Fabrics on Spoonflower

Any home seamstresses or pattern-lovers out there? We want to recommend a site we LOVE to use for all things fabric!

Spoonflower is a website designed for those selling their own handmade patterns (like us) and those looking to use them. It is designed in a way that allows you to search for your pattern needs in a super simple way. You can choose the product you are looking for (fabric, wallpaper or gift wrap) and then narrow your search based on color, tags, availability and/or location. There is a huge variety of patterns on the site, which makes for a refreshing selection for those looking to get inspiration for a project.

Lavender Garden

We have three of our hand-designed lavender fabrics on their website available for purchase. These patterns are used for many of our handmade products (pillow mates, mug mats, eye pillows and dryer sachets to name a few) and can be used by you for any crafty ideas you may come up with! 

The patterns, Lavender Garden and Lavender Farm Road, were created for us by designer (and recent formal family member, Cata Ferreira) pictured below teaching watercolor classes at the farm.

Cata, who recently married the eldest Williamson grandchild, Marcos.

The pattern, Lavender March, was created by moi from a little watercolor I painted of one stem.  That was used to create a repeat of lavender stems on the march!

Be sure to take a look at http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/sevenoakslavenderfarm and share with us some of the crafts you've made by using Spoonflower!

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Insight on the Field Expansion

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As many of you know, the past six months have been dedicated to expanding our lavender fields to be three times in size. And as cold and snowy as this week has been, we are so glad we went through the process of increasing and protecting for our baby plants!

Why expand? As attendance has dramatically increased over past 3-4 years, field expansion was necessary to keep up with demand. Over the years some customers had mentioned they were expecting a field with a more traditional row design.  We like to make our customers happy, so we decided not only to expand, but to completely redo our lavender field.

The field expansion was long and exhausting process with so many different steps and decision points. For those of you wondering how the process worked, we wanted to give a little inside look into the steps it took to get the field where it is today!

But before we do that, we have to give a special shout-out to our employee, April Schmidt.

April supervised most of the field re-do with love and care.  (April, who has worked with us off and on for three years will be pursuing an off the farm job after receiving her  Master of Public Health with the Concentrations: Maternal and Child Health; Health Education and Communication.)  April first removed ground cloth from the old field, helped build the new field rows, covered them with ground cloth, moved many large old plants as well as planting hundreds of new plants, watering them and finally assisting in covering all the rows with frost cloth to protect them over the winter. Thank you April, we really couldn’t have done it without you!

And here is a little look at our expansion journey!

1.     Research. In order to expand the field, we first had to do our research. Over the past few years, our plants have been suffering from the fungal disease, Phytophthora.   Once a plant is infected by this disease, it slowly dies over the course of 3-4 years and there is no cure. It is very sad for us to watch some of our biggest plants dying a slow death, so, one of our predominant concerns with the field expansion was creating an environment that would make our fields more resistant to this disease.

To do this, we developed a 3-prong strategy – new field, new plants, new protection. The new field would be different than before – we would mound up the dirt to plant each row and instead of ground cloth between rows, we would use sod. This would absorb moisture (lavender plants like to be dry, they don’t like their “feet wet”) and provide a barrier and weed management. We would also source brand new plants. These plants, a hybrid called Phenomenal, are resistant to the Phytophthora. (Head up!  We will also be selling Phenomenal lavender plants this summer.) We also began using a bio-organic product to form a barrier around the roots of the plants to keep disease from attaching itself to the root system.

2.     Labor. This was by far the most time-consuming part of the expansion. We started by taking up all the ground cloth in the old field while having the new field plowed.  Post-plowing, we mounded dirt and installed the new ground cloth on top to form rows running down the length of the front field. When this was completed, holes were cut in the ground cloth for each plant (about 4 feet apart). Then we were ready to get the babies!

3.     Purchasing Plants. In the middle of the labor process, a good farm friend, Charlie Resnik, hopped in his old van filled with impromptu shelving and took a day trip up to Pennsylvania to bring home the new Phenomenal plants.

4.     Organizational Chart. We created a hand-drawn chart to map out each plant type and its location in the field. Even though we only bought a few new varieties, we have many others varieties of lavender plants from the old field. We created a small open lawn space in the center of the new field. This area will be home to a new gazebo....a great focal point and prop for photos!   We placed our largest plants as a border to the lawn, so the back drop would be as purple as possible.

5.     More Labor. We planted the freshly arrived baby Phenomenal plants and dug up and replanted the mature plants not infected with Phytophthora into the holes in the the new field. By this time, it was late fall and we needed to start preparing the plants for winter. To do this, hoops were placed in the ground (and by placed, we meant using every ounce of strength in our arms on the days the dirt was nearly frozen) and then frost cloth was cut, placed over the hoops, and the ends covered with dirt (again, harder than it sounds) for each of the 20 or so rows. Even though time consuming, this step is extremely important as it protects the plants from wind and snow and raises the temperature under the cloth by ten degrees.  Lavender is really only tolerant of cold down to 10 below.

6.     Future. As the winter rolls on and we start seeing signs of life in the early spring, we will plow up the old field and extend the new rows up to the top of the knoll. By the time this is finished, our 1 ½ acre field will have expanded to 3-4 acres, and that’s only in a year!

Come summer, there will be a large variety of sizes and types of lavender. This variance in size will continue into the next few years as the babies grow into mature, thriving adults. We added 8-10 perennial herbs last year which will be available this year for cutting, and we just added 10 new rows of other types of perennial flowers available for picking as well.

With all of these changes, we think it will create a layered and  impressive vista – perfect for summer day-trips to the country to pick flowers, or herbs, picnic and enjoy the scenery.   The new field will create a dramatic backdrop for selfies, photographs, or professional portraits!

As always, we'd like to thank you for your support of small agriculture in Virginia.  We look forward to showing off the new field in Season 2015!

How to Pop-Up

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Do you own a start-up home business? Are you looking to expand by leaving the interior of your house and giving retail a try, without a huge commitment?

Well, we tried it and want to share!

Seven Oaks Lavender Farm just recently ran a successful pop-up in Warrenton, Virginia. What is a pop-up you ask? The official dictionary definition describes it as “a store or other business that opens quickly in a temporary location and is intended to operate for only a short period of time.” Basically – you prep, you sell, you leave, that's it.

For those of you thinking of giving it a try or are wondering how much preparation goes into a successful pop-up, we’ve put together a collection of tips and how-to’s. Be sure to keep these things in mind when diving into the pop-up process (and remember, the prep work is the most time-consuming!)

Before- The Prep Work

The Space

1.     Work backwards. Think about your preferred outcome of the pop-up and what you need to decide on in order to meet your expectations. How long do you want this event to last (a month, a week, or one-day event)? What do you want to sell and when you want to sell it? Be strategic in date and time of year, while keeping other nearby events in mind. Take advantage of holidays and any other miscellaneous calendar days that could drive more sales (Ex. We took advantage of “Small Business Saturday”).

2.     Find an appropriate space. Look for empty storefronts and large retail spaces nearby. Many places like this are up for rent, or at least have a portion of space available (possibility of sectioning off a corner). One key to making a profit from the event is getting the space for as inexpensively as possible....free is even better!

3.     Approach Landlord. Once finding an appropriate spot, approach the owner or landlord of the space to discuss the pop-up. Ask if they are open to the idea, what they will charge in rent, what the regulations are for using the space, etc. Have a price point in mind before going into the conversation.

4.     It’s a Deal! Depending on the landlord, a space can be rented by something as simple as a handshake, or by a lengthier process of signing a lease and paying a security deposit (for blemishes, broken items, etc). You and any other vendors may need to provide proof of insurance to owner to safely cover what you are selling inside their space.

5.     Pre-plan the space. Think about placement. Buy decorations, get crafty. Don’t wait until the last minute to think about décor. Even something as simple as a few balloons and a sign outside or seasonal eye-catching items in the storefront can make a huge difference in creating a space that has a professional and thought-out appearance. You want the space to be attractive and inviting to your customers while showcasing your products in their best light.

The People

6.     Vendors. Decide if you want to fly solo or invite other businesses. Inviting other vendors is harder, but it usually attracts a wider audience. How to find others? Use the resources available to you - ask friends with their own businesses, use word of mouth, ask your area’s economic development authority for names of other local small businesses, research craft fairs and what vendors participate and call them, use buy fresh buy local guides, visit farmers markets - just to name a few. You want to choose vendors that enhance and coincide with your business without overlapping too much in product.

7.     Think About Time and Energy. If you don’t have a lot of time and energy to put into the pop-up, go small and just sell your products. Having more vendors dramatically increases the amount of work you will have to do because the amount of organizing, contacting and working out details with each individual vendor.

8.     Payment. When vendors agree to participate, ask them to pay their share of the rent up front....this will keep them from cancelling at the last minute and leaving you to pay their portion of the rent.

9.     Keep staffing in mind. You may want help with set up and take down, but a key to getting sales is personally being there to talk to your customers. It provides them with a face to put with the name of your business, and you are the best person to show off your passion for your products.

The Details

10. Familiarize Yourself. Walk around to other shops on the street and talk to them about what you are doing. Ask if they’d be open to displaying any flyers or posters you make for the event in their storefront. If you are a caffeine-lover or like to go out to lunch, be sure you know in advance where the closest coffee shops and lunch shops are in order to make quick trips during lulls in crowds.

11. Advertise. Use social media. Some easy ways to do this are using Facebook ads and making a Facebook event page, offering a sale only available at the pop-up, and taking advantage of specials. Call your local paper and see if they will print an article or ad and put one on Craigslist as well. Be sure to tell all other vendors to do heavy social media advertising too so that your audience size doubles with each participating vendor.

12. Branding. Create a name for your event and specific artwork for posters that include date/time/address/vendors. It could also include a brief description of what a pop-up is and what products your pop-up is highlighting.

13. Product Strategy. Be strategic in selecting product to sell.   If you are not able to leave supplies overnight for multiple-day events, be sure you choose products that are lightweight, portable and easy to set up and take down.

14. Payment. Decide what payment methods you will be offering to customers and be sure this is advertised. It helps to know where the closest ATM is in the event someone needs more cash in order to buy a product.

15. Design. Decide if you want to create some special attraction outside the store announcing the pop-up (balloons, sandwich board, etc.). Buy the day before so that you are not rushing around minutes before opening.

During- The Day Of

16. Early Bird. If you are the one in charge of the pop-up, get there at least an hour early on the start of the first day. Setting up always takes longer than you think, and some of the other vendors may have questions as they arrive.

17. Helpers. Make sure you have asked for help in advance if you have tables that are too heavy to carry alone or you have a large amount of product that needs to be unloaded. It’s best to be overly prepared with a few extra hands.

18. Remember the Extras. Remember to bring supplies like tape, paper towels, paper and pen, Kleenex, and cleaning supplies. You never know when you are going to need these items.

After- The Take Down

19. Return of the Helpers. If you had helpers for set-up, be sure to ask if they would also come back for take-down. At the end of the pop-up you will want everything to be packed away as quickly and efficiently as possible, and it is always good to have an extra set of hands.

20. Clean Up. Make sure you leave the space looking better than it was when you got it. Use the cleaning supplies you brought on the first day and be sure to sweep, mop, and run a wet towel over scuff-marks on the floor and walls.

We hope these were helpful tips! Be sure to comment or get in touch with us if you have any other questions regarding how to pop-up!