The Woodstock Lavender Co. is an Appalachian lavender farm run by mother-daughter duo, Mary and Allison
The story of the Woodstock Lavender Co. is one of ingenuity, perseverance, and family heritage. We can’t wait to tell you about this unique business that brought together a mother and daughter—Mary May and Allison Horseman. Their original goal was to save the family farm as the fifth generation, Allison’s children, are now growing up on the land. But you will see that it goes way beyond that initial story, to one of partnership and industry innovation, as well as adaptation when they chose safety over income in response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Lavender in full bloom on the family farm in Woodstock, KY
The story really began about a hundred years ago, when a young man named L.G. Colyer borrowed money to buy a farm in the rolling hills of Pulaski County, Kentucky. He had a dream for a farm, embracing both opportunity and a chance to build something of his own with hard work and sweat equity. It wasn’t long after that the farm experienced its first major challenge: the Great Depression. When he wasn’t able to repay the remaining $600 on his loan, he travelled by train to Detroit and worked for Dodge Bros., sending money home. He made it through the Depression, the death of his first wife, and raising three boys. Later he remarried, and with his wife, Zella, he built a house on the land he loved when their daughter Mary was around 3 years old.
Through the generations, it went from a subsistence farm to a tobacco farm. But in the grand arc of agricultural trends, small farms struggled to survive. In Kentucky, small farms used to be able to make good on the sale of Burley Tobacco, but that industry has seen a decline that is rivaled only by the collapse of coal.
A Small Farm Finding a New Way
Enter Allison: after graduating from the local high school, she had gone onto Georgetown College and was working in higher education at UK, earning a Master’s degree while there. But as she became a mother, she wanted her children to share the experiences that had been formative to her. This included hard work, connection to the land, and the deep understanding of how our choices and consumption impact our community. Allison and her husband found a way to move back to her hometown, and even back into the house where her mother had grown up, and made it the place they are raising their two children. Allison worked with her mother to draw up some new ideas for the farm. What if it went in a totally new direction? What were some growth areas in agriculture? Could Allison and Mary themselves be the farmers? And this is when the idea of lavender took root.
Lavender hanging in the barn to dry
Lavender is an incredibly beautiful and versatile crop, with uses that range from medicinal and therapeutic to culinary. The idea of growing lavender and creating high-quality bath and body products was the original idea behind the Woodstock Lavender Co. But this was not as simple as just going to the local farm supply store and buying some plants. No, lavender is quite a bit trickier than that, particularly since it is a plant that typically likes mild and dry climates, like the Mediterranean, or Texas hill country. Just growing it in the finicky and damp climate of the Appalachian foothills was a major challenge that took a great amount of research, experimentation, and sourcing of special varieties. They have faced down every type of disaster that hits farming, from late freezes to endless rain to unexpected disease.
Lavender may be one of the best examples of a farm sounding romantic, with a backbreaking reality that is out of view of the consumer. Lavender needs careful cultivation and constant care. There is weeding and debudding, and even the harvest process is done by hand—stem by stem. But perhaps the hardest part of all is the debudding. Allison and Mary take each lavender bundle they harvest and hang them to dry in the same barn that was once used to dry tobacco. Once the lavender is dried out, they rub the flowered stems together in their hands until the tight little clusters of buds fall free. Each one of those tiny little lavender buds falling away free is the very beginning of their products.
From these little buds they have created an astonishing assortment of products, some of which are linked here. They have sachets and soaps, dryer balls and eye pillows. A few years ago they applied for a USDA grant and went through special licensing processes so they could begin cultivating and selling culinary lavender. Now they have teas and cookie mixes along with a newly created lavender syrup and lemonade mix. My own personal favorite products include a lavender bug-spray that smells good and is safe for children, a lavender roll-on that helps relax and heal small wounds, and their incredibly indulgent lotion. Every time I use one of these, I think about the entire process of growing lavender by hand to shaking free those buds to mixing up the concoctions to packaging them. It really is an astonishing amount of work, with an outcome that is fabulous. The whipped texture of their facemask is perfect; the little bud suspended in their lavender roll-on puts a smile on my face daily; and their baking mixes create wonder, whether you make them by yourself or involve children as helpers.
Innovations and Adaptations
If the story ended here, it would be lovely enough. But Allison and Mary are pioneers. They have learned how to make culinary lavender, and they have gotten a still so they could distill their own small amount of lavender oil. But now they are tackling one of the trickiest issues for small lavender growers, and that is the debudding process.
As you might guess, large-scale lavender production does not rely on the hand-rolling method used by the Woodstock Lavender Company. Instead, there are machines that can automatically debud lavender, both quickly and at incredible volumes. The problem is that their cost is prohibitive for small growers. Rather than give up on the problem—or try to save up for the big machine—the two women have teamed up with a local college to see if 3D printing techniques might make a smaller lavender debudding machine possible. You can hear Allison talk about this in this video. Here, she is pitching the idea of a lavender debudding machine as part of the Invest 606 Business Accelerator Program.
They are not looking for something one-off and proprietary; instead, these two are looking for a machine that could also be used by other small-scale lavender growers.
Enter a Global Pandemic
You might have already guessed that the ultimate lavender experience lies in visiting the farm, and you would be right. I have had the great privilege of going out to the farm when the lavender is blooming. You can walk amongst the plants and harvest your own bundle, then sip on lavender lemonade. Allison and Mary have taken a barn and set it up with antique farm equipment, a little store, and tables. Along with pick-your-own times, they also host special teas and even a festival in the field. These in-person events are particularly important to their business strategy because they help recoup costs far better than wholesaling their products through other outlets.
Going into the spring of 2020, the Woodstock Lavender Co. had sold-out their events. The festival was looking promising for record attendance. But they faced a grim choice: could they allow these events to happen when the realities of social distancing were unclear? Would it be safe to have folks gathering in the summer? What would they do about the tickets they had already sold?
Customers visiting the farm and harvesting their own lavender in 2019. This year, the farm has cancelled all events to keep people safe.
Ultimately, they were guided by the safety of their customers. A few weeks ago, they made the incredibly difficult decision to cancel their entire season of events. They offered those who had purchased tickets a few choices: they could be refunded, they could receive store credit, or they could put the money towards a donation to frontline medical workers who would receive lavender products worth the price of their ticket instead. And although they maintained positivity throughout, it was a choice as difficult as had to be made on the farm since L.G. realized that he had to go to Detroit if he would be able to keep the farm during the Depression.
But, of course, these two women are made of tougher stuff than to let a lost season set them back. Instead, they have been hard at work launching a new website and beautiful new packaging. This creates a beautiful way to purchase directly from them, to hear their story, and to see pictures of the farm.
These are the marvels of our current world. There are lavender plants being lovingly cultivated, harvested, dried and turned into delightful products, right here in Kentucky. We may not be able to get out to the farm this year to see it in person, but we can be right in our own homes and purchase the end result of all that hard work over all those years. It is a quality that you will recognize immediately. On their website, they include a great quote: “My heritage is my grounding, and it has brought me peace.” During all the stress and anxiety, reaching for a lavender product has often brought me exactly the peace I needed to keep going on tough days. I am so proud to know these people, to sell their products, and to share that same peace with you.
This post is one in a series dedicated to women-owned businesses in Appalachia that are forging new pathways forward in 2020.
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We are a small family business with one goal: to show the world Appalachian magic through unique food and retail experiences, in a way that nurtures our community and region.
Sky and Geoff Marietta are passionate about rebuilding Main Street businesses in Appalachian Kentucky. Look for some of our blog posts below, or find out more about our start here.
