Lavender Dream Farm
A Vision of Purple2020 Update
Wow, 2020. Lavender friends and family, I’m writing this in the middle of May while the state of Michigan is still under stay-at-home orders. With the recent series of events, Lavender Dream Farm will not be having a July festival this summer. We’re unsure at this point if the state will be open for business or if the pandemic will continue to be on a downward trend by then. We certainly hope things are turned around for the better for all of us. We would like to refresh our field this summer and gear up for festivals in the fall. As soon as possible, we plan to visit local businesses and show some love and support by buying from the many small shops, stores and craft-folks in the area. May you be blessed with safety, health and wealth. Until we can meet without a mask, stay safe my friends. Help one another. We’ll get through this.
Vision


The owner was gracious and allowed the short notice visit but said he would be there while we looked around with the realtor. My wife gives the thumbs up or thumbs down on the house – I give the thumbs up or thumbs down on the yard…in this case 10 acres of yard. As the owner was showing me the property lines, there was about a foot of snow on the ground. Instead of walking all the way over to the property line we were standing on the porch and he was pointing out where remnants of corn stalks and rye grass stems were poking out of the snow. When he started describing the rye grass all I could see was a field of lavender…clear as day…a warm summer’s day.
The interesting part of this…its the middle of winter…I’ve never had an unction to be a lavender farmer…I’ve never been a farmer…I didn’t even know if lavender would grow in southwest Michigan…but I saw lavender. When Deb and I discussed it she had the same thought…Lavender!? What would you do with lavender? Can you grow lavender here? After some research we discovered that it does indeed grow here thanks to a microclimate generated from the Great Lakes. The more we looked into it, the more the excitement grew. I had a feeling…no, that’s not the right word…a knowing. I knew this is what we were meant to do on this property. Why? That I don’t know yet. But both Deb and I had a quickening that a lavender farm was our mission.
That following spring I sat on a tractor for the first time in my life. My family and I figured out how to hook up 3-point hitch, how to disc a field, how to plow a row and with the help of family (sons, daughters, daughter-in-laws, grandkids, dogs, cats, etc…) we planted 2500 lavender plants to start phase 1 of Lavender Dream Farm.
Mission
Our Story
We’re farmers now?
Location
Some folks have reported their GPS takes them closer to Marcellus and not to the farm. Others report their GPS guides them right to the farm. We’re not sure how to fix that but we are between Chamberlain Rd. and Creglow Rd on M-216.