About Us

Land for the farm was purchased in November 2004.  In the spring of 2005, Scotch broom, blackberry vine and gorse were removed before spreading 2 truckloads of rotted fir bark and aged horse manure from Family 4 Stables and 400# of lime.  Bill Humphries came out with his tractor and tilled it all in to a depth of 6". 

The stumps that were uprooted during tilling were cleared and I started spreading 20,000 sq. ft. of landscaping fabric, staying one step ahead of John (Dutch) Nuyten who was installing the irrigation lines.  Liza Ehle of By the Sea Gardens ordered the fabric, pins, and liner stock and offered expert advice. 

I potted 600 lavender starts and watered and nursed them through the summer as the infrastructure was being completed.  By September 2005, we had planted 576 lavender plants into the ground and I continued to weed throughout the growing season.  Due to an extremely wet and windy winter with gusts up to 80 mph, there were 526 lavender plants remaining in the spring of 2006.

Since the farm is organic, only bone meal and lime were added this spring to boost the plants which tripled in size in about 2 months' time.  The first harvest started 8 months after the plants went into the ground and the farm produced over 66,000 stems of lavender in the first harvest in 2006.  The lavender is sold as fresh cut and dried bouquets and in products made at the farm. 

Propagation continues and the farm now has 1,000 lavender plants and a lavender labyrinth garden new in 2011.  The 8 lavender varieties being grown are Provence, Dutch, Super French, Grosso, Viridis yellow, Madrid pink, Willowbridge white, Spanish purple.  They were chosen for their diversity of scent, color, hardiness, prolific oil production, excellent fresh cut and dried flowers for use in crafts, and good flavor for culinary purposes.  All of the plants are lavandins (lah-vahn-deens), an X intermedia hybrid which are superior in disease and pest resistance to standard lavender or ornamentals from the Stoechas branch of the lavender family. 

At maturity, plants will be 3' X 3'  or 40" X 36" and create a drought tolerant sea of color and fragrance.  During a normal growing year, blooms appear July through September.  Due to Bandon's temperate climate, the plants occasionally sprout flowers even in December.  It's all up to Mother Nature.