Who is Wayward Winds Lavender?
Did you know that WWL is a small boutique family-owned business? It’s true!
Our company mission is
“to create something beautiful and share it with others”.
Our vision is
“to intentionally make the world more beautiful
by modeling nurturing business practices in the lavender industry”.
We are a female-owned and operated business with only five part-time year-round employees and one contracted landscaper who makes our farm look so beautiful.
Meet our year around staff:
Here are all the people that make and grow your lavender products and plants from scratch.
Cathy is our Office Manager and is usually the cheerful voice on the other end of the phone when you call our office. She keeps our product orders moving forward and does a lion’s share of the customer service regarding our wholesale products. She packages up orders for safe shipping, sends invoices, keeps the books, and does payroll. Everyone loves Cathy!
Cathy
Jessika is our product manager. She makes every product we produce at Wayward Winds from start to finish. Including mixing recipes, bottling products, and labeling. She is organized, and efficient, pays great attention to detail, and values quality. She prefers to work behind the scenes so you won’t see much of her. We are lucky she was willing to share a picture of her and her dog with us. Know that if you order any of our products, Jessika has lovingly made them for you!
Jessika
Judy (not pictured) comes in once a week on Tuesdays for several hours to give Jessika a hand.Judy is a social butterfly and helps us keep our local brick-and-mortar stocked with Wayward Winds Lavender-labeled products. She gives Jessika a much-needed reprieve and is a breath of fresh air as she is always up for a good laugh.
Kristen is our Director of Operations. She makes sure the whole business is moving forward. She drives our mission and vision and pitches in wherever is needed to help keep the troops happy. She also doesmuch of our marketing and social media. Kristen loves to connect with people, and support others in their hopes and dreams. She inspires those around her.
Kristen
Ellie is our Jill-of-all-trades. Is there anything Ellie can’t do? Currently, she is our Farm & Greenhouse Manager, in charge of propagating all our lavender and processing the harvest. In the off season, she does quite a bit of supporting the rest of us wherever needed. This next year she will be moving into our Operations Assistant position and assisting Kristen remotely. Ellie, is also getting married (at the farm) and moving to Eugene this summer! We are all sad that she is physically leaving us.
Ellie
Marilyn is the Creative Director and the current owner of WWL. She has farmed lavender for over 20 years and is one of the first farmers to start growing lavender here in Yamhill County. She has helped to start both the United States Lavender Growers Association, and Lavender Northwest. Marilyn is one of a handful of women affectionately called a “mother of lavender” by the Willamette Valley Lavender Festival as she was a founding member of the event and is still involved today.
Marilyn & Brad
Brad, Marilyn’s husband and co-owner, faithfully helps out as we need him…which is a lot…especially for heavy lifting and super dirty jobs. He does facility maintenance, runs errands, is our comic relief, mows the lawns, and so much more. Brad is often seen with Divy, the farm’s black and white mini border collie, who thinks she runs the whole operation. We indulge her fantasy because she is so earnest about it.
Max does our farm landscape maintenance. He makes everything beautiful on the property. He braves rain, sleet, snow, wind, fog, extreme heat, and everything in between to care for our lovely lavender farm. He maintains the flower beds, waters the greenhouses, and cares for the chickens…to name a few of his jobs.
Max
There you have it…our whole crew. Our hope is “to offer a tranquil sanctuary from the unrest and anxieties of the world by intentionally nurturing an enviornment of beauty, safety, and love among our employees and in our work space”.
Together, we create beautiful things and share them with others!
Where do we make our products?
We operate out of a vintage building called the Pythian Hall, which used to be a schoolhouse run by the Sisters of the Pythians in the late 1800s. This fun and quirky space has certified kitchens where we make all of our products. Our store room is an old classroom. Our newly renovated office space is upstairs in what used to be the school office and teacher prep room.
New Office Space
During the farm season, we hire around 23 local college and high school students to help with the farm stand and the harvest. They are with us for about two months mid-June through mid-August. Currently, we are open during the farm season from 10 am to 5 pm. We are hoping to extend our hours into the evening this coming season.
Summer Staff 2023
We harvest our fields as well as a couple of off-site fields. We process the lavender harvest on the farm by hanging and drying it in our loft, then stripping it by hand (thanks to our summer farm staff of hard-working young adults). We also clean our culinary lavender before we package it for sale. Some of the lavender from our fields we distill into oil in our large antique copper still. Distillation is also a service we offer to other lavender growers.
As a Wayward Winds Lavender retail customers, wholesale partners, and farm guest we want to invite you all to take a deep breath and know you are cared for this holiday season and always!
Love,
The Wayward Winds Lavender Staff
