Lavender haze: Is this Wisconsin’s next big crop?

Wisconsin is known for many things: milk and cheese, beer and the Green Bay Packers, cranberries and frigid winters. Lavender doesn’t traditionally appear on that list, but that may soon change.

While the purple, fragrant plant is native to the Mediterranean region, it has grown in popularity in the United States and has boomed in recent years in the Midwest, including in Wisconsin. There are at least 13 lavender farms in Wisconsin, and most of them opened in the last decade.

In the thick of summer, many visitors flock to the farms to snap photos of the picturesque purple shrubs or pick their own lavender bundles to take home. Some of Wisconsin’s lavender farms host yoga classes embedded in the rows of lavender or classes on cooking and crafting with the plant. Other farms host food trucks and live music or festivals to celebrate the colorful herb.

Lavender farms have now become to summer what the state’s many apple orchards or pumpkin patches are to fall, or Christmas tree farms are to winter: an outdoor community space and tourist destination embedded with the smells, tastes and colors of the seasons. 

This increased interest in agritourism has given lavender farms a boost, according to Dr. Wynne Wright, a recently retired professor of sociology at Michigan State University. She studied people in agriculture and started farming lavender herself in 2013. She also started the Great Lakes Lavender Growers Association, a group that connects lavender farmers in the Great Lakes region, including farmers from Wisconsin.

“People are desperate to sort of reconnect with nature, and so lavender is a great way to do that,” Wright said.

The hilly terrain and sandy soil in Baraboo has been ideal for growing lavender, according to Aron McReynolds, who, with his wife Laura McReynolds, opened New Life Lavender & Cherry Farm in 2017.

“When we came up with the idea, we thought we were the only lavender farm in Wisconsin,” McReynolds said. They soon learned about a few other farms, and then more and more of them popped up.

A near-constant hum of buzzing bees is heard while walking around New Life. The 40-acre farm on a hillside just west of Baraboo includes walking trails that weave visitors in and out of the lavender fields, woods and a pasture of colorful wildflowers where swallows and dragonflies swoop above. The farm also includes a secret garden, an observation deck, benches and ponds.

This year the family planted a new lavender labyrinth. While the plants were small enough to walk over this summer, in a few years it will be a true hedge maze of lavender. McReynolds hosts wagon ride farm tours, and their on-site store has more than 200 products from lotions to their signature lavender cherry pie.

The farm makes 80% of its revenue during peak season from mid-June to mid-July, when the farm is abuzz with visitors.

“They really enjoy just walking, sitting at a bench for a little while and then just enjoying the peace and quiet and nature because we live in obviously a very busy world, so it’s such a huge contrast,” McReynolds said of the farm’s visitors.

Wright said that most lavender farmers are new to agriculture and the farms are often either family or female-led ventures.

The lavender trend has also increased the number of women in agriculture, Wright said, because it’s a crop that women are drawn to.

“Women farm differently than men. Their motives are starkly different. Ask women why they farm, they will say almost always, because they want to share their land or they want to share their knowledge. They want to build relationships with other people,” Wright said.

“They’re really driven by community. Their goal is to create a space, and lavender is just a crop that really allows you to do that by bringing people into a you-pick situation, selling the value added products that are made, or offering classes,” Wright said. “All of these things are about educating other people, sharing their lifestyle and creating community.”