Dear Sponsors and Friends of The Vashon Island Lavender Farm Tour:

For the past seven years, the members of VILGA - The Lavender Sisters, Fox Farm Lavender, and more recently Lavender Hill Farm - have opened our farms to host a lavender farm tour and harvest celebration on Vashon.  Your extremely generous support has made it possible to bring over 2500 visitors to the farms in the last several years.  While we hate to disappoint everyone - islanders, tourists, supporters, volunteers and lavender lovers - all of us feel the need, after seven years of harvesting and hosting, to rest in our eighth year.

So, it is with some regret but also a deep need to renew and revitalize, that we are announcing a hiatus for the summer of 2010.  We know that the lavender farm tour is enthusiastically supported and attended and we look forward to seeing what a hiatus will bring in terms of new ideas and vision for the years ahead.  But all of us want to return to the land and the lavender that inspired the festival and tend to our own gardens, families and friends.

Summer on Vashon will still be filled with lavender.  Lavender Hill Farm will be open daily all season for U-Cut lavender and gift items.  Fox Farm will be hosting weddings and events.  The Lavender Sisters will be selling lavender and products at the Saturday Farmers Market.   Later in the spring, we will meet to talk about smaller events we can host next summer.  We will be sure to let you know.

Part of the satisfaction of hosting the lavender farm tour each year is the opportunity to raise money for worthy organizations on Vashon - particularly those promoting community and sustainability.  Your sponsorships have made this possible. Thanks in great part to your support, VILGA has been able to make contributions to Vashon-Maury Community Food Bank, Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust, Vashon Interfaith Council on Homelessness, Vashon Community Care Center, Vashon Youth Council and Sustainable Vashon’s Solar Initiative.

We all wish you a Happy New Year and look forward to having time to visit friends, attend island events and just sit and smell the lavender. When we are refreshed, we will fill you in on future lavender plans.

We’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas, and if you want to wander the fields, just let us know.

Sincerely,

Cindy Johnson,
~ Fox Farm Lavender
Cathy MacNeal and Tom Dalzell
~ Lavender Hill Farm
Merrilee Runyan, Katy Jo Steward, Dana Illo
~ The Lavender Sisters

Take a look at past tour activities!