It was a cold winter’s day.  We were on a visit to Michigan from Colorado to see family and it was time to head back.  My wife and I had predetermined that a move to southwest Michigan was likely in our future. So we were multi-tasking during our visit…we were also house shopping.  We had looked at several properties and each had some peculiarity which took it out of the running.  With one day left before starting our drive back to Loveland, Colorado, Debbie saw this property and fell in love with the house so she scheduled a last minute appointment to see the property.

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.

 

Our mission is to make Lavender Dream Farm a place of refreshing – visually, aromatically, emotionally.  We are currently planning on 3 phases of growth.  When completed our plan includes approximately 7 acres of lavender plants, blueberries, orchards, vineyards, and complimentary herbs and plants.  It will be a place where you want to come, pull up a chair, and sit a spell.  We’ll make sure the lavender lemonade is cold and the scones are warm.

After we were married, we lived in northern Alabama for many years.  We both loved to travel but there was never much talk of moving.  After a few close calls from F5 tornados (north Alabama is the new #1 tornado alley), I chased a job out to Loveland, Co.  It is a beautiful area and we both enjoyed being so close to the mountains and spent a lot of weekends up in the Rockies.  I had been in IT for decades and had moved into management.  Life was good…we thought we would retire there…until the company decided to outsource their IT department and suddenly we were faced with a decision, stay in Colorado or move elsewhere.  Now there’s a huge story around the events that led to us selling our home in Colorado and moving to southwest Michigan to become lavender farmers.  Perhaps that will wind up in a book one day or a dedicated section on this site because there were just too many events that didn’t follow the “norm”.  Here we are folks!