USLGA's Education and Research Committee hosts Front Porch Events to share with and educate lavender lovers everywhere.
USLGA members receive free access to past Front Porch Events. Non-member and non-grower/non-affiliate access is $40/each (non-refundable).
Stewardship & Leadership in Agritourism: Our Family’s Journey, DeBuck Family Farm
Speaker: Scott DeBuck, President NAFDMA (8/8/2024)
Explore the DeBuck family's path in agriculture and agritourism, where we've embraced roles as stewards and leaders. With support from NAFDMA, we've grown a thriving agritourism business while preserving our agricultural roots. Join me to discover insights, challenges, and strategies for sustainability, and learn how you can lead in agritourism while preserving agricultural heritage.
Starting a Healthy “Root”-ine: Lavender Propagation by Cuttings
Speaker: Jacob Hurst, Ph.D. (7/22/2024)
Go on a journey through the process of propagation by cuttings, led by plant health lecturer and propagation expert Jacob Hurst. Learn how new roots are formed, strategies to encourage rapid and uniform rooting of cuttings, and how to safely acclimate your new plants to life in the field or nursery. Special attention is devoted to regional challenges to propagation by cuttings and organic production systems.
Better Data, Better Decisions: Standards of Excellence for Operational Data
Open to members and non-members
(5/10/24)
The USLGA strives to be the industry leader in knowing and sharing data relevant to the lavender industry. Each year, a survey (previously known as the Harvest Survey) is launched requesting operational and harvest-related data making this goal possible. This front porch event discusses the why’s and how’s for key data requested in the annual survey. Best practices are shared by a variety of farm and business representatives within the USLGA membership. Extensive supplemental forms are shared to simplify and routinize data collection associated with your operation.
Diversifying Your Revenue Stream: Turn Your 6-week Bloom Time Into Year-round Income
Presenter: Ellen Reynolds, Beagle Ridge (4/11/24)
Are you wanting to turn your passion for growing lavender into an income-producing year-round business? What do you do when your lavender has been harvested and you think you have nothing to bring customers to your farm? What skills can you leverage to bring in more revenue? Do you like to teach? Do you live in a small town and wonder how you can survive on locals? These questions are just a few of the issues we discuss in this Front Porch session.
Value-Added Products: Lavender Use in Bath and Body Essentials
Presenter: Dr. Cindy Jones, Sagescript Institute and Colorado Aromatics (3/14/24)
Many lavender farmers consider the creation of value-added products as an extension of their crop production. Dr. Jones of Sagescript Institute offers several fundamental formulations of bath and body essentials, along with tips and considerations regarding insurance and labeling for those new to developing their lavender products.
Soil to Bloom: Soil Health & Fertility
Presenter: Dr. Patrick Freeze, Director of Research and Development, Soil/Soil Health Testing, Ward Laboratories, Inc. (2/8/24)
February is the month we celebrate love - but are your plants in love with their field's soil conditions? How do you know - really? And, what to do if that "lovin' feeling" is gone?
Farmers’ Markets
Presenter: Julie Haushalter, White Oak Lavender Farm, and Tina Schooler, Raider West Lavender Farm (12/7/23)
Farmer’s Markets across the country differ in size and frequency, but they are all excellent opportunities to sell products produced on your farm. Join us with the best advice and best practices for a successful Farmer’s Market Experience.
Mixology
Presenter: Tina Schooler, Raider West Lavender Farm (10/12/23)
Creating Cocktails and Non-Boozy Cocktails is fun and easier than you might think. This informative workshop will show you hands-on the art of creating cocktails from the 3 styles of cocktails, the spirits and the main ingredients to bar gear, and last but not least bar glassware.
Lavender Marketing Plan
Panelists: Trish Dennis, Owner and Danielle Lee, Marketing/Event Coordinator, Indigo Lavender Farms (8/10/23)
Marketing a business is a necessary and steady process for any business to succeed. A well-planned and consistent Marketing Plan is vital. Join our panel of experienced and successful lavender farmers as they pay forward their best practices in Lavender Marketing.
Lavender Personal Products
Speaker: Sarah Richards, Lavender Wind Farm (6/22/23)
Selecting resale products that are right for you and your business is an important step for commercial lavender farmers. Unless you exclusively wholesale raw production, creating the right line of personal products is strategic and valuable. This webinar reviews a wide range of Lavender Personal Products from a production and marketing perspective allowing you the opportunity to make appropriate choices for your business.
Create a Business Plan Part 3: Financials
Speaker: Christine Teeple, Red Rock Lavender (5/11/23)
Building the right pricing structure for your lavender business is imperative for being both competitive and profitable, but it’s not the only consideration. Having a profitable return on investment includes many business aspects, and this webinar with Christine Teeple will lay the groundwork for creating a profitable lavender business with an excellent return on investment.
Create A Business Plan Part 2: Financials
Speaker: Christine Teeple, Red Rock Lavender (3/9/23)
In Part 1 of this series, we learned that a business plan is the road map required to take your ideas from a goal to a means for supporting your objective. Once you move from the Idea Board to building your Business Plan, it’s time to implement your Financial Plan. Join us for this continuing webinar series as Christine Teeple discusses the financial and goal-setting techniques to implement your business plan.
Create A Business Plan Part 1
Speaker: Christine Teeple, Red Rock Lavender (3/9/23)
Those of us in the business have a passion for growing lavender but we also need the crop to repay our efforts. We have succeeded in creating our field of dreams, but they are just dreams if we don’t have a viable business plan to monetize our investment and hard work.
Creating your business plan is one of the most important steps you will take because the plan serves as your road map for the early years of your business and helps you grow by at least 30% and grow faster.
