WEEKEND FEATURE
Eastern Shore Lavender Farm Gets National Attention

Blue Skye Lavender farm as featured in Martha Stewart Living magazine.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Wave normally does not publish promotional press releases from afar, but this one caught our eye as exceptional. We congratulate Lisa McPherson on her successful and growing Eastern Shore start-up.)

By LILLY McGEE

July 12, 2014

Blue Skye Lavender, a 13.7-acre lavender farm near Modest Town in Accomack County, is featured in a nine-page spread in the current edition of Martha Stewart Living. Founded by Lisa McPherson in 2008, Blue Skye Lavender caught the attention of the magazine in 2013, and a camera crew spent two days on the farm last June capturing its natural beauty and the 1,200 lavender plants that dominate the farm’s landscape.

McPherson uses the lavender she grows to produce elegant confections and bath products. She distributes her products in North Street Market in Onancock and in the Washington DC area.

The business started as a series of happy accidents. “Six years ago, I wanted to plant some lavender to deter deer from eating my plants and trees, so I ordered 300 lavender plants from a West Coast nursery. They sent 3,000 plants by accident, so my daughter and I rounded up some friends and got to work,” McPherson said.

The Shore’s wind and sun were hard on McPherson’s fair skin, so she mixed lavender extract with sugar and created a soothing skin balm. “One day, I noticed my daughter spooning this lavender skin balm out of the jar and eating it,” said McPherson. “I just about fell out of my chair. Then I started thinking about it and realized that lavender might be a nice accent in candy, so I started making nut brittle with a lavender accent.”

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Next thing she knew, her friends and family were clamoring for the treat. As co-owner of a DC restaurant in the 1980s, and an award-winning baker, McPherson knows her way around the kitchen. Her past dessert recipes have been featured in Bon Appetit magazine. The Virginian-Pilot featured her farm and lavender products last year as well.

McPherson had an opportunity to sign a contract with Whole Foods for bath and body products in 2011, but decided to keep her business small. “I have a really demanding career and didn’t want to add more stress. I just do small orders. One of my favorite products is fresh, live lavender, which I ship all over the country, typically for brides. I love doing it, but it’s small scale,” she said.

The Martha Steward Living feature may change all that. “It’s a major publication, and I’m fielding dozens of calls and emails a day. I’m gearing up for major production, growing an additional 800 lavender plants, and working with culinary artisans to incorporate chocolate into our products,” McPherson said.

McPherson lives most of the week in the Washington DC area and travels to the Eastern Shore on weekends to relax and soak in the peace and quiet. Blue Skye uses all-natural ingredients to create luscious, preservative-free lavender brittle and other products, which can be purchased on Blue Skye’s website.