Sweet smell of success at Orrville's Lavender Trails

An abandoned industrial site in Orrville does not initially sound like the typical location for planting a lavender field. But that’s exactly what Amy and Jim Duxbury wanted to do, starting in 2018.

“The land is a brownfield. It was former industrial use, and basically it was an old concrete dump, and when the previous owner ripped out a driveway, they dumped the material on the property,” said Jim Duxbury, co-owner of Lavender Trails, located at 360 Collins Blvd. on Orrville's northeast edge, with his wife Amy. “They did excavate some of the concrete, but some remained on the land. Fortunately, there is no toxic waste.”

The Duxburys had a vision for revitalizing the industrial site to bring something positive and sustainable to blighted land in the city. It was important to them to avoid cutting down trees or using prime agricultural land and instead take advantage of underutilized, poor-quality land within the city.

Will-Burt, which bought the land a decade ago, didn’t do much with it afterward except keep it relatively well-manicured.

“The land is adjacent to one of our buildings and was purchased by Will-Burt in 2011 for potential future expansion,” said Jeff Martin, director of facilities at the longtime Orrville company. “We haven’t needed it and were just letting the land grow up and mow it once or twice a year.”

The Duxburys also liked the idea of planning for seasonal work in retirement. They are currently both teachers in the Orrville school system. They began with an initial vision for their business but had not fully mapped out the details.

“We started with a grant we wrote with our students to plant trees. We started by planting chestnuts, given how they were vital in American history,” Jim Duxbury said.

Like many businesses that evolve and pivot in their early formation, so did Lavender Trails. But soon they had landed on lavender as their main crop because the plants are drought-resistant and tolerant to pests. Plus, it’s an added bonus they are beautiful and fragrant.

“I was approached by Jim Duxbury when he brought a couple trees to plant at one of our other buildings that we had purchased from the school,” Martin said. “He asked me about any vacant land we might have in the area, and he told me (he planned) to grow lavender and be able to sell it and donate a portion of the profits to local organizations and schools. I told him that was a really cool idea and that I would talk to our senior management team and let him know if leasing the land was an option.”

Will-Burt approved the lease, and Amy and Jim Duxbury moved forward with implementing their dream.

“We now have an acre of lavender. It’s a mile of lavender in a diamond-shaped pattern. We have a gift shop and an apiary. We also have about an acre of pollinator garden,” Jim Duxbury said.

“There are other lavender fields in Ohio, but we are the first in Wayne County that is open to the public. We get visitors from Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo, Michigan. A first man on the first day we opened was from Pennsylvania,” Amy Duxbury said.

She described visitors coming for the experience. “People come for the you-pick. Most people want the you-pick experience of cutting their own,” she said. “We're not large enough to produce oil. We focused our business model on education around brownfields and on the direct-to-consumer.”

That said, they now have an increasing percentage of customers who visit for taking photos and not you-pick. “A lot of families come out for photography, literally just coming for the photography. We are now reserving an hour on either side of our business hours for photographers,” Amy Duxbury said.

Much of the business has a philanthropic mission, designed to give back to the community.

“I'm an environmental geology teacher, and we want to make sure we are focusing on education because that's who we are — we're teachers,” Jim Duxbury said. “And we wanted to make sure we were giving back to the land. Plus, we partner with nonprofits, and we wanted to put into our business model that for every ticket that is sold, we donate something to a nonprofit.”

“Lavender Trails has beautified the vacant land that we leased, and it looks awesome compared to a field full of tall grass and weeds. Our employees enjoy going over and looking at the lavender plants and smelling them,” Martin said. “I think Jim and Amy are doing a great thing here.”

Lavender Trails opened for the season on April 24, is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will be open as long as the blooms last, roughly until July 25. There also are “Vendor Sundays,” partnering with local vendors on Sunday, July 11 and Sunday, July 18 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Refer to Lavender Trails’ Facebook and Instagram pages for more information.