Anne Davidson grew up in Baltimore, but always had a love for wide open spaces.
So it made sense when she and her husband Scott decided to purchase eight acres of rolling-hilled land in Garrett County, Maryland. But building a quaint home for retirement wasn’t enough for Davidson ’84 (BUAD), who has entrepreneurial tendencies.
“I’m always thinking of new businesses,” she says. “I started thinking, what can we do with it? How can we use this land?”
She turned to a glass of wine and Google for inspiration and quickly found a site all about farming lavender. The wheels started turning.
“I did a lot of research and visited a lot of farms,” she says.
In spring 2008, armed with her newfound knowledge and a fearlessly experimental enthusiasm, Davidson planted a hundred lavender plants.
They were all dead before the year ended.
But Davidson, undaunted by this setback, learned from her mistakes and tried again. This time the plants thrived and Deep Creek Lavender Farm was born. The farm opened to the public in 2014, and 600 more plants were added the following year. This year the farm opened May 28 with 2,000 plants, including 15 varieties of purple, pink, and white English lavender.
“We want to create an experience for visitors that they might not get anywhere else, especially coming from the city.”
The Davidsons tend the perennials all spring until their prime bloom from around mid-June to mid-July. The sprigs of blossoms—called wands—are harvested and dried in the farm’s barn in late summer. The farm offers pick-your-own lavender during prime bloom. The rest of the plants are harvested and dried, and the buds are used to make products like sachets, wreaths and more for the farm’s gift shop.
“There are so many uses for lavender,” Davidson says. “It’s great for relaxation. When you breathe it in, there’s a chemical change in your brain that helps you settle down.”
Each summer, hundreds of tourists enjoy the scenic beauty of Garrett County and Deep Creek Lake when they visit the farm. They can stroll the fields breathing in the lavender plants’ relaxing aroma, sit in the front-porch rocking chairs and admire the landscape or explore the farm’s inner workings, including the barn, composting bins, shitake mushroom cultivators and more. Visitors can even enjoy boxed lunches featuring dishes made by a local restaurant using lavender harvested right from the farm.
“We want to create an experience for visitors that they might not get anywhere else, especially coming from the city,” Davidson says. “So many people are drawn to the natural beauty of Deep Creek Lake and we wanted to add another attraction to the area.”
Part of the farm’s success is due to Davidson’s entrepreneurial hustle and passion, who says her business degree has paid off.
“News about the farm has spread by word of mouth,” she says. “I speak to garden clubs and groups like that and do lot of business networking.”
Davidson splits her time between the farm and her family’s home in Crofton, Maryland where she still works full time as a Realtor. On top of being the farm’s business manager and chief marketing officer, Davidson, with the help of Scott, her sister Mary Peroutka ’80 (nursing) and friends, tends the plants year round. Pruning each plant by hand in the fall and harvesting in the summer is hard work, but this labor of love is an unexpected investment that will be an important part of her family’s future.
“I never dreamed I’d live on a farm, but here we are,” Davidson says.
MORE ON THE FARM
Deep Creek Lavender Farm
625 Doerr Road
Accident, MD 21520
Open Seasonally, Memorial Day Weekend to Labor Day Weekend, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays
www.deepcreeklavenderfarm.com