Uses for fresh lavendar?

[seriosa]

Not sure where to put this - here? Arts & Crafts? TAO? Mods please move if necessary.
Anyway...
in my garden I have a beautiful, lush hedge of lavendar. Every autumn I prune it and harvest armfulls of fragrant blossoms…. which end up in the compost! Can anyone tell me how to use these to do something perfumy like sachets for closets or scents for home? I have tried just bagging them, but unless they are actually manipulated, they don’t release any scent. And is there anything else they can be good for?

[JamieCatheryn]

You could try adding them to rice (or other grain) heating pads?

I have a recipe book that has a lot of things calling for lavender, somewhere. Just did a search and here are some http://www.joys-of-lavender.com/lavender-recipes.html

Infusion oil http://www.ehow.com/how_4870171_make...il-easily.html

Herbal vinegar http://wildcrafty.wordpress.com/2010...erbal-vinegar/

[Erinz]

This is a really nice post on making lavender wands:

http://asonomagarden.wordpress.com/2...lavendar-wand/

[kitchensqueen]

You can put lavender into olive oil or white vinegar for a lovely way to dress light salads. It's also nice to mix some in white sugar, for just a hint of lavender - it's really nice to mix it with sanding sugar and dust sugar cookies or vanilla muffins with it.

If you're lucky enough to have a fireplace or outdoor fire pit, save some bundles for the fire too.