Yamhill, Oregon

Lavender in general

Lavender has been revered for its fragrance and healing properties throughout the ages. The name lavender is derived from the Latin word lavare, to wash, and is one of those ancient herbs first used for cleaning clothes and for Lavender soaps, due to its refreshing scent.

Lavender grows wild in many forms throughout the world and is indigenous to the Mediterranean, where it thrives in warm, sunny, semi-arid conditions.

Dioscorides, the Greek writer, listed lavender as a medicinal plant in one of his earliest writings.

In addition to being a wonderfully fragrant herb with beautiful flowers in hues from blue to purple, lavender has marvelous antiseptic, deodorant and insect-repelling properties.

Lavendula Angustifolia - "English Lavenders"

Angustifolias are the traditional English garden lavender. They have narrow leaves, shorter stems with flower heads that are barrel shaped as opposed to spiky. Their fragrance is sweeter than their hybrid cousins the Lavandins, and because of this, their oil is coveted for aromatherapy and perfume. They bloom earlier in the year than the lavandins. In the winter months, the Angustifolias can often look dead because of the smallness of the leaves. Their dried blossoms are used in cooking, crafting and cosmetics. The Angustifolias produce seeds that are viable, and young plants will often appear below the parent plant.

Lavendula Intermediate - Lavandins

The Intermediates are a hybrid of Angustifolia and Spike lavender. The hybrid vigor of these plants makes them hardy but sterile. Called Lavandins, this group typically has larger leaves, longer stems and larger flower heads that are pointed at the top instead of barrel shaped. They have a more camphorous quality to their fragrance, and because of this are typically used in soaps and detergents. The oil yield of the lavandins is much greater than the Angustifolias, so it has become a “work horse” in the fields of France. Not only are these plants hardy and disease resistant, they have a more attractive look in the winter months. Because of their sterility, the seeds in these plants are infertile, and the preferred method of reproduction is with cuttings. Typically the Lavandin sachet is strong smelling, making it excellent for riding clothes of moth or in massage oil for sore muscles, but not used for cooking. The strong color of many of the cultivars makes their sachet and dried flowers excellent for crafting.

Specifics of our Sustainable Farming practices:

Weed Control – We never use herbicides in our lavender practicing in-row cultivation, hand hoeing and conservation tillage instead. We are going for ‘tilth” in the soil and nuking weeds with chemicals has a negative impact on the soil biology under the row. Our farm might be a little more “weedy” than the next but beneficial insects, worms and soil microbes are there in greater abundance.

Pesticides – We simply do not put poison out on our land. Our rodent and burrowing animal control is a 21st century, sonic disrupting technology that is completely safe even for the critters themselves. It merely keeps them away.

Fertilization – Woodland Lavender strives to improve the soil tilth of our soil with applications of composted organic manure prior to planting and annual applications of bone meal.