The farm changed hands about two years ago. Jordan and Paul Schiefen bought it from Pam and Randy Nicholson after the later ran it for many years.
I will tell you that it used to be my favorite lavender farm. Why? Well, it has nothing to do with the way the farm is run or the lavender at all. No. It has to do with elements of photography for me. I enjoy the farms and talking with the people who come from all over, as well as the vendors and the farmers themselves. But primarily I come out to shoot the purple stuff. I said in my previous post that lavender, by itself, is a little boring. When you add different elements to the image, whether it be other colorful flowers such as sunflowers, cone flowers, poppy's or wildflowers you can make your images much more interesting. A least in my opinion.
Back to why this farm used to be my favorite. The previous owners were very liberal with using other flowers to contrast the lavender. Clumps of sunflowers, poppy's and echinacea or cone flowers were found throughout the fields offering many different elements and angles for the photographer to consider. No so today. Yes there was one clump of sunflowers up on the hill but it was hard to frame the lavender and sunflowers without getting the vendor's tents in the image. See below.
This was about all I could get from the sunflowers without including tents in the background.
Now in times past when there were many more flowers planted I was able to get these shots:
I don't want you to get me wrong. The farm is still as beautiful as ever. The farmhouse sits on a hill overlooking the fields. I like the uneven landscape. The upper fields roll off into more even or almost level area where more lavender is growing. It is a great farm for what it was designed to be. But I look at each farm as what I can bring home on my CF card.
OK. I got that out of the way.
One thing that this farm does is having a ladder setup in the fields where you can hand your own camera to a volunteer and have your picture taken in a field of lavender. Pretty cool.
As I moved around the fields I came into the vendor area and ran across my friend Gail who runs Dungeness Gold. We partnered last year at the Port Williams Lavender farm. As said in a previous post, it was quite rainy and an interesting experience.
Gail and Brit, one of her employees worked the crowd, selling spices, sauces and her homemade jams and jellies. Great stuff! Hope she does well this weekend.
Just around the corner from Gail's booth was the music. Friday afternoon's band was the Old Side Kicks. They belted out some great country western music as people drank different libations. The music really is a great part of the lavender experience.
Vendors were spotted around the base of the farmhouse and were clustered together in their own area. One thing that I noticed, if you don't like the offering's at one farm you probably will find it at another.
I walked to the far reaches of the farm where the bees are kept. You remember that bees are a very important part of any farm. As you might or might not know, that honey bees across the country have had a hard time lately. Apparently they have had some major die offs and the people who keep track of these things really don't know why. This could be a major problem going forward if they can't figure this one out. It doesn't seem to be a big problem around here. I hope.
Looking for other shots that I can use lavender as an element, the lavender bee hives helped fulfill this quest. Probably not the best shot, but hey .... we're trying here.
Well I think I have done as well as I could here, so I'm on to my next farm.
That would be the Lost Mountain Lavender farm near Sequim. Just across the Dungeness river heading west and a quick turn up Taylor Cutoff Road finds the farm nestled in the foothills of the Olympic Mountains.
I got there just as the band quit for a break. Too bad, as it always adds to the atmosphere when I'm walking around the farm.
Lost Mountain Lavender is not the biggest farm on the tour, but has its own unique flavor as does each and every farm. The vendor area had several booths. One that I spotted had three bottles of Working Girl wines from Olympic Cellars Winery displayed. I thought for a moment that it was part of the winery as I have several different labels adorning different vintages at the winery, along with art work and cards displayed there as well. So I thought I would say hi. As it turned out the bottles were for a raffle that Eyes That Smile was using to raise money for their cause. And that cause was a good one .... rescuing and restoring horses that have been abandoned or abused by their previous owners.
Diane Royall, the second vice president, along with Dorthy Steffan were manning the booth when I stopped by to chat.
Diane said that they had thirty horses that they were helping recover from different situations at the organization's stables. Eyes That Smile is a non-profit organization that is a division of the Olympic Peninsula Equine Network. It was formed by a Texas horseman named Brian Pettyjohn. Pettyjohn is president and Valerie Jackson and Diane Royall are its two vice presidents.
Diane told me of various rescues that involved people that had actually rammed their horse trailer and threatened them with bodily harm. Tough work really. You must have a real love to do what they do for the horses they rescue. Always in need of money for hay and provision for the horses this organization is worth looking into if you care for their cause. You'll find them at the above web address.
I didn't find what I was looking for here at Lost Mountain Lavender other than this image of an old bed frame and some lavender plants. But I enjoyed the atmosphere and the conversation I found here.
I have one more farm to see. One that I haven't visited before. George Washington Inn and Lavender farm is found between Sequim and Port Angeles. It is off the beaten path, but of the images I saw of this farm worth the ride to see it. On my way ......
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