Oak Ridge's Lavender Festival and the Secret City Festival

I'm getting to the end of my time in Oak Ridge, wow, time flies.  When I first came to Oak Ridge three years ago in 2009, I really looked forward to the Secret City Festival and Lavender Festival.  I used the shuttle between the two festivals to go to Jackson Square for the first time.  Without a car, Jackson Square was pretty far away to be walking in the summertime.  I had a ton of fun at both festivals, spent all day outside in upper ninety degree weather.  That year I went on a tour of Y-12 National Security Complex, played laser tag, ate lavender for the first time, heard "Eye of the Tiger," and of course, looked at all the exhibits.  

Last year the Lavender Festival really made an impression and so this time around I knew I would spend most of my time at the Lavender Festival.  Even though the lavender festival is very small, I think it's one of my favorite festivals I've ever been.  The reason is that the vendor selection totally matched my tastes.  There was a lot of pottery, bar soap, interesting jellies, exquisite cheese, and gorgeous wooden serving spoons.  

Lavender honey ice cream from Cruze Farm in Knoxville.  The flavor was good, but their ice cream is not as creamy as Razzleberry's ice cream.

Erin's Meadow Herb Farm made an appearance too!

"The Chef" comes every third Saturday to cook breakfast in a pay whatever you like pricing scheme. 

Decorative gourds

Farmer's market in Oak Ridge on Saturdays and Wednesdays.  This is my first time attending this year, since I usually go to the flea market for cheaper produce, but the atmosphere is pretty nice at farmer's markets.  I may go back next week.  Maybe.

Fried green tomatoes, a southern dish but really took off in Tennessee

Lavender milkshake.  While standing in line I said I wanted a lavender milkshake and the person in front of me copied me.  Good ideas are contagious, eh?

Spinach sambousek from Mediterranean Delight

There is a new bakery in town!  Dean's Restaurant and Bakery located in Jackson Square

 The Secret City Festival is to celebrate Oak Ridge's history.  The town of Oak Ridge began during WWII and it played an important part of the Manhattan Project.  The national laboratories in the US are all in remote areas because they started as secret places so that no one else would suspect what was going on.  Oak Ridge in particular was chosen because it's located in a valley and you can fly over the area and not see it.  Of course, I also went to the Secret City Festival to check out Tennessee Creates, the juried art exhibit.  I started taking a pottery class in April and a lot of people I saw in the studio on weekends had exhibits that weekend.  The Secret City Festival is great for those with children and all the games and activities are free of charge because it is sponsored by Y-12 and Oak Ridge National Lab.  Every year there is a shuttle to take people back and forth between the Secret City Festival and Lavender Festival.

Oak Ridge High School's old year books?  I didn't actually flip open these books, they looked ancient but there was a crowd around the books and middle aged people talking about attending the high school

Corn on the cob

Flowers of Oak Ridge Reservation

I went on a few spring wildflower hikes, one at Haw Ridge Park, Frozen Head State Park and Oak Ridge Reservation.  The best of them all was at Oak Ridge Reservation which I wrote about last time, but did not post pictures of the flowers.  What set this trip apart from a trip to Haw Ridge with my housemate and another guided hike at Frozen Head was that there were flowers here that I did not see elsewhere.  In addition, the guided tour was very educational and the lack of trail added variety.  Unfortunately, being on a guided hike with a group of people, I didn't have time to assure all of the pictures were in focus, but here they are:

succulents!

These below were the highlight of the hike.  At the end of the hike we got to this cave that is only visible when the water levels are low.  Along the walls of the cave was a "cave covering" of these gorgeous delicate white flowers.  Mixed in with the white flowers were these beautiful purple flowers.  The problem with posting entries 6 weeks afterward is that the names of all these flowers escape me.  Sorry!

Erin's Meadow Herb Farm

I've been thinking about starting a garden.  So when I heard about a spring herb festival happening at Erin's Meadow Herb Farm, I wanted to seize the opportunity to check it out.  Turns out that this place was only 10-15 minutes away even though it's located in Clinton, TN.  It required driving up the steep ridge and then sliding down almost recklessly, but nonetheless, a pleasant drive.  I like visiting shops during busy days because when there's a festival, I can count on there to be a lot of other people.  Since I find it awkward to browse a nearly empty store and receive undivided attention from the store owner, when I usually don't have much intention to spend money, these events are the solution to my dilemma.  At this spring herb festival, there was a cooking demonstration, a few booths and a lot of people.

Funny story: at work, one of my projects is on our workplace sustainability employee and community engagement team.  So last fall there was a craft fair at work, so we had the idea to organize a display of sustainable crafts.  Someone wanted to display their fairy garden and none of us had heard of it before.

"Does the crafter believe a real fairy lives in it?"

Hahahhahha I mean, that was a real question.  So later we learned what a fairy garden was.  They're essentially small gardens with miniature furniture to make it look fit for a fairy to live in:

This lizard was totally trying to creep on the fairies!!

I was enamored with the themed gardens!  What a great way of categorizing different types of gardens, as a marketing tool and as a live demonstration.  Aside from the ones below, there was also a kitchen herb garden, butterfly garden, and a few others that I don't remember.

Frozen Head Spring Wildflowers

As promised, the long overdue photos of wildflowers at Frozen Head State Park in East Tennessee from a month ago!  The wildflowers in East Tennessee have short growing seasons but there is such biodiversity that different species can be found year-round (except for winter).

I like the heart shape of the leaves

The shape is very striking

I like the soft edges of these petals

I like the very pointed petals on this flower

This one is on its way out of the season