Summertime in the Walla Walla Valley is all about harvesting. We are a long way from harvesting any grapes, we won't begin until the middle of September, but there are many other crops that are being picked across Walla Walla.
The rolling hills surrounding Walla Walla are tan this time of year from all the ripening wheat that they are preparing to harvest. Peas are the other major crop that the farmers rotate with wheat. The pea harvest is coming to a close but you will still see some of the giant pea harvesting machines creeping through fields on the outskirts of Walla Walla. Most of the peas are destined to end up frozen in a grocery store near you. In our neighborhood, the sweet smell of fresh cut alfalfa is heavy in the air. Of course July is mostly all about the Walla Walla sweets. From the end of June till the end of Summer, Walla Walla is full of onions.
There are bags of onions available in every type of store and roadside stand. Every restaurant in town has onion focused menus and the locals race to see how many onions they can eat before the season is over. Of course there is a
sweet onion festival going on this weekend. The only catch with the super sweet onions is that the season doesn't last long and the onions need to be eaten quickly because they don't store for long. This year seems to be a great year for local cherries.
The Bings and Rainiers are giant and full of flavor and available all over town. The little town of
Milton-Freewater to the south has a state of the art cherry sorting house that preps all the local fruit for shipping all over the US. There are lots of other fruits in the valley that are not grown in great quantities but are a treat for the locals like blueberries, raspberries, apricots, and strawberries. There probably won't be any peaches until August but when they are ripe nothing is more delicious.
Here at Pepper Bridge the only harvesting going on is the picking of lavender. We have a large patch of lavender with many different colors and types and it is finally fully blooming. We don't pick the lavender for any use here at the winery but our visitors are welcome to take some with them. It looks beautiful and you can smell the lavender all the way down the driveway.
Lavender loves the hot dry heat of Walla Walla, it is a close impersonation of the south of France after all. This time of year you see blooming lavender all across the valley. It smells like summer.
Summertime in the Walla Walla Valley is all about harvesting. We are a long way from harvesting any grapes, we won't begin until the middle of September, but there are many other crops that are being picked across Walla Walla. 
The rolling hills surrounding Walla Walla are tan this time of year from all the ripening wheat that they are preparing to harvest. Peas are the other major crop that the farmers rotate with wheat. The pea harvest is coming to a close but you will still see some of the giant pea harvesting machines creeping through fields on the outskirts of Walla Walla. Most of the peas are destined to end up frozen in a grocery store near you. In our neighborhood, the sweet smell of fresh cut alfalfa is heavy in the air. Of course July is mostly all about the Walla Walla sweets. From the end of June till the end of Summer, Walla Walla is full of onions.
There are bags of onions available in every type of store and roadside stand. Every restaurant in town has onion focused menus and the locals race to see how many onions they can eat before the season is over. Of course there is a sweet onion festival going on this weekend. The only catch with the super sweet onions is that the season doesn't last long and the onions need to be eaten quickly because they don't store for long. This year seems to be a great year for local cherries. 
The Bings and Rainiers are giant and full of flavor and available all over town. The little town of Milton-Freewater to the south has a state of the art cherry sorting house that preps all the local fruit for shipping all over the US. There are lots of other fruits in the valley that are not grown in great quantities but are a treat for the locals like blueberries, raspberries, apricots, and strawberries. There probably won't be any peaches until August but when they are ripe nothing is more delicious. 
Here at Pepper Bridge the only harvesting going on is the picking of lavender. We have a large patch of lavender with many different colors and types and it is finally fully blooming. We don't pick the lavender for any use here at the winery but our visitors are welcome to take some with them. It looks beautiful and you can smell the lavender all the way down the driveway. 
Lavender loves the hot dry heat of Walla Walla, it is a close impersonation of the south of France after all. This time of year you see blooming lavender all across the valley. It smells like summer.
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