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Discover Nettle Creek Lavender Farm

Smith continues to expand her farm every year. Upcoming additions include one or two more rows of cut flowers and lavender, as well as some new cherry trees. "We had one tree planted this year, but unfortunately a raccoon decided it wanted to eat the cherries. It climbed up the little tree, and it snapped in two," said Smith. "We'd like to plant more, but we’ll be a little more preventative this time around, using bonemeal to repel the raccoons. We’re planning on adding a small grove of about 17 or 18 dwarf cherry trees, so we’ll be able to start offering some u-pick cherries in the springs. It won’t be a big operation, but people love to get cherries fresh." Another fun project will be Nettle Creek Lavender Farm's 'bed of bed'. "I recently received an antique metal bed frame, we’ll be tuning that into a big flowerbed full of lavender. It’ll make for for a really pretty space, and some great photo ops."

By Maribeth M. Wilson

MORRIS – The Nettle Creek Lavender Farm is a must-see botanical paradise to anyone passing through the area.

The farm, formally established in 2012, grew out of Maggie Smith’s love of gardening, a passion she inherited from her family.

“I have always been around gardeners; we lived on 52 acres of a property when I was little. I roamed and explored a lot. It was always a part of my background,” Smith said.

“I loved being outside,” she said. “We had pigs and we had chickens and I had a pony. My dad helped the local farmer grow corn, as he worked a day job as an insurance agent. So, gardening has always been a part of my background. My grandmother had the proverbial nice garden in the back of her yard, with a compost pile and a white picket fence and a whole cutting garden along the outside of that with her favorite daisies and hollyhocks. My mother has a bit of a green thumb, as well. So, I had a lot of gardening in my background.”

About 24 years ago, her full-time job in retail began to downsize, so she turned to what she knew best, gardening. She started looking into lavender and began to realize its versatility, realizing there is more to it than its beauty and scent.

A lavender plant grown in the farm field at Nettle Creek Lavender Farm. (Photo provided)

“When I started looking into different things I could do, my mother-in-law did have lavender in her borders and we had it in our landscaping when we lived in Joliet, so I started looking more into that,” Smith said. “I was the breadwinner at the time and I decided it was really neat. I knew lavender was always really pretty and I really liked it, but I didn’t realize it had so much versatility.”

Smith began her research and created different products. When she moved with her family to Nettle Creek, she turned their 4-acre yard into a specialty farm, cultivating various herbs, fruits and flowers, including, of course, lavender.

The wooden farm stand located at the front of Nettle Creek Lavender Farm sells a wide variety of products made from flowers and herbs grown on the farm.

The wooden farm stand located at the front of Nettle Creek Lavender Farm sells a wide variety of products made from flowers and herbs grown on the farm.

The front of the property is home to a wooden farm stand that sells a wide variety of products made from flowers and herbs grown on the farm. Products include fresh-cut lavender, candles, potpourri, essential oils, containers for picking your own flowers and even honey made on the farm. The hours for the farm stand can be found at facebook.com/nclavenderfarm.

The products Smith sells at her farm stand have become favorites at local garden shows and farmers markets. Smith even has her own booth at True North, a local vintage and home decor store in Morris.

Long rows of lavender plants run parallel to the driveway, while the remnants of last year’s bloom remain in structured rows.

Wildflower honey sold at Nettle Creek Lavender Farm.

Wildflower honey sold at Nettle Creek Lavender Farm. (Maribeth Wilson)

There are three beehives on the back of the property. The once colorful beehives are wrapped in a black corrugated material to provide insulation, with a small fence behind the hives helps cut down on the wind. The farm has been selling its wildflower honey for about four years.

Nettle Creek Lavender Farm also offers a variety of workshops, farm tours and event rentals.

“We offer tours for single people during open house hours; we have done large corporate retreats and garden clubs,” Smith said. “We host a lot of tutorial classes, hosted at both the farm and out in the community. For a set price, we will provide all the materials you’ll need to make household cleaners, including a lavender bath bomb for the toilet and botanical art. Those are just a few of the workshops we have planned.”

For information on Nettle Creek Lavender Farm, visit www.nettlecreeklavenderfarm.com.

For the farm’s hours and schedule of events, visit www.facebook.com/nclavenderfarm/.

Morris

Maribeth M. Wilson

Maribeth M. Wilson has been a reporter with Shaw Media for two years, one of those as news editor at the Morris Herald-News. She became a part of the NewsTribune staff in 2023.