Lavender Bloom - Where the Journey Began
My freshman year of High School, I was on the Color Guard, and my “big sister” on the team gave me a round, purple glass dish filled with fragrant lavender buds and a cork lid. I still have that dish today and use it to keep lavender buds that I use for my products! Who knew, that is how the love of this special herb started.
My now husband and I were living long distance (I was living in Alamosa, Colorado, and him in Ellensburg, Washington) and at the time I was a College Lacrosse Coach, and ended up graduating from Adams State University with my Masters in Applied Sport Psychology, in Alamosa. It feels like so many lives have been lived since then, and so many positive changes, always striving to live the life I have always dreamed about.
Great Sand Dunes National Park - Alamosa, CO
I was traveling to recruit at a tournament in Portland, and Will was coming to stay with me while I was there. I found the cutest Airbnb, a tiny house at Mountain Side Lavender Farm. The owner, Bill, was wonderful and taught us so much about lavender and his farm. The passion started growing after that moment walking through the fragrant lavender rows.
Fast forward, Mr. Lavender proposed to me on top of Deal Canyon, a beautiful hike up a mountain overlooking La Grande. When we were looking for venues, we wanted to find a lavender farm after the special feeling we had being at Mountainside Lavender Farm. We stumbled upon Hoffman Hills Lavender Farm in The Dalles, Oregon and quickly booked after a wedding planner friend said we would not find anything that gorgeous, so much included, allowed to use your own vendors, and affordable. It checked off every box for what we wanted in a venue. We got married on July 16, 2022, with so many special people in attendance, as well supporting as many small businesses as possible of our friends during our wedding that we could.
My first friend in Georgia from Middle School put together our beautiful table charcuterie board, my best friend from high school did my hair and makeup, our DJ was my friend from my days working as a Sales Manager at the Hyatt Regency, our videographer was a good buddy from Lexington, Kentucky, and Will's mom preformed a traditional Navajo Wedding Ceremony. It was perfect with everything we wanted and more.
After that, we kept in touch with the owners of the farm, wanting to learn everything we could about lavender, and lavender farming. In June 2023, we went to help with our first lavender harvest at Hoffman Hills. It was pretty warm out, but that was quickly forgotten when you could smell the fresh lavender, and watch all the happy, buzzing bees around. I can't really explain it, everything at that moment was peaceful. We went back to help a couple times each year since then. As the year progressed, I started really missing event coordination and dreamed about what I really wanted my life to look like.
During my time in my Masters in Sport Psychology, the most interesting classes to me, were the ones that us taught about positive psychology, and how to put ourselves and others in a better mindset, after all, mindset is everything. It led me to continue chasing a dream of having a life where I was at peace, not battling mental health issues because of a job, and surrounding myself with people who supported me and made me better. It was my goal to find a life of joy, peace, being in the moment, and fulfillment, which went beyond working for someone else.
That is how this all started. From that moment on, I wanted to be surrounded by lavender as much as possible, and be able to put on unique, fun, weddings and events. I was intrigued with the many uses and benefits of lavender and started to heavily research the herb.
Looking back, I finally decided to start creating all natural products when I couldn't find a make up brush cleaner that didn't have toxic ingredients in it. I didn't want all of that going on my face, which lead to even more creating of products that were good for my skin, and the environment!
In June 2023, shortly after my first lavender harvest, McLaughlin Lavender was born. It has been such a beautiful, and sometimes stressful (small business owners, IYKYK) but always worth it, positive thing for our lives. I quickly jumped into the lavender world, found a wonderful mentor in Tom at Crockett Road Lavender Farm, and traveled to Sequim, Washington, for the Lavender Conference after I left my nonprofit job. The more I learned about lavender and what it can do to help anxiety, stress, and even your skin, the more I fell in love.
This past summer, while helping to harvest at the farm, we spoke to the owner about the possibility of moving onto the farm, helping him harvest, taking care of the lavender, put on some events, and learning the day-to-day operations of the farm. He agreed, and the process started on turning our house in La Grande into two Airbnb's and making the move to the farm. Check out our La Grande Basement Lavender Suite and Downtown Apartment Suite.
Fast forward to today, we are shoulders deep in the holiday bazaars and vendor events, and loving every minute of it! We will be coming back to La Grande for the last time this year, this weekend.
We are so glad you're here, thank you for your support over the years. We hope you enjoy this holiday season, take minute to stop and breath, enjoy the moment.
