A Q&A

We were recently asked some questions for a research project and thought we'd share our responses in case others can benefit from them as well.

Q: Do you have a lot of success with lavender in this climate? Are the species you deal with good for Kentucky's climate and are they good producers?

A: Lavender is not well suited for Kentucky's climate. We can have rough winters and very wet springs, as well as high humidity. Those three things - ice, water, and humidity - are three of the things lavender hates most. However, many farms have found that they can successfully grow lavender here. Most of what we have done in the past has been trial and error. Growers in our area have to change their mindset in terms of the size of crop, as well as lifespan of the plants. It seems that with proper soil amendment and good luck when it comes to weather, plants in our area may last between five and eight years, but we have many challenges that others don't face. Seeing as how lavender is really just now being planted in Kentucky, we also have the chance to learn a lot about the crop and its potential here.

In 2013, we chose our first two varieties because they are popular varieties (Munstead, an English, also known as augustofolia, and Grosso, a Lavandula x intermedia) and are both fairly hearty to our climate. We could also source them locally. That turned out to be a bit of an issue, but we have grown and learned a lot since that our first planting! Many varieties we now plant are trails that we source from reputable growers across the nation. That's one reason we don't plant large plots, since we are unsure what will take to our climate and will last over the winter. What works well here may not work well 60 miles down the road. Each little microclimate is unique.

Q: Do you distill your own oil?

A: We do not currently distill our own oil. It takes a LOT of lavender to produce even a small amount of oil. We have around 600 plants currently. We do have plans to purchase a small still so we can do demonstrations on how to distill oil in the future.

Q: Do you profit as a tourist destination?

A: Many people find out about us and envision acres and acres of purple. That is not reality in Kentucky! We have about 600 plants. Prior to this year, we had them planted in long rows. Earlier this year, we planted several new plants and made our lower "field" a bit more square, with shorter rows. We are hoping by planting this way, the plants will be a bit more "showy" for guests. Most people, however, understand that we are trying to do something that is difficult and unique and they are understanding when they come out and realize our farm is not of a commercial farm scale like you'd find in Washington State or France. After all, 600 lavender plants is still stunning!

We do host events on the farm. That has been a big draw for us for sure. Lots of people want to see the lavender in bloom. Our season only lasts between four to six weeks, so you can imagine it is absolutely crazy during that time! My mom (Mary) and I (Allison) do this together pretty much on our own. I have two small kids as well. We try to balance work and life as much as we can, so our growth has been slow and steady instead of jumping in and planting an unmanageable amount of plants! We are actually really glad we started slow, because we've run into problems with our soil (that initial testing couldn't detect), plant issues, bad weather, and much more. We have also learned so much from the United States Lavenders Growers Association and other local lavender farmers. In our business, it truly has been community over competition for us. Other growers not only share knowledge and expertise, but sell products to each other, and support and encourage one another. We sure appreciate that aspect of this business!

Q: Do you have any suggestions for future lavender farmers?

A: My advice would be three-fold:

• Be realistic. This is harder than mom or I ever imagined. Not only physically harder, but emotionally and mentally too. It's hard not to compare what others are doing and try to take on too much. Running a business like this is hard. We are managing a crop, planning events, filing paperwork, tracking invoices, marketing our farm and products, making products, building the website, answering questions, filing taxes, and SO MUCH MORE! We now have a bit of help with some of that, but that means we have to turn more profit. Along those lines, I began paying myself a really meager amount in January 2018. Mom still hasn't paid herself and neither of us paid ourselves anything from 2013-2018. Clearly, we aren't doing this for the money! So, be realistic about what you can make doing something like this as well. It's a lot of hours for not much return. With that said, though, the return has been more than monetary. We have been able to do this together, which is priceless. In addition, we've been able to share our farm with others, which is certainly meaningful to us as well. We honestly love every minute of this, which is why we keep plugging along.
• DO YOUR RESEARCH and have a long-term plan!!! I cannot stress this enough. We really didn't do too much of either and we regret it. We did research, but we weren't even aware of the USLGA or other lavender farms nearby when we started. We visited with one farm in Kentucky back then, but there are several others we've come to know. We also wish we'd amended our soil more for those first plantings. For example, we really didn't know much about the root disease called Phytophthora. It's wrecking havoc on lavender farms across the nation, and we are fighting it as well. If we'd known to get plants tested upon arrival, we could've perhaps stopped it from invading our soil. We've come to find out, though, that the disease also thrives in wet conditions, so, again, weather (which is far beyond our control) also plays a heavy hand in the disease.
  
• Have fun.  We have developed a passion for what we're doing. Our agricultural roots run very deep and this has allowed us to share our story on a larger platform than we ever thought possible. This is hard and there are lots of heartaches involved, but we wouldn't change this journey for anything.