LAVENDER with altitude

In February 2009 businessman Allan Tibby approached longtime friend Blake Foster with a suggestion of establishing an alpine lavender farm. He had seen that tourists overseas flocked to lavender farms and thought an alpine lavender experience easily accessible from the road would be a fabulous attraction here. Not only was he right about that, but New Zealand Alpine Lavender has also gone on to win many awards for its high quality lavender oil.

That it should be organic from the start was without doubt. Blake had grown up on a grain-cropping farm in Saskatchewan, so had farming experience, and had managed an organic health food store for nine years.

“After I became chemically sensitive, I developed a desire to take care of the earth,” he says, “to not poison the land; rather, to be a caretaker and steward of the land. Thus, to farm organically became important to me.”

A WELL-OILED MACHINE

Now the farm is well established, with Blake working full-time, boosted by five or six seasonal staff during the harvest.

From spring