Lavender Fields at Frog Rock Farm

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Greg and Sheila Kent grow nine kinds of lavender at Frog Rock Lavender Farm near Seattle. By Mary Fran McQuade

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Imagine waking up to the burble of a hillside stream and the sweet scent of lavender. Or holding your wedding or anniversary party in a hidden hollow in the woods, surrounded by lavender fields.

Those are among the many charms of Frog Rock Lavender Farm, a 2½-acre herbal getaway less than one hour from downtown Seattle.

Getting there is half the fun. From the city, you take a half-hour ferry across Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island, 48 woodsy square miles populated by upscale urban escapees and a thick sprinkling of artists and craftspeople. Ten minutes or so down the road, you turn off at the horse pasture, bump down the lane and you’re there.

“We’re the closest lavender farm to downtown Seattle,” says Sheila Kent, who runs the farm with her husband, Greg. (Farther west, the town of Sequim, on the Olympic peninsula, has built a big reputation as a lavender center.)

Pick Your Own — Or Not

At Frog Rock, the personal touch dominates. The Kents don’t advertise, Sheila explains. “We put up road signs along the one and only highway on the island.” Though they promote pick-your-own lavender, she says, “People really like it better if we pick it for them. We know what’s in best condition and will last longest.”

The Frog Rockers also have developed a nice line of organic lavender products. At present, these are sold only at the farm, but are expected to be available soon through the farm’s website, www.frogrocklavender.com. Sheila’s especially proud of the lavender-scented all-vegetable soy candles in tins with the Frog Rock logo. “They make a nice souvenir,” she says. She’s also found genuine embroidered Irish linen to make into sachets holding a generous three cups of dried lavender. A luxuriously rich shea butter moisturizer, lavender bath salts and salt scrub round out the farm’s offerings.

The venture started out modestly in 1998. At the time, Sheila and Greg were living in a rural subdivision on the island. Then, their realtor called and said “You have to see this property.”

The site was an east-facing slope overgrown with blackberry vines and alders, with a small creek and pond at the bottom of the hill. To some people, it might have looked scrubby. “But,” Sheila says, “we saw the potential.” A local magazine article had alerted her to the possibilities of growing lavender in the Pacific Northwest, and she and Greg had toured the lavender route in Provence some years earlier. So their decision seemed clear.

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