APTOS — Noble Harvest Farm in Aptos was abuzz Friday morning with thousands of bustling bees and about 40 visitors, who traveled from the Bay Area and beyond for the farm’s first you-pick lavender session of the summer season. “We never anticipated that our farm would grow into this,” said Noble Harvest Farm co-owner Linda McNair. “When you do something that you’re passionate about and open it up to others, they respond.
” Since 2020, Linda and Trent McNair have welcomed the public to take in the sights and smells of their quarter-acre lavender farm in bloom each July. Now, with a few years of experience under their hats, the two have expanded the offerings at their summer sessions to include food from High End Comida on Saturdays — and on Fridays and Saturdays, Penny Ice Creamery’s honey lavender ice cream — which is made from the lavender and honey produced at Noble Harvest Farm. “The second year we were open, the owner of Penny’s came and took home some dried lavender,” said Linda McNair.
“Later, he called us and said that he’d made a lavender simple syrup and was going to make ice cream from it. It was so cool and this year we have our own honey, so we asked him if he’d make ice cream with our lavender and honey, and he said yes.” Visitors are welcomed to bring their own lunches and snacks too and there are shady areas with tables and chairs to take a lunch break after snapping photos and gathering bundles of the aromatic plants.
At the st.