hawkins, Exec. Chef, Stonewall Resort
Culinary Demonstration

bio below

*Robert F. Maslowski, PhD (Wild Mushroom Walk)
Bob Maslowski, BA psychology Holy Cross College, Ph D. Anthropology/Archeology University of Pittsburgh. Archeologist, US Army Corps of Engineers, Huntington (Retired). Has done extensive work in the Ohio Valley and worked in Israel, Cyprus, Vietnam and Laos. Adjunct Professor, Marshall University Graduate College. Teaches Appalachian Courses and a survey course in Food and Culture which includes a mushroom walk on our 140 acre farm in Milton. Grows shiitake mushrooms and makes a wide variety of award winning wines.
Selected Publications

1982  Archeology of the Bluestone Reservation. Proceedings: New River Symposium, pp. 185-194. National Park Service, Oak Hill, West Virginia.

1984  Protohistoric Villages in Southern West Virginia. Upland Archeology in the East, Symposium 2, pp. 148-165. James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
1989  Prehistoric People of the Kanawha Valley: Resource Guide. Sunrise Museum, Charleston, West Virginia.

Professional Organizations American Anthropological Association (Life) Society for American Archaeology (Life) West Virginia Archeological Society (Life) West Virginia Historical Society (Life)
West Virginia Academy of Science (Life) Virginia Archeological society (Life) Southeast Archeological Conference (Life)

This Letter to the Editor appeared in the July 4th, 2007edition of the weekly Weston Democrat

Lavender Fair Thrills Visitor

To the Editor:

It is a truism that the outsider oftentimes compels us to prize our treasures at hand or within ourselves.  I am such an outsider to your community, but consider your area a spiritual or second home and seek out any reason to spend time with you.  One such occasion was the Lavender Fair at the La Paix Herb Farm on Crooked Run, the hidden jewel of Myra Bonhage-Hale, who considers herself simply as steward of that restored May/Kraus homeplace.

Friends near Weston recommended the annual fair.  I was more than surprised; delighted at such hospitality, beauty, the overt valuing of the past and noted energy to assure the future.  Hundreds gathered from far and near.  Gently sheltered booths offered handcrafted products and foods in a random fashion in seemingly uncultivated glades.

There were cooking demonstrations featuring many of the herbs growing there - I remember especially the lavender and lemon thyme - all conducted by passionate and interesting persons, some local, such as Geoff Kraus.

Your own Dale Hawkins and his team prepared a gourmet buffet that even enticed young people to try and to enjoy "real" food for a change.  His genius was praised by all in the crowd.  All food is better tasting and more nourishing, I am convinced, when prepared with love.

The atmosphere was very much like visiting with friends.  Strangers were united by the meal consumed in small groups with others who soon became friends.

Table fellowship here was very unique, but fellowship it was, which is always the true nourishment.  It is to Myra that credit goes for uniting a deep understanding of our heritage with the cultivation of our hopes to come.  This is the gift of this outsider, the vision that she brings to us.

News of revamping the convention and visitors bureau has been in the Democrat of late. I do hope the bureau will search out and publicize this rare gift to Lewis County.

James F. Mullooly
Tridelphia, W.V.

Directions to La Paix: Please do not visit before the Fair - let us prepare!

1.  From Interstate 79
2.  Take Exit 99
3.  Turn left to Weston
4.  Go through Weston
to Route 33 West
5.  Drive approximately
15 miles on Rt. 33 W
to Alum Bridge
6.  (landmarks:  Alum Bridge School on left)
7.  Continue on Rt. 33W
about 2 miles to
8.  Crooked Run Rd.
on left (sign on right)
9.  Turn left over concrete
bridge on Crooked Run
10.  Travel 2-l/2 miles
to first left (signs will
be there)
11.  Turn left, continue about
1 mile to Parking
and Registration
12.  You are here!
Welcome~