Sweet smell of success

Starting a lavender farm was Patti Lyons' idea, though she describes it more as a vision that came to her in the car. Whatever its origins, the idea took hold - and for 10 years, it's flourished: Patti and her husband, George, now host about 10,000 visitors a year at their Peace Valley Lavender Farm outside Doylestown.

Lavender farms and festivals are popping up all over the country, especially in the Pacific Northwest. It's the result of a growing web of interest - in fresh herbs and herbal remedies, homemade crafts, aromatherapy, and organic farming. But the Lyons farm is more than a business venture.

It's part of a life philosophy that includes healthy living; the Japanese martial art known as aikido; and a "spiritual practice" that, like aikido, is about accepting, even embracing, conflict and struggle.

"Quite often we're at our wits' end, wishing we could take a break or get away from stress," explains George, 48, "but we find a way to be with it, to be absolutely present, and not escape it."

It's all of a piece, brought into daily focus on the couple's one-acre, lavender-filled slope overlooking Lake Galena. "Much of what you do on a farm is out of your hands. You're in the hands of nature, and you just have to accept it," says Patti, 47, who grew up on a 1,000-acre grain farm in Nebraska but wanted a different life for herself.

After graduating from the University of Nebraska, Patti set out on her own. Soon, she found George, a city boy from Connecticut. His family ran a successful door company, but like Patti, George decided against joining the family business.

After graduating from the University of Hartford, he says, "I wanted some adventure."

In the late 1980s, their paths crossed at Jimbo's, a well-known natural-foods store in San Diego. She worked in the kitchen; he was a produce guy already studying aikido. It was an exciting time in the burgeoning world of organic food.

George, long fascinated by farming, began to develop romantic notions about trying it himself. "I was more realistic," says Patti, "but I thought George's romantic ideas were very sweet."

In 1991, the couple apprenticed at Branch Creek Farm in Perkasie, growing vegetables and herbs for high-end restaurants in Philadelphia. The next year, they started Blue Moon Acres farm on five acres in Buckingham owned by George's brother and his wife.

Eight years later, it was "vision" time, and Patti and George bought their own five acres in New Britain Township. They had to build a barn, but the property came with a 19th-century house (in need of work), a pool, and the sloping front yard with a southern exposure.

Perfect for lavender, a Mediterranean plant known as Lavandula, which the couple knew from experience was a relatively easy crop. It needs only full sun and good drainage; it's pretty pest- and disease-free, and it's unappealing to deer, groundhogs, and rabbits.

To get started, the Lyonses added tons of organic matter to the heavy clay soil. They mulch with pea gravel and compost, mound the plants for drainage, and lay black landscape fabric to block weeds. They don't water or fertilize, except for a little lime in spring, and even when conditions approach drought, Patti says, "lavender loves it."

They prune in late March and early April and harvest by hand from mid-June to mid-July, when no more than four buds have blossomed. This is when the flower heads are the most colorful for drying and filled with the most essential oil.

The nongreasy oil is distilled and made into products for bath and body, such as soaps, creams, and shaving gels; for the home, such as sachets, candles, ironing water, and moth repellent; or for the kitchen, such as lavender-infused honey and chocolate.

Lavender is also an ingredient in the culinary staple herbes de Provence, but it's used by itself in both savory and sweet dishes, such as lavender-rosemary potatoes and ice cream. (The latter, made with Lyons lavender, is sold at nearby Tabora Farm & Orchard and, for the record, is awesome.)

Last week, Lisa Thim and her daughter Jessica of Lansdale visited the Lyonses' gift shop to buy culinary lavender for a ratatouille they wanted to make for dinner. "The recipe is delicious, very unusual," says Thim, who gives lavender soaps as gifts.

But it takes three pounds of Lavandula angustifolia, the traditional, fragrant, so-called English lavender, to make just four to 12 teaspoons of essential oil. Hybrid plants produce much more.

The Lyonses grow the English varieties (called French lavender in France), such as 'Hidcote' and 'Munstead,' and hybrids 'Grosso' and 'Provence.'

At Elaine Shipko's house in Bellmawr, two large white lavenders spill over a stone wall. She has many more purple varieties, and her house is full of lavender potpourri, honey, soap, lotion, and shampoo.
"I just love the clean, floral scent," Shipko says.

So does Ellen Spector Platt, author of Lavender: How to Grow and Use the Fragrant Herb. She lives in New York City but grew up in West Philadelphia, had an herb farm in Schuylkill County for many years, and used to sell lavender at the Philadelphia Flower Show.

Lavender and other herbs are favorites with gardeners, especially in the city, says Platt, who grows herbs and flowers in the rooftop garden of her condo building. "Herbs are very manageable. It's the big bang for that buck," she says.

Platt is skeptical of age-old claims that lavender has medicinal qualities, but, she says, "my feeling is, if you like it, if you love the smell, if it's relaxing, enjoy it. It's absolutely wonderful."

The Lyonses hear lots of stories about lavender's beneficial effects on everything from rashes to cranky husbands. "It's complicated, but it's the results that matter," Patti says.

She finds this time of year, harvest time, bittersweet. "You wait all year for lavender to bloom. It's so beautiful. It smells so nice. But then you harvest. I wish it would last like this for a little longer."

Her husband's romantic view of farming faded once he discovered how much work it was. Today, though, after 20 years of marriage and farming, he feels differently.

"In a more mature way, it [the romance] has returned," he says. "I truly appreciate this life Patti and I have here."

Contact garden writer Virginia A. Smith at 215-854-5720 or vsmith@phillynews.com.

Read garden writer Virginia A. Smith's blog at www.philly.com/philly/blogs/gardeningEndText