Lavender Peace Offering

The year before I turned 50, AARP began its membership campaign on me. Invitations. Information. Enticements. Good deals. An automatic community. One of the fall-outs of membership is their wonderful magazine, AARP. The July & August 2009 issue featured a story called “The Flower of Positive Thinking ” by Lynne Schreiber.

Iris Lee Underwood is a lavender farmer in Lakeville, Michigan, and she knows what it is to have a broken heart. Her daughter died of drug abuse and Underwood lived under a cloud of grief for seven years until...

One day in her back yard, she inhaled the scent of lavender known for its properties as a “powerful balm for an aching heart”, Iris recalls, “The cloud of grief that had hung over me lifted.” She knew of the healing gifts of the herbal kingdom from her own research but she was still surprised at the effect of the lavender scent. “I felt this keen sense of well-being.”

Today, at age 60, she cultivates one full acre of lavender on what she calls the Yule Love It Lavender Farm . “Each year she welcomes more than 2,000 visitors, some of whom come to pick their own flowers during July’s harvest season, or sit at bistro tables to sip lavender tea, or just share their stories of loss and healing while strolling through the lavender fields.”

Here is the part that I love the best: Iris Underwood says, “I love farming, and I look at my farm as a peace offering-to myself, my family, the community. People want to enjoy the scent of lavender, the beauty of it, the camaraderie. It brings them peace .”

Lavender peace forever.

For spiritual nourishment, visit Dr. Susan Corso's blog, Seeds for Sanctuary