Building Laurel Lavender

Laurel Lavender farm is a family owned, local business.

Above: The first summer

Laurel lavender farm is on 6 acres in Whatcom county in northwest Washington state. We are located just 3 miles east of the town of Ferndale, and about 8 miles north of Bellingham ,WA.

Owned by Bruce and Karen Duim, Laurel lavender was established in 2017. Bruce is a life long Whatcom county resident, and has always had an interest in plants and gardening. Karen grew up in eastern Washington , and moved here in 1986.

Our farm has many habitats. Open fields (where the lavender is grown), second growth douglas fir and cedar forest, with marshland and Tenmile creek bordering the southeast corner of the property. 1.3 acres of the property is enrolled in the CREP program, which protects that section from any domestic animal or human disturbance. We have wildlife which includes deer, coyotes, eagles, hawks, owls, and many other bird species. If you are lucky , you will see the Pileated woodpecker that visits our farm.

We planted the lavender in May 2017, after many years of researching lavender growing. The first summer was spent watering, weeding and trimming off all flowers. The plants grew like crazy that first summer. They nearly quadrupled in size !

The second summer (2018) was our first harvest. Small, but much more than we were expecting. This was what we called a year of learning. Learning how to harvest, dry, de-bud, and do final pruning.

We distill our own lavender essential oil which is used to make wonderful smelling lavender products. During the summer distilling season, we’ll give a brief overview of lavender production and the many things lavender can be used for. We also have distilling demonstrations when our farm is open. Come by and check it out ! It's MORE than just a scent !

The first plants were planted in

May of 2017