Graham Farm - Astrid & Marta Cart - 2025

Astrid’s Lavender Farm

Gig Harbor, WA

Donald & Astrid Graham, Derek & Marta Costa

We are happy to introduce Derek E. Costa, MD, Marta E. Costa, DDS, Donald Graham, and Astrid Graham who are the owners of Astrid’s Lavender Farm, LLC, founded in August 2022.

Here’s how Don tells it: “One day, my wife Astrid and I, with our friends Derek and Marta Costa, decided to visit the Sequim Lavender Festival. Just for fun and curiosity, the four of us visited several different lavender farms, and while trying to find starter plants for specific varieties, we ended up at Victor’s Lavender Farm. It just happened, in a small tent at the back of his farm, Victor conducted a short presentation about growing lavender. At the end of the talk, he invited questions. Astrid raised her hand and asked, “How much land do you need to start a lavender farm?” He inquired, “How much do you have?” and she replied, “10 acres.” He said, “That is plenty, but it depends on the nature of your soil.” Victor was gracious enough to accept our offer to engage him for a half-day, on-site consultation about our property. And off we went, obtaining soil samples for testing, with one thing leading to another. We created a four member LLC and named the farm after Astrid, since she started everything off with her question.

What did you do before lavender farming?

Before starting the farm, I was trying to retire from my corporate law career in both Washington and California, while my wife, Astrid, was a retired employment counselor for a school district in Sacramento, California. Joining us was recently retired Derek Costa, MD, who was a practicing medical doctor supervising the Kaiser medical facility in Port Orchard, WA where his wife Marta Costa, DDS, still operates a group dental practice.

How many plants and what cultivars do you have on your farm?

We currently have about 3,000 plants consisting of seven varieties: ‘Grosso’, ‘Royal Velvet’, ‘Folgate’, ‘Melissa’, ‘Edelweiss’, ‘Hidcote Giant’ and ‘Hidcote Blue’. I particularly like ‘Royal Velvet’ because it can be used for culinary products, and it makes a nice-looking durable dried bouquet.

What is your favorite product or use for the lavender you grow?

In addition to bouquets, sachets and neck wraps do well.

What’s your best tip or advice regarding any aspect of growing lavender?

Anticipate and address the challenges of obtaining reliable workers to assist with all the stoop labor involved in soil preparation, planting, and harvesting.

What forms of marketing or community outreach have you used that may, or may not, have been successful for your business?

We have an on-line store at our website: astridslavenderfarm.com . We also have some presence on Google Maps, Instagram and Facebook. We participate as a host for local farm tours, and we attend community craft events and farmers markets. We also participate with The Mustard Seed Project of the Key Peninsula, West Sound Floral Exchange, the Key Peninsula Farm Council, the Gig Harbor Female Farmers Association, and the Olalla Lavender Festival. New for us this year will be the Tacoma Dome Holiday Festival in October. Of course, we are beginning to participate with Lavender Northwest’s branding campaign.

As you reflect on prior farming practices, what is your biggest “regret” or “wish” that you had done differently?

It has all been good, but perhaps as part of our planning, we might have considered more thoroughly the proportional size of the different cultivars we were going to plant. It’s difficult to adjust crop mix once you have thousands of plants in the ground.

Do you grow anything in addition to lavender? What other products or services does your farm offer?

Our farm was originally occupied by 8’-tall blackberry brambles, so we had to remove them. But we have kept a small highly controlled area as a productive site for blackberry picking so visitors may enjoy that, if they choose. We also have a children’s playground with swings, hay bales and picnic tables, plus a few wooded trails including one made for young children. We were happy to grant permission to a Girl Scout group that wanted to plan and create a trail for their Girl Scout Silver Star merit award project. There is also a local senior center that plans to conduct yoga classes on our site when the flowers bloom.

Who helps you with your lavender operation?

Friends and family pitch in some. We hire college students for the summer and try to catch day laborers, as we can. We are still making efforts to deal with the labor issue ourselves, relying on word-of-mouth and on-line recruitment sites including Craig’s List and Barefoot Student.

What outlets do you use to sell your products?

We sell at our on-site farm shop, our on-line store on our website astridslavenderfarm.com, and at our booths at University Place Farmers Market, Port Orchard Garden and Craft Show, Key Peninsula Art Walk, Gig Harbor Waterfront Farmers Market, the Key Peninsula “June Boom”, the KP Farm Tour, and the West Sound Floral Exchange.

Anything else you would like to share?

In addition to running a small, producing lavender farm, we are attempting to provide a pleasant location for people to visit and enjoy the trees and quiet spaces.