Toledo Lavender Farmer Touts Wellness Benefits of Oils, Lotions

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Lavender can help with insomnia, stress and anxiety, sunburns and cuts, high blood pressure  and headaches, according to the book “The Essential Life” by Total Wellness Publishing. 

Amy Jerome, owner of the lavender farm Toledo Lavender, puts the versatile plant to use by creating products that bring out its health benefits.

Neck wraps are a popular item, but she also makes lavender sachets, bundles, lip balm, lotion and oils. 

“You just put a tiny bit of oil under your nose and it helps you fall asleep,” said Judy Ochampaugh, Amy’s mother, who helps her with the farm. 

Ochampaugh explained that people often put the oil on the base of their neck to help with stress. 

Jerome takes her products to the Toledo and Winlock farmers markets, where parents and children are interested in the lavender’s calming properties. 

“I can’t believe little kids like lavender,” Jerome said. 

She said one child had a stuffed animal infused with lavender to help with agitation. 

Jerome sells her lavender mostly from her website at toledolavender.com, but is hoping to have the farm open to the public in a year or two. 

“I would like to build a barn and have a place for weddings and craft shows,” Jerome said.



She mentioned that nearby lavender farms have helped her get started and said one farm in Randle is open to the public. 

Jerome says that lavender has been a very popular item for weddings this year and that her large bundles are another big seller. 

For the volume of plants it takes to make a small amount oil, Jerome says she sometimes has to chose whether she wants to make bundles or oils from her harvest. 

She also makes wreaths that can take two or three hours to put together. 

The idea for a lavender farm sprung from family trips to the Sequim Lavender Festival, Jerome and Ochampaugh said. 

After buying a large property, the family started their farm in the fall of 2016 and planted 250 plants, then next time planted 300. 

Lavender blooms once in July and a second time in August. Jerome said the entire process of cutting, distilling, drying and making it into products can take about two weeks. 

Jerome said her dad helps out a lot with the distillation, making it a whole family effort. 

“It’s so fun to do,” Ochampaugh said.

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