Spring on Orcas means the Farm is in full swing. Seedlings are maturing, the greenhouse is filling up, the honeybees are out, and the lavender is two months from bloom.
Everything you see growing here under Luna the Bernese Mountain Dog's patient supervision will be in our products by next year. Here's where the botanical magic begins...
The Future Summer Harvest
Cucumber seedlings will grow into the star ingredient of our Cucumber Renewal Face Care products. Eliza and our farm manager, Jacqui, started growing out seeds in early March.
These young cucumber plants are a little further along. They've been planted out in the greenhouse and have their first sets of real leaves. We grow them on a hemp twine trellis that can be composted at the end of the season.
Baby calendula plants. We grow the Resina cultivar because it has the highest resin content in the flower heads — the resin contains the anti-inflammatory compounds that make calendula such an important botanical element in products like Calendula Comfrey Cream.
Lavender loves spring rains and long days of sunshine. You can find it featured in many of our Farm to Body products like Herbal Super Salve, Soothing Skin Salve, Mother & Baby Balm, and the Soothing Flowers Face Care line.
Succession planting in progress. Each year we plant new lavender bushes to replace the ones that are reaching the end of their productive life. Our mature bushes will be harvested in July — the young plants still need a couple of years.
Around the Farm
Hives of honeybees help with pollination. The harvested honey doesn't make it into any of our products — just the mouths of friends & family.
The goats love getting fresh greens as a treat. They would also happily devour every single plant and herb on the farm if the fences didn't hold them back.
Say hello to Poppy and Iris. Goat milk from Island Thyme Farm goes into our gentle goat milk soaps: Naked Goat is our unscented version, and the Calendula Goat's Milk soap has soothing calendula as well as lavender and lemon essential oils for a fantastic scent experience.
Island Thyme Farm, Olga, WA