Local lavender farm shares the benefits and beauty of the plant

Lavender's beauty and benefits On International Lavender Day the flower's beauty and other benefits are celebrated.

Surrounded by rows and rows of lavender all in full bloom, Karen Larter is in her happy place.

“We created something here from the ground up quite literally, and certainly for us I could talk about this all day,” said the founder, owner and operator of Lavender Moon Farm in Malden, N.B.

For the past five years she and her husband have grown Lavender Moon Farm, a two-acre parcel that’s home to six different varieties of English lavender.

She says English lavender has 45 different species, 450 varietals and a lot more benefits than just being something to look at.

“There’s a whole host of things inside the flower itself as well as the oils that can help you. It’s a natural bug repellant, it’s a natural sleep aid, it’s a natural antiseptic, it’s used in so many ways and I think for us at the farm it’s a full circle plant, we get to use every single part of that plant, which is important,” she said.

Larter has seen the benefits first-hand after looking for a change from a demanding corporate job that resulted in a stress-related skin disorder.

She’s also always been an avid gardener, so putting her efforts into the bloom just made a lot of sense.

These days she opens her farm to others to with a seasonal lavender u-pick during the month of July so other people can experience the benefits that she’s come to know and love.

“I actually really recommend people just come out here to unplug, unwind, grab a blanket,” said Larter.

Adding, “people really like the interaction of getting into the plants and talking to me as the farmer, finding out what it is we do here, they just love the interaction of cutting.”

Right now, the u-pick is open Monday-Friday from noon until 5 p.m. and Larter says she will update her social media pages as the short season continues depending on how the bloom is doing.

The farm is also home to an active beehive, which helps pollinate the crop every season and a small store filled mostly with lavender-based products made right at home including soap, room and pillow spray and even a local collaboration of 100 per cent N.B. wool dryer balls.

For Larter, Lavender Moon Farm is a chance to share what she loves with everyone around her.

“What’s important about talking to a person who actually grows the product is I think you get to see the face behind who and what we do,” she said.

Click here for a photo gallery of Lavender Moon Farm.

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