A new lavender farm opened its doors earlier this summer in central Michigan. Four Suns Farm has been growing lavender plants for three seasons in Mount Pleasant and is now open to the public.
Owner Stephanie Olver said she wanted to create a space for the community where they can get an agricultural experience and get out in nature.
"We wanted to grow lavender, we thought it was a really great fit for the experience that we wanted to create here in central Michigan ... create that northern Michigan experience or replicate it," Olver said.
Besides picking up their own lavender, visitors can also purchase different lavender products at the farm such as bug spray, neck wraps, eye pillows, yoga mats, syrup and culinary buds, Olver said.
"Lavender is said to be very calming to lower your cortisol levels or your stress levels," she said. "It has anti-inflammatory properties so it can be used to calm the skin or take redness out of the skin."
But this new lavender farm is just a part of a bigger trend of reconnecting with nature and the countryside, said Wynne Wright, owner of Sixteen Springs Farm and developer of a lavender course for growers.
Wright is a retired Michigan State University professor of sociology who studied trends in rural America. As her retirement project, Wright opened a lavender farm about 13 years ago.
"I also was fortunate in that I studied in France; much of my research is on women in agriculture," she said. "So, I was doing a research project in France ... and I met a woman who's a lavender farmer, and I was happy with her or thrilled with her lifestyle.
"I spent a summer interning in her farm, and that's really where I learned a lot of my knowledge about lavender."
When Wright was just starting her farm, she said there were about seven other lavender farms in Michigan. But today, she said the interest is growing and there are over 50 lavender farms like the ones her and Olver have.
"In the past 20 years as people find their lives confined by some of the strictures of urban life and they no longer have grandparents that live or work on farms, and they're often disconnected with their nature," Wright said. "So, they're exploring ways to return to nature, and agriculture has blossomed as a result."
Michigan is one of the first states where agritourism started and is a leader in it, Wright said. That's because Michigan has many agricultural crops for "you-pick" experiences such as blueberries, strawberries, cider mills and now – lavender.
For Olver, lavender agrotourism seems like it's everywhere now as well, she said.
"I definitely think there's a lot of interest in lavender farms," Olver said. "To be outside, I think that's what people in Michigan want and there's just more education about the properties of lavender."
She also said she started seeing more people seeking outdoor experiences after the COVID-19 pandemic and said she's optimistic about the success of lavender agritourism continuing in the future as well.