Most farms in North Carolina grow crops like corn, wheat and cotton. But Annie Baggett’s farm near Hillsborough produces a less popular commodity — lavender.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Sunshine Lavender Farm was open for the annual Lavender Harvest Celebration to let the public explore the farm and learn about the uncommon herb. Baggett said she was the first to grow it in North Carolina.
The farm is located at 4104 Millstone Road in Schley, N.C. and is only open to the public twice every year.
She said her motivation for opening the farm was to teach people about lavender and she hopes she can influence a future of lavender farmers.
“What I need to do is teach a new generation,” Baggett said.
The farm started in 2001 after a friend of Baggett suggested she grow lavender since it wasn’t common on the East Coast. Her background in marketing helped her recognize the opportunity.
“I kind of looked around and noticed no one else was growing lavender and thought, ‘Well I could be a niche farmer,’” said Baggett.
A lot of Baggett’s decisions about the farm have been influenced by visitors who have become fans. Her first project was helping start a farmer’s market at Duke Hospital, and the first day an oncologist approached her asking her to make aromatherapy pillows for cancer patients.
She now uses lavender to make many products, including lemonade and ice cream.
Dr. Lee Hartsell of Durham said this was his first time out to the farm. He asked his daughter Samantha what her favorite part of the farm was but she was too shy to speak.
“Maybe the ice cream,” he said for her.
Jen Arthur, a photographer from Raleigh, was visiting for the first time in eight years. She said she liked seeing a working farm, and how she felt walking around the field.
“It’s just kind of peaceful walking through there and smelling the lavender when it’s fresh,” she said.
And Baggett’s farm isn’t run by her alone. It’s a group effort among her entire family. Her mother and sister-in-law have been volunteering with the farm since it opened to the public the first time eleven years ago, and her husband Dale’s three bee hives make honey from the lavender.
Her family was a big reason for opening the farm as well. She wanted to create an enterprise for her daughter with cerebral palsy, but her daughter had different plans.
“She has loved doing the work on the lavender farm but she wants to be a teacher’s assistant, so she’s gone to school to do that,” said Baggett.
The harvest celebration was a showcase of all of lavender’s uses, and included tours of the field as well as crafts and an assortment of lavender-themed products.
To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.
