A Passion For The Outdoors Leads To Organic Gardening

By Kendra Bobowick

The air was sweetened by scented candles.

Flames threw light across a room filled with window boxes spilling with flowers and herbs as Gail Lawson surveyed the Mother’s Day sale special arrangements that will coincide with the second weekend of Lacewings and Lavender greenhouse’s grand opening.

Pointing to some of the herbal planters and flowering containers with “Mom” in mind, she said, “People can stop in for a gift if they need something quick.” Lavender, English thyme, pineapple mint, chocolate mint, pesto basil, sweet basil, sage, and dill are among the flavored herbs growing in the greenhouse and making their way to the Mother’s Day planters.

Ms Lawson stood in the sun-lit, open room included in her leased space at Mitchell Farm. The quiet spot is sparsely decorated with old wooden bureaus and chairs that support window boxes of different sizes, small potted arrangements, and sprigs of herbs. With only the sounds of a soft breeze to distract her, she looked out across the street to an empty field where she envisions guests walking through rows of flowers ripe for placing in crystal vases on a kitchen table.

Hopeful in her first retail season at Mitchell Farm, she said, “Herbs and flowers will really carry the business, I think. I really want to make this an area where people can walk through and cut.” In addition to guests selecting their own blooms from the field will be the indoor arrangements already on display. Next door is a long, warm greenhouse with trays of budding plants.

Drawn To The Outdoors

A touch of green thumb has always been with her.

“I have always been an outdoor person,” Ms Lawson said. She began online courses several years ago and cultivated a small backyard nursery.

“I started for fun and ended up with plants at a farm stand,” she said. Following her online education, Ms Lawson enrolled in a Master Gardener’s program. She also knew farm owners Jodi and Rob Mitchell. “Jodi had asked if I wanted to lease the greenhouse and I said yes,” Ms Lawson said.

Her original idea had been to grow perennials and sell potted plants at farmers’ markets, but she has made a home at the farm. Her inspirations stretched into the neighboring, overgrown field with a stream running through it. With the Mitchells help, the field will host a crop of cutting flowers and herbs, and organic garlic. “We’ll see where the market takes us,” Ms Lawson said.

A retired nurse, Ms Lawson’s family moved to Connecticut ten years ago when her children were young. “When it was time to reenter the workplace, I didn’t want to go back to nursing.”

Her change of pace has been “serendipitous and beautiful,” she said.

 

Something Sustainable

As she progressed through the online and Master Gardener’s courses, Ms Lawson grew more sensitive to the environment.

“I’ve gone from potted perennials to a passion for sustainable agriculture and organic farming,” she said. She has become a member of the Northeast Organic Farmers Association (NOFA), and believes in supporting local farms and farmers. “They protect the open land,” she said. Organic approaches also detract from pollutants that come from chemical fertilizers and herbicides, she said. The earth-friendly approach she will take into the cutting field leads to her business name.

Lacewings and Lavender Means…

“The lacewing is a beneficial insect,” she said. As organic farming or gardening avoids chemicals, the insect population becomes an important factor to healthy plants, she explained. “You create a little ecosystem and invite insects that will eat others that attack plants,” Ms Lawson said. Lacewings eat aphids, thrips, scales, moth eggs, and mites, which are all common problems. Lavender is both an herb and flower, she said.

After the Mother’s Day kick-off, Ms Lawson will continue to sell from the Mitchell Farm location, which will also revert to a farm stand. She will also be selling at the Waterbury Farmers’ Market.

The Mitchell Farm is in Southbury at the end of River Road near the Shepaug Dam and Eagle observatory. Regular Lacewings and Lavender hours will be Tuesday through Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm. Closed Monday.