‘Trying to balance COVID-19, being a new mum and working full-time… it was just too challenging. It was basically just keeping the plants alive’
WELLINGTON COUNTY‒ Some small businesses across Wellington County are feeling the mental health toll of returning to post-pandemic life.
One of these companies is the Tullamore Lavender Co. (TLC), an 80-acre farm with 2,000 lavender plants in Arthur, owned and operated by Stephanie Craig and her husband, Steven Larmer. While Craig didn’t always feel like farming when she escaped to the city from her family’s dairy farm as a young adult, she “felt called back to nature” after working in communications at the University of Guelph.
“I was surrounded by all these interesting advances around how we use agriculture as a tool to feed people but also make the environment healthier, and I was called back,” Craig said. “I was drawn to trying to farm differently and creatively, but also selfishly, (Arthur) is a beautiful place to live. Maybe not when you’re 16, but definitely when you’re 36.”
Craig realized that if she “wanted to give it a shot,” she had to “take a bet” on herself and try her “second dream full-time.” Starting with a test plot in 2019, Craig began selling produce at markets before their first big planting in 2020 when “things just kind of stalled.”
“(Lavender farming) is great because I get to do the creative side as well as get my hands dirty growing a cool plant, but it also makes it hard to do as a side job,” Craig said. “We started out thinking (growing lavender) was an easy way to do (small-scale) farming, and then you get into it and realize it can be a little more complicated than the Internet says.”
As lavender is not an important crop, Craig has had to create his own market; inventing products and making connections with local businesses to slowly grow her customer base.
“Trying to balance COVID-19, being a new mom and working full-time … it was just too challenging. It was basically just keeping the plants alive,” Craig said. “But even though our business has grown very slowly , it’s also one of those things where we see more potential every time we harvest or have a new collaboration.”
According to Kristel Manes, the executive director of Business Center Guelph-Wellington, a non-profit that advises new entrepreneurs, many of their conversations with business owners have focused on mental health since 2020.
“A lot of customers were just struggling and just needed a little time to talk to someone, to be able to share. We’ve had a lot of crying, grief, grief,” Manes said during his presentation to Center Wellington Council. “(But) there have also been a lot of companies that started and navigated COVID-19 and are now finding ways to successfully pivot out.”
One way TLC pivoted was by participating in the Wellington County Experimental Acres pilot in 2023, which provides small agricultural businesses with support for the first year of trying new small-scale farming methods.
“Any time you lose a little bit (of natural land) and it’s very hard to rebuild,” Craig said. “Our theory is that we can plant directly into the plastic without tilling, preserving the soil structure and helping with drainage.”
While conventional lavender cultivation requires tillage, Craig’s method uses sheets of black plastic to insulate the soil and form a weed barrier. The challenge is that the couple must wait a whole year before planting their next crop.
“You’re essentially using the plants that were there before as compost to help feed the soil,” Craig said. “But we really feel this could be a big game changer… for people who don’t have access to tractors or big equipment, so they don’t have to worry about plowing, they just need time.”
Currently, the general public cannot visit the TLC farm, but the hope is that the doors will open fully for visits next year, once the first round of planting is complete. The farm offers private tours and can host local community groups.
“People are so experience-oriented now, which makes sense. We’re trying to make up for two lost years,” Craig said. “But I want to challenge the idea that… I’m going to open up the farm and compete to bring hundreds of thousands of people here. (I want to) get to know my customers so they can relax and relax when they arrive .”
Isabel Buckmaster is a reporter from the Local Journalism Initiative for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally funded program.
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