Pick and learn about lavender at Busy Bee farm in Tabernacle

By Katrina Grant

At Busy Bee Farm in Tabernacle, visitors are able to pick their own lavender, a plant that can be used in a variety of ways.

“Lavender really is a versatile product,” Toni Price, owner of Busy Bee Farm said. “You can hang it and dry to use it in a bouquet. You can use it to make sashays and other crafts, you can really make a lot of things with it.”

Lavender can also be used for various culinary reasons, to add a little flavor to simple dishes.

“Lavender is really coming into its own with culinary. There are lots of different uses,” Price said. “I use it for a lavender salt rub which can be used on pork, fish or chicken. I also make a lavender sugar that I use in cookies and pound cake. You don’t need a lot, but it gives everything a little twist.”

Lavender is a Mediterranean plant primarily grown in the southwest, Texas and Washington. Price believes she is one of the only farms in New Jersey that grows the plant and one of the few on the East Coast.

“Lavender is one of the most difficult plants, but the simplest,” Price said. “I know that sounds conflicting. There is not a lot of information, and a lot of the information is conflicting. It’s difficult for me because I am one of the few lavender farms in New Jersey and on the east coast. Each site is different and it’s a lot of trial and error.”

The lavender plant doesn’t require a lot of work to grow it. It needs loose sandy soil, full sun, no fertilizer and very little water.

“It’s a perennial so it grows every year and will bloom for about 10 to 15 years,” Price said. “It blooms now, and this year it was actually three weeks early. It does need to be pruned and attended to.”

Price started putting full time hours into Busy Bee Farm back in 2006 after she left her teaching career.

“I couldn’t do both anymore, there weren’t enough hours in the day,” Price said. “I miss teaching a lot. This is very rigorous, but I love it, this is what I always wanted to do.”

The farm is going to start having camp groups come in and learn about the farm, the lavender and bee keeping. Price says this will give her the opportunity to combine two things she loves.

“We are bee keepers also and we make lavender honey here,” Price said. “We are going to educate the camp groups here about bees and farms. I’m going to be able to merge my interests. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

To find out more about Busy Bee Farm and picking lavender, visit www.busybeefarmnj.com.