Our Lavender Story

From dream to distillation, discover how lavender took root and transformed our farm.

Where We Started

Years of Overgrowth

When we returned to the farm, much of the land had been neglected for decades. Reclaiming it would be a slow process—we had to obtain permits to clear just one acre at a time. Beneath the overgrowth, we found sandy, depleted soil with little organic matter or biological activity—the starting point for everything that came next.

The Way Forward

Protecting the Land & Water

With portions of the farm in environmentally sensitive areas near the Patuxent River, our University of Maryland Extension agent encouraged us to consider perennial crops that wouldn’t require annual tilling and could maintain living roots to help hold our sandy soil in place.

Why Lavender

One Crop, Many Jobs

Lavender provided an answer to our farm’s unique situation: a perennial crop that could remain in place for many years, while cover crops growing between the rows became part of our grazing system. Together, they keep the soil covered, support pollinators, provide forage for our sheep, and give us a crop we can harvest and transform into products right here on the farm.

It Didn't Happen Overnight

Choosing what we wanted to grow was one thing. Turning acres of woods and overgrowth into established lavender fields was another. We started with tiny plants and a long-term plan, knowing it would take years before those little rows resembled the sweeping purple fields we imagined.

Along the way, we learned what worked—and what didn’t. We planted different varieties, replaced plants that didn’t survive, battled weeds, pests, weather and our Southern Maryland humidity, and learned that even an established lavender field requires continual maintenance. Every year brings some loss and replanting, and every season has taught us a little more about growing lavender on this particular piece of land.

Over time, Provence and Grosso emerged as two of our strongest performers. Slowly, those tiny plants grew together, the fields matured, and the vision we had when we planted those first rows began to appear.

From Field to Still

When the lavender reaches peak bloom, the work shifts from growing to harvest. We cut the lavender in the field and bring it to our copper still for distillation, capturing two very different products from the same harvest: lavender essential oil and lavender hydrosol.

The essential oil is highly concentrated and produced in relatively small amounts, while the aromatic water created during distillation becomes our lavender hydrosol. It takes an incredible amount of freshly harvested lavender to produce even a small amount of essential oil, making every drop a concentrated piece of our summer harvest.

We use both the essential oil and hydrosol throughout the year as ingredients in products we make here on the farm. In that way, a harvest that lasts only a few weeks continues through our soaps, skin care, aromatherapy and other farm-made goods long after the lavender fields have finished blooming.

Freshly cut lavender, harvested at peak bloom and ready for distillation

Our copper still transforms the summer harvest into lavender essential oil and hydrosol—the foundation of many of the products we make on the farm.

From Our Fields to Market

For us, the harvest doesn’t end at the still. The essential oil, hydrosol, dried buds and flowers we gather from our fields become ingredients in products we develop and make throughout the year. From soaps and skin care to aromatherapy, culinary lavender, honey and botanical goods, we’re continually finding new ways to use what we grow.

What begins as a tiny plant in our fields eventually makes its way to our farm shop and farmers markets as something useful, beautiful—or delicious. It’s one of our favorite parts of growing lavender: finding new ways to take what the farm gives us and turn it into something we can share.