This Lavender Farm visit has got to be one of the highlights of my trip to the US last month. My friend, who is based in Seattle, adopted me for 3 weeks as I needed to be in Nashville for the AIA Conference back in September (a separate blog will be posted about the conference, don’t worry!).
Not many would know that Sequim, a beautiful city in Clallam County, Washington State, is dubbed as the Lavender Capital of North America. Sequim is in the Olympic Peninsula and holds a microclimate that is conducive for the lavender plant to grow effortlessly. During the tour, we were told that the owners of the farms here would only need to water the lavender plants once during the beginning of summer and they would grow to bloom up until spring to fall. In this city, there are over 7 lavender farms that you can visit. And, every year in July, Sequim would even hold a Lavender festival with all the products made from lavender proudly displayed in booths–yes, even edibles!
The lavender farm I went to is called B&B Family Lavender Farm. It’s a family-owned and operated 12-acre farm that’s been managed by the McCloskeys for over three generations and it’s just a dream to set foot here. Adding to the fact that the owners are nice and friendly to all.
They produce over seven different kinds of lavender essential oils from their 14,000 lavender plants of 16 different varieties (WOW!). Their gift shop is also a wonderful place–I felt like a kid visiting a candy store with all the lavender goodies I was able to try and experience! Needless to say, I bought a couple of lavender goodies for myself and my aromatherapist friends.
B&B Farm has daily farm tours for visitors–that’s 9.30am until 4.30pm–from May until September of the year. We were told that the best time to visit and see lavender is mid/late June through early August when all the lands that you see will behold a beautiful purple haze.
We’re at the tail-end of the year for the lavender harvest. Fortunately, B&B Farm still has a patch of land filled with lavender plants. They told us that that’s the last from their 12-acre farm as it’s reserved for distillation.
Here’s Kristy, daughter of Bonnie and Bruce (B&B), who took us around their farm for the tour:
In the tour, Kristy showed us the main difference between French lavender (Lavandula x intermedia) and English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia). French lavender is usually more fragrant, hence it’s more commonly used in the perfumery industry, while English lavender is used for culinary purposes. Any cultivar within this species Lavandula angustifolia is said to taste best for cooking.
Kristy took us around the different areas of their farm, including a demo of all the machinery used at the different stages of their lavender segregation, processing, up to the distilling.
It was a short 20-30 minute tour but I was so happy to be able to experience and witness everything first-hand. Another important thing to note is that B&B Farms is one of the nicest farms to visit in Sequim and they allow you to take photos and videos during your entire time on their farm. I was told that some farms won’t allow you to do that and are not that friendly to tourists. So if you’re into content creation and you like documenting everything like I do, B&B Farms is definitely the way to go! 😛
- B&B Family Lavender Farm
5883 Old Olympic Highway Sequim, WA 98382 - B&B Farm is open every day 9 a.m. to 5 p.m; from May through September
- Sequim’s Lavender Festival is usually on the third weekend of July (the next one is on July 18-20, 2025!).
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