Last week I noticed velvety purple,
organically grown, cut lavender offered for sale in the flower department
at Thrifty Foods in Fairfield. Two things struck me as unusual. Fresh cut
lavender is rarely for sale and, to my knowledge, few, if any, organically
grown flowers are available to the retail trade.
For many years, I have been concerned with
the amounts and types of sprays used on commercially grown flowers and I
was anxious to meet with someone who must be a kindred spirit.
A confirmed urbanite, Cindy Spangelo had had
her own successful consulting business. She has a master's degree in public
administration. She ate out at restaurants three or four nights a week and
the thought of living in the country made her shudder.
This is not the typical profile of a farmer.
But this was to change. Her husband wanted to live in the country and the
choice was between Smithers and Vancouver Island.
In Spangelo's mind there was no contest and
seven years later the farm has claimed Spangelo's heart.
Cindy Spangelo, tall and statuesque, graciously
showed me around Long Meadow Farm, located near Elk Lake, on a clear and
warm summer morning. The lavender grown here has third year transitional
to certified organic status. Spangelo explained that for the past three years,
no chemical sprays have been used, green cover crops have been grown to improve
soil fertility and the farm has been inspected each year by a government
certified inspector.
Visiting that farm is an experience that I
will remember for a long time. Although most of the harvest had been done,
the sight of the orderly rows of lavender plants marching down the hill in
the full hot sun on a June morning was glorious. Birds, butterflies and bees
were more abundant than I have seen for many years. A mother quail and a
dozen chicks darted through the long grasses beside the lavender fields.
The fragrance in the air was intoxicating. I could imagine myself as a lavender
farmer.
The birth of Spangelo's son was the catalyst
that caused her to embrace organic farming. Food quality, environmental issues
and lifestyle choices are all areas that can be explored as an organic farmer.
She was attracted to lavender over any other crop because of the power of
its classical beauty. She had the ideal site -- a southern slope with dry,
sandy soil. Esthetic and practical considerations pointed to an obvious path.
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Spangelo's heritage is in agriculture.
Her father had been a plant geneticist who managed three research stations
in northern Alberta and her grandfather worked at the Morden, Man., research
station breeding unusual and exotic plants. Growing up, a picture of the
Spangelo farm in Norway hung in the house like a shrine. The name "Spangelo"
means "long meadow" in Norwegian. City girl or not, Spangelo was destined
to become a farmer.
"I am now convinced of the powers of lavender
to calm, to aid with sleep, to quell anxiety," said Spangelo. It was admittedly
a foreign notion for a public administrator but the properties of lavender
have been known for a very long time.
In the days when the plague was a fact of
life, lice and fleas constant annoyances and waste disposal meant throwing
sewage out the nearest open window, great masses of scented flowers and herbs
were liberally strewn about on the floor to mask the atrocious odours of
everyday life. The fragrant oils present in many plants were discovered to
have medicinal properties as well, and bundles of lavender, rosemary and
sage were burned indoors to fumigate rooms.
The essential oil from lavender has antiseptic
qualities that can kill many common bacteria including typhoid, diphtheria,
streptococcus and pneumococcus. Glove makers in Grasse, France, who used
lavender to scent leather showed a resistance to the plague.
While many herbs and spices were used abundantly,
lavender was probably the most versatile flower. Lavender's name comes from
the Latin" lavare" (to wash) and it was used by the medieval laundress to
scent and freshen linen, just as it is today. The old English lavender grew
in bushes more than a metre tall -- perfect for throwing the laundry over.
Linen or wool sheets and shirts left to dry in the sun would quickly become
infused with the sweet, fresh fragrance.
Being a lavender farmer involves hard work,
long hours and frustrations -- as with other job -- but it is a creative,
self-directed pursuit. Spangelo's crop of 1,000 plants of the sweet English
varieties of Hidcote and Munsted was ready for harvest a month early this
year.
Asked how she was able to find people to help
with the harvest, Spangelo replied, "They found me." I'm not at all surprised.
Next week I will look at how organic farming differs from conventional farming.
Susan Ramsey is a floral designer and self-taught gardener.
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