On the Tasman Peninsula

This was my first Aussie lavender farm visit during my month long sojourn in this part of the southern hemisphere. Frankly, for a person who eats, drinks, and lives lavender it was a relief to be among familiar plants and see the creative uses of lavender again. I didn’t realize how much the scent is a part of my everyday life until I was without it for a while.

Far down on the Tasman Peninsula before you get to the Port Arthur Historic Site, you will pass Port Arthur Lavender. It is situated on the waterfront at Long Bay set on 18 acres of lavender fields, rainforest and lakes. Well placed, it attracts hundreds of visitors.

People can roam amongst the lavender, interactively learn about the manufacturing and distilling process in their distillery, enjoy delightful lavender-cuisine and buy unique Tasmanian gifts created from their lavender.

Sorrell

What isn’t obvious, is that there is a main farm in Sorrell and it has more lavender (around 10,000 plants). It’s good, because they will need that and more to accommodate the business they are attracting.

All this has been created by Clare and Brendan Dean who are multi-generational farmers from the Sorrell region. Clare grew up working on her father’s potato farm digging them up by hand when she was little. Her parents have 1200 acres and grow about 100 – 150 acres of potatoes a year which produces a couple thousand tons of potatoes.

Clare and Brendan have 500 acres from his family which they took over on the death of his grandfather.

Aside from the lavender they contract with GlaxoSmithKline to grow opium poppies, they have cattle, sheep. To grow something like opium poppies they have to go through a strict assessment and evaluation, it’s not for the casual farmer and this couple is far from casual. As many other lavender growers have discovered, it’s a hard job to only grow lavender and make a living so they are integrating it into a larger farm plan. They started growing lavender due to the drought they had been experiencing and its effects on their other crops. They needed to balance out production to be more drought resistant.

Clare discovered a real passion for making soaps and continues making them herself even as the demand surprised her and left them with a very low inventory. She has taken on other staff to help with the manufacturing, but not the soaps, which is where her heart is. She was making Peppermint and Green Tea soap on the day I was there, and curing several other kinds of soap in this beautiful rack. The season is coming to an end although there are quite a lot of winter festivals now in Tasmania, so it won’t be as quiet as has been in the past.

They are growing enough lavender that they have had to innovate during harvest to stretch their drying capacity. I wasn’t there during harvest, but they now use a racking system that lets them lay the bunches down and the air will go around all of them and they are dried well. These bunches are only for stripping the bud off, not for finished bundles to sell, because lavender still needs to be hung to dry if you want a lovely bundle for decorating.

She is very grateful for the people who have helped her learn along the way. There was a couple in New Zealand with whom she consulted to learn distilling and whom she credits with help above and beyond the call of duty. She is excited by the food possibilities. She has bees for honey but it was a bad year for the bees in Tasmania and the supply of honey made by bees feasting on lavender is sparse. She also infuses honey that she buys, and she makes a creamed honey that is whipped up with lavender oil. They make a ganache for the chocolates and use the lavender oil in fudge as well as other food products.

Besides the lavender, poppies, livestock, manufacturing, and shop they have three small children who keep her busy.

Back on the Peninsula

When they first planted the lavender at Port Arthur, they had troubles with a hard winter in which wild animals were so hungry that they ate the lavender to the ground. They had to protect the property with vermin-proof fencing. The plants look pretty good, though, for only being 12 months old, and Clare thinks it’s because they put their energy to their roots after getting nibbled, and had a big push the next season.

They have had exponential growth in their business since they opened the Port Arthur shop. By December they had gone from a couple employees to 18 at the peak of the season.

I had lunch at their Port Arthur shop and it was a delicious Spinach, Feta & Sundried Tomato Frittata with spicy lavender infused chutney and a salad. That and the latte made a wonderful meal.

The Dean’s operation, Port Arthur Lavender, and the rest of their farming activity is a business in which the needs of customers and the reality of farm life have been woven together to form a solid operation.