The Nebraska Tourism industry honored several businesses and individuals at its “Celebrate Nebraska Awards Banquet” on Oct. 27 in South Sioux City.
This year’s “Passport Champions Choice Award” went to Our Lavendar Co. in Big Springs. The company is co-owned by a mother-daughter trio, Peggy Palser, Nicole Palser, and Stephanie Anderson. They grow organic lavender on-site and sell the lavender goods in a shop.
“Being part of the passport program was such an honor,” said Stephanie Anderson. “We loved every minute of it. Before this May and the start of the passport, we hadn’t been open to the public. The passport was kind of our launch into agri-tourism.”
The business story begins with Stephanie, who, after her second child, battled post-partum depression.
“Growing plants is what brought me back to myself. It was out of that tough season that I came across the idea of growing lavender as a crop, so my mom and sister jumped on board with me, and we talked with my dad (Steven) about renting some land,” she said.
Lavender was not Anderson’s first choice, but a discussion with her mother-in-law about a lavender farm in Washington spiked her interest in the plant as a crop.
“So I began researching Lavender, what does it like, and the first bit of information I came across was that it likes high PH, sandy soils, and drought-like conditions,” Anderson said.
She wasn’t sure of all the specifics, but as a farmer’s daughter, Anderson knew they had the right conditions.
While lavender is a hardy cold, growing plant, the women had challenges finding the right variety of lavender to grow in Nebraska’s rugged conditions. Eventually, out of trailing 18 varieties, they settled on three, which have been thriving on the farm.
For the first planting of the crop, Peggy had a broken wrist, and Stephanie was pregnant again.
“To manually plant 2,500 plants is what we started with, and to do that one at a time wasn’t realistic. So we hired a tree planter, somebody, that does CRP tree planting,” Anderson said. “They planted our initial acre of lavender, and when we expanded the next year, my dad had found some tree planting and barrier equipment, and he retrofitted it to be our lavender planter.”
The lavender plants take about three to five years to mature. However, they usually live 20-25 years and can be commercially harvested. Anderson said they manually harvest the lavender but are also looking to get a piece of equipment to assist in that area.
Anderson adds they are just finishing construction on a geothermal greenhouse and look forward to having visitors in the next few months to share the propagation of the lavender.
Our Lavender Company is a business, and Anderson said they have a strong business philosophy.
“Our goal in everything we do, our heartbeat, is that the beauty of God would be seen in creation and everything that we grow, everything that we produce. So, to find something that not just has the potential to grow here but grows here well, naturally likes the soil, the environment, and everything western Nebraska has to offer. To produce beautiful clean products from the fields we grow,” she said.
To learn more and schedule a visit, go to their website at ourlavenderco.com.
To listen to the interview:
