Wisconsin Life

When we came, we just fell in love with the place. This place is Washington Island, at the northernmost tip of Door County. We wanted a place where first, it was pristine, nothing on it. Martine Anderson, and her husband, Edgar, are creating an island oasis. We bought a property when we retired here. And I planted lavender because I used to live in the south of France. Growing up in France, Martine made a career in high fashion. It's a far cry from farming lavender fields in Wisconsin. You cannot be nalve going into this type of business. You need to make your research. You need to learn how it is handled, before you jump. We discovered that the soil here is perfect for it. So when I came here, that was like, "Hallelujah. I can finally do something I want." Her dream came into focus in 2013 with row after row of lavender creating a purple blanket on the landscape. You know, lavender, it's an easy plant when you know the basic of it. You have 48 different variety and they're English lavender. And then you have white lavender or pink lavender over there. It's the biggest farm in the Midwest. We have around 16,000 plants, between 14 and 16. You cannot sit down here, look at it, and not really appreciating the beauty of it, of the plant. That beauty also captures the attention of island visitors. People-- Their mouths really open and then they are like, "Wow, it's spectacular." I don't think in the Midwest, you don't see lavender farms this size. People smile when they come here. And that's another aspect of dealing with lavender. I cannot take all the credit. My husband designed the garden. What I see here is just so beautiful. It takes 40 pounds of lavender and this copper still to create just 16 ounces of essential oil. The lavender buds are both beautiful and edible. You can see this is culinary lavender. It is way bluer than your normal aromatic. And when you take this, and it's very fluffy, it's almost like cotton when it's clean. The sweet lavender aroma can be intoxicating. But if you crush it, you know, you just release the oil in your hand. Now, it's heaven. It is unbelievable. That's why we grow lavender. Harvesting and processing lavender can be labor intensive. Because we are a commercial farm, we have to collect the plant. And it's basically done by hand. I love this plant. Hand-cut, hand-tied and hung up to dry. It takes 5 to 6 weeks to dry the bundle. Ah, yeah! Martine will use this dried lavender to make soap, sprays, and other lavender products. When you take out all the work and really think of it, it's happiness, it's relaxation. It's nice, it's beautiful. And organic, with an eye toward preserving the environment. I think that's part of the charm of the island. It's still very pristine. You don't have a lot of development. And I think we all want to keep it that way as long as possible. I mean, you have good soil in Door County. It was never sprayed, so you get a natural way of growing the lavender. I think people are going more and more in that direction. And the environmental stewardship is a selling point. For me, it's a choice of life. Try to do it the right way. And that's what we do here. You can do business on Washington Island, be successful at it. You know, sky is the limit. I get emotional. I just grow lavender and I love it. I get emotional about it because it took us a lot of work, a lot of dedication, I think. At the end of the day, what I have accomplished... Well, another dream of mine. You take life once at a time, at my age, and just enjoy. And I think that's what I do.