We are a “working farm, ” and to that end we are a”work in progress. “
Washington Creek Lavender was founded in 2005 as a working lavender farm. Starting with a test plot, the farm grew to nearly 5,000 plants from more than 10 different varieties.
We are certified organic, run on solar power, try to use rain water to water the plants and our products are hand made.
At any given time on the farm during the spring, summer, fall and sometimes winter, planting, harvesting, and weeding will be taking place.
The past couple of winters have been extremely tough on the plants to varying degrees. In both winters, the temperature on certain weeks varied as much as 90 degrees. One example is from -22 to +72. OUCH!.
We use what we call the Wait, Look, Decide Plan when dealing with the plants. We usually Wait until mid-May to really see how the plants are fairing. We Look at the plants and check for life and growth, and then we Decide what to do–dig out and replant, cut back, or leave alone. Many tough decisions!
Our older Grosso plants, over the years, seem to have faired the worst. Many were just wounded, so we cut them back(not pretty but we hope it will work). Some were so bad that we pulled them out. As a result, at this point in time there is no purple. Hopefully we have blooms in late June/July as the new plants look terrific!
On another note, we have been working hard on new products as we open the shop for the first time(except for four weeks last summer) in 2 1/2 years. All of our products are hand made(even a couple we source are exclusively made for us)
Please come and see us! Jack & Kathy