Baby Steps.

A really smart person once told me that the key to success is to:

a. Start.
b. Keep going.

Yesterday, we started; taking one baby step toward our vision of long rows of lavender undulating their way to the porch of the Kirk Ranch house.

Here is what the front of the Kirk Ranch looks like right now.

Please cut us some slack as we have endured an unprecedented eight-month drought. Happily, the temperature has begun to drop, a few small showers have graced us and fall seems to be settling in.

Here's what we want the front of the Kirk Ranch house to look like eventually.

We are big believers in photographing our dreams and putting them  in conspicuous places, as a reminder to the conscious or subconscious mind to plan accordingly.

Here is our first baby step toward that goal.

Three test plants of the lavender variety - Grosso, Provence and Laceleaf - have been planted in cultivated, sandy soil with a 7.0 ph and given a cool drink of water. They should have at least 60 days before our first frost to get a little bigger and stronger. Their performance will determine what varieties get planted next season and if we can propagate their very own genetics with cuttings.

Taking this little obsession into consideration, it's easy to explain what I am doing in this picture and why my sister is laughing about it.

It may have been a fake lavender field hanging on the wall of a skin care products store in Avignon, France, but I figured I ought to check out the soil anyway.

We're thorough.