Published 3:00 am Thursday, July 6, 2023
ROSEBURG, Ore. — After about 30 years of dreaming and wishing for a lavender garden, Keri Roid has the garden and much more.
Since planting the first lavender several years ago, Roid’s business, Growing Miracles Lavender Garden, has expanded into a field of about 5,000 plants with another acre — about 2,100 plants — to be planted later this year.
“I don’t know the source of my dream,” said Roid, 56. “We grew a garden and I always had plants and flowers in my yard.
“Lavender stimulates all the senses and that is what I was attracted to,” she added. “Just seeing it sway in the breeze or listening to the bees in it is relaxing. Just the feel of it is relaxing.”
In order to help people learn about the benefits of the plant, Roid started holding an annual Lavender Festival and Farm Tour. This year’s event is July 7-9 at Growing Miracles Lavender Garden, 508 Lower Garden Valley Road, about 5 miles northwest of Roseburg.
“People need to experience it,” Roid explained of lavender. “Most people have no concept of how the essential oil is made, how the flower buds are taken from the stem, how the flower is dried.
“People use it for relaxation, for anxiety, headaches, to help sleep, as an insect repellent,” she said. “It has an antiseptic property. There’s always been a contingent of people who use it and swear by it. It’s becoming much more mainstreamed.”
People visiting the festival and taking the farm tour will be able to see how the oil distillation equipment works and how the plant and its flowers are bundled and hung to dry. The lavender oil and scent are used in a variety of products starting with ground lavender and including syrup, bread, jelly, sausage and facial and skin scrubs.
In addition to Roid and her Growing Miracles booth, other women and their businesses will have booths and lavender products at the festival. Those will be Melanie Prummer, the owner of McLeod’s Lavender, Joni Leet of Linnea Marie Farms and Belle Nibblett of Lookingglass Lavender. Leet will hold lavender wand making classes each day.
Amanda Pastoria will lead Yoga in the Lavender, a $15 per person class held in the lavender garden each morning from 8 to 9.
“The festival satisfies my big dream,” Roid said. “It allows me to teach people about the lavender process. Sharing the educational part of it is important to me.”
There are several varieties of lavender with the blooming and harvesting of the flower ranging from early June into August. The varieties bloom twice and produce two harvests.
Roid said she loves the greenhouse and field work and the distilling process to obtain the lavender oil. Her least favorite job is weeding.
During the festival, U-pick of lavender will be available. Demonstrations of distilling oil and debudding the lavender are also scheduled.
“The festival is more than I could have ever imagined,” Roid said. “Everybody is smiling, families are enjoying the experience and I’m able to share my little piece of heaven. The feeling it gives me is pure happiness.”
A Capital Press’ annual special section that highlights the contributions women make in the agricultural sector.
Read the stories of the exceptional women featured Women in Ag 2023:
Erika Ackley: ‘I like the independence of farming’
Geri Byrne: ‘I love to organize’
Lerrina Collins: Fluent in the language of stockdogs
April England: ‘It’s not just a job, it’s a life’
Suzanne Gallagher: ‘I love the work, I love the land and I love the cattle’
Denise Godfrey: A love of plants, and for the community
Mary Hood: Shattering ceilings in ag banking
Sharon Hoyt: A passion for the ranching lifestyle
Jessica Jansen: ‘I love agriculture, and I love teaching people about it’
Jean Kurtz, Ali Rodgers: Telling wine’s story in the Umpqua Valley
Anne Mitchell: Perseverance pays off
Lori Moore: A bison believer turns vision into reality
Keri Roid: Lavender farm a dream come true
Nicole Sanchez: Taking on new challenges
Wendy Swore: Staying busy with farming, writing
