A Little Piece of Our Story: How Bloomfield Began

Every big thing starts as a small thing.

Ours started with two of our kids, a folding table at a farmers market, and a shared goal to save up for a playhouse.

A Booth, a Playhouse, and a Plan

When the kids first started helping at the farmers markets, the whole thing was theirs. They set up the table. They stacked the lavender bundles. They wrote the little signs by hand. Lavender bundles for three to five dollars. Soap for four or five. Salve and sugar scrub for six. Sachets at 25 cents each, or five for a dollar.

Every dollar was going toward a playhouse they had been dreaming about.

Week after week, our community showed up. Neighbors bought a bundle. Someone would stop by just to say hello and end up leaving with a sachet. People cheered the kids on, asked them questions about lavender, and made them feel like real farmers running a real business.

Eventually, the kids earned their playhouse.

When It Became About More Than the Playhouse

Somewhere along the way, we realized something had shifted.

What had started as a summer project for the kids had turned into something quieter and deeper. The connections we were making with people, the support our community was pouring into us, the joy people found in what we were creating. There was something real growing here, and it wasn't just the lavender.

We started selling out at markets. Then people started asking for more products. And more. Could we make a lotion? A soap? A candle? A soft blend for sleep?

That little folding-table idea eventually became the Bloomfield Lavender Apothecary in downtown LaGrange.

The Schoolhouse That Started It All

It's still a little wild to think about the fact that this whole story began when we purchased a historic schoolhouse.

For me, the Bloomfield Schoolhouse held a special meaning. Education has always been an important part of my own story. I spent many years working in deaf education before Bloomfield, and there is something in a schoolhouse, even one that has been quiet for decades, that still hums with learning. Restoring a place built around that felt like the right foundation for whatever we were going to build next.

We just didn't know yet that what we were going to build would involve lavender.

Why Lavender

Honestly? Because it doesn't need much.

Lavender is one of those wonderful crops that thrives on full sun and not-so-perfect soil. It doesn't ask for a lot of pampering. It actually does its best work when you leave it alone. Anyone who's grown it knows the truth: she does best with a little neglect.

That felt like the right plant for the kind of farm we wanted to build. Steady. Resilient. Beautiful without demanding attention.

The first rows went in, and they grew. And they kept growing.

Where the Story Is Now

Today, Bloomfield Schoolhouse Lavender is a working farm, an apothecary in downtown LaGrange, an ongoing schoolhouse restoration, and, before long, a small Bed and Breakfast on the second floor above the Apothecary.

None of that was on the whiteboard the summer the kids sold their first lavender bundle for three dollars.

Every step of the way, our community has walked with us. Every market visit, every kind word, every person who stopped by the Apothecary and left with a candle or a jar of salve or just a smile. All of it added up. All of it still adds up.

Thank You for Being Part of This

A simple beginning turned into something we never could have imagined.

We're grateful for every person who has been part of the journey, from the very first neighbor who bought a lavender bundle for three dollars to the friend who stopped in the Apothecary last week. This is your story too.

Come visit us anytime. We're not far.

With warmth,
Marion
Bloomfield Schoolhouse Lavender