Lavender Hill Farm
Est. 2006

Tom Dalzell and I bought the lavender farm in 2006 from Gary and Theo Christman, who planted the original lavender fields. Together we have four children and one grandchild- the younger two have spent every summer of their childhoods working and playing at Lavender Hill Farm. Sixteen years later, I continue to run the farm and am now a full-time Vashon resident.

Jake is a lawyer with the Department of Justice, Julia is a lawyer with a consulting practice for non-profits and mom to Abraham, Rosalie is an elementary school teacher in the California Bay Area and Charlotte is a sophomore at Santa Monica College.

I’m a native New Yorker, probably the least likely person to end up owning a lavender farm. I grew up loving theatre, movies, TV, fashion, interior design. Nature and sports - not so much. My teen years were in the Philadelphia suburbs and I pursued an acting career there and in Los Angeles.

The first home I owned was in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles. 892 Sq. ft with a back yard with 112 fruit trees. Also a dying front and back lawn. LA was in the third year of a drought and I started learning about drought tolerant plants. Searching beyond succulents for flowering plants with some color, I came upon rosemary, salvias and….lavender. I planted 15 lavender plants - all Provence lavendula x Intermedias. Wow. I didn’t know how or when to prune them (so I didn’t and they got huge and leggy) but I was smitten.

As I was moving to the Bay Area with my two young girls, a good friend who had moved to Vashon Island eight years before called to say there was a little cabin for sale and I should buy it. I did, and that started our annual summer stays on Vashon. One day we followed signs to a lavender farm. I was enchanted, both by the field and the farmhouse on the hill. We cut lavender, took photos and I started fantasizing about a life in the lavender.

And the farm went up for sale two years later. Crazy as it was, we bought it. I didn’t know much about lavender, but with the guidance of The Lavender Sisters and Cindy Johnson of Fox Farm Lavender, I learned. We joined forces for the 2007-2009 lavender festivals. We became certified organic lavender producers and more recently organic processors of our essential oil. I started an intern program, teaching young adults about lavender and small business. We became part of the Vashon Farmers Market. A tradition was born.

The lavender is special, but what really energizes me each season are our visitors. They come from all over the country and the globe. In 2018 we put up world and US maps - we collected stars from 54 countries and 47 states. I love engaging with our visitors, answering questions about lavender, hearing about their lives and travels, seeing them build traditions as the kids and grandkids grow up and they return for the yearly lavender photos.

Each year I marvel at our interns - and learn so much from them. They come from places as diverse as Alaska, Texas, California, Massachusetts. We have hosted 32 interns since 2009.