On picturesque property in north Baltimore County, farmer/entrepreneur Peter Elmore has found his calling–in lavender. At Star Bright Farm, Elmore grows, distills, packages, and sells this crop with almost as many variations as a tomato. Here you can drink it (in lemonade), spray it (in hyrdrosols), eat it (in cookies and cakes), put it in potpourri or bouquets, walk through lavender rows and destress, and best of all, snip and smell its astringent, sweet perfume.
With a degree in ecological agriculture and certification in permaculture from University of Vermont, the 31-year-old farmer is using the best regenerative techniques on the land to grow this stunning plant. (To really get a sense of the farm, see the video with audio by Peter’s brother Patrick by clicking here. Scroll down and click on the arrow. )
Blueberries and Lavender
When his parents bought the 130-acre farm across from his uncle and aunt’s farm in White Hall, they came up with a complementary plan. His mother, Photographer Helen Norman, was entranced with the lavender fields in France. Peter wanted to grow blueberries. So the blueberries and purple lavender have merged in a riot of aromas and taste. And they have added some 23 varieties of flowers and herbs—all organic. It’s distinctive because everything is done on site, from seed to packaging lavender skin and health products.
Elmore is the epitome of a new breed of farmer–young, creative, super-conscientious about the environment and food and how his farming can positively affect climate change.
He describes himself as a small farmer who will be able to take a greater share in profits than small farmers of the past, as consumers, concerned about health and taste, demand more quality and no pesticides—and they are willing to pay the price. “We don’t need huge access to land and capital. Large scale farming is designed around planting and spraying. I’d rather focus on diversity of what we are growing and find the technology to go with it.”
(Read more on this website about regenerative farming by clicking here .)
Most everything is done by hand. That’s a lot when you consider each row of lavender requires about 12 hours of pruning and cutting for 26 rows. Elmore spends more time per plant, which produces more value, and in the long run, will be more profitable, he says. After a while, he says, you get the knack of snipping. He hires some harvesters in season.
As the mission statement for Bright Star says, our goal is to “foster a durable ecosystem that generates human wellbeing and regenerates environmental health.”
On a recent busy day, Elmore strode to the barn, under a magnificent roof redone by Amish builders to show off the copper still, used to distill lavender and other herbs for the products Bright Star is selling online and in the Barn Shop downstairs. A model of the modern enterprising farmer, he’s energetic, in red crocs and a North Face cap—and a serious practitioner of regenerative agriculture.(Read more about regenerative farming here.) ”The idea is to plant flowers and perennials around and establish perennial cropping—landscape diversity,” Elmore says.
The herbs have become the jumping off point for a business in herbal skin care and healing sprays and ointments. Elmore and an assistant distill bunches of dried herbs in a 20-liter copper still that looks like a big cappuccino machine.
The herbs, roses or a blend are in effect distilled in water in clear glass with spray tops. They make hydrosols which contain the essence of chamomile, lemon balm, thyme, peppermint and of course, lavender –all organic to the end.
Learning from One Straw
Elmore learned to admire the taste and healthy aspects of organic vegetables from his uncle and aunt, Joan and Drew Norman, the owners of One Straw Farm, (featured here in an earlier post on Farm-Finds) which adjoins Star Bright. The Normans got into organic farming when most people associated it with hippies growing marijuna. Today chefs and savvy consumers look to One Straw for the most desirable fresh vegetables in restaurants, CSAs and local farmers’ markets.
“A bunch of us kids would ride in the back of the truck. Then I started doing more work around the farm. I learned to drive tractors,” recalls Elmore. The experience fed his passion for organic food and to the study of food systems, permaculture and ecology. After college, he moved to Oregon and worked for a local food aggregator, which acted as a liaison to set up farmers to sell their produce to restaurants and markets.
It takes a lot more work to maintain the organic approach than in an non-organic farm. For now, Elmore is the primary worker, along with one full time helper. To gain the organic certification , he must plow through a lot of red tape and prove first that no chemicals have been used on the property for the last three years. For the products he sells, he fills out a daily sheet documenting the process of production and verifying that no pesticides have been added.
To avoid pesticides, he plants dense cover crops, such as white clover, that will enrich the soil. He covers the roots of all the plants with plastic to keep out weeds. And he uses on-farm composting as well as organic fertilizers.
High end marketing
Star Bright offers an array of products–all organic, made by hand– in a store in the basement of the barn. On the website, the featured hydrosols and lavendar products look like a spread in a home and garden magazine. No surprise because Helen Norman is a lifestyle and garden photographer with credits in national magazines, and her husband Mark has a background in marketing. They sell fine tools, such as the $90 Japanese pruners, arranged artfully on a rustic farm table, French country baskets, a $22 leather fly swatter, as wells as creams and organic “buzz-off” bug spray. The high-end marketing buoys the difficult farm days when drought or bugs can affect the harvest.
Most sales are online or in farmers’markets.
In the future, Elmore would like to add more fruit trees and more acres to develop a self-sufficient, diverse farmstead. “I’d like to supply people with fruit, my uncle’s farm grows vegetables; we have skincare, herbal medicine, and we can get into produce,” he says.
The lavender continues to be a big draw: for brides and models who want their pictures taken in the scenic setting, for people seeking solace, for crafters making lavender wreaths and a plethora of events from country rock performances to an open house for dogs.
Lavender for dogs
Lavender allegedly has a calming influence. I had a chance recently to test its effects on my super-active dog Jojo, an Australian cattle dog with energy to burn. I asked my friend Connie with her rescue dog, Kona, who had been a good companion when we walked in the park, to come with me to Star Bright Farm for a benefit for BARCs, Baltimore’s largest pet adoption agency.
Star Bright opened up its lavender fields to the dogs for the event.
Driving out the 36 miles from Baltimore through the beautiful north Baltimore County countryside, the dogs were not getting along. Jojo, safely contained in her crate, was snarling and barking at Kona, who was curled up under the back seat with anxiety.
Maybe the dogs were relieved by simply getting out of the car, but by the time we led them out to roam (on the leash) down the curved rows filled with thick cushions of lavender, they were in dog heaven.
Jojo and Kona were nearly drunk on the smell and the fields were alive with the happy sniffs and arfs of over twenty assorted dogs. Kona just lay down and chilled.
