EAGLE, Idaho — Bill and Wendy Southerland bought a hay field north of Eagle in 1985. When they retired six years ago they decided to start planting lavender and now they run their own family business.
"As we started planting people started noticing it and they wanted to be part of it," said Bill Southerland. "6,000 plants later we finally stopped."
Red Chair Lavender features 30 different variations of sweet smelling lavender. They use this purple flower to make a wide variety of products including food, bath products, candles, lotion and essential oil is their most popular item.
"The essential oil that we distill is good for your skin, good for cuts and abrasions," said Bill. "We use lavender in all of our products because it is a great natural product."
This weekend the public has an opportunity to learn more about lavender at the Red Chair Lavender Festival that runs at the family farm from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
The festival will give the public a chance to cut fresh lavender, listen to live music, shop with local vendors and see some alpacas. There will be drinks for sale, you could try the lavender glazed salmon and new this year features the lavender locomotive for the kids.
"Everybody has a job," said Bill. "Everybody has a lot to do particularly around festival time, it’s pretty exciting for us."
Bill and Wendy run this farm with their kids and their grandchildren. They also have volunteers who come out to help during the festival as it has grown in popularity.
They want people to know that the farm doesn't have much parking so they ask people to park at Eagle High School and take a shuttle bus to the farm. They will have three buses running back and forth on Saturday and Sunday, you might also be wondering how they got their name.
"Wendy just finished making a couple of fresh lavender wreaths and she put one in a red chair and said how about Red Chair Lavender and I said that’s great," said Bill. "That’s kind of how that came about and it has been a fun marketing tool for us, it’s just been a lot of fun."
The farm is open Thursday through Sunday and they can process orders online. However, they will be closed until after the festival as they prepare for a big weekend in Eagle.
Tickets for the festival cost $15 and they can be purchased here.
