Family at forefront of Sequim’s lavender industry

Published 1:30 am Monday, July 20, 2026

SEQUIM — Whether they’re spouses, siblings or generations of grandparents to grandchildren, at the core of each lavender farm is family.

At Nelson’s Duckpond and Lavender Farm, 73 Humble Hill Road, co-owner Amy Lundstrom said her family has been on the property off Hooker Road for 50 years and part of the Sequim Lavender Festival since its inception 30 years ago.

“My parents loved it here. I love it here. Hopefully I can be here forever,” she said.

Lundstrom and her husband Jeff took over the farm 17 years ago from her parents Gail and Harry Nelson, who originally bought the property as part of a 40-acre deal in 1973.

“We camped here when I was a kid,” she said. “Everything here, my parents built.”

Lundstrom, the youngest of five, decided with her husband to sell their house in Bellevue and move to Sequim. Their children have helped throughout their ownership too, with Tilly, who now goes by Meadow, selling lavender lemonade for years to support nonprofit organizations and youth.

Brotherly efforts

The Gonzalez brothers Sergio and Mario run separate lavender businesses — Meli’s Lavender and Find Lavender. They’re two of 12 siblings, and Mario has been involved in the Sequim lavender industry since its inception through Sequim Valley Ranch.

Mario, the youngest brother, and his wife Grejtel and daughters Matelys and Samantha, run a Find Lavender booth at the Sequim Farmers and Artisans Market at the Sequim Civic Center plaza.

“I think people love coming and spending their time in the fields, love taking pictures and buying bundles, wreaths, soaps. They want to have something from Sequim,” he said.

Despite having a separate business, he said that connection with people and the love of lavender is why his family remains involved.

Sergio, the second youngest brother, moved to Sequim in 2006. He found himself creating a lavender farm from scratch after he initially looked for property to park his truck for his business V and S Janitorial Inc.

Sergio said Sequim city staff told him he couldn’t park the truck in front of his home, so he found a property off Old Olympic Highway that a neighbor sold to him in 2009. Rather than mowing grass, he opted to plant lavender, so he got 1,000 plants and Sergio’s family planted lavender in January 2010. The farm opened to the public in 2012.

Now Sergio runs the farm during the Lavender Festival, and his wife Monica and children Jonathan and Melissa operate a booth at Lavender in the Park at Carrie Blake Community Park.

Jonathan loves the lavender industry so much, Sergio said, that he’s taken over the business’ online sales, including selling nine varieties of English lavender seeds, known for culinary purposes.

Multi-generational

Rick and Susan Olson sought out their lavender dreams and created Lavender Connection, 1141 Cays Road in Sequim, at Susan’s suggestion following a business trip.

“Sue was a seafood salesman in Kirkland and traveled across the country, and in San Francisco she encountered a small lavender farm booth in 1999,” Rick said.

She came home and told him they should get into lavender, and their friends suggested that rather than buying lavender to make products, they should consider moving to Sequim since it’s trademarked as the Lavender Capital of North America.

“I was very on board,” Rick said. “I thought it was a great idea.”

Despite no farming background, the couple continued to work and commute to the area, but Rick said it was his outlet after long work weeks.

Lavender Connection opened to the public in July 2004.

The farm hadn’t been opened to the public before and, due to timing and being a free-entry farm, they weren’t on any lavender maps. Family and friends helped them open, and after they initially purchased the property with friends, they became sole owners in 2002.

In 2018, his daughter Rebecca and son-in-law Doug became involved in the business as they sought to help restore the farm’s historic barn. After COVID, the couple decided to stay, Rebecca said, and now the four are co-owners.

After first planting lavender in 2001, Lavender Connection hosts 4,500 plants with 65-plus varieties today.

“I think (lavender) has been a positive icon for the Sequim valley,” Rick said of its 30-year legacy.

He said the most common question he’s asked is why lavender grows so well in Sequim.

“It’s not just the soils, the right conditions, temperate climate, limited rainfall. It all just works. It’s perfect symmetry,” he said.

Family effort

In retirement, Bruce and Bonnie McCloskey wanted an outdoor outlet where their daughters and grandchildren could all be together. That became B&B Family Lavender Farm, 5883 Old Olympic Highway in Sequim.

Co-owner Kristy Hilliker, Bruce and Bonnie’s daughter, said her parents used to boat in the Pacific Northwest and they lived in a boat in retirement and loved it.

“Then my sister moved from Colorado up here and so their wheels started turning that we needed to kind of collect all of us in this general area,” she said. “Zion (Kristy’s husband) and I were in San Diego at that time, so my parents started looking around to find some sort of business that we could do together, everything from campgrounds to farms to anything that was outdoors, and this was for sale and it fit the bill.

“It was the right time, right place,” Hilliker said.

The Hillikers moved to Sequim in January 2014 after they purchased the farm, then known as Angel Farm, at the end of 2013.

“I think it was a giant leap of faith that we were gonna all do this together with my parents and Zion and I,” Hilliker said.

The first year they didn’t open to the public.

“We were trying to figure out what the heck we were doing,” Hilliker said.

They divided responsibilities, which largely remain the same today, she said.

Her dad has handed off a lot of his responsibilities but remains active in behind-the-scenes elements, Hilliker said.

Today they have 14,000 lavender plants with 10 varieties, Bruce McCloskey said.

With 30 years of lavender history for Sequim, Hilliker said she’s only known the area with lavender in it.

“I see it as what I hope is a really positive part of the community,” she said.

“What we really try to make sure is that the people who live here feel some ownership and some pride in the fact that this is a cool thing that this area is capable of producing.

“I hope that it feels to the community like something they can be proud of and participate in.”

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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.