Latest / Side Note... / How I "Became" Lavender Farmer
Transcript
- Melissa: Okay, guys, so this is my first podcast, and I'm a little nervous, so bear with me. and side note, I say you guys a lot. I've been told that that's a California thing, and I stop myself from saying y'all. But eventually I'm gonna have to just say y'all because I can't help it. ⁓ anyway, I'm a little nervous, but it's my first pod. First podcast, and I'm super excited about it. And ⁓ there's just a ton of stuff that I have learned in my life ⁓ and that I share with people in my store. And I just think this is a great platform for me to do that. ⁓ and so the first podcast is really focused on answering the question how I became a lavender farmer, ⁓ because it's a pretty basic, normal question that people ask all the time in my store. But the way that I became a lavender farmer is quite unique and the way that I continue to ⁓ basically harvest the lavender and make a business out of it is very unique. ⁓ and it's such a godsend too. And so I wanna share that with you. But ⁓ just a little bit of background. So you'll hear in my other podcasts more details, but I grew up in Wyoming and Colorado, but mostly Colorado. So I didn't grow up around lavender farms. I mean, this was something that maybe I would have seen in a movie or maybe I would have seen in a magazine or something like that. But there's something about it that I remember maybe seeing and just thinking, wow. ⁓ and that kind of represents how I felt when I moved to California. And again, I'll go into more details about that in other podcasts, but just you know, the flowers and how beautiful it was there. And that's where I saw, you know, my first lavender ⁓ field. but in my twenties I moved to California and did various jobs, went to grad school. ⁓ had a career in various things. Again, I'll touch on that later in other podcasts. But the lavender farming thing came up ⁓ unexpectedly. So the first question that people ask me is, did I always want to be a lavender farmer? And the answer is no. you know, I always thought that I would go to college and I would have, you know, a professional career and That's just what I thought I wanted and what I needed. just because of where I grew up and how I grew up, I I felt like that was the answer to a happy life. And a lot of amazing things came from other jobs that I had, but lavender farming came up in my thirties. Now, side note, I'm also a licensed aesthetician. Another podcast, another time, I'll tell you about that, but I bring it up. Because that was also another first regarding lavender, because you learn a lot about essential oils and skincare. So that was another time when I started learning about that and thinking, ⁓ I really like this. and then I had driven up to the Santa Inez Valley. The Santa Inez Valley is kind of wine country. So if you're from Santa Barbara, you know all about it. But if you're not from Santa Barbara, just know that if it's breathtaking. But Santa Barbara. But when you drive up to Wine Country, which is San Inez Valley, we're talking vineyards and rolling hills and lavender fields. And I remember the first time that I saw my you know, my friend. First time I saw the lavender field, and it was in July, it was in bloom, so it was purple. And I was just amazed that other people with me or around me what that they weren't just in awe like I was. I mean, I just my eyes could not take it in. ⁓ it was so beautiful. And so that was the first time I saw it, and ⁓ and then I went to a little workshop at that lavender farm about essential oils. So was learning about it. But then, you know, life went on and I had various jobs and careers. And lots of times in California I was unemployed. ⁓ which I will talk about in other podcasts, because it was very stressful. But that is one of the reasons that I also got into lavender farming. But the way that it happened was, you know, I didn't inherit a farm or anything like that. ⁓ I was raised on a cattle ranch in Colorado. My dad was a cowboy rancher, ⁓ and my mom was a waitress. And so when I moved to California, you know, I was just surrounded by this beauty, but I there was n I there was no inheriting a lavender farm for me. So, I had a regular day job. ⁓ I think I was working at the time, in mental health because that was part of my education. And I was driving to work. It was in July and I was driving by a lavender field and there it was on my way to work every day. It was purple. It was beautiful. And I passed by and I don't know what happened. Something at Sami just said, you know what, I I have to do this and I I made a U turn. I pulled into the parking lot ⁓ there right in front of the field and I walked out to the farmer and I said, This is gonna sound really strange, but can I volunteer here? Can you teach me ⁓ what you know about lavender? And he kinda looked at me strangely. His name was Carl and he said, ⁓ okay. And I said, Well, I have a day job, so it's gonna have to be after hours or on the weekends and he said, Okay, show up at you know, ten o'clock on Saturday morning, I think it was. And so I started volunteering with him. And ⁓ he showed me how to cut it, he showed me how to bundle, ⁓ taught me a little bit about the lavender itself. He was an interesting fella, I'll just say that. but he he his mom also had like a side little s shop there on the property. where she would make soaps and you know, the oils and things like that. And I remember she also had a little cat. and I don't know, I was just taking it all in. And I remember one day he had said he had actually, I think if I remember correctly, said that he had gotten in trouble with the law. And so I was like, okay. ⁓ great. I said, Well, for for what? And ⁓ he said, Well, you know, think about it. I'm a farmer and I was growing things I shouldn't have. Now, this was in California before it was legal to grow marijuana. And he said, Well, let me show you. And so he took me behind the little shop, kind of to the side of the lavender field. And inside this like little nursery were giant marijuana plants. I was like, ⁓ my God. I mean, this ranch girl, even though I'd been living in California for a while at that point, this small town ranch girl was just like, ⁓ my gosh. ⁓ honestly, I was like, okay, that's cool. I just want to get back to the lavender. I mean, I was just in love with the lavender. And so, So I continued to volunteer with him. And then one day I showed up to volunteer and nobody was there. And I walked out to the field. I just thought, okay, well, I I don't know where everybody is, but let me grab a sickle and I'm gonna start cutting. And then one of the other workers showed up and I said, Where is everybody? And he said, ⁓ you didn't hear. I said, No, I didn't hear what? And he said, We basically The farmer basically got raided. and I guess the feds came in and found the marijuana and apparently when they did that they went into the shop where the mom was making and selling lavender products and they found a meth lab. God, they found a meth lab. ⁓ And so he went to prison, I guess. I mean, I'm assuming that's what happened. And so operation just stopped. ⁓ he didn't own the land. He was also leasing it. It was about a thousand lavender plants. And all I cared about was the lavender. And I thought, ⁓ my God, what is gonna happen to all this lavender? It was in the middle of bloom, it wasn't all cut, and I just thought, well, I don't. Yeah, he's gone. I don't know what to do. And so I was bummed. And and then a few days later, I think a friend was in town and I wanted to show them the lavender field. And so we went by there and I basically said, Here it is, but you know, here's the situation and I have no idea what's going on. I was just a volunteer. And while we were there, another truck pulled up and a guy got out of the truck and he basically was like, What are you doing here? And, you know, of course, given everything that had just happened, and I said, I I'm just a volunteer. I'm just a volunteer. I'm just here for the lavender. Well, it turned out it was the owner, ⁓ the su the owner of the land, his son. And he said, Well, you know what happened here? And I said, Yeah, I heard. you know, I was just volunteering here. I'm totally bummed. What's gonna happen to the lavender? Like that's all I cared about. And ⁓ the guy said You know what, honestly, we just own the land, we don't know anything about the lavender. If you want, you can take it over. That was complete divine intervention because I mean that's crazy. So I said, ⁓ okay. and I didn't know a lot about it. I mean, I knew how to cut and bundle, but I didn't really know anything beyond that. And ⁓ I said, Well, what if I'm cutting it and selling it at a farmer's market on the weekends? He goes, I don't care. As long as you're the one doing the work, you're out here cutting it, like that's fine with us. Whatever. We don't we don't really wanna do anything with the lavender. I couldn't believe it. ⁓ and so I still had a day job. So obviously I'm not gonna cut my or quit my job, but I was selling little bundles here and there at a farmer's market on Sunday. And so that's how I started, you know, doing the lavender thing was because I was volunteering and then I took over somebody's crop. And I did that for about, I don't even know, a year and a half, two years, and ⁓ still working my jobs. And then somebody bought the property and they didn't want me on the property anymore. So I was like, Well, that was fun while that lasted. And I thought it was over. That was a fun little ⁓ side gig that I did and it was over. And then I had gone into a friend's office. She was an acupuncturist and she had a big beautiful ⁓ vase of lavender. And it was the same kind of lavender that I had been harvesting. And I said, ⁓ my gosh, where did you get that? And she said, one of the ranches up here, they I have my horses there and they have this lavender all around their arena. And she said, actually, they're looking for somebody to take care of it. And so she connected me with them. And this is where one of the properties where I have been harvesting lavender. So one of the things that I tell my customers all the time now in my store is that when they envision that I have a lavender farm in California, I don't. I I never owned anything while I lived in California. I never owned any land. it's just the lavender that I'm able to harvest and, you know, make products out of it. And I hire the crew, I pay the crew, and ⁓ then I get to keep the lavender. So I started doing that. And again, just kind of part time, ⁓ still having a day job. And then the owners of that property said they were gonna buy a nearby property for with an Airbnb beautiful little place. And they wanted me to plant a lavender educational garden. So I did a bunch of research and started planting ⁓ the English lavender and the French lavender and ⁓ learned a lot about that. And then another contact came up where they said, Hey, we heard that you're harvesting here and planting here. And a lady that I met, her name's Kayla, and she was ⁓ also very much a mentor to me. And ⁓ she said, Hey, I know this guy who owns a vineyard and he's a winemaker and He said something about you planting lavender on his property. And I said, Well, that sounds amazing, but I can't afford any sort of lease or anything. And she said, Well, just talk to him. So that property was about 30 minutes away. Again, this is all in the valley in Santa Barbara County. And so I met he and his wife and they showed me it was I don't know, an acre or so. And ⁓ I said Yeah, I would love to plant lavender here, but I can't really afford a lease or anything like that. And he said, No, I mean, it's good for our land, it's good for our soil. you know, you can use it if you want. And again, divine intervention. And that was the first time that I was able to plant my own lavender, and that was really meaningful. And so really ⁓ and Kayla helped me a lot with that and she introduced me to guys that are now still my crew that helped me plant and so my lavender is on three different properties in Santa Barbara County within thirty minutes of each other, but those three properties are owned by two different families. And so it's a very unique setup. and I'm really, really blessed to have it. as far as how I became a full-time lavender farmer and how I have my store in Texas, that's another big part of the story that I couldn't have ever imagined. But ⁓ you know, as I'm taking care of this lavender and cutting it every year and then planting my own on this other property. I had also taken a certification course ⁓ through a university I want to say Michigan, but I can't remember. and it was an online course all about lavender. Plants, lavender growing, lavender varieties, all the ⁓ scientific technical stuff of lavender farming. Then I became a member of the United States Lavender Growers Association. So all these little kind of steps along the way, all the meanwhile having day jobs. And I had struggled with various careers and day jobs in California, which is a huge part of my story. and I'll be sharing that in future podcasts. ⁓ and but So I was I I had had different jobs, day jobs while I was doing lavender farming on the side for fun. And one of those main jobs, so first I was at Pepperdine as an MBA recruiter. ⁓ we had a office in Santa Barbara. ⁓ that is another side note story for sure. Lots to tell you about that one. And and then I ended up leaving there and then I got another job at a nonprofit organization called CADA, stands for the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, which was very meaningful for other reasons. Can't wait to talk about that. But but I was using my my grad degree with that. It was in mental health. I was managing a team of 25 school-based therapists. So It was a good job and it was good work. And I was doing ⁓ I was being of service and I was doing good things. ⁓ you know, with the mental health work and addiction and recovery and working with kiddos in the schools and managing the therapists who were working with the kiddos. So ⁓ grateful for that job also. and of course there's details with that, but so that's where I was working. When 2020 came along and we know what happened in 2020, COVID. And so we were all working from home. I was managing my therapists via Zoom. and meanwhile, just doing a little bit of the lavender thing on the side on Sundays, selling some lavender bundles and kind of maybe making some soaps and candles. ⁓ and then one of the days, ⁓ I think it was maybe a year into COVID. I had done a project with Lavender called the Lavender Project 2020. And everybody around me, and of course, it was just so stressful with COVID. People were angry, grouchy, worried, tired, freaked out. And so, of course, lavender being very nurturing and relaxing, I decided to make little lavender sachets, put them in a basket, put on plastic gloves and a mask, and I went into mostly the post office. I noticed that people in the post office were even worse. And when I say worse, I just mean stressed out, angry, mad, sad, all the things. And Went in with my mask, my plastic gloves, ⁓ you know, let people know that lavender is antiviral, antibacterial, it makes you feel less stressed. And I started giving out lavender sachets. anywhere that I went publicly. I just carried them around. And I called the Lavender Project 2020. So that was going on for me. And that that was amazing. I really, really loved that. And then it was probably about a year. ⁓ or so into COVID and I got a call from the CEO of the nonprofit that I was working for. And I'll never forget it because he basically great guy, I think PhD in clinical psychology, ⁓ had, you know, was a great leader for the organization. ⁓ I had a great working relationship with him. I thought he was a a genuine, compassionate man. And ⁓ he had called and said, I heard that you haven't gotten the vaccine. And I said, No, I I haven't. so he asked me why not and ⁓ if I was going to and I said, No, I you know, I don't think so. and he said, Well, you know the kind of the direction that we're heading and the requirements for this and what's happening and, you know, the the whole thing. we're gonna we're requiring it. And so if you don't get it, we are gonna have to let you go. And that was awful, obviously, but worse than that was he'd brought up that according to their records, there were some of my staff my twenty five school therapists, most of them had gotten the vaccine, but some of them hadn't. And he said that I needed to have a chat with them and also tell them that this is going to be a requirement. And if they didn't get it, I'd have to let them go. And to me that was worse. And so I definitely did a Melissa reaction and I gave my two weeks notice before I had a plan. And so that's what I did. And then I thought, ⁓ my gosh, I just quit my job that I've had for four years that was actually steady and stable. And after, you know, all the years of not having steady employment, ⁓ my God, what did I just do? And so I thought, okay, well, I've got this lavender thing. I guess I could apply to the Santa Barbara Farmers Market Association. It's hard to get in. It's an amazing farmers market. And I'll apply and see what happens. And so I applied. I had to present to the board ⁓ my farming practices, my products, how I make them, all about the lavender, the varieties, everything. ⁓ and they accepted me. And so all of a sudden I'm selling lavender five to six days a week at a different town throughout Santa Barbara County. And making more money doing that than I was as a manager for a mental health organization. It was amazing and it was all during COVID. It was open because the farmers markets were outside and people were happy and I was selling something that was bringing joy and relaxation and I was bringing in enough money to make a living. And so when people say, well, why didn't you move to Texas during COVID? That's why. Because I was doing really well at the farmers markets. ⁓ and then ⁓ you know, life was good as far as my business. And I had changed the name from Lavender Lady, which was kind of a fun little thing, to June Bloom Lavender. was really happy about my name that I came up with. I hired an amazing designer ⁓ who created my logo. I had ⁓ an amazing guy who did the labels. And so I just started researching products and making products and distilling the oil and doing the sprays and candles and lotions and, you know, just doing all of that. And then I just I guess I just didn't feel comfortable anymore with my surroundings or I guess California and just the the way that things were and I just decided to move to Texas. It was a quick decision and it's one that I can talk about in more depth. in some of my another podcast, but it wasn't until I moved to Texas that I could afford to open my own store. And ⁓ because I certainly couldn't do that in California. And so June Bloom Lavender flagship store in Johnson City, Texas, my first store. It's just been mind blowing amazing. And so now I have to go back to California ⁓ every summer for about two weeks. And I harvest my lavender all by hand. and it's it's quite an adventure every summer. There's always some challenge that I have to work through, especially the last couple of years with my crew. and because it's such a unique setup. There's always something that's going on that I gotta figure out. but I always do. I always figure out ⁓ a solution. And ⁓ it's just such an amazing thing to be able to go back every summer to the place that I lived for 23 years and harvest my lavender and then I hang it to dry and I come back to Texas and I leave it. in California to dry for about six weeks and then I go back and then I put the dried bundles in pods and I have a truck pick them up and drive it out to Texas. And with the I would say I have between four hundred and five hundred plants. ⁓ so it's pretty small production. That sounds like a lot, but it's not. Most lavender farmers have at least a thousand If not at least 2,000. I mean, it's you know, I'm very small production. But the crop that I took over is between 20 and 25 years old, so they're big. And then the ones that I planted now are several years old and they are big. So with those plants that I have, I get about four thousand bundles every summer. And that brings me, you know, enough. harvest enough product, enough lavender to make my products for the year. And just as I'm running out around May, it's almost time to go back to California and do it all over again. So when somebody asks me, How did you become a lavender farmer, I always kind of chuckle or hesitate because it's like, do you want the short version or the long version? ⁓ and then of course when people say, well, how do I become a lavender farmer? I can certainly tell them how, ⁓ but it's there are different ways. ⁓ and as you can see from my story, you know, it's really the moral of the story is you you you gotta make it happen. And, you know, even if you don't own the land and you you know, are unemployed, I I mean you figure it out. You figure you out creative ways on how you can make it happen. And ⁓ and I think that in combination with faith and divine intervention and good old fashioned hard work, I mean that's how I became a lavender farmer. And you know, ⁓ side note, I I really don't consider myself a ⁓ farmer, a real farmer. I hesitate in saying that because it's an easy term to use. And if somebody comes into my store, obviously I'm a lavender farmer. But sometimes I just want to go into this long explanation of like, like a farmer to me is somebody who is growing a lot of different things. ⁓ they live on a farm. It's their daily chores, like if one thing isn't growing, another thing is growing. And they're they've always got something going on. For me, lavender farming, yes, I planted some, yes, I harvest it, but lavender is pretty resilient. ⁓ it, you know, it's takes care of itself. I mean, yes, I have to harvest it and I have to check on things. And of course being in Texas, it's a little bit more difficult to really have an eye on it, which is important too, but it's just that, you know, I'm more into the like the the alchemy of lavender, like cultivating this lavender and how do I get it? ⁓ when do I cut it? When is the best time to cut it that I've figured out? What can I make with it? What's gonna be different and unique? How can I sell it? How can I present it? ⁓ how can I share this with people? And if you've ever been in my store, you know how amazing it is to walk in and smell it. It's wonderful. And so everything in my store is a story, and Lavender is the platform, but and it's a good platform. I love it. It's amazing. But it's really about all the other stories. From not only my childhood, but from the twenty-three years in California of going to grad school, finding a career, being a first generation college student, thinking having a master's degree was, you know, the ticket to success and never being unemployed, but actually being unemployed a lot and struggling a lot in California, that really ⁓ pushed me to be resilient, ⁓ have grit, creative, how to figure it out, and ultimately reinventing myself all the time. And when I first moved to California, I remember thinking, I never want to leave this place. I love it so much. And of course, life happened and my heart and my mind changed. But When I said that, I remember thinking, no matter how many jobs I have to have to stay here, I'll do it. But the rule that I gave myself was that I had to love every single job that I did. So even though I was unemployed a lot and then getting a new job here or a new job there, they were fun, interesting jobs and they all led me to lavender farming. It seems random, but it's actually not at all. And it's all connected. And I'm really excited to share all of those connections with you and all the stories with you in my podcast. So I hope you stay tuned.