A bonus stop on this year's Nebraska Passport is Our Lavender Co., located just four miles south of the Big Springs exit on Interstate 80 and a few minutes from the Colorado border. Our Lavender Co.
was created in 2019 by Stephanie Anderson, her sister Nicole Palser and her mother Peggy Palser. After the birth of her second child, Anderson suffered from severe post-partum depression. She had always wanted to start a garden, and with her family's help, they turned an old camper into a greenhouse.
"This little camper, and growing plants, and putting my hands in soil was the place where I found healing," Anderson said. "And God used agriculture — this thing that I wanted so desperately to escape in western Nebraska — to save my life." While visiting Minneapolis, Anderson's mother-in-law had told her about an article on a lavender farm in Sequim, Washington.
After doing more research on lavender, Anderson and her mother and sister, Peggy and Nicole, decided to fly out to Sequim and learn about growing lavender. "It was fun collaborating, or just getting together with my girls and just dreaming, you know," said Peggy Palser. The farm — which sits on five acres of their multi-generational corn operation — boasts 18 different varieties of lavender and is home to 7,500 lavender plants.
They offer tours of the farm with knowledgeable lavender guides who teach about the care of the plant, harvesting and all of lavender's uses. During peak season, people can pick their own laven.