By Matthew Nash
SEQUIM — A love for lavender continues to grow on the B&B Family Farm.
In recent months, the Sequim farm’s co-owners, husband and wife Zion and Kristy Hilliker, added 2,500 lavender plants bringing their total to nearly 10,000.
Zion said they took out ginseng and goldenseal to make room for the new plants simply because they weren’t as excited about them as lavender.
“We’ve built a good name for ourselves and we enjoy sharing our knowledge about lavender,” he said.
The new plants will be too young for harvest around Sequim Lavender Weekend on July 21-23, but with a colder winter Hilliker anticipates more varieties being available on their other plants for the crowds.
They also planted hydrangeas after consulting with market managers of a co-op they partner with in Seattle, Hilliker said.
“We wanted to diversify and found (hydrangeas) will actually do well here because we don’t get a lot of hot summers like other parts of the state,” he said.
Sequim transition
Learning about Sequim and a new life in lavender has been a good transition for the Hillikers after moving from San Diego, California, 3½ years ago to purchase the property, formerly Angel Farm, with Kristy’s parents, Bruce and Bonnie McCloskey.
Zion was an account executive and Kristy was an interior design college professor in California, but Hilliker said he was discouraged leaving for work and coming home and finding that his daughter Harper, now 5, would be asleep.
“Now I see her all the time and she’s out with us,” he said. “I like it. I get to see my kids (including 18-month-old Sawyer) everyday.”
The couple purchased the farm around the same time as other new lavender farmers came to the area, too.
“The lavender community has been really helpful,” Hilliker said.
They’ve also developed a special partnership with Victor’s Lavender for all their plant starts and they send each other business.
The Hillikers also continue to carve their own niche with B&B Family Farm in the lavender market mostly in wholesale, Kristy said.
They sell mostly to mom and pop shops and smaller farms with shorter growing seasons, and last year their lavender was sold in some Crate & Barrel stores thanks to a distributor.
Oil honors
One thing visitors can be assured to see during Lavender Weekend is lavender oil distillation.
Kristy said they take a lot of pride in their oils and they are happy to show visitors how it works.
The couple entered their lavender essential oils in a contest last year, the 2016 U.S. Lavender Oil Awards, which Hilliker said is less of a competition and more about grading your oil.
“It brings accreditation to the process and gives legitimacy to essential oils,” he said.
The farm’s Hidcote pink lavender and Grosso lavender both earned gold certification while its Royal Velvet earned silver and its Melissa lavender, bronze.
Local support
Annually, the farm raises money for a local person in need through a donation and this year they are raising funds for Sequim High senior Curtis Beery, who recently was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma.
The couple is accepting donations for a handmade quilt through September with all proceeds benefiting Beery and his family. “We feel very fortunate to be a part of the Sequim lavender community and benefit from many guests visiting our farm each year,” Hilliker said. “We want to leverage this large volume of visitors to help raise funds and awareness for this young man. We hope we can assist him and his family in this small way with some financial assistance.”
During Sequim Lavender Weekend, B&B Lavender Farm is free to visit then and during its regular season.
B&B Family Farm
5883 Old Olympic Highway, Sequim
Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, May-September
bbfamilyfarm.com
360-504-2585
If you go
The Lavender Weekend, which includes the 21st annual Sequim Lavender Festival, is 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. July 21 and 22, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 23. In addition to farm tours, there will be a number of community events throughout the three-day event.
The Sequim Lavender Growers Association runs the free street fair featuring more than 150 food, craft, art and agricultural items on W. Fir Street between N. Sequim Avenue and N. Third Avenue. The fair features a street dance from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday with Black Diamond Junction and live music throughout the weekend as part of “Lavenderstock.”
The festival includes a free self-guided tour of six farms and one commercial nursery open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. They are: Blackberry Forest, 136 Forest Road; Graysmarsh Farm, 6187 Woodcock Road; Nelson’s Duck Pond and Lavender Farm, 73 Humble Hill Road; Earth Muffin Lavender, 2333 Woodcock Road; Kitty B’s Lavender Farm, 82 Cameron Acres Lane; Fat Cat Garden and Gifts, 21 Fat Cat Lane; and Peninsula Nursery, 1060 Sequim Dungeness Way.
For more about the Sequim Lavender Festival, go to www.lavenderfestival.com.
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