Jacob’s Fresh Farm Lavender Experience
Hi!
We are Jacob's Fresh Farm, a Chelsea-based produce farm and apiary free of synthetic pesticides, operated by Jacob D'Lamater and Anna Wiley. We are extremely committed to local food, soil health, pollinator environment, agricultural education, diversity in our community, and the local economy.
Anna has long had a dream of creating a serene farm experience with a lavender field that the community could enjoy. We could all use some serenity after 2020 (and 2021!) and a lavender field sounds like the perfect thing. We envision creating a lavender field that would not only be a wonderful addition to Chelsea as a destination but also a unique asset to the community. Lavender has legendary therapeutic properties and can be used as a culinary herb, to scent craft and household items, decoratively, and distilled into oil and hydrosols. As the field expands it can be a magical site for family outings, photo shoots, and community events and classes.
As some of you know we are in the process of purchasing the 37 acre Seitz farmstead at the corner of old US 12 and Fletcher road in Chelsea. Unfortunately we had to go above our comfort price zone to secure the farm property of our dreams and it has stretched our funds for development thin.
We’ve calculated that it will cost us $6-8K per acre to acquire plants, amend, row cover, plant, and care for all those beautiful lavender babies. We want to start this year with a little over an acre of lavender and hope to expand every year by an additional acre.
The local community has been crucial to supporting our farm as we have grown and we can't thank you enough for the support you've shown us so far. We’re reaching out to our local community, friends, neighbors, and family to help make this next dream a reality.
We have several donation tiers with rewards to thank you for your generosity and support of our lavender field project!
Tier 1: Seed (<$25 donation)
- a handwritten thank you note
Tier 2: Sprout ($25 donation)
- pick your own bundle of lavender on the farm
Tier 3: Bud ($50 donation)
- pick your own bundle of lavender on the farm
- small lavender plant
Tier 4: Flower ($100 donation)
- pick your own bundle of lavender on the farm
- small jar of lavender infused honey
- tote bag
- locally sourced lavender candle
Tier 5: Bouquet ($250 donation)
- pick your own bundle of lavender on the farm
- small jar of lavender infused honey
- small lavender plant
- locally sourced lavender candle
- local bar of cold processed lavender soap
- tote bag
Tier 6: Sunshine ($500 donation)
- pick your own bundle of lavender on the farm
- small jar of lavender infused honey
- small lavender plant
- locally sourced lavender candle
- local bar of cold processed lavender soap
- tote bag
-seasonal produce box
-Farm Tour and Lavender Field Luncheon
Since many of the support rewards will be produced from our fields’ first crop of lavender blooms, we ask for your patience as you should begin receiving them in the second half of 2022. For supporters who are not local but have pledged for a tier that includes rewards, we’ll do our best to get everything to you or sub in alternatives that will survive the mail! Please email [email redacted] with your contact info.
Timeline for our lavender field:
June 2021: chose site, plan out rows, prep land, bed up rows, seed clover for a lush carpet between rows
July 2021: plant 2500 plants of lavandula intermedia "grosso" and 2500 plants of lavandula augustafolia "hidcote" and "munstead".
December 2021: tuck in for the winter
June 2022: first English lavender blooms
July-August 2022: sending out rewards and thanks for your generous support!
